THE WAITLIST IS NOW FULL AND HAS BEEN CLOSED. STAY TUNED FOR OTHER TOUR OPPORTUNITIES IN THE FUTURE.

In recognition of this year’s 150th anniversary of the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Salt Lake Field Office will lead public auto tours along a National Backcountry Byway that follows the original Promontory Branch north of the Great Salt Lake. Two separate tours will be held on Saturday, April 20, and Saturday, May 4, 2019, from 8:30 a.m. to approximately 5 p.m.

Sign up for each tour is limited to 15 cars, one car per party, first-come, first-serve. Tour participants will meet at 8:30 am at the Flying J truck stop in Snowville, Utah (I-84, Exit 7). The Transcontinental Railroad Backcountry Byway is a gravel-surfaced road passable to 2-wheel drive vehicles in good weather. Please ensure your vehicle is in proper working order with good tires and a functional spare tire. Come prepared with adequate food, water, and clothing for varying weather conditions. The tour will travel west along the railroad grade from Kelton to Terrace, and return to Snowville at approximately 5 p.m.

The tours will take participants along the most remote and scenic portions of the Transcontinental Railroad Backcountry Byway in Box Elder County. Travel back in time with knowledgeable guides as they take you through the heart of the longest continuous segment of the original 1869 Central Pacific Railroad Grade. Abandoned in 1942 and later acquired by the BLM, the byway is over 90 miles in length and takes you through a dramatic desert landscape largely unchanged since the 1800s. Participants will drive their own vehicles on the actual original grade and stop at numerous locations to marvel at the engineering features created entirely with Chinese and Irish immigrant labor, hand tools, and dynamite. The tour will visit historic town sites and view examples of the various culverts, wooden trestles, cuts, fills, sidings, and artifacts found along the grade.

For more details, contact Ray Kelsey at 801-539-4053 or rkelsey@blm.gov.

Transcontinental Railroad Grade Backcountry Byway Auto Tour

Follow this organizer to stay informed on future events

Events you might like

Farm ToursFarm Tours

Farm Tours