SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — It’s spring here in the Beehive State, which means flowers are blooming, leaves are growing on the trees and orange cones are lining the roads. Construction season is upon us.
ABC4’s Craig Worth actually finds construction fun. According to him, when the workers come and tear up the roads, it gives us a chance to relive history. And in recent years, he said, crews have struck historic gold, including discovering forgotten trolley tracks.
Read more: What was Utah’s growth like 70 years ago?
A few years ago, the largest amount of trolley trucks were transported along South 9th, but last year there were even more trolley trucks transported along State Street.
The trolley ran from downtown Salt Lake City all the way to Holladay, last used in 1927, but began life in what is known today as Trolley Square.
The trolley rumbled and clunked and people loved it.
“First of all, you’re going faster than anything else that could travel at the time, except for trains. So for people, this was a quick and fast way to get somewhere,” said streetcar historian Michael DeGroote. “It was faster than walking, faster than a horse, and it was great for them because they didn’t have cars. They could get where they wanted as quickly as possible.”
So what caused people to bury the tracks?
“These tracks have been hidden since at least 1927. 1927 was the last year there were only trolley cars here,” DeGroot said. “Then the trains started using overhead wire buses. Then he introduced gas buses in the 1940s, and eventually the streetcars were phased out.”
[In1945astormfloodedthecityandwithitcamethelastfewremainingtrolleys[1945年に嵐で市が洪水に見舞われ、それとともにわずかに残っていた最後のトロッコも来ました。
For more information, check out the complete version of Craig Wirth’s Wirth Watching.
