WAR AND THE ROARING TWENTIES, 1917-1929
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Heber City, another railroad line traveled through the Wasatch County section of Spanish Fork Canyon. In 1878 Milan Packard, a longtime Montana freighter, built a narrow-gauge railroad from Springvdle to the newly developing coal mines at Pleasant Vadey. He established the Utah and Pleasant Valley Radroad (better known as the Calico Railroad, since Packard had little money to pay track workers and instead was said to have paid them in calico cloth). Later the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, which was pushing its way from western Colorado to Salt Lake City via Price and Spanish Fork canyons, acquired the small railroad. When more coal was discovered in Carbon County, the railroad became even more important to carry coal from the mines. The company required longer and heavier trains that could carry the increased loads between Price and Salt Lake City and added helper engines to push them. To service the helper engines, the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad established a round house and traffic center at the summit of Spanish Fork Canyon, in the southern corner of Wasatch County. That became the small community of Soldier Summit.53 In 1919 H. C. Means's real estate company promoted the area for settlement. The federal government, then operating the radroad because of World War I, also supported the development. In 1921 a town was incorporated, and J. R. Springer of Midway was elected mayor. During the 1920s, 2,500 people lived in the area, enough for a third-class city. When Soldier Summit was at its peak, businesses, homes, a school, and a church crowded the mountainside. S. Glen Gardner, a fireman for the Rio Grande Western recalled, "They had a lot of houses up there. There were some on the sides of the road. . . . I lived in house 160. It was right on top of the hill." Entrepreneurs established stores, restaurants, rooming houses, and amusement spots. Entertainment included a picture theater and pool halls. Gardner recalled that residents played basketball in the theater, and the town sponsored a baseball team in the summer. A school and churches also served the community. The school had more than 200 students and five teachers when the town was incorporated. The LDS church established a ward assigned to the Nebo Stake in Utah County. The Baptists also had a church and a minister in town.54
