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...
Trash or Treasure: Exploring the Origins of Artifacts Discovered at Salt Lake City's Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Maintenance Facility (42SL718)
TIFFANY TUTTLE COLLINS is an archaeologist and science writer at SWCA Environmental Consultants in Salt Lake City, and she also teaches anthropology classes at Salt Lake Community College. She has fifteen years of experience working in cultural resources management and has written numerous reports for cultural compliance, planning, and environmental resources assessment projects across the Great Basin, Pacific Northwest, and California. Her particular area of expertise is historical background research.
CHRISTINE MICHALCZUK is an archaeologist and a project manager in SWCA Environmental Consultants’ Salt Lake City office. She has more than twenty years of experience in various areas of cultural resources management, including supporting various types of compliance projects. As a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA), Michalczuk meets the Secretary of the Interior Standards (36 CFR 61) in archaeology and has conducted archaeological work throughout the Great Basin. Although her archaeological experience primarily focuses on the prehistoric cultures of the Great Basin, she also has worked on numerous projects with components that date to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Tiffany Tuttle Collins, Christine Michalczuk; Trash or Treasure: Exploring the Origins of Artifacts Discovered at Salt Lake City's Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Maintenance Facility (42SL718). Utah Historical Quarterly 1 October 2024; 92 (4): 335–348. doi: https://doi.org/10.5406/26428652.92.4.04
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