From Lampo Junction to Rozel : The Archaeological History of the Transcontinental Railroad across the Promontory Mountains, Utah
Box Elder County, Utah
Golden Spike National Historic Site National Park Service and Central Pacific Railroad Grade Area of Critical Environmental Concern Utah Bureau of Land Management
2012
"This synthesis document pulls together and presents the results of the archaeological investigations that have been done at Golden Spike National Historic Site since it became a National Park. This includes a summary of a park-wide, multi-year inventory project as well as compilation of all other projects and research efforts (Giles and Frost 2001; Weymouth and Southworth 2002; Weymouth, et al. 2006a and 2006b). Although the park has been under National Park Service management since 1967; until now, there has been no systematic, thorough, and intensive inventory of its many archeological resources. With the exception of Ayres= 1982 survey of the headquarters area that documented remains of the town of Promontory Station and of post-1869 operation and maintenance of the railroad, archeological investigations have been limited to reconnaissance efforts (Anderson 1981, Anderson and Ketterson 1978a, Knutsen 1995 - 1999) and small, compliance-related investigations (Jones 1979) to support park- management needs. This work has documented that a great variety and extensive number of archeological features exist within and immediately adjacent to the park that are an essential, but missing, ingredients of the overall Golden Spike story. This report also addresses the resources on two parcels of land along the railroad at either end of the Park. These two parcels are managed by the Bureau of Land Management and are considered Areas of Critical Environmental Concern or ACECs." [Preface]