The Big Trestle

Lacking time to fill the ravine, Union Pacific crews built a trestle bridge about 400 feet long and 85 feet high. One reporter said that nothing he could write “would convey an idea of the flimsy character of that structure.” The trestle took 38 days to build, was completed May 5, 1869, and was used for about 6 months before the Big Fill just up the canyon became the permanent route. You can still see the abutments and, across the canyon, the bedrock shelves where the log uprights were placed.

Howell, Utah · United States