Rails East to Promontory The Utah Stations

Umbria - Railroad use: 1869 - ca. 1875
678.8 miles from San Francisco
T. 7 N., R. 18 W., Sec. 4 NW1/4, SLM

Historic Lucin⁴ - Railroad use: 1875 - 1907
680.5 miles from San Francisco
T. 7 N., R. 18 W., Sec. 3 NE1/4, SLM
(Renamed Grouse in 1905)

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4. Not to be confused with present day Lucin.

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Railroad track plat maps refer to the location of the convergence of the 1904 Lucin Cutoff with the Promontory Branch as Umbria Junction. No facilities ever existed here (Fig. 20). One-half mile east of Umbria Junction, adjacent to Grouse Creek on the Promontory Branch, is the site of Umbria (Railroad Station Plat, Fig. 21). A station here corresponds to an end of track camp named Lucin by Kraus (1969a:310) and the 1869 building inventory, Figure 15. For clarification, the authors refer to the site as Umbria. Field investigations identified remains of a siding and foundations of dugouts and other structures. Artifacts observed on the surface of the site suggest a short-lived occupation established in 1869 by Euro-Americans and Chinese.

Figure 20: Looking west at Umbria Junction today from the abandoned Promontory Branch Grade (BLM Photo)

Figure 21: Umbria and Lucin (compiled from Southern Pacific Railroad plats, station plans, and profiles). (click on image for a PDF version)

Engineering records indicate that a section station called (historic) Lucin was established on July 6, 1875, at mile post 680.5. That location is 1.7 miles east of Umbria station. This infers that section facilities were relocated from Umbria station to (historic) Lucin. Railroad documents show that (historic) Lucin contained a foreman's house and train car body north of the grade and a section house and Chinamen house south of the grade. Onsite investigations verified the locations of these structures (Fig. 22). Dating of surface artifacts suggests that occupation lasted into the 20th Century. Unfortunately, uncontrolled collecting and excavation by looters at historic Lucin, have badly damaged this site.

Figure 22: Historic Lucin (looking west) - note the cleared area on the left where the facilities were located (BLM photo)

In 1904 the name "Lucin" was transferred and applied to nearby facilities on the newly completed Lucin Cutoff. (Today a railroad station and a small community still carries the name.) Today, only a few trees and a pond remain; the houses were removed in 1990. Historic Lucin was renamed Grouse and finally dismantled by the railroad in 1907.

Railroad use: 1899 - 1906
686.4 miles from San Francisco
T. 8 N., R. 17 W., Sec. 22 SW1/4, SLM

Medea was apparently uninhabited. The siding probably provided freighting facilities to local sheep ranchers. Field investigations did not locate any features or cultural materials.

Chinese medicine bottle and opium tin.

Railroad use: 1869 - ca. 1905
691.6 miles from San Francisco
T. 8 N., R. 16 W., Sec. 8 NE1/4, SLM

Bovine served as a section station. In 1869, facilities included a section house, train car body, Chinese bunk and cook house, and a water tank (Fig. 24). Southern Pacific station plans indicate that section gangs built a freight platform and replaced some of the Chinese bunkhouses in 1885. Figure 23 looks west at Bovine Station today.

Figure 23: Looking west at Bovine Station today. (BLM photo)

Figure 24: Bovine section station (compiled from Southern Pacific station plans). (click on image for a PDF version)

Collectors have extensively looted the site including the Chinese occupied area. Surface evidence indicates that habitation of Bovine was primarily limited to the 19th century. Features today include a bake oven excavated into the side embankment of the railroad grade and a brick walkway leading from the rear of a house foundation (presumed to be the section house) to an outhouse (Fig. 25). Bovine probably was abandoned with completion of the Lucin Cutoff; however, the siding continued to be used for a time by local ranchers.

Figure 25: Outhouse foundation at Bovine (BLM photo)

Railroad use: 1898 - 1906
697.5 miles from San Francisco
T. 9 N., R. 15 W., Sec. 30 SE1/4, SLM

Railroad records show construction of the Walden siding in 1898. No permanent structures were built. No materials or features, other than the siding, are evident today (Fig. 26).

Figure 26: Looking west at Walden Siding (BLM photo)

Railroad use: 1910 - ca. 1940
699.8 miles from San Francisco
T. 9 N., R. 15 W., Sec. 22 SW1/4, SLM

Watercress served as a principal freight and siding locale for area ranches early in this century. Nineteenth Century railroad records do not document the site. Field investigations and time sensitive artifacts suggest that establishment of Watercress was prompted by the abandonment of Terrace, two miles to the east. Early in the 20th Century, the Terrace waterline was rerouted to Watercress and south to the Lemay siding on the Lucin Cutoff. Railroad documents of 1926 record other facilities at Watercress including corrals, a barn, a stock pond and water tank, and a loading platform. Watercress was abandoned around 1940 (Fig. 27, 28).

Figure 27: Root cellar at Watercress (BLM photo)

Figure 28: Stock pond at Watercress (BLM photo)