Railroads and Canneries in Syracuse
by Don Strack
(This page was last updated on September 26, 2003)
Union Pacific's Syracuse Branch
(portions also used in "The Community of Syracuse, 1820 to 1995", Centennial Edition, Syracuse Historical Commission, Syracuse, Utah, 1994, pages 63, 64, 98, 99)
Union Pacific's Syracuse Branch was built in 1887 as the Ogden and Syracuse Railway. Construction of the new branchline began at Syracuse Junction (later called Clearfield) in January 1887 and was completed in July to the shore of the Great Salt Lake. The company was organized in January 1887 but was not incorporated until March 1887, while the branch was under construction. The company was fully controlled by Union Pacific, with 1,890 of the 2,000 shares being held by the President of Union Pacific, Charles Adams. Daniel C. Adams of Salt Lake City held one of the other ten shares. The other nine shares were held by Union Pacific employees in Salt Lake City, Omaha, or Boston. At the time many community leaders were complaining of the lack of local control of the railroads. In order to get more public support Union Pacific organized many local roads to build its branchlines, and the Ogden and Syracuse line was one of them.
Parts of the Ogden and Syracuse Railway were built on property purchased from John R. Barnes. John R. Barnes bought the land from Union Pacific in March 1878 and sold it to the Ogden and Syracuse Railway in March 1887. Union Pacific originally owned most of the the land in Syracuse because it was within twenty miles of the transcontinental railroad completed down Weber Canyon to Ogden and was included in Union Pacific's 1869 land grant.
On July 31, 1889, less than two years after the Ogden and Syracuse was completed, Union Pacific consolidated all of its interests in Utah and Idaho. The new company was called the Oregon Short Line and Utah Northern and included the Ogden and Syracuse Railway. The Oregon Short Line and Utah Northern Railway later became the Oregon Short Line Railroad (the "OSL"), and the former Ogden and Syracuse Railway became Union Pacific's Syracuse Branch.
There was never a depot at Syracuse, or at any other point along the Syracuse Branch. The only business for the branchline was the salt works and bathing resort located on the shores of the lake. By 1906 both the salt works and the bathing resort at Syracuse had failed. The siding called Syracuse was moved east, to the northeast corner of present day 4500 West and 1700 South and in March 1906 the tracks from the new Syracuse siding to the end of the branch on the lake shore were taken up, including the wye tracks that were used to turn the trains around. The new siding called Syracuse was later the location of one of Layton Sugar Company's beet dumps.
The Steed Spur connected with the Syracuse Branch at the siding called Steed, which was located where the branch crossed 3000 West, at about 1500 South. The spur ran northwest for almost two miles along the top of the bluff to the West Point Road (300 North). The spur was built and owned by the Layton Sugar Company to serve their beet dump on the West Point Road. The beet dump was built on one and a half acres of land that the sugar company had purchased from James Patterson in April 1921.
The date when the spur was built is not known, but in September 1928 the sugar company purchased a fifty foot easement from the Steed and Wilcox families. The easement was to be used solely for the sugar company's spur track, which may have already been built by that time. The actual date for when the tracks were removed is not known. The easement was perpetual as long as it was used for the spur track, and reverted to the families upon removal of the track.
Oak Wilcox remembers hearing the flanges of the cars squeal as the train moved slowly along the track during the annual beet campaign, which was the only time of the year that the spur was used. The siding at Steed was removed in December 1946. At that time the beet dump there was removed and the farmers were forced to take their beets to the beet dump on 2000 West, at the Union Pacific siding called Barnes.
The two and a half miles of track between Barnes, at 2000 West, and Syracuse, at 4500 West, was retired and removed in August 1955. At the same time the railroad sold much of the property to the adjacent landowners. Union Pacific still brings an occasional boxcar for C. H. Dredge down to Barnes.
Another railroad line that some people may remember was the Rio Grande's spur to the West Point Canning Company, at 3200 West and the West Point Road (300 North). The spur was built in 1923 as a private rail line owned by the Interstate Sugar Company, which operated the sugar factory at Hooper.
The spur was built south from the siding that Rio Grande called Kingsville, at about 3000 West and 1300 North, named after James King who sold the land to the railroad in 1917. King also sold property to the Amalgamated Sugar Company, which completed a beet dump at Kingsville in 1918.
The Interstate Sugar Company constructed the line to serve the beet dump that was built at Farnsworth, at the end of the line on the north side of the West Point Road (at about 3200 West). Farnsworth was named after Lou Farnsworth, one of the officers in the Interstate Sugar Company.
The West Point Canning Company's cannery was located about a hundred feet east of the beet dump at Farnsworth. The canning company began business in 1925 and Rio Grande built a spur to the cannery in May. The canning company went bankrupt in 1936.
In 1930, after the Interstate Sugar Company went bankrupt in 1927, the Rio Grande bought mile and half long spur and called it the Farnsworth Extension. The railroad bought the spur to maintain service to the beet dump which was taken over by the Amalgamated Sugar Company.
Another spur that was operated by the Rio Grande was located in South Syracuse, straight west of the Layton sugar factory. The spur served Layton Sugar Company's beet dump that was built along 1000 West, just five hundred feet south of 2700 South. The line was called the Bennett Branch and angled southeast from the beet dump across Bennett's field until it was a half mile south of 2700 South and then headed due east to the sugar factory of the Layton Sugar Company.
The Bennett Branch was built and owned by the Layton Sugar Company to serve their beet dump in South Syracuse. Property for the spur was purchased in October 1926, although the spur may already been built.
The beet dump and spur may have been removed by 1952. In March 1952 the sugar company sold a piece of the right of way for the spur to Allen Adams. In January 1955 the sugar company sold the two acre site of the South Syracuse beet dump to George H. Bennett Jr. And in June the sugar company sold the last piece of the right of way for the Bennett Branch to the Ellison Ranching Company, another enterprise of the Ellison family which also owned the Layton Sugar Company.
Syracuse cannery
The cannery of the Syracuse Canning Company was located on the north side of the Union Pacific tracks where they crossed 4000 West. The canning company was organized in 1893 by James T. Walker, D. C. Adams, and others. These other parties included Daniel H. Walker, William S. Cook, Sr., William H. Miller, David Cook, James Warren, Gilbert Parker, John Ross, and William Beazer. The company operated on James Walker's property until a permanent factory could be built. That factory was built on two acres purchased from Walker in December 1898.
James T. Walker sold two acres of land to the Syracuse Canning Company in December 1898. Syracuse Canning Company bought 6.9 more acres in June 1902. Syracuse Canning Company was based in Salt Lake City and H. V. Van Pelt was president. (Davis County Book of Abstracts B, p.86)
In June 1902 the company expanded onto 6.9 more acres at the same location. At the time the company was based in Salt Lake City and H. V. Van Pelt was President.
The cannery business was later sold to D. C. Adams. In July 1918 the company was sold to the Kaysville Canning Company. The cannery was closed and in May 1945 the 8.5 acre site was sold to Willard Bambrough.
Syracuse Canning Company was sold to Kaysville Canning Company in July 1918. (Davis County Book of Abstracts B, p.153)
Kaysville Canning Company sold 8.59 acres, the site of the former Syracuse Canning Company, to Willard Bambrough in May 1945. (Davis County Book of Abstracts 53, Section 8, p. 1, line 25)
Barnes cannery
The Davis County Canning Company was organized in May 1912 to operate a canning factory located on two and a half acres of land on the south side Union Pacific's tracks where its Syracuse Branch crosses 2000 West, at a siding that the railroad calls Barnes. The canning company began business as a reorganization of the John R. Barnes Company, which was operating a cannery in Kaysville and may have been operating a cannery at the Barnes location.
Original property, 2.5 acres, sold by John R. Barnes Company to the Davis County Canning Company in May 1912. (Davis County Book of Deeds Z, p. 38)
Just two years later the Davis County Canning Company was sold to the Kaysville Canning Company in June 1914. John R. Barnes was president of the Kaysville company.
John R. Barnes Company sold 0.75 acres to the Kaysville Canning Company in April 1914. John R. Barnes was the president of the Kaysville Canning Company. (Davis County Book of Abstracts A, p. 205, and Book 4, p. 91)
Davis County Canning Company was sold to the Kaysville Canning Company in June 1914. (Davis County Book of Abstracts A, p. 205, and Book 4, p. 91)
In September 1964 the Kaysville Canning Company sold a parcel a bit larger than one acre at Barnes to the C. H. Dredge Company.
Kaysville Canning Company sold an additional 1.2 acres to C. H. Dredge Company in September 1964. (Davis County Book of Abstracts A, p. 205, and Book 4, p. 91)
Three months later the canning company sold the remaining almost four acres of its property in Syracuse, at Barnes, to H. J. Barnes, who then resold it to C. H. Dredge.
Kaysville Canning Company sold 3.98 acres to H. J. Barnes in December 1964. (Davis County Book of Abstracts A, p. 205, and Book 4, p. 91)
H. J. Barnes sold the 3.98 acres parcel to C. H. Dredge Company in December 1964. (Davis County Book of Abstracts A, p. 205, and Book 4, p. 91)
Barnes beet dump
In September 1923 Martin Gailey's widow sold some land along the north side of UP's Syracuse Branch, at 2000 West, to the Layton Sugar Company and the Interstate Sugar Company so that the sugar companies could build beet dumps at Barnes. The Layton Sugar Company bought Interstate's beet dump in October 1936, after the Interstate company went bankrupt in 1927.
Layton Sugar Company bought land for use as a beet dump along the north side of UP's Syracuse Branch from the wife and children of Martin Gailey in September 1923. At the same time Interstate Sugar Company bought adjacent property from the same individuals for the same purpose. (Davis County Book of Abstracts 4, p.93, and Book of Deeds 1‑D, p. 450)
The former Interstate property was sold by Consolidated Assets to Layton Sugar Company on October 22, 1936, after Interstate's bankruptcy in 1927. (Davis County Book of Abstracts 4, p. 210, and Book of Deeds 1‑O, pp. 46, 130)
Information from abstract searches in Davis and Weber county recorder offices
Rio Grande
Kaysville depot in sec 2, T3N, R1W (D&RG Val Map)
Bennett Branch
Three people have told me about a rail line in South Syracuse that went due west from the Layton sugar factory. Apparently the branch went due west along the half section line of Section 19 of T4N, R1W and Sections 24 and 23 of T4N, R2W. At the center of Section 23 the line turned northwest towards the northwest corner of section 23, ending at a beet dump on 1000 West, 500 feet south of 2700 South.
The Rio Grande's Bennett Branch was built and owned by the Layton Sugar Company to serve their beet dump in South Syracuse, near present day 2700 South and 1000 West. Property for the spur was purchased in October 1926, although the spur may already been built. (Davis County Book of Deeds 1‑H, pp.181, 183)
The beet dump and spur may have been removed by 1952. In March 1952 the sugar company sold a parcel of land in section 24, 33 feet wide by 2,651 feet long to Allen A. Adams. James E. Ellison was President and J. B. Cooley was Secretary of the Layton Sugar Company. (Davis County Book of Records 36, p.96)
In January 1955 Layton Sugar Company sold a 1.97 acre (577.5 feet by 149 feet) parcel to George H. Bennett Jr. The parcel was located along 1000 West, 509 feet south of 2700 South and was the typical size for a beet dump. (Davis County Book of Records 178, p.63)
In June 1955 the Layton Sugar Company sold a 2.89 acre (33 feet by 3,809 feet) parcel to the Ellison Ranching Company. The parcel ended at the west line of the Denver and Rio Grande mainline and included a 12 degree curve in the description. (Davis County Book of Records 88, p.435) This is interpreted to be the connection of the Bennett Branch with the D&RG mainline.
Hooper Branch
D&RGW's Hooper Branch began at the mainline and about 5700 South in Roy. The curve was a 350 foot radius from the north to the west. The branch proceeded west along 5700 South to about 3900 West where it started a gradual turn to the north. At about 4925 West the branch turned due west again to Hooper, along about 5600 South. The Hooper Road is 5500 South.
Barton, on Hooper Branch, at section line between Sections 21 and 22, T5N, R2W (D&RG Val Map)
At about 5500 West the spur to the sugar factory turned north for about a quarter mile. The sugar factory was located at about 5400 South just west of 5500 West. The Hooper cannery was located about a half block south of 5500 South at about 5700 West. Apparently the Cox Extension continued west along 5600 South to a beet dump at about 7000 West. The station at Cox was the off‑loading station for a Conservation Corps camp in the 1930's, used to make improvements to the Howard Slough Bird Refuge. The same camp was used as a POW camp during World War Two.
RGW bought land for a sixty‑six foot right of way through several sections for use as a spur to Hooper in March 1905. (Weber County Book of Deeds G, p.67)
D&RGW bought land in Hooper in April 1905 for use as a spur to the sugar factory, connecting with the Hooper Spur. (Weber County Book of Deeds G, p.86)
D&RG bought more land in Hooper from Amalgamated Sugar in January 1918. (Weber County Book of Deeds J, p.108, lines 6, 7, 8)
Hooper sugar factory
Interstate Sugar Company bought the sugar factory property at Hooper from Douglass Hooper on August 31, 1920. The property had been set aside in the name of the Hooper Sugar Company.
Interstate Sugar Company had beet dumps at Roy (in the NEQ of Sec 21, T5N, R2W), West Weber (two acres in NEQ of Sec 20, T6N, R2W, along the right of way of the Central Pacific, at Station 1,101+87), Barnes (along the north side of the UP tracks at 2000 West), Cox, Bates (in the NEQ of Sec 9), Kingsville (leased from Joseph S. King), South Hooper (two miles south of the sugar factory in Henry Smith's field), and at Hadley (in the NEQ of Sec 5, T5N, R2W).
Amalgamated Sugar bought land in Hooper in October 1917. (Weber County Book of Deeds J, p.107)
Amalgamated Sugar also bought land for use as a beet dump at Kingsville in November 1917. (Weber County Book of Deeds J, p.79)
Amalgamated Sugar sold their land in Hooper to Interstate Sugar Company on January 27, 1924. (parts of SWQ Sec 13, SEQ Sec 14, T5N, R3W) (Weber County Book of Deeds O, p.107, line 33)
Columbia Trust brought suit against Interstate Sugar Company in Second District Court for default on Interstate's five year loan that was made on March 1, 1921, to be repaid by March 1926. (Columbia Trust's mortgage in Weber County Book of Mortgages Z, p.186)
Interstate Sugar Company was placed into receivership, with James J. Burke as the receiver. Interstate's officers included, as defendants in the loan default case, Arthur Woolley, George E. Sanders, Edward O. Howard, Lou H. Farnsworth, Charles H. Barton, Richard Rowe, and the Halloran‑Judge Trust Company. (Davis County Book of Deeds 1‑I, pp.227‑239)
The liquidation decision was passed down by the court on April 2, 1927. Interstate was ordered to be sold on September 12, 1927 and the sale took place on the Weber County courthouse steps in Ogden on October 4, 1927. Walker Brothers Bank was the successful high bidder with their bid of $910,000, and took possession six months later on May 9, 1928. Walker Brothers sold their interests to Consolidated Assets Company on June 28, 1928. (Weber County Book of Deeds O, p.112, line 16, and Book of Deeds P, p.105, lines 10, 11)
Consolidated then sold the Interstate property in parcels over the next six years. The sugar factory site in Hooper was sold to the Amalgamated Sugar Company on September 11, 1936. (Weber County Book of Deeds V, p.107, line 27)
Kingsville was the site of a beet dump owned by Amalgamated Sugar Co.
D&RG's Kingsville Spur was built in late 1917 and early 1918. The branch started with a 12 degree curve to the south from the Hooper Spur, at a point 458 feet east and 414 feet south of the NW corner of Section 21, T5N, R2W. The land for the entire spur was purchased in December 1917.
The D&RG station at Kingsville was named after the original land owner, Joseph S. King, and was located at about 3000 West on the north side of 1300 North (Clinton Road). King sold a right of way for the D&RG spur, which had already been graded, in December 1917. At the same time King also sold two acres to the Amalgamated Sugar Company for use as a beet dump. The land for the beet dump was 665 feet north to south and 128 feet wide along the east side of the D&RG spur. D&RG purchased additional land from Amalgamated Sugar in January 1918, at which time the spur had been completed. (Davis County Book of Abstracts B, p.19, and Book of Deeds 1‑A, pp.437 and 478)
Farnsworth Spur
Farnsworth was the site of a beet dump owned by Interstate Sugar Co., and a cannery owned by West Point Canning Co.
Interstate Sugar built its railroad south from Kingsville on the D&RG to Farnsworth in 1923. In June 1923 the sugar company bought 4.25 acres of land (SEQ, Sec 32, T5N, R2W) from Willaim H. Dalton and Oly C. Oelson to be used for a beet dump and a railroad right of way at Farnsworth. The property for the entire rail line was purchased from the adjacent land owners, Julia A. Davis, Hannah S. Stokes, Brigham Hartley, and Oly C. Oelson. (Davis County Book of Abstracts 5, pp. 150, 153)
The line was built from where it joined with D&RG's Kingsville Spur just north of Kingsville and headed southwest to about 3200 West then due south to the Interstate's beet dump at Farnsworth, at about 3200 West on the north side of 300 North. In 1925 the West Point Canning Company built a cannery on the east side of the spur on land purchased from William H. Dalton in February 1925. The canning company sold a right of way to the D&RG for a spur, "as now constructed", in April 1925. (Davis County Book of Abstracts 5, p. 175, lines 4 and 26)
The spur to the cannery at Farnsworth began at Station 78+23 of the Interstate Sugar Company's railroad and headed southeast and south one hundred feet east of the sugar company's railroad for a length of 765 feet.
The "Interstate Sugar Company's Railroad" from Kingsville to Farnsworth was sold by Consolidated Assets to the Denver and Rio Grande Western on October 14, 1930. (Davis County Book of Abstracts 5, p. 176, line 35)
The railroad was 1.6 miles long with a 647 foot spur. Consolidated Assets was a Utah corporation based in Ogden. James E. Ellison was vice president. (Davis County Book of Deeds 1J, p.569) The Ellison family also owned the Layton Sugar Co.
West Point cannery
William H Dalton, of Roy, sold the land to the West Point Canning Company in February 1925. West Point Canning then sold an easement, "as now constructed", to the D&RG in April 1925. (Davis County Book of Abstracts 5, p.175, lines 4 and 26)
In April 1925 the president of the West Point Canning Company was John I. Fisher.
West Point Canning Company went bankrupt and was sold at a Sheriff's sale on January 25, 1936, on the Davis County courthouse steps in Farmington. The high bidder was Ogden State Bank for $20,000.00. They took possession six months later on June 30, 1936. (Davis County Book of Abstracts 5, p.178, line 24, and Book of Deeds L, p.17)
West Point Canning Company's officers were Sirl Davis and Edwin G. Wells and Robert S. Wells, doing business as the Wells Brothers.
North Salt Lake stock yards
Union Stock Yards Company, July 1906
Utah Packing Company, Feb 1907
‑ NW 11, 1N, 1W
Cudahay Packing Company of Nebraska, Oct 1916
‑ Sec 2,11, 1N, 1W, Deeds C302, E101, 292
Salt Lake Union Stock Yards, Nov 1916
‑ SE 26,2N, 1W, Deeds E113
Salt Lake Union Stock Yards to Cudahay, May 1917
‑ SE 2, 1N, 1W, Deeds C302
Other companies of interest
Kaysville Brick and Tile Company, July 1892
‑ Deeds Q152
Kaysville Brick Company, Oct 1906
‑ Deeds T523,524
Kirk Brick Company, Sept 1900
‑ Deeds P262
Giant Powder Company, from Union Stock Yards Company, Aug 1912
‑ sec 2,3, 1N, 1W, Deeds C286
Hercules Powder Company, from DuPont Powder Company, Dec 1912
‑ NE 3, NE 14, 1N, 1W, Deeds A262, E62
Inland Crystal Salt Company, April 1908, Feb 1910
‑ patents from State of Utah
‑ Deeds C247, D102, 206, 213, 214, 324, 325
Inland Crystal Salt Company, to Morton Salt Company, Oct 1927
Layton Sugar Company, April 1915
‑ Deeds E192
Layton Milling and Elevator Company, April 1890
‑ Deeds L91
Kaysville Milling Company, May 1905
‑ Deeds T283
Kaysville‑Layton Milling Company, from Layton Milling Company, June 1922
‑ Abstracts 4/49
Kaysville Creamery Company, July 1892
‑ Deeds M427
Woods Cross Creamery and Dairy Company, Jan 1893
‑ sec 24, 2N, 1W, Deeds N562
Pioneer Electric Power Company, to Union Light and Power Company, Aug 1897
‑ Grantee's Index, Book 1
Salt Lake & Ogden Gas and Electric Light Company, to Union Light & Power Company, Nov 1897
‑ Grantee's Index, Book 1
Union Light & Power Company, to Utah Light & Power Company, Dec 1900
‑ Grantee's Index, Book 1
Hatch Brick Company, to Crown Brick Company, Sept 1909
‑ SE 35, SW 36, 2N, 1W, Deeds A131, C318, D5
Hatch Brick Company, to Empire Brick Company, Nov 1909
‑ SH 35, SE 36, 2N, 1W, Deeds A131, C318, D5
Ogden Packing & Provisioning Company, Oct 1915, July 1919
‑ Sheriff's sale, Deeds E244
