Union Pacific is one of the most modern railroads in the country. The
road’s 780-mile line from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles is no
exception. To the uninformed it would seem as if the railroad was built
just yesterday, yet the history of this, the Salt Lake Route, now spans
more than a century rich in the annals of railroading and the American
West.
As far as transcontinental railroads are concerned, the Salt Lake
Route is a late bloomer, yet it is a true pioneer. The location of the
railroad, connecting the City of Saints (Salt Lake City) with the City
of Angels (Los Angeles) was built through largely undeveloped country
more or less following the Old Spanish Trail. It even founded the City
of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Laid out in chronological format, this volume covers in detail every
aspect of the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad’s construction and
operation, its merger with Union Pacific in the Twenties, and the
challenges of competition, wartime and coping with the demands of the
country it traversed.
The San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad; Union Pacific’s Salt Lake Route
was first published in 1988 and has long been out of print. However,
since the initial printing, much has happened on the old Salt Lake Route
and considerable additional material has come to light. A desire to
revise, correct, update and expand the first edition has resulted in
this volume, and, with modern printing methods available today, it
includes a great deal more color than the original and 64 additional
pages, 48 period graphics and timetables, 52 maps, 415 photos of which
81 are in color, bibliography and index.
