The Lost Railroad and the Old Mill - The Railroads of John Young

While on a Sunday drive we found the oldest home in Salt Lake City, the beautiful site of Robert Gardner's Millcreek Sawmill and the lost railroad grade of John W. Young.
We have tracked down what we thought were all the old railroad grades of Brigham Young's son John W. Young, but we found what may be a bit of his Brickyard Branch which he intended to build to "The Old Mill".
From The Deseret News Oct 5 2018:
Built in 1848, the residence located at 1475 E. Murphy's Lane was home to Robert Gardner Jr., one of the first settlers to construct a sawmill on the waterway now called Mill Creek.
People tour the Gardner home in Millcreek on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018. The home is the oldest Utah residence still standing in its original location. The 1848 home was built by Robert Gardner Jr., who was one of the first settlers to construct a sawmill on Mill Creek
People tour the Gardner home in Millcreek on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018. The home is the oldest Utah residence still standing in its original location. The 1848 home was built by Robert Gardner Jr., who was one of the first settlers to construct a sawmill on Mill Creek. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Listed among Utah sites on the National Register of Historic Places, the home has gone through several renovations over the years, said Robin Gardner Juvan, great-great-granddaughter of Robert Gardner Jr. It has been continuously occupied since it was first built, she added, though it has not always been in the Gardner family.
For the last couple of decades, Robert's direct descendant, Al Gardner, had planned to reacquire the home so it could be restored to its original condition and preserved as "a living museum," she said.
Once he was able to get the home back, Al's sister Sherill moved in, Juvan said. She has lived there since and been the caretaker throughout the restoration process, which began about six years ago.
Al Gardner spent $1.5 million on the restoration project but died before it was completed. Juvan said having the renovation completed is an emotional triumph he would have appreciated.
"I was able to help complete what my dad started. This is something that he has wanted since he was young," Juvan said holding back tears. "(After this project), I feel like I know my great-great-grandfather really well."
The restoration process uncovered the original foundation, she noted, which was built with river rock gathered from the creek running directly behind the house. She said the timbers from the original floor still have bark on them with raw cut marks of Utah’s first original sawmill. The rafters also have saw marks, which were made by the mill built and operated on Mill Creek, she added.
"It took (my father) 52 years to be able to purchase it," she said. "He really wanted it completed and I hope we did him justice in how it turned out."
Among the participants at the commemoration event were Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini, the Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake County, Reid Neilson of the Historical Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, along with numerous Gardner descendants.
www.deseret.co...

[@gleanerk]

The Sherlock and Watson of old rail roads , Toy Man TV ! Thanks again for sharing your time and videos!

[@ToyManTelevision]

Hi. So fun. Out yesterday looking at the old grade of the Sanpete Valley Railroad. 3 foot gauge. Found new places we didn’t know about. In the spring we are back there cause a friend is “rebuilding” the railroad in 1/2 scale, 15 inch gauge so a bit smaller than half. Anyway about 150 feet of his railroad is on the old grade!

[@mrstacyj9496]

thank you for sharing. enjoy this blessed Sunday.

[@ToyManTelevision]

Thanks!! Big storm brewing. Expecting 6 to 10 inches later today. Planning to lay low tonight. Stay well.

[@805ROADKING]

Nice little history lesson!! Good investigatory work!!☺

[@ToyManTelevision]

Hi! Yup a fun day when it wasn’t snowing!!! See ya.

[@robertemmons2260]

Wow. Very cool info! Learn something new every week. Thanks again for another great video!

[@jerredwayne8401]

I finally made it early! Lol

[@robertemmons2260]

😄😄 Isn't my first time. Lol

[@mikethemoneymaker]

Stunningly done with great history, THANK YOU.

[@ToyManTelevision]

Hi! Fun show. Beautiful and reminds us of summer. Go away snow! Yo. Groundhog! What can we plan?

[@PrincessOPD_Utah]

Great! Thanks .. 🙏 Josie Wales here, Logan Utah. 🏳️‍🌈🖖🏳️‍🌈

[@kenshores9900]

There are lots of forgotten and abandoned railroads in America. You all intuitively realize that railroads are a part the the American fabric. For their failings the rail roads have and still have had an influence in our country. Thank you for this snipit of Utah history.

[@ToyManTelevision]

Hi. We love finding these old railroads and historic places. If they are also beautiful then really SCORE.

[@stevemellin5806]

Very interesting place . wonder if any of the old railroad equipment is still around somewhere . Have a great weekend . thank you

[@ToyManTelevision]

Yup!!!! At the California state railroad museum up in the rafters is a locomotive off of a Nevada railroad. Originally that locomotive ram on the Utah northern, so this very rail road! No neatly enshrined in the rafters of the California state railroad museum.

[@stevemellin5806]

Thank you for the information .I'll go there one day .

[@PeterCPRail8748]

More great local history

[@ToyManTelevision]

Thanks! So many beautiful places in our own backyard

[@allanegleston4931]

:)

[@ToyManTelevision]

Thanks!! More coming when the dang snow melts.

[@brianberthold3118]

i have been looking at older maps ( i have been mapping rail lines and roundhouses for decades now) and its DRW RR that runs down from Surgarmont DR to E3190S St - also the line that you said runs behind the park on that curved st the tracks ran to the east of the st in the middle of the block behind not in front of the FD building then they go behind the buildings fronting S1100E - in fact you helped me find an unknown location for a roundhouse - as always love your history based vids if you use google EARTH (not maps) let me know i can send you the rail map and roundhouse locations file i have made over 1000 roundhouses in the USA and well prob 1000's of miles worth of track RR and taction)

[@ToyManTelevision]

Hi! Yes it’s pretty easy to find the grade behind what was the bowling alley, that red wall, probably 150 feet east of that red wall? Anyway real easy to see where the tracks crossed over the street by the liquor store. Have you looked at the other films on John Young? I have photocopies of some of the old original survey maps from Salt Lake in Fort Douglas! At any rate I was able to put together a pretty accurate map on the area around the sugar mill as it was being standard gaged. Showing the location of the standard gauge tracks the narrow gauge tracks in the dual gauge tracks.

[@tomklock568]

Beautiful there...have only been in the Salt Lake City airport (whatever it is called) and at four corners. Have to check it out some time!

[@ToyManTelevision]

Hi. It’s a cute little town. Really!

[@Rob741741]

I enjoyed this video but when are you going to do a piece on the SLSV & P narrow gauge railway that ran between South Salt Lake and Tooele? This would be an excellent research and video project. Best wishes.

[@ToyManTelevision]

We sort of looked into that. Be interesting if we can find grades and stuff

[@weeniedogwrangler7096]

Very interesting. My folks and other relatives are buried over at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. I had no idea that there were these historical artifacts practically across the street from there. Next time I'm in SLC to visit the cemetery I will try to find the sites you covered. That house is really beautiful. Nice to see it has been so well preserved. Anniegetyourglock, aka harpy queen.

[@ToyManTelevision]

Us too. My whole family is there. I’m the last. Oddly my Aunt owned a big piece of the East part of that cemetery. Her farm when we were kids. Oddly she’s one not buried there.

[@kenshores9900]

Never boring, historical. Interesting history of Salt Lake City. It is nice to see you were able to explore the grades of the forgotten narrow gauge railroad. Till the next episode.

[@ToyManTelevision]

Hi. Oh we miss the green. And the sun. And warm weather. Big storm coming right now. Geeeezzz. Wanna go splor old grades!

[@tomkibbe835]

Always fascinating to see and hear about Utah history, especially for those of us for whom Great Salt Lake comes to mind when we think of the state. Thx!

[@ToyManTelevision]

Are the great Salt Lake and the infamous lakes stink! You sort of have to be a local to truly appreciate what 10,000 acres of rotten eggs can really smell like.

[@SaintCoemgen]

Amazing. Thanks for sharing, thus preserving, this bit of history.

[@ToyManTelevision]

More railroads coming soon. Soon as the snow melts.

[@GrumpSkull]

The early mechanized saws were called 'frame saws'. They superseded 'top dogs' and 'bottom dogs' working in a pit.

[@ToyManTelevision]

GrumpSkull cool info.

[@brookingsbeachcomber]

these were just the types of pictures i needed for my new RR, thanks Toyman and K

[@ToyManTelevision]

Hi. How bout that brick kilns? But suicide rock with the dual gauge track is just amazing.

[@ToyManTelevision]

If you haven’t seen the episode on the line from Sugar House to Park city, it shows a lot of more photographs of that area including the stone foot bridge which is still there.

[@CarlosHernandez-rh7nu]

I think I heard the reason why there aren’t so many photographs from the Pioneer era is because there was a fire that started in Salt Lake City near the photographer shop and The shop got caught in the fire. I think that fire occurred somewhere in the 1890s

[@ToyManTelevision]

It was really hard to take photos back then. In salt lake there was really only one guy, Shippler, doing it. When the railroad came through so did a bunch of photographers. Sudden explosion of photos taken.

[@ahbenjamin2889]

this may sound like a stupid question. However, I was wondering what type of van/car do you drive on your various escapades? I do enjoy your videos, especially the ones that go to small out of the place towns . I have subscribed. Thank you for your effort(s).

[@ToyManTelevision]

Well mostly a Honda Element. But also 3 mustangs. .

[@ahbenjamin2889]

@@ToyManTelevision thank you for your reply. You and your wife seem to be such nice people, when I watch your videos its like I am visiting you and having a cup of coffee. Thank you so much.

[@tomas5376]

Love all this history!👍✌️😊🙏🏼⛵️⛵️⛵️

[@ToyManTelevision]

Thanks!! Always interesting but especially for salt lake people

[@franko7290]

What is it that makes exploring old forgotten railroad grades so satisfying, especially when you can identify structures, bridges or other direct links?

[@ToyManTelevision]

We had federal agents here at the house a few days ago. Someone turned us in for taking spikes off the Uinta railroad in colorado and showing that on the channel. Not sure if we wanna do a show on that! But we showed that we were on private property not BLM land. Weird story right?

[@ToyManTelevision]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pHvLgH1umtiYedU

[@FastSports-ScaleCarGarage]

Great to see that you are both out and about making great videos! Keep it up!

[@ToyManTelevision]

Hip is working!!!

[@acox3527]

Great historical preservation of the house and property

[@ToyManTelevision]

I understand they spent over one million dollars restoring it. Hard to believe but I understand the inside is amazing. And they had to really do something to rebuild the foundations.

[@lordsjaak]

that old saw reminds me of the windmill saw in the Netherlands :)

[@ToyManTelevision]

No doubt similar. They learned their trade in Scotland and were quite new to the states in 1847. As Scotland is all water mills that’s what the knew but I’ll bet the windmill version is quite similar.

[@lordsjaak]

@@ToyManTelevision yeah it does also their are different variations of it, we have pump version, best know grain mill (if i tell correct for making flower for the bread) , the saw mills. and even in 1887 was first electrict wind turbine in scotland that just produced 12 kilowatt of power. but in the Netherlands using for their ship buildings in early years.

[@VRDenshaOtaku]

We were in the US a year ago and we chose to have a stop at tehapachi pass, and we had 2 guys pull up that had never stopped there despite being locals

[@ToyManTelevision]

One of the subscribers lives up there! Has horses and restores old gas pumps! Been by several times. Interesting area. Like to see the Big Boy there!

[@RailPreserver2K]

What camera did you use to film the scene thats at 0:54 ?

[@ToyManTelevision]

Lately we’re shooting everything with our iPhones. The only other camera I use is an old Lumix 2K.

[@ToyManTelevision]

So shot on iPhone 7R I think?

[@JerkRice]

I love finding hidden historic places. Even more fun if the place is somewhere that people drive by all the time not realizing the significance of the place.

[@ToyManTelevision]

So many places like that. There’s a soccer field near here where the kids play. Few if any know dozes of infamous murderers were executed on that field in the 1800s.

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

There is a book called Michigan ghost towns book 1 and book 2 Were put to gather into one There is over 400 railroads that ran and Michigan at 1 time or another thanks again for another one of your adventures

[@ToyManTelevision]

There was one there I’ve been dying to know more about. Ran into a story years ago. A gravity railroad from a gunpowder mill to the powder magazine. One of America’s very first railroads from about 1799. Never saw a locomotive. Which was good. As it never blew up! But I didn’t know anything was going in there then. Yet alone a railroad

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

@@ToyManTelevision Where was the gunpowder mill at was it in Michigan ?

[@ToyManTelevision]

DETROITREDNECK DETROITREDNECK SS I recall the story yes. In some rolling hills. I wish I kept that newsletter. On America’s earliest wood railways. Rails were about 6x6 wood rails. As a loaded car drifted down grade a rope pulled an empty car back up. On the Great Lakes and as I recall Michigan.

[@detroitredneckdetroitredne6674]

@@ToyManTelevision I will look into it she would I can find out👍

[@slam854]

Beautiful footage! When I moved to Salt Lake I lived in Mill Creek. Always thought there was some history around. Parked my '54 Chevy truck and got around on my Tomos moped exploring where ever I could. Found Ab Jenkins burial plot in Wasatch Gardens cemetery by sighting tree lines against Gibraltar Peak in some footage of John Price placing a quart of milk on Ab's grave stone. I now explore from my new Honda C125 Super Cub.

[@ToyManTelevision]

Beautiful place to explore! Like to find Ab! Like to see John prices cars too. Anyway have fun with that Super Cub!

[@simonalexandercritchley439]

Very interestingyou guys. Wonderful history and beautiful location. Hidden gems!

[@ToyManTelevision]

Is that an amazing place. Beautiful

[@MrBillCNW]

Hello Guys and Gals, Thank you for a great video. Mr. Bill CNW From Villa Park, Illinois

[@ToyManTelevision]

We were just watching are videos from your area. Well sort of your area! Jasper Sanfilippo just died a couple of days ago, and so we were reviewing our films about him. In Barrington Hills.

[@PanzerDave]

3:52 I love the original photo of the home being shown right after the house as it currently stands. It seems the original porch was not quite level. Were they celebrating before they finished the porch!?

[@ToyManTelevision]

lol! As I say the photo is about 30 years old even though it’s about 1880 I think. I hope it was a bit more on the level when that built it.

[@maddogmerv]

Great job Dale! I grew up right there on Highland Drive and 26 south. I remember the grade vividly and how it ran through Sugar House down to the Brickyard. Thanks for adding another piece to this fun history puzzle.

[@ToyManTelevision]

I never got over to your house back then. Only hung out with your brother at school. Mostly. Can’t recall much. But at school all the time.

[@maddogmerv]

Toy Man Television We lived right across the street from Mayor Glade’s mansion. I remember hearing the steam whistle from the old sugarhouse laundry at noon, 12:30, and quitting time.

[@camshawn8883]

Thank you for the little bits of history. They help us to interpret the landscapes we pass through as we travel. We now have several more places to explore around Salt Lake City the next time we pass through ( hopefully when the snow is gone). Cam

[@ToyManTelevision]

It’s a cute little city! With places like these. Be sure to walk the grade in Red Butte Canyon now Red Butte Gardens. Different part of this same railroad. Sort of. Same locomotive shop.

[@krissfemmpaws1029]

That was really interesting, you never know when you'll be walking by a historical place. It's really kind of funny how little places in niches around the country have more historical value then the locals know and sadly the history is forgotten. I've lived out here on San Juan Island for 20 years and it was 4 years ago that I found out there was a Narrow Gauge Railroad that ran from Roche Harbor to Friday Harbor when the limestone quarry was operating.

[@ToyManTelevision]

Wow!! San Juan island?

[@krissfemmpaws1029]

@@ToyManTelevision as I have been told part of Roche Harbor Road is part of the old railroad grades. Because the limestone kilns were wood fired my guess is the railroad was used in part to haul cordwood as well as move ore cars around the quarry and production area.