Lucin_Cut-off_SPRR

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"In 1883 the Central Pacific Railroad was reorganized into the Southern Pacific Railroad and in 1902 the new company sought a way to eliminate the steep climb over the summit. That spring, construction began on a trestle to cross the north end of the Great Salt Lake that would not only eliminate the climb, it would reduce the length of the route by 42 miles. Where the cutoff crossed the lake the plan called for a large fill, but only a total of 20 miles of the crossing at different points could be successfully filled. The rest of the lake bed was too deep and unstable. The remaining sections were spanned by 12 miles of trestle built upon 38,000 wooden pilings. Special pilings, some as long as 120 feet, were needed to reach the solid lake bottom. When it was completed in 1903 the east-west bypass, named the Lucin Cutoff, was an engineering and construction triumph." from the Great Salt Lake Causeway by Washington Group International