Salt Lake, Sevier Valley & Pioche RR P.2

Salt Lake, Sevier Valley and Pioche RR montage. Courtesy: Garrie L. Tufford. Photo Montage. Brooks Locomotive Works #167, 11X16"" 2-6-0 ""Mogul"". ----- Built for the Salt Lake, Sevier Valley and Pioche Railroad as #2 ""Kate Connor,"" June, 1873. ----- The Salt Lake, Sevier Valley and Pioche Railroad was incorporated in 1872 to construct a narrow-gauge railroad from Salt Lake City to Pioche, Nevada. Grading began in January 1873, and rolling stock and rails were ordered. This photo montage chronicles one of the S.L., S.V. & P. locomotives, and the only one for this road to arrive in Salt Lake City. The lower left image is a view of the engine taken at the Books' factory. It got to Salt Lake on Monday, July 7th (Herald, 7/11/1873, p3:4), accompanied from the Brooks works by D.N. Pasho "to superintend the unpacking and fitting up of the new engine, which is named the 'Kate Connor'" (News, 7/10/1873, p3:2), but there was no track to run it on. The first rails were not laid until September 25th and, because of lack of track bolts, it was not possible to run trains over even this short spur (News, 9/25/1873, p3:4). By the 30th, all construction was "at a standstill" (News, 9/30/1873, p3:3). The company did not recover, and subsequently all of the rolling stock and rails of the S.L., S.V. and P. "passed back into the hands of the sellers or elsewhere because of the company's failure to pay for them (Herald, 8/30/1874, p3:5)." The Utah Western Railway was organized in June 1874 and "bought out" the Salt Lake, Sevier Valley and Pioche (Herald, 8/30/1874, p3:5). It resumed construction and the Herald (11/19/1874, p3:3) reports "the Utah Western's beautiful and substantial locomotive 'Oquirrh' had steam up yesterday and was run out on the newly laid track about two blocks...,"" apparently its first trip. The central image of the montage is a C.R. Savage photo of a Brooks 2-6-0 on the bridge over the Jordan River at Salt Lake. The upper right image is a much enlarged view of the smoke box of this locomotive showing the plate just behind the left flag stanchion. While all of the numbers are not readily apparent, an analysis of the highlights of the figures strongly suggests the following: No. 167. The tender faintly shows the same scroll work as the "Kate Connor." The cab side has a faint and short name suggesting "OQUIRRH" while the sand box does not appear to have a cartouche with a number. If this is the case, then previous published histories of this engine are suspect. Kneiss (1954, p. 85; caption facing p. 90; roster p. 175) says the engine arrived at Palisade, Nevada, by the end of January 1874 for the Eureka and Palisade Railroad, which was then building its road. Kneiss's caption implies the photo was taken at Palisade, but this is not so. As noted above this photo was taken at the factory. While an analysis of the montage suggests the "Kate Connor" was not sold to the Eureka and Palisade, there is a possibility it could have been used during early construction of that road (leased, etc.?), and then returned to Utah to build the Utah Western, because it is known that the E. and P. was negotiating for the S.L., S.V. and P. equipment. Copies of the "Kate Connor" photo can be obtained from the Utah State Historical Society (image # 385 P.1), 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, UT 84114. The "OQUIRRH" photo is from the LDS Church Archives (image #PH2190 1/1), 50 East North Temple St., Salt Lake City, UT 84150. References: Kneiss, Gilbert H. (1954), Bonanza Railroads, Fourth edition, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 187 pages. Various Salt Lake City newspapers as cited