The nation's first transcontinental railroad through the Promontory area was full of curves and steep grades. In the 1880s, the railroad looked seriously at ways to improve the situation. The worst bottleneck in the entire transcontinental line was costing the railroad an extra $1,500 a day to push trains up to the summit.
Construction on a shorter rail route - directly west of Ogden and across the Great Salt Lake - started March 4, 1902, after land soundings and extensive surveys.The east end of the cutoff was a rock and gravel fill through the shallow waters around Promontory Point. Thousands of carloads of rock and gravel fill were used. To cross the deepest part of the Great Salt Lake (30-34 feet) between Promontory and Lakeside, the first piles were driven into the lake bed on Aug. 2, 1902.
Some of the 100-foot-long piles hit soft spots and sank out of sight. To remedy this, two piles were sometimes lashed together and driven into the lake bed for a more solid footing. There were 38,256 timbers used for the pilings and about two dozen driving barges were used.
According to Arlene Fielding of Ogden's Union Station Museum, more than 32,000 trees were used. The lumber, white pine or Russian fir, came from Michigan because the wood was especially resistant to salt water. Redwood was used for the decking on top.
Approximately 3,000 men labored on the trestle and earth-fill sections from both ends. Fresh water, amounting to 420,000 gallons a day, had to be hauled over 100 miles to reach crews on the west-desert side. Later, wells were drilled on both sides of the lake.
During the winter of 1902-03, only 800 men were on the job in the sub-zero weather, but crews worked around the clock, aided by portable electric lights. Storms were a problem with one scattered more than $3,000 worth of lumber around the lake. By Jan. 1, 1903, four miles of track were completed, but the east side proved the most troublesome with its extra soft, Bear River-fed lake bottom.
Injuries and fatalities also occurred during construction. Although there was no official count, at least one foreman died in a knife fight.
The last pile was driven in September of 1903, and the east and west crews met at Midlake on Nov. 13. Dedication ceremonies for the $8.5 million project were held on Nov. 26, 1903. The first freight train rolled over the tracks on March 8, 1904. Passenger trains first used the cutoff in November of 1904.
The aptly named town of Midlake was halfway across the trestle. About 30 people permanently lived there until 1959 while the trestle, which at one time had three sidetracks, was used. Photographs were regularly taken of passengers across this rail bridge.
The Lucin Cutoff extends about 6.8 miles from Little Mountain, directly west of Ogden's 12th Street across shallow lake waters (6 to 8 feet deep) to Promontory Point. The rails then go about 5 miles across land before hitting water again.
From Promontory Point's west edge to the start of the trestle is about 1.7 miles. The trestle is 12 miles across. From the trestle's west end to Lakeside is about five miles. It's 18.7 miles across the water from Promontory to Lakeside and the west desert, counting the earth-fill sections. The total span from Little Mountain to Lakeside is about 31 miles, including 26 miles over water, depending on lake levels.
The Lucin Cutoff reduced rail distance by only 44 miles, but it cut seven hours off the average train's travel time. This was because of the elimination of 1,515 feet in grade and enough curves to turn a train around 11 times. The cutoff went 36 miles with no grade and another 30 miles with a slight grade.
Following its completion, the trestle was strengthened to handle heavier locomotives and faster trains. Much of it was also later double-tracked.
The trestle also had some tragedies. On May 4, 1956, a train's overheated wheel housing caused a fire that burned 645 feet of the structure and severed the railroad lifeline for several days.
In November of 1957, a barge plowed a large hole through the trestle and cut service for two days. Ironically, the barge was helping to build the new causeway to the north.
In April of 1962, a lightning strike caused another fire on the trestle, burning a 200-foot section.