HISTORY OF HEBER VALLEY
Within a few years of the Mormon Pioneers settling in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, families and groups were sent out to colonize and settle the outlying valleys and areas in the territory of Utah, as it was known. The first permanent settlement in Heber Valley came in 1859. Since most of the folks had come from Great Britain, they called their location London. As with most towns that were building up in the hinterlands of the territory, a fort was constructed in the center of the site. The location of this former fort is between 100 and 300 West, and 200 North and 500 North in present day Heber City. Because most of the townspeople had been converted to the Mormon Church in England, and Heber C. Kimball, an early apostle in the Church, had been in charge of the missionary activities in Great Britain, they decided to honor him by naming this new city after him.
In the late 1800’s, most of Utah’s population centers had been served by a railroad or two. At that point, the Heber Valley had not yet been so graced. But in 1889, the Rio Grande Western Railway began to build a branch line up Provo Canyon toward Heber City. After 11 miles, construction stopped. Then a decade later. In 1899, Rio Grande Western’s subsidiary Utah Eastern Railway completed the rail line into the Heber Valley. The Rio Grande Western was in the process of standard-gauging the three-foot narrow gauge mainline from Denver to Salt Lake City, so this branch was also originally built to standard gauge. The rails first reached Heber City on September 29, 1899. Within a short time, there was enough traffic to warrant two trains arriving and leaving town each day.
DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN RAILROAD
In 1921, the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad took over the Rio Grande Western, which included the Heber (Provo Canyon) Branch. This branch was in operation until 1967. During that time, the line was mainly used to ship general freight, livestock and agricultural products.
Soon after the railroad was completed, people also wanted to ride the train between Heber City and Provo, so a passenger car was tacked onto the rear of the usual freight. Passengers noted that the resulting mixed train generally just crept along the curving canyon track at a fairly low rate of speed, so it was called the “Creeper” – and because the English language is so adept at rhyming syntax, the train was nicknamed the “Heber Creeper.” It was so slow that one story has it that a newly-wed couple boarded the train in Provo and had their first child as the train pulled into the Heber station.
In those early days, the railroad was the primary link between Provo and Heber City. Unless one wanted to ride a horse or drive a wagon over 50 miles roundtrip, the only other choice was the slow moving train. The railroad was literally the life-line for those early settlers, bringing much-needed supplies which enabled them to survive the harsh winters.
The Heber Valley soon became the center of a thriving livestock industry. During the 1930’s, more sheep were shipped from the Heber depot than from any other rail station in the nation.
Then progress stepped in. A paved highway linked Provo and Heber Valley. Residents gradually became less dependent on the train, relying instead on the much faster trucks and automobiles. And so, in 1967, the rails fell silent.
