In 1895, Simon Bamberger's railroad line finally reached
Farmington, and promptly ran out of money. The next year, Bamberger
reorganized & refinanced his bankrupt Great Salt Lake and Hot
Springs Railway. He re-named the company the Salt Lake and Ogden
Railway, a name more suited to his new dreams and schemes.
Since 1886, the Denver & Rio Grande Railway had ferried happy
bathers to the Lake Park resort on the shores of the Great Salt
Lake west of Farmington. The water, however, was shallow and muddy
and after rail service reached the sandy beach resorts on the south
end of the lake, pleasure seekers stopped coming to Lake Park. In
1893, the resort was forced to close. Bamberger bought the dancing
pavilion and restaurant from Lake Park and moved them inland to a
swampy bit of ground just north of his Farmington Depot. He scraped
a boating pond out of the swamp, extended his railway line to the
front gate, and on Sunday, July 12, 1896, opened a wildy popular
new resort called "Lagoon". A round trip ticket from Salt Lake City
to Lagoon cost only 25 cents and included admission to the park.
The profits from Lagoon greatly helped finance the railroad's
extension north to Ogden, finally fulfilling one of Bamberger's
dreams.
Farmington has some of the most interesting Bamberger remains of
any Davis County city, as the railroad cut through the sandy hills
to maintain a constant 1.1 percent grade up the hill to
Kaysville.
Farmington stops & interesting spots:
Glover: West Glover's Lane
Farmington Depot: 200 West and State Street
Lagoon: 200 West and 375 North
Compton Bridge (pedestrian overpass): 902 N Main St.
Forgotten Station: 173 E 1400 North
Railroad cut: Leonard Lane east of Main St.
Overpass: Somerset Drive east of Main St.
Sidney: Main Street and HWY 89
Other Bamberger caches:
B.E.R.R. -- North Salt Lake (GC16K05)
B.E.R.R. -- Bountiful (GC16K07)
B.E.R.R. -- Centerville (GC16K08)
B.E.R.R. -- Kaysville (GC16K0A)
Simple Simon (B.E.R.R. -- Layton)(GCYN1H)