Golden Spike Cultural Landscape Report

Land Use

The principal historical land uses associated with this landscape are the construction and operation of the nation's first transcontinental railroad. Thus, the landscape features speak to both the construction process, including the use of local materials (as represented by quarries and borrow areas), as well as the condition and character of the workers' campsites. The most active period of construction near the NHS occurred between February and April of 1869 when both companies had men and equipment working in the vicinity. As the various railroad crews moved through the area they established numerous temporary camps where they lived while working on the railroad. The land was surveyed, graded, cut and filled as needed, and the two rival companies constructed parallel grades through the landscape. After completion of the construction in late April and early May of 1869, the last of the workers' campsites became obsolete and were abandoned. Currently, these short-lived settlements are represented within the landscape by archaeological remains.

After the joining of the rails, the grade incorporated into the transcontinental rail line continued to be improved and maintained, whereas the discarded parallel grade received little attention. It is likely that for a time local materials sources continued to be used in maintenance activities. However, as technology improved, locally available materials decreased in importance. For example, the use of metal pipe culverts eventually replaced earlier culverts made with native stone and even milled lumber. Although isolated from the main line transcontinental route in 1904, the Promontory Branch continued to be used and maintained until the 1942 decommissioning. Today, even railroad operations have become an obsolete land use.

While most of the camps associated with railroad construction were meant for short-term habitation, a small permanent settlement developed in the vicinity of Promontory Station near the Last Spike Site. Even after the transfer point was moved east to Ogden, a few private businesses, provided services to train passengers, railroad employees stationed at Promontory, and area settlers. Wagon roads from nearby towns such as Corinne, probably provided local access to Promontory Station soon after its establishment. A wagon road from the east, paralleling the south side of the railroad, was present at least by 1885, when government surveyors platted the township of T10N/R6W.

By the late nineteenth and early twentieth century the public lands adjacent to the railroad right-of-way had been claimed under the various homestead acts, or sold by the railroad companies, and were being utilized for ranching and agricultural purposes (cattle ranching and some dry land farming). After 1904, Promontory Station was bypassed completely by transcontinental railroad traffic, however, it continued to function as a commercial and community center for local people until 1942, when the Promontory Branch was abandoned completely. In 1968, the park service removed the last of the structural remains associated with the town of Promontory.

Summary

Today, the historical land uses associated directly with railroad operations and maintenance are obsolete. However, although the railroad is no longer operational, the railroad grades and most of their associated features and sites remain visible in the landscape, and the park service manages these resources for their interpretive value. Even though the current land use is different from the historical uses, it is compatible with preservation of the landscape features associated with the construction process as well as the operation of the transcontinental railroad. The exception to this compatibility is found in the Promontory Summit area. Here all settlement era buildings and most structures were removed to make way for the park service visitor center and administrative office complex. The only settlement-era improvements that remain are located on private land, outside the existing NHS boundary but within the authorized boundary. These include the Promontory school house and the resources associated with the Snodgrass place, including a windmill, building remains, fencing and clusters of matrimony vine.

Land use in areas outside the NHS boundary remains predominantly agricultural in character — including livestock grazing and dry farming (mostly winter wheat). At present, much of the land surrounding the NHS is in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) wherein the farmers are paid by the government not to plant. It is largely owing to the continuation of agriculture in the area that the historic site retains such a high degree of integrity of setting. Indeed, the threats to integrity of setting occur in areas where non-historical land uses have been introduced within the viewshed of the historic site (e.g., the Thiokol / Autoliv plant complexes).