Peplin

Peplin, at mile 727.3 from San Francisco, was a small temporary occupation where Central Pacific track layers arrived on April 9, 1869, though the earliest documented use of the site as a siding dates to 1888. The remains of the siding can still be seen in the small railroad cut, and sidings are often identified by railroad ties embedded in the grade. The landscape looks much as it did in 1869, but the rails, the towns, and even the isolated sidings are largely gone. Much of the railroad grade remains, however, serving as a back country byway across the Great Salt Lake Desert. Large rock cuts in the Peplin and Promontory Mountains and large earthen fills reflect the strength and perseverance of the railroad workers. Erosion-control methods used more than a century ago have helped preserve the grade, including upright railroad ties set in wash channels upstream in the Peplin Mountains to divert runoff through culverts. Because the desert soils erode easily despite limited precipitation, culverts and bridges had to be rebuilt continually to keep pace with erosion.

Utah · United States