The Utah-Idaho Central Railroad: Northern Utah’s Interurban Experience: Growth and Reincorporation - The Establishment of The Utah-Idaho Central Railroad (U.I.C.) in 1918
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Growth and Reincorporation - The Establishment of The Utah-Idaho Central Railroad (U.I.C.) in 1918
A panorama of downtown Logan and Main Street in 1920. A U.I.C. train can be seen entering Main Street at the center. At far left is the Logan Station.
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, A-Board Historical Photograph Collection photo no. A0406a-b)
Following the establishment of the O.L.I., and only three years since the inauguration of its service in 1915, the railway expanded once more. As 1918 came to an end, the O.L.I. and the Cache Valley Railroad Company were officially merged and reincorporated as the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad Company, or U.I.C., with Marriner Browning (the son of David Eccles’s business partner M. S. Browning) as president and three of Eccles’s sons among the committee members.[1] This name change not only ended confusion by companies working with both the Ogden, Logan and Idaho Railway (O.L.I.) and the Oregon Short Line (O.S.L.), but it also “gave the line added prestige and lent credence to the report that the company planned to extend the rails further into the Gem State.”[2] The acquisition of the Cache Valley Railroad Company contributed small rail lines to the new U.I.C. connecting Lewiston’s sugar company with three sugar beet dump areas near the towns of Kent, Quinney, and Thaine.[3] These new lines combined with the streetcar routes in Logan, Ogden, and Brigham City and the main rail line from Preston to Ogden comprised the entirety of the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad.[4]
The “Articles and Certificate of Incorporation and Agreement of Consolidation of Utah Idaho Central Railroad Company” [Use the arrows at the top of the image or scroll within the image to view additional pages]
A 1918 timetable listing the schedule of the U.I.C. The timetable also advertises the comforts of traveling with an electric railroad: “No Smoke-No Dust-No Cinders” [Click image, then click image again to view full document]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Utah-Idaho Central Railroad Company, Mendon Station Papers, 1916–1936 MSS 60, Box 22, Item 1)
As 1917 came to an end, the Ogden, Logan and Idaho Railway Company expanded once more and decided on reincorporating under a new name: the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad Company. The Logan Republican noted this future change on December 18, 1917. [Click image, scroll to second image, and click second image to view full document]
A collection of bond coupons from the mortgage bond supporting the new Utah-Idaho Central Railroad [Click image to view full document; click again to view additional pages]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Miscellaneous Manuscript Collection COLL MSS 244 Box 1 Fd. 8)
An updated map of the Interurban Lines of Utah and Idaho created by the Bamberger Electric Company [Click image, then click image again to view full document]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Utah-Idaho Central Railroad Company, Mendon Station Papers, 1916–1936 MSS 60, Box 6, Folder 16, Item 43, Page 2)
U.I.C. engine #60 on a railcar in Ogden, Utah, upon delivery [Click image to view full-size photo]
A change in the name of the railroad and reincorporation with that new name also required an exchange of company stocks. A collection of letters between Royal Eccles and Geo. Champ discusses that exchange from O.L.I. to U.I.C. stocks. [Click image to view full document; click again to view additional pages]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Utah Mortgage and Loan Corporation Accounting Books and Financial Records, 1895–1925 MSS 131, Box 2, Folder 28, Item 3)
After the U.I.C. changed its name from the Ogden, Logan and Idaho Railway to the Utah-Idaho Central Railroad, stock conversions were necessary for all stockholders. Royal Eccles sent this letter with new stocks for one stockholder, Geo. Champ. [Click image, then click image again to view full document]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Utah Mortgage and Loan Corporation Accounting Books and Financial Records, 1895–1925 MSS 131, Box 2, Folder 28, Item 2)
Shortly into 1919, the newly established Utah-Idaho Central Railroad Company had a large revenue deficit from operating costs and taxes. This April 29, 1919, article reports on the deficit and its causes while also commenting on the economic state of the company, its assets, and contributions to the areas it served. [Click image, scroll to second image, and click second image to view full document]
The U.I.C. initially met with success, but success was very brief. The production needs of World War I, and its aftermath, contributed significantly to the revenue of the company and promoted growth and expansion. In “The Rise and Fall of the Galloping Goose,” Shaw writes that “during World War I . . . business was brisk as the line hauled agricultural products to Ogden’s train terminals and brought machinery back. The export market for agricultural products in war-torn Europe was especially strong at this time.”[5] Sorensen writes that “in terms of total revenue, 1919 was the best year the company ever had—over a million dollars—but profits at the end of the year were only $11,622.00, about 1 percent of gross revenue.”[6] Freight and passenger services were both provided by the company, but Carr notes in Utah Ghost Rails that a unique problem faced the U.I.C. It was very rare for passengers to travel the entirety of the route from Ogden to Preston. Most rode to the next major city or traveled a few stops to their home communities.[7] Not only did these short-distance riders minimize the revenue gains of the railroad, but the situation also created a problem for business when automobiles and buses were improved and implemented as more efficient forms of transportation. With the coming of a new decade, the directors of the U.I.C. recognized the need for change to improve the company, its revenue, and services.
Additional Views of the U.I.C., Tracks, and Bridges
A U.I.C. train on Logan’s Main Street in the early 1920s [Click image to view full-size photo]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Raymond C. Somers Photograph Collection, 1865–1993 P0324, Box 9, Image 149)
U.I.C. tracks running down Main Street towards Center Street in Logan [Click image to view full-size photo]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, A-Board Historical Photograph Collection photo no. A0401a)
U.I.C. tracks running south on Main Street in Logan with a U.I.C. station and coal yard in the background [Click image to view full-size photo]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, A-Board Historical Photograph Collection photo no. A0401b)
South Main Street in Logan and a bridge over the Logan River with U.I.C. tracks [Click image to view full-size photo]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, A-Board Historical Photograph Collection photo no. A0403a)
A stretch of U.I.C. Railroad tracks and a bridge in Franklin, Idaho [Click image to view full-size photo]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Raymond C. Somers Photograph Collection, 1865–1993 P0324, Box 2, Image 3)
A U.I.C. train traveling in the snow [Click image to view full-size photo]
A U.I.C. train in the snow [Click image to view full-size photo]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Raymond C. Somers Photograph Collection, 1865–1993 P0324, Box 6, Image 6)
One of the U.I.C.’s Russell Double-Track Snow Plow Engines [Click image to view full-size photo]
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Raymond C. Somers Photograph Collection, 1865–1993 P0324, Box 4, Folder 15, Image 7)
[1] Utah-Idaho Central Railroad, “Articles and Certificate of Incorporation and Agreement of Consolidation of Utah Idaho Central Railroad Company,” 1919, 1, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101078166988&view=1up&seq=1. [2] Sorensen, “The Utah Idaho Central Railroad,” 149. [3] Shaw, 2. [4] Carr, 27. [5] Shaw, 3. [6] Sorensen, 149. [7] Carr, 27.