Wahsatch, Utah

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Wahsatch is a ghost town in Summit County, Utah, located along I-80 at the northeastern end of Echo Canyon, about 23 miles east of Echo and 11 miles west of Evanston, Wyoming. It started in 1868 as a railroad camp for the Union Pacific during the building of the First transcontinental railroad.

The town quickly grew into a busy rail hub with a roundhouse, workshops, boarding houses, and warehouses. Workers dug the 772-foot Echo tunnel through the Wasatch Mountains (1868–1869). When the railroad work ended in 1869, Wahsatch became a meal stop for passengers. The early days were wild and violent, with tent saloons and even a lynching; the town had no formal cemetery.

In the early 1870s Wahsatch declined as Evanston, Wyoming grew and railroad operations moved there. Most buildings were demolished and Wahsatch became mainly a point for loading livestock. Late in the 1800s the town rebounded a bit as a center for sheep ranching, with new homes built for ranchers and workers during the sheep-shearing season. In 1899 about 700,000 pounds of wool were sheared, and in 1903 489 carloads of sheep arrived.

A new school was built in 1910, and in 1916 Wahsatch served as the headquarters for building a second railroad tunnel, giving another temporary population boost. The railroad built a depot and section houses in the 1930s, but the town soon declined along with the sheep industry and was abandoned in the 1930s.

Today the north side of the highway sits on railroad property, while the south side is on a public road. Visitors mostly see an old wooden sign that reads Wahsatch, with some remnants of railroad buildings and equipment among the ruins. The town sits at an elevation of 6,820 feet (2,080 meters).