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| Thistle Informational Kiosk |
One route was formed by the Spanish Fork/Price Rivers and the other route was formed by Thistle Creek as it ran toward Sevier Valley. These two natural formed routes were known to have been used by Indian tribes and early explorers that passed through the area.
The Dominguez-Escalante Expedition was the first recorded European exploration party to use the routes and the routes were later followed by various miners and settlers moving westward.
In 1848 Mormon Pioneers started homesteading land along Thistle Creek because of the fertile ground and available water for irrigation. During the first few years the area's economy was primarily farming and ranching with some Asphaltum mining in the surrounding mountains. Then in 1878 the Utah and Pleasant Valley railway (U&PV) constructed a narrow-gauge spur line to serve the residents of Thistle.
In 1890 the U&PV went bankrupt and the company's assets were purchased at a foreclosure auction by the Denver and Rio Grande Western railroad (D&RGW). D&RGW upgraded the line to standard gauge and connected it to their Denver-Salt Lake City line. Because of the steep grades and curvature of the tracks, D&RGW built several facilities in Thistle to service and prepare steam trains for the trip out of Thistle. Helper Engines were also stationed in Thistle to help steam locomotives ascend Soldier Summit to the east.
At its peak in 1917, there were about 700 residents living in Thistle. The railroad had a five-stall roundhouse, depot, machine shop, and a large supply of sand, coal, and water. Non-railroad improvements included residential houses, supply stores, post office, barber shop, saloon, pool hall, bakeries, restaurants, and a two-story schoolhouse.
In 1950 D&RGW started phasing out steam locomotives and replacing them with diesel locomotives that had more power and required less maintenance. This change was devastating to the economy of Thistle. As jobs and requirements for services moved to other locations, the town's population started to decline. By 1983 there were only a few remaining residents in Thistle.
For years railroad workers had noticed unstable soil in the Thistle area and their tracks had to be repaired often, but no one ever investigated the problem.
In the winter of 1982-1983 there was an unusually high level of snow on the mountains and during spring thaw the mountain soils became saturated with water. By April train tracks in the area were seriously affected by the wet shifting soil and required continual maintenance.
On April 13, the D&RGW track manager from Denver visited the area to investigate the problem and on the same day a Utah Highway Patrolman hit a new buckle in the highway that was so severe he hit his head on the ceiling of his car. Trains were slowed to 10 miles/hour and highway maintenance crews were brought in to fix the road.
By April 14, the train tracks were so out of alignment that the railroad closed the line and the highway was in such poor condition that it was closed to through traffic. Fearing that a landslide may occur, a voluntary evacuation order was issued on April 16th to the residents of Thistle.
On April 17 moving soil blocked the river and a lake started to form behind the dam. A mandatory order was issued for people to evacuate the area immediately because it was estimated that the water level behind the dam could rise 200-300 feet. Some residents had less than two hours before water reached their house and they were only able to save a fraction of their belongings.
By April 18th water had reached the rooftops of 22 houses and by the 19th the entire mountain was moving into the river at about 2 miles/hour.
The Utah Governor requested Federal aid and President Ronald Reagan issued the first presidential disaster area declaration for the State of Utah. By the time the landslide stopped, the dam completely blocked the river and eventually created a lake three miles long and over 200 feet deep. Fearing that the dam may break, all downstream residents in the Utah Valley were told to be ready to evacuate their properties within 30 minutes.
The State quickly started building a tunnel through the adjacent mountain to rerouted the river and hydraulic pumps were used to lower the lake's water level. By autumn two new 3,000-foot long railroad tunnels were completed and the highway was realigned. The water behind the dam was eventually drained.
Some of Thistle's buildings and foundations are still visible today. The most photographed building is near the highway and partially submerged in water backed up from Thistle Creek. An informational kiosk was built on the old townsite, but the kiosk display items have been severely neglected and vandalized.
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| 1983 Aerial View Of Slide Area and Lake That Was Formed (picture by R.L. Schuster) |
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| Two Realigned 3,000-Foot Long Railroad Tunnels |
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| Soldier Creek |
The following pictures are of Thistle Townsite as it looks today.
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| Remains of Two-Story Schoolhouse (2006 Picture by by Jenny Bauman) |
BONUS HISTORICAL STORIES & PICTURES
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| Ronnie driving International I-9 Tractor |
The "M" tractors were only equipped with four-cylinder 248-cubic-inch engines and were not capable of pulling large equipment. During the War years there was a lack of young men to work on the farms; so we purchased an International I-9 tractor that had a considerably larger engine and was capable of pulling much larger equipment. The International I-9 was the Industrial version of the popular WD-9 farm tractor. During the War years it was difficult to find a new WD-9 tractor because tractor production was limited to support the War effort.
I was too young to remember the incident, but my Mother told me that when I was about a year-and-a-half old my older brother was assigned to watch me for the day. Since we were told to play outside, my brother decided to teach me how to grease a tractor. Apparently we found a grease gun in the garage and managed to smear grease all over the tractor - and ourselves. When we arrived back at the house covered with grease, my Mother would not even allow us to come inside. Instead, we had to undress outside, our clothes were burned, and Mother scrubbed our bodies with gasoline to remove the grease. We were then placed in a galvanized tub filled with soap and water to remove the gasoline residue. When our Dad came in from the field he was not too pleased that we had greased the tractor for him.
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| Web Picture - Photographer Unknown |
After milking the cows the whole-milk was poured into a stainless steal bowl that was attached to the top of the separator and a crank was turned that rotated the bowl. When the correct speed was reached that would separate the milk and cream, the separator would make a pinging sound. There were two pipes on the separator - cream would come out of one pipe and skimmed milk would come out of the other pipe. The trick was to turn the crank at the exact speed to maintain the pinging sound as the whole-milk was added. (The separator pictured above appears to have an electric motor attached, which we did not have.)
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