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A History Of John W. Young's Utah Railroads, 1884-1894, Marlowe C. Adkins Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This is the story of three narrow gauge, short line railroads. Had fate been kinder, they might have become the hub of a major mountain west rail network. But this thesis will deal with facts, not possibilities, as it investigates the justification, construction, financing, and politics that surrounded these railroads and their location.

The locale was in and near Salt Lake City, Territory of Utah, during the decade between 1883-1894. Both location and time period have significance, for anti-Mormon feelings, within and without the the Territory, were very strong.

The visible cause of the anti-Mormon movement was polygamy.¹ For, …