 In 1948, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad commissioned Universal Pictures to create a travelogue documentary of the railroad's presence in Utah. They called it Desert Empire. The legacy that the Rio Grande left behind is still prominent, yet at the same time elusive. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed on May 10th, 1869 at Promontory Summit in Box Elder County. From there railroading in the Beehive State took off. Ogden soon became known as the Crossroads of the West, with as many as five railroads terminating at the Union Station at any one time. Three major Transcontinentals called Utah home. A myriad of interurbans, short lines and narrow gauges spread out to the nooks and crannies of the Wasatch Range in search of commerce. Many were well known, others remained in the shadows, and the D&RG was one of them.About Desert Empire This site was created in response to a lack of easy-to-read web material regarding the D&RGW in Utah, as most other sites dedicated to the Rio Grande focus mainly on Colorado and the narrow gauge. This is an ongoing project, and the site will always be under construction as new material is found and added. This site is not meant to be a comprehensive chronological history of every Utah railroad, nor a database of railroad paperwork. Instead, it is the aim to be a collection of oral histories, primary sources, and folklore surrounding the "D. and R. G.".
 To navigate, click the links on the sidebar. If there is an arrow head to the side, click on it to view sub-pages.
Please note: if you are viewing this site as secure (https:// instead of http://), the maps embedded on some of the pages may cause a warning to appear. To view the maps, click "no" when asked if you want to view the content that was delivered securely. If an image does not load, refresh the browser to show it.
To watch Desert Empire, click here: http://www.archive.org/details/DesertEm1948 Image Credits: Castle Gate drawing: To California and Back, 1893, from the public domain. Deseret-Canaan comparison: ibid Do you have something to contribute? Questions, comments, and concerns are always welcome. Did I cite something wrong? Is there a mistake in my research? In addition, I welcome any historical photographs, anecdotes, stories, documents, tall tales or such in relation to any of the topics already on this site. If you wish to contribute, please contact me at desertempiresite (AT) gmail (DOT) com (please insert the appropriate punctuation in place of the parentheses). Be sure to put "Desert Empire" and the nature of your message in the subject line, otherwise I won't open it. What's new with Desert Empire? Right now, everything. This site was started in September 2011 and for the most part is still under construction. There are a few bugs and inconsistencies to be worked out, but hopefully these will be gone soon. Site Last Updated: January 3, 2012
Happy new year! I am somewhat proud to announce that this site has been listed in Don Strack's page of links over at Utahrails.net. Another DRTM (D&RGW 223)  Desert Empire by https://sites.google.com/site/desertempirerailroad/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at sites.google.com. |
AttributionImages from any source that is not Desert Empire are used by permission, are copyright (2011) their respective owners and may not be redistributed or modified in any way.
Text on Desert Empire by https://sites.google.com/site/desertempirerailroad/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License unless otherwise noted as being from another source. Based on a work at sites.google.com. The Denver & Rio Grande Western name, logos, and associated images are owned and copyrighted by Union Pacific. Thank you. |
Welcome
Subpages (1):
Links
|