Mendon Station Utah Idaho Central

              Mendon Station and the
Utah Idaho Central (U.I.C.) Railroad
By Paul Willie
From 1916 to 1947 the Mendon Station on Main Street served an electric rail line that
originated in Ogden, came up through Brigham, entering Cache Valley through the
Collinston/Petersboro pass then headed south to Mendon. From Mendon the line went south
to Wellsville and then on to Hyrum where it then turned north providing rail service to most
of the communities on the east side of Cache Valley until it finally terminated in Preston,
Idaho. Beginning in 1915, the line was called the Ogden-Logan and Idaho Railroad. Funded
by the entrepreneurial Eccles family it was reorganized in 1918 and called the Utah Idaho
Central (U.I.C).
The Logan newspaper reported, "The best news the people of Mendon have received for
some time was handed to us last week, when word came that the Utah Idaho Rapid Transit
Company would build by way of Mendon following the line of the old 'Utah and Northern
Railroad' to Collinston."
(The Journal. Feb 9, 1915)
Previously, it was feared that the line would come from Brigham through Mantua and
through Sardine Canyon and that following that route, Mendon would be missed. The more
gradual grade, however, favored the Collinston/Petersboro route.
The actual Mendon Station was built in 1916. "Few interurban railroads possessed station
buildings of as uniformly high quality as did the U.I.C, built of brick and concrete
construction," reported the Logan newspaper. (Herald Journal, February 28, 1964) The
actual rail and electric line from Wellsville through Mendon to Collinston and Brigham was
completed in October, 1915 with service beginning about three weeks later.
The rail line ushered in the first electricity to serve the town of Mendon in 1916. Soon, not
only was there a train running down Main Street, but homes in Mendon had electric lights
and the first electrically powered devices began to appear in town.
The Mendon Station soon became a hub of commerce to the town of Mendon evidenced by
the shipping tickets left behind in the Station.
• In 1918, $3,209 in passenger tickets were sold at the Mendon Station
• High School kids rode the train to South Cache in Hyrum each school day
using vouchers purchased by the school district.
• In 1920, 307,400 pounds of coal arrived at the Mendon Station to be picked
up by a Mr. Sorensen.
• 25,444 pounds of eggs were shipped in 1920 and 16,561 pounds were shipped
from Mendon in 1925.
• In 1925, 221 head of cattle were shipped from Mendon presumably to the
livestock market in Ogden. Tom Muir loaded 58 of them "all by himself,
unaided by the railroad staff according to the records.