The is a defunct
Railroad that was operated in the
Utah Territory in the western
United States during the late
1860s and early
1870s . It was a
Narrow Gauge line built by the
Mormon Co-op as a spur of the
Union Pacific portion of the
Transcontinental Railroad . The line went northward from the Union Pacific line, but construction halted in
1874 at the present
Utah -
Idaho border.
The discovery of
Gold in the Idaho Territory resulted in an increasing demand for movement of people and goods into the territory. In
1877 ,
Jay Gould acquired the line and extended it northward into Idaho along the canyon of the
Portneuf River into the
Snake River Plain . The line was extended northward into
Montana in
1880 .
