Do you ever wonder how some rail lines seem to avoid the documentation of the railroad photographer? Denver & Rio Grande Western's Provo Canyon Branch did a remarkable job of doing just that for most of it's 69 years as a common carrier route. With exceptions by Richard H. Kindig, D.C. Allen, Jr. and Charles Heimerdinger, this scenic 28 mile branch was all but ignored by most photographers. Luckily, this view at Heber City survives via a faded Kodak color enlargement. The photo captures one of the very last 'Heber Local' runs up from Provo in the summer of 1966. It appears that rail traffic at Wasatch County's largest city has declined with improvements to parallel Highway 189. A group of local kids have found excitement in the arrival of the black & gold 'Heber Creeper' and were on hand greet the train crew. The depot has been boarded up by this point in time with weeds lining the right of way. Back in the 1930's, Heber City was the largest shipper of sheep by rail in the United States. An old weigh scale (at left) was responsible for documenting the transfer of gilsonite, trucked from Vernal, Utah to the railhead at Heber City. By November of 1968, the mothballed line was reopened by the D&RGW to haul the National Christmas Tree (harvested in nearby Daniel's Canyon) from Heber via a specially equipped trailer flat toward Washington, DC. It was a somewhat glorious ending to service the branch. Of course the line's history took a positive turn when the upper 18 miles were preserved in 1970 for a tourist operation that continues to this day. Unfortunately, the former D&RGW Heber yard area has been stripped of it's trackage. The now 'trackless' D&RGW depot survives to this day, utilized by a private business on 6th West at Center Street. Photographer of this photo is unknown, from my collection.
