EXHIBITS
The Utah-Idaho Central Railroad: Northern Utah’s Interurban Experience: The Ogden Rapid Transit Company (O.R.T.)
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The Ogden Rapid Transit Company (O.R.T.)
On May 16, 1900, the Ogden Rapid Transit Company (O.R.T.) was incorporated and began its operations in Ogden, Utah. The main purpose for its establishment and organization was to acquire, operate, and improve the equipment and property of the Ogden Electric Railway Company (O.E.R.). The O.E.R. only operated two trolley cars at the time, with the remainder out of service. David Eccles was the main investor in the O.R.T. along with his business partner, M. S. Browning, adding it to a growing number of companies within the Eccles Corporation. They quickly updated and repaired the system, creating a modernized and quality mode of transportation for both passengers and freight in the Ogden area.[1]
Eccles made sure to extend the O.R.T. lines into the Ogden Canyon in 1909, providing service to a resort known as The Hermitage as well as to his hometown of Huntsville by 1915.[2] This route was very expensive to construct and some considered it one of the few business mistakes that Eccles ever made.[3] This decision was made in response to another businessman, Simon Bamberger, who owned The Hermitage and began surveying for construction of his own line through the canyon. He already had a connection to Ogden from Salt Lake and thought it would be wise to connect to his resort as well.[4] Eccles rushed his team to complete the line before Bamberger and ultimately won the contest. To get an idea of the cost, one three-mile section of the canyon line cost $100,000.[5] At its height, the O.R.T. comprised twenty-four miles of city track lines, in addition to the ten-mile extension to Huntsville and other branches to Plain City, Warren, and other areas of North Ogden.[6]
