Work begins at railroad site/Temple Mtn.

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The School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration spent this past week working on the Spirit Railroad project. This project is on the agency’s Buckhorn Flat Block in northern Emery County. SITLA will build informational and interpretive kiosks, and install fencing to help protect this historic site.
Directions to the site are: From the town of Castle Dale, proceed north on Highway 10 approximately one mile and turn east at the complex of old corrals, onto the improved county road to the San Rafael Swell. Proceed east on the county road for approximately 31 miles toward Highway 6 / Woodside. Watch for Chimney Rock to the north of the county road and turn onto the two-track road marked with flagging tape. Proceed about 1.5 miles north on the two-track road to the site
SITLA will construct buck and rail fencing and install interpretive signs to help protect the Spirit Railroad site and educate visitors about its unique history.
As its name implies, Spirit Railroad refers to a railroad line that was never completed. In 1880, the Denver and Rio Grande Railway began building a narrow-gauge rail line through the Rocky Mountains from Colorado to Utah.
From Green River the railroad would travel through Cottonwood Wash and Buckhorn Flat to the Castle Valley Junction, located east of Huntington. From the junction, the rail line would divide with one route traveling south through Castle Valley and continuing down Salina Canyon. The other branch would head north through Price Canyon.
Although construction began almost immediately on the route between Castle Valley Junction to Green River, it would never be completed. However, the “Spirit Railroad” can be traced across Buckhorn Flat and down Cottonwood Wash.
In advance of this project, SITLA appreciates the work of Emery County to help monitor the site for vandalism and notify SITLA of any problems or concerns.
Emery County Commissioner Ethan Migliori, and local residents Val Payne and Edward Geary, joined SITLA staff and volunteers from the Division of State History to install directional signs, build fencing, and construct an informational kiosk.
“Castle Country is filled with spectacular history and landscapes,” said SITLA Lead Staff Archaeologist Kenny Wintch. “We appreciate our partnership with Emery County to protect and educate visitors about this unique site on Utah trust lands.”
The Spirit Railroad site is located approximately 35 miles east of Castle Dale on the SITLA’s 31,000-acre Cedar Mountain Block, which is managed by the agency on behalf of Utah’s public school system.
SITLA employees and volunteers installed directional signs to the historic site, and constructed buck and rail fencing to create a designated parking area. They also installed a kiosk structure to hold informational and interpretive panels to educate visitors about this historic site.
Stewardship of trust lands for long-term revenue production is a significant component of the SITLA management plan. Since 1994, SITLA has generated in excess of $1.5 billion and been involved in numerous transactions and projects that have protected more than 560,000 acres of Utah land, an area equivalent to the combined acreage of Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Zion national parks. At the second site, located a few miles north of Goblin Valley State Park, SITLA employees and volunteers from the Utah Rock Art Research Association, the Utah State University Eastern Campus Prehistoric Museum, and Bureau of Land Management worked to protect the Temple Mountain pictograph panel, which depicts both Fremont and Barrier Canyon Style pictographs and petroglyphs.
SITLA employees and volunteers installed directional signs, cleared litter and debris, and constructed buck and rail fencing to create a designated parking area. They also installed kiosk structures to hold informational and interpretive panels to educate visitors.