The Road

The Emigration Canyon claim begins in the upper part of the canyon, just as the road makes a sharp turn to the south and begins to head up and over Little Mountain. In comparison to the other R.S. 2477 claims in Salt Lake County, this is a very substantial road. It is two lanes wide with a good shoulder on each side. There is no question as to whether or not this road was ever constructed. In fact, the road through Emigration Canyon was the first route into the Salt Lake Valley. The physical location of the road has changed slightly over the years, but an Emigration Canyon Road has existed through the canyon for nearly as long as there have been settlers in the Salt Lake Valley..

Criteria*

"The right-of-way for the construction of highways over the public lands not reserved for public uses, is hereby granted."

Construction: "Means an intentional physical act or series of intentional physical acts that were intended to, and that accomplished, preparation of a highway by a durable, observable, physical modification of land for use by highway traffic."

This segment of the road was constructed as part of State Route 65 that connected Emigration Canyon to Mt. Dell. The road is two lanes wide with substantial shoulders on each side. In places the road has been cut into the hillside as it makes switchbacks up and over Little Mountain.

Highway: "Means a thoroughfare that was prior to the latest available date used by the public, without discrimination against any individual or group, for the passage of vehicles carrying people or goods from place to place."

This road is a highway, and a right-of-way (ROW) as such was obtained for this road by the State prior to its construction in 1934. The ROW was then transferred to Salt Lake County in December of 1965, after the construction of Interstate 80 through Parley's Canyon.

Unreserved public lands: "lands owned by the United States...that had not yet been set aside, dedicated, withdrawn, reserved, settled, preempted, entered, appropriated, or disposed of, or on which claims had not been located."

The segment of the Emigration Canyon Road, as it exists today, was not constructed until 1934, long after portions of the land it crosses were reserved as part of the Wasatch National Forest. However, the State Road Commission did obtain a Special Use Permit for this road from the U.S. Forest Service in July 1938. The permit required that the road be open to the public at all times.
(*Definitions are taken directly from “The Revised Statute (R.S.) 2477 Rights-of-Way Act.”)

History

The road through Emigration Canyon was used by the infamous Donner-Reed Party, and later by Brigham Young, and many of the Mormon settlers that were to follow. Almost immediately after entering the valley the settlers went to work to make the road passable. The wagon road they constructed was used, with very few modifications to the route, for the next 60 years.

The next significant change to the road came with the construction of the Emigration Canyon Railroad in 1907. The impetus for the construction of this rail line was to aid in the removal of stone, shale, gravel and lime from the canyon for use in construction taking place in the valley. As the railroad was being constructed significant amounts of blasting, cutting and filling were necessary to avoid passing over steep grades. Much of the work that was done also improved the accessibility of the Emigration Canyon Road that paralleled the train tracks. After the failure of the Emigration Canyon Railroad in 1917, the tracks were pulled up and the grade was used as a second road in the canyon (one road was for travel up the canyon, the other for travel down). This two road system lasted until a new highway, State Route 65 (SR 65), was constructed through the canyon in 1934. The State of Utah opted to change the route of the road over Little Mountain in order to avoid the original steep, relatively straight route up and over the summit. To do this, the state had to acquire additional land on Little Mountain, in some cases through the use of eminent domain. The state held the right-of-way for this new highway for just over 30 years. After the completion of I-80 through Parley’s Canyon, the state deeded the ROW for the road through Emigration Canyon to Salt Lake County. The County still holds the ROW for this road.

Sources

Carlstrom, Jeffrey, Cynthia Furse. The History of Emigration Canyon: Gateway to Salt Lake Valley. Logan, Utah. Utah State University Press. 2003.

Maintenance Department – Salt Lake County Roads. Conversation with District Foreman. October 4, 2005.

Salt Lake County Recorder’s Office. Research of subdivision plat maps in area of the Emigration Canyon claim. Book F, p. 41, 57. Salt Lake City, UT. August 16, 2005.

Salt Lake County Surveyor’s Office. “The Bible” - Book of maps (sheet 25A), accompanied by a book of field notes. Specific date of maps unknown – most likely from the 1890’s.

State Route 65. Utah Department of Transportation. Project #: NRS-138. 1933

Relevant Documents

Map of the Emigration Canyon Claim

Little Mountain Subdivision No. 1 (pdf 195 kB): Plat map of the subdivision located between the Emigration Canyon claim and the fork in the road to Burr's Fork and Killyon's Canyon. The subdivision was dedicated on May 25, 1910.

Little Mountain Subdivision No. 2 (pdf 146 kB): Plat map of the subdivision just up canyon from Little Mountain Subdivision No. 1. Subdivision No. 2 was actually dedicated before Little Mountain Subdivision No. 1, on January 10, 1910.

Special Use Permit for the construction of a road (pdf 729 kB): A copy of the special use permit granted by the U.S. Forest Service to the Utah State Road Commission. The permit allows for the construction of the stretch of the Emigration Canyon Road that crosses Forest Service land on Little Mountain. The permit was granted on July 30, 1938.

Aerial Photo (pdf 2.0 MB): Aerial photo of the Emigration Canyon claim taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1946.

Utah State Road System Log (pdf 258 kB): Road listed as State Route Number 65, December 31, 1951.

Transfer of the Right-of-Way for SR 65 to Salt Lake County (pdf 136 kB): A letter from the District Director of the Utah Department of Transportation to a private homeowner in Emigration Canyon. The letter sates that “jurisdiction of the road was transferred to Salt Lake County by State Road Commission action in December of 1965.”

State of Utah State Road Commission (pdf 1.1 MB): Plans for the proposed state road 65, which connected Salt Lake City to Parley’s Canyon, by way of Emigration Canyon. The plans show the new route for the road over Little Mountain, as well as the right-of-way for the road.