150-Year-Old Rail Town Uncovered By Utah Archaeologists

A team of archaeologists and descendants of Chinese rail workers uncovered a 150-year-old rail town in the desert northwest of the Great Salt Lake, reported KSL.

This was the first ever controlled excavation sire in Utah so far. It was focused on the Chinese experience, which played a major role in building the transcontinental railroad.

Dr. Christ Merritt explains fragments and pieces of history that were found at the site. "This is a Chinese medicine bottle, and it was a stone medicine, made of calcite. This was prescribed for internal bleeding. That tells you about that heavy life for the Chinese worker, you know, swinging that eight-pound sledge, hauling railroad ties and steel rail."

Merritt said, "We thought we would find fragments of a home. What we actually did is we hit intact house floorboards."

Anna Eng grew up hearing stories of her great grandfather who left his home in China to support his family through his work in the area. Eng said, "To be able to understand what our great grandfathers lived through, what they experienced, is incredible. And this whole experience has just been incredibly moving."

Check out what the old rail town looked like below.