In November 2020, an unintended discovery was made in a utility trench during construction associated with Utah Transit Authority's (UTA) new Central Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility in downtown Salt Lake City. The discovery consisted of a historic refuse pile that had been deposited over a period of approximately three decades—from the late nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries—associated with two narrow-gauge rail lines laid into raised concrete foundations. The refuse pile had accumulated against the concrete foundation of one of the narrow-gauge rail lines adjacent to the former oil house of the historic Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) rail yard. In 2019, archaeologists recorded the site of the D&RGW Train Maintenance Facility, which is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The November 2020 discovery is part of this same archaeological site. SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) had been monitoring continued ground-disturbing activities in the area and excavated...

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