Lucin, Utah

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Lucin, Utah
Ghost town
Lucin is located in Utah
Lucin
Lucin
Location of Lucin in Utah
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Country United States
State Utah
County Box Elder
Founded Late 19th century
Abandoned 1990s
Named for Lucina subanta
Elevation[1] 4,478 ft (1,365 m)
GNIS feature ID 1437627[1]

Lucin (also known as Umbria Junction) is an abandoned railroad community in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, along the western side of the Great Salt Lake, 162 miles (261 km) northwest of Salt Lake City.

History

Lucin was founded in the late 19th century, about 10 miles (16 km) north of its current location, to provide a water stop for railroads to replenish their steam locomotives. The town was moved in 1903 to serve as a stop for the Lucin Cutoff. Historically, the town’s population consisted mainly of employees of the Central and Southern Pacific Railroads. In 1936 the town was abandoned, and then resettled by a group of retired railroad workers and their children. No one had lived in Lucin until 1997 when Ivo Zdarsky, manufacturer of the Ivoprop, a plane propeller,[2][3] bought it and moved there, although the area is managed for migrating songbirds and other wildlife by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

The town was named for a local fossil bivalve, the Lucina subanta.[4]

Lucin today

Lucin is currently a ghost town. A description of what remains includes a pond fed by a pipe that brings water from the nearby Pilot Range, a group of trees in an otherwise barren desert, and various everyday items left by the former residents. There are no remaining buildings, but there are root cellars and two concrete phone booths.[5] The original grading of the railroad can be found heading northeast toward Promontory, Utah and the Golden Spike National Historic Site.

The Lucin area is a popular stop for rockhounds looking for an apple- green chert-like phosphate mineral Variscite, also known as Utahlite and Lucinite.[6]

Nearby is a large artwork called the Sun Tunnels, which was created by artist Nancy Holt in 1976.[7]

Climate

According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Lucin has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.[8]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Lucin
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  4. Utah History to Go
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  6. Bulletin - United States Geological Survey
  7. Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 21, 2007
  8. Climate Summary for Lucin, Utah

External links