Terrace, Utah facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Terrace, Utah
|
|
|---|---|
Looking south at the site of the former Terrance Roundhouse, with Terrace Mountain in the distance, c1980 photograph
|
|
 Terrace, Utah
Location in Utah
Terrace, Utah
Location in the United States
|
|
| Country | United States |
| State | Utah |
| County | Box Elder |
| Founded | 1869 |
| Abandoned | 1904 |
| Elevation | 4,550 ft (1,387 m) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1438027 |
Terrace is a ghost town in the Great Salt Lake Desert in west-central Box Elder County, Utah, United States. A ghost town is a place where most people have left, leaving behind empty buildings.
Contents
Discovering Terrace: A Railroad Town
Terrace was started on April 1, 1869. It was built by the Central Pacific Railroad. The town served as a "division point" for the railroad. This means it was a main base for train operations.
It was an important stop on the First transcontinental railroad. This was the first railway line that crossed the entire United States. Terrace had a large 16-stall roundhouse. A roundhouse is a building where trains are stored and repaired. It also had an eight-track switchyard. A switchyard is where train cars are sorted onto different tracks.
Terrace depended completely on the railroad. At its busiest, about 1,000 people lived there. Many Chinese railway workers were part of the population.
The town and a nearby mountain, Terrace Mountain, got their names from the land. They were named after the "shoreline terraces" of an ancient lake. These terraces are like steps on the land, showing where the water level of Lake Bonneville used to be.
The End of Terrace: A Town Bypassed
In 1904, the Southern Pacific Railroad took over the Central Pacific. They built a new railway line called the Lucin Cutoff. This new route went straight across the Great Salt Lake. It was a shorter and faster way to travel.
The new route completely bypassed Terrace. This means the trains no longer went through the town. The tracks that ran through Terrace became a "branchline." This was a small, less-used track. The railroad closed its facilities in Terrace. They moved their main operations to Montello, about 40 miles (64 km) away.
The railroad line through Terrace was finally closed in 1942. Many of the houses and buildings from Terrace were moved to Montello. Today, only a few things remain. There is a cemetery with just three headstones. You can also see a pile of red bricks and the outline of the old turntable. The turntable was a rotating platform used to turn trains around.
Remembering Terrace: Historic Railroad Grade
The train tracks along the old route were removed in 1942. But the path where the tracks used to be is still important. In 1987, this old path was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It became part of the Central Pacific Railroad Grade Historic District.
Later, in 1993, the Bureau of Land Management recognized the path. They made it part of the Transcontinental Railroad Back Country Byway. This means it's a special route for people to explore. It helps us remember the history of the first transcontinental railroad.
Images for kids
-
Looking south at the site of the former Terrance Roundhouse, with Terrace Mountain in the distance, c1980 photograph
