Tunnels, Trestles and Tracks at the Silver Reef Museum

All aboard! Calling all train lovers and history buffs: now is your last chance to see “Tunnels, Trestles and Tracks!”

A century ago, America completed the largest infrastructure undertaking for its time, built almost entirely by the hands of immigrants from around the world andconnecting the east and west coasts with the Transcontinental Railway. This exhibition guides you through the experience of Chinese immigrants in the United States and their contribution to that undertaking. Consider, as you explore the exhibit, the effects of landscape, material culture and social connections to workers daily life along the railroad in this unique and unparalleled period of American history.

The new traveling exhibit is located at the Silver Reef Museum, a ghost town in Washington County about 14 miles north of St. George in Leeds, Utah. “Tunnels, Trestles and Tracks” focuses on the tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants — the laborers who hacked, pounded, hefted and dynamited to bring the transcontinental race to a finish line at the lonesome Promontory Point in Box Elder County.

The historical exhibit opened April 27 and runs through June 15th. It features large explanatory panels of the harsh conditions and relentless grind endured by the laborers. Artifacts of the material culture — gaming pieces, for example, and engraved rice bowls — they carried with them will also be on display.

Admission to the exhibit is $3 per person – families with up to 5 children 18 and under are eligible for a $10 group ticket. 

For more information, call 435-879-2254 or visit the Silver Reef Museum's website.