Corinne-Pioneer Railroad Town

Corinne was built to beat the Mormons at their game. Laid out in 1869 as the railroad neared Promontory, it drew Union veterans, merchants, and gamblers bent on making a non-Mormon city — the 'Gentile Capital of Utah,' a wide-open town of saloons and a gun-toting marshal. Its fortune was to be freight: the wagon trade to the Montana mines, funneled through here. Promoters dreamed of steamboats hauling cargo down the Bear River and across the Great Salt Lake. Then the railroad reached Montana, the freight vanished, and Corinne dwindled to the quiet farm town it is.

What the plaque says

Looking toward the immediate completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad, Corinne Townsite was laid out in the Spring of 1869. Railroad Financiers, Real Estate Promoters, Businessmen & Gambling Sharks, launched a boom to make Corinne the shipping, trading & amusement center of the Rocky Mts. Although Congress had planned the junction of the Union Pacific & Central Pacific Railroads at or near Ogden, the Union Pacific designated Corinne as the Freight Junction for the rich mines of Montana & the communities of Idaho & northern Utah. This decision was made after the Engineers declared that the town lay in the center of the Rocky Mountain Area & that the Bear River was navigable by Steamboat, making it possible for freight to be transported from Corinne via Bear River, the Great Salt Lake, & the Jordan River to Salt Lake City. For a time the town flourished to the fullest expectation of its promoters, supporting a newspaper, many businesses & more than 100 saloons & Gambling Houses. In its prime, Corinne was one of Utah’s busiest cities, many times, over 500 freight wagons were congregated here.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wellsville Mountains — 10.0 mi
  The steepest mountains in North America for their height
• Hyrum State Park — 15 mi
  A family-friendly reservoir at the mouth of Blacksmith Fork Canyon
• Logan — 19 mi
  A vibrant college town tucked into a stunning mountain valley
• Powder Mountain — 21 mi
  The largest ski resort in the United States by acreage — a famously uncrowded "PowMow" now remaking itself under Netflix's Reed Hastings.

More markers nearby

• Presbyterian Centennial — steps away
• The First Weather Station in Utah — 0.2 mi
• Corinne Opera House — 0.3 mi
• Corinne Methodist Church (3) Markers — 0.3 mi