Parleys Canyon | |
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Traversed by | I-80 |
Location | Salt Lake / Summit counties, Utah, United States |
Range | Wasatch Mountains |
Coordinates | 40°42′43″N111°47′53″W / 40.71194°N 111.79806°W |
Parleys Canyon is a canyon located in the U.S. state of Utah. [1] The canyon provides the route of Interstate 80 (I-80) (and previously the Lincoln Highway, U.S. Route 40, and a railroad) up the western slope of the Wasatch Mountains and is a relatively wide, straight canyon other than near its mouth. The mountain pass at the top of the canyon is known as Parleys Summit. With an elevation of 7,120 feet (2,170 m), the pass is the highest point along I-80 in the state of Utah. Both features are named for Parley P. Pratt, an early settler of the Salt Lake Valley and leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who surveyed the area to find a better transportation route through the Wasatch Mountains than the previous route which traversed Emigration Canyon.
Parleys Canyon begins where I-215 merges into I-80 in Salt Lake City and ends at Parleys Summit. The lower part of the canyon is relatively twisty and narrow and had to be dynamited to make way for I-80. Despite this, the interstate remains six or more lanes wide throughout the canyon; it is built over Parleys Creek in many places. Work is also underway to extend the Parleys Trail multi-use path through this segment to improve non-motorized access.
The canyon widens dramatically near Mountain Dell Dam and Utah State Route 65 (SR-65) splits from the freeway (which turns southeast temporarily) to provide access to Morgan County to the northeast. SR-65 also provides a connection to a local road leading over the ridge to Emigration Canyon in the same area where the Mormon trail crossed into that canyon. Little Dell Dam can be seen higher up on the side of Parleys Canyon in this area. As the freeway turns back toward the east, there is also an exit for the road leading up Lambs Canyon (a side canyon of Parleys Canyon).
The area around Parleys Summit is part of the Summit Park census-designated place (CDP). However, this area is more commonly referred to as Jeremy Ranch or Parleys Summit. A $5m wildlife overpass was completed in December 2018 to allow wildlife to cross I-80 safely. The overpass is 50 feet wide and 320 feet long; animals near that location by exit 140 are funneled onto the overpass with 3.5 miles of fencing. [2] Here the canyon is wide enough to form large communities along the sides of the freeway along the gentle mountain slopes. On the other side of the summit the freeway continues into the Snyderville Basin, which is where the popular resort town of Park City is located. Also within the basin is the ski jump built for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and the large shopping district at Kimball Junction.
Climate data for Parley's Summit, Utah, 2004–2020 normals: 7500ft (2286m) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 64 (18) | 58 (14) | 69 (21) | 74 (23) | 81 (27) | 87 (31) | 88 (31) | 88 (31) | 84 (29) | 77 (25) | 66 (19) | 57 (14) | 88 (31) |
Mean maximum °F (°C) | 48.9 (9.4) | 49.6 (9.8) | 57.7 (14.3) | 64.4 (18.0) | 72.6 (22.6) | 78.9 (26.1) | 84.8 (29.3) | 83.2 (28.4) | 78.2 (25.7) | 68.1 (20.1) | 57.9 (14.4) | 48.8 (9.3) | 85.3 (29.6) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 34.5 (1.4) | 36.0 (2.2) | 43.9 (6.6) | 48.8 (9.3) | 56.7 (13.7) | 67.0 (19.4) | 76.4 (24.7) | 75.4 (24.1) | 66.2 (19.0) | 52.3 (11.3) | 42.0 (5.6) | 32.5 (0.3) | 52.6 (11.5) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 27.2 (−2.7) | 28.0 (−2.2) | 35.2 (1.8) | 39.7 (4.3) | 47.5 (8.6) | 56.8 (13.8) | 65.6 (18.7) | 64.6 (18.1) | 56.2 (13.4) | 43.9 (6.6) | 34.6 (1.4) | 25.6 (−3.6) | 43.7 (6.5) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 19.8 (−6.8) | 20.0 (−6.7) | 26.4 (−3.1) | 30.6 (−0.8) | 38.4 (3.6) | 46.6 (8.1) | 54.8 (12.7) | 53.8 (12.1) | 46.3 (7.9) | 35.6 (2.0) | 27.1 (−2.7) | 18.7 (−7.4) | 34.8 (1.6) |
Mean minimum °F (°C) | 1.4 (−17.0) | 3.4 (−15.9) | 13.6 (−10.2) | 18.2 (−7.7) | 27.4 (−2.6) | 33.2 (0.7) | 46.4 (8.0) | 44.2 (6.8) | 32.2 (0.1) | 20.0 (−6.7) | 8.8 (−12.9) | 1.1 (−17.2) | −4.2 (−20.1) |
Record low °F (°C) | −9 (−23) | −15 (−26) | 2 (−17) | 10 (−12) | 20 (−7) | 24 (−4) | 38 (3) | 35 (2) | 26 (−3) | −2 (−19) | −2 (−19) | −12 (−24) | −15 (−26) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 3.95 (100) | 3.48 (88) | 3.63 (92) | 4.00 (102) | 2.70 (69) | 1.37 (35) | 0.82 (21) | 1.16 (29) | 1.98 (50) | 2.83 (72) | 3.42 (87) | 3.85 (98) | 33.19 (843) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 34.00 (86.4) | 25.50 (64.8) | 20.90 (53.1) | 15.70 (39.9) | 3.10 (7.9) | 0.50 (1.3) | 0.00 (0.00) | 0.00 (0.00) | 0.90 (2.3) | 5.70 (14.5) | 15.50 (39.4) | 31.10 (79.0) | 152.9 (388.6) |
Source 1: XMACIS2 [3] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: NOAA (Snyderville snowfall) [4] [5] |
The canyon receives its name from Parley P. Pratt who was assigned to explore the canyon, called Big Canyon at the time, and to build a toll road, called the Golden Pass Toll Road. [6] Construction on the road started in 1848 and was completed in 1850. The road through Parleys Canyon became the primary route into the Salt Lake Valley, surpassing the original route through Emigration Canyon. [7] The canyon was used by a narrow gauge branchline owned by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway from Salt Lake to Park City (the Salt Lake and Park City Railway). However, with its steep grades the line struggled to compete with the Union Pacific's line (via Coalville, connecting to the UP main at Echo). The line was eventually rebuilt to standard gauge by the Rio Grande Western who along with their successor the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, operated trains up into the canyon until 1956. [7] Some remnants of the Rio Grande line through Parleys Canyon, namely the cuts for the horseshoe curves, are in use by local roads and visible off the shoulder of the freeway. [7] A lower portion of the same railroad line outside of Parley's Canyon, remains in use in the present day as the right of way for the UTA S-Line streetcar.
Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County with some portions extending into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is 32 miles (51 km) southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and 20 miles (32 km) from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 8,396 at the 2020 census. On average, the tourist population greatly exceeds the number of permanent residents.
The Wasatch Range or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about 160 miles (260 km) from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region. The northern extension of the Wasatch Range, the Bear River Mountains, extends just into Idaho, constituting all of the Wasatch Range in that state.
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Salt Lake Valley is a 500-square-mile (1,300 km2) valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, and West Valley City; its total population is 1,029,655 as of 2010. Brigham Young said, "this is the right place," when he and his fellow Mormon settlers moved into Utah after being driven out of several states.
Transportation in Salt Lake City consists of a wide network of roads, an extensive bus system, a light rail system, and a commuter rail line. Although Salt Lake City, Utah, is a traditionally car-oriented city, the rapidly growing public transit system has a high number of riders for a city of its size, and public transit is widely supported by its residents and businesses.
Interstate 215 (I-215), also known locally as the Belt Route, is the only auxiliary Interstate in the U.S. state of Utah, forming a three-quarters loop around Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs. The route begins at the mouth of Parley's Canyon at a junction with I-80 east of the city center, and heads south through the edge of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area's eastern suburbs of Millcreek, Holladay, and Cottonwood Heights. It continues west through Murray before turning north again, passing through the city's first-ring western suburbs of Taylorsville and West Valley City. It then enters North Salt Lake and Davis County for a short distance before reaching I-15 northwest of the city center.
Thistle is a ghost town in Spanish Fork Canyon in southeastern Utah County, Utah, United States. During the era of steam locomotives, the town's primary industry was servicing trains for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The fortunes of the town were closely linked with those of the railroad until the changeover to diesel locomotives, when the town started to decline.
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Soldier Summit is the name of both a mountain pass in the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, United States and an unincorporated community that is a near-ghost town located at the pass. Soldier Summit has been an important transportation route between the Wasatch Front and Price, Utah, since the area was settled by the Mormon pioneers. It is on the route of both U.S. Route 6 and the old main line of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW), now the Provo Subdivision of the Central Corridor. Located where the road makes a brief bend through the extreme southwest corner of Wasatch County, Soldier Summit historically had more to do with nearby Utah County.
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Interstate 80 (I-80) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. The portion of the highway in the US state of Utah is 197.51 miles (317.86 km) long through the northern part of the state. From west to east, I-80 crosses the state line from Nevada in Tooele County and traverses the Bonneville Salt Flats—which are a part of the larger Great Salt Lake Desert. It continues alongside the Wendover Cut-off—the corridor of the former Victory Highway—US Route 40 (US-40) and the Western Pacific Railroad Feather River Route. After passing the Oquirrh Mountains, I-80 enters the Salt Lake Valley and Salt Lake County. A short portion of the freeway is concurrent with I-15 through Downtown Salt Lake City. At the Spaghetti Bowl, I-80 turns east again into the mouth of Parleys Canyon and Summit County, travels through the mountain range, and intersects the eastern end of I-84 near Echo Reservoir before turning northeast toward the Wyoming border near Evanston. I-80 was built along the corridor of the Lincoln Highway and the Mormon Trail through the Wasatch Range. The easternmost section also follows the historical routes of the first transcontinental railroad and US-30S.
State Route 224 (SR-224) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of Utah. The route connects Interstate 80 and Kimball Junction in the north to Park City in the south. Ski resorts line the mostly four-lane highway, including Park City Resort and Deer Valley. The highway has changed paths many times since its formation in 1941, at one point connecting to Big Cottonwood Canyon and Salt Lake County. However, realignments brought the route to its present path by 1990.
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