West Auto Tour

West Auto Tour

NPS Photo

The West Auto Tour is approximately seven miles and follows the original Transcontinental railroad grade and allows visitors to experience what passengers would have encountered on their travels through Utah Territory. A glimpse of the Great Salt Lake, wide open spaces and the iconic "10 Miles in a Day" sign await the visitor. The tour begins seven miles west of the Visitor Center via Golden Spike Drive. The West Tour is closed seasonally from late November to early June. 

*Auto Tours are not approved for RV's or vehicles pulling a trailer. The availability of the Auto Tours is subject to change without notice.
 

(The numbers below correspond with points of interest markers along the auto tour. Companion booklets are available for purchase in the park store, located in our Visitor Center.)
 

1 - The Last Climb

In April 1869 Chinese laborers employed by the Central Pacific Railroad toiled on this stretch of railroad grade. Their hardest labors already lay as monuments behind them - in the crossing of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and the deserts of Nevada. These men welcomed the gentle, easy approaches to Promontory, from here only seven track miles away.

Travel with them as they work to a final meeting at Promontory. But don't go fast. Trains a century ago averaged speeds of only twenty miles per hour.

2 - Parallel Grading

Notice the second grade on your right and the parallel cuts ahead. They are remnants of the great railroad race to Promontory. With huge land grants and government subsidies to be gained, both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads strained hard to build more track than the other. In 1864 Congress authorized each company to send graders up to 300 miles ahead of its end-of-track. Here in Utah, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific crews actually met and passed one another with roadbeds. The result was utter duplication of effort, with grades often running within sight of one another for miles. Congress finally stopped the wastefulness on April 10, 1869 by establishing Promontory Summit as the meeting place. Thereafter each company concentrated on reaching Promontory, the shallow valley ahead.

Time has not erased the extravagance of this effort. Evidence of this parallel grading is best preserved here at Golden Spike National Historical Park.

3 - Cut and Fill

On your right is an example of making the most of the construction materials available. As cuts were cleared, the rock was conveniently used to fill in nearby low areas. In construction parlance this is known as "cut and fill" construction. This fill was abandoned with Union Pacific workers learned that Promontory was to be the meeting place and their end of track.

4 - Stair-Step Cuts

Leave your vehicle here momentarily and take a closer look at the unfinished cut on your right. Please pull off to the left. Rock impasses like this were breached in stair-step fashion. Several crews worked on a cut, but from opposite sides and different levels. The result was a systematic and efficient method of removing rock.

5 - A Hand-Built Railroad

The long winding grade you are traveling and the Union Pacific grade on your right are testimony to the organization of the workers. Second Lieutenant Charles Currier, U.S. Infantry, one of the first men to travel on the completed transcontinental railroad, observed a fill like this under construction.

"I can count five hundred men and one hundred fifty carts drawn by patient mules hauling dirt to grade the permanent track... there are plows, scrapers, & etc. The mules are well trained; they climb up and down the bank, stop at the right place and wait 'til their load is dumped, then take their place in the line and go back to get another. They look like ants. The place is black with laborers; they stand as near together as they can shovel. It's a funny sight to see five hundred shovels going into the air at one time."

Do you see the rock culvert in the Union Pacific grade? This and others like it were laid without mortar in 1869 and have survived the years. Watch for others in the park.

6 - Sidings

The grade widens here. In later years a siding was constructed at this site so that trains traveling in opposite directions could pass. Lower-priority trains, usually freights, were required to wait on a siding while higher-priority trains, pulling passengers or mail, continued on. Sidings were built about every three to five miles along the route.

7 - Ten Miles in One Day

Here, on April 28, 1869, the Central Pacific established a record that has never been equaled.

The Union Pacific once laid eight and one half (8.5) miles of track in a single day and boasted that their feat could not be matched. Charles Crocker, Central Pacific's construction superintendent, was determined to beat that record. He shrewdly waited until the distance between the two companies was so short that the Union Pacific could not try again.

A correspondent from the San Francisco Evening Bulletin described the event:

"The scene is a most animated one. From the first pioneer to the last tamper, perhaps two miles, there is a thin line of 1,000 men advancing a mile an hour; the iron cars, with their living and iron freight, running up and down; mounted men galloping backward and forward. Far in the rear are trains of material, with four or five locomotives, and their water-tanks and cars... Keeping pace with the tracklayers was a telegraph construction party, hauling out, and hanging, and insulating the wire, and when the train of offices and houses stood still, connection was made with the operator's office, and the business of the road transacted.

Ten miles fifty-six feet of track were laid. It was an orchestration of humanity as magnificent as the Pacific Railroad effort itself.

8 - Gravel For Ballast

You are driving on a roadbed built of gravel "borrowed" from the larger excavation on your left. Routine railroad maintenance regularly required new ballast or loose rocks that held ties in place and provided for drainage. Sources like this were of considerable importance to the railroads.

9 - Approaching the Golden Spike

You are nearing Promontory Summit, just around the bend ahead. Imagine the jubilation felt by the thousands of workers as they laid track through here. They came 690 miles in nearly four years and the end was finally in sight.

The press praised the Central Pacific's efforts, but showed less favor for the Union Pacific workers laboring on the valley floor east of Promontory. One correspondent grumbled on May 7th:

"We are completely paralyzed here at present, and waiting anxiously for the arrival of the Eastern people. Some dissatisfaction is felt at this prolonged delay, which compels us to sojourn in these regions longer than expected."

Ahead you will leave the railroad grade and return to the main road. Stop number 10 is just beyond the Visitor Center.

If you'd like to continue the self-guided driving tour, please follow the signs 3 miles to the beginning of the East Tour.

Details

Duration

60-90 Minutes

Activity

Scenic Driving

Both tours are on original 1860s railroad bed. Traffic is one-way only. please do not block others taking the tour. Pull off at wide sections of grade when stopping. Because the grade is narrow and often elevated, drivers should pay close attention to the road and travel at slow speeds.

Age(s)

Visitors of all ages are encouraged to participate in the scenic driving tours as passengers. Drivers must be of legal driving age.

Pets Allowed

Yes

Activity Fee

No

Entrance fees may apply, see Fees & Passes information.

Location

Start of the West Auto Tour

If you wish to take the complete tour, turn right as you leave the visitor center parking area and follow the well-marked gravel road west for eight miles to the start. A full tour will require about an hour and a half. Refer to the map.

Reservations

No

Visitors of all ages are encouraged to participate in the scenic driving tours as passengers. Drivers must be of legal driving age.

Season

Spring, Summer

Time of Day

Day

Accessibility Information

This is a scenic and historic drive along the original 1860s railroad bed. This road is only accessible to passenger motor vehicles.