Thistle Utah

A Town That Once Sat Along Old Highway 89

The tiny town of Thistle Utah is now known not so much for what is once was but for what happened to it. And what it looks like now.

Ranchers and farmers have occupied the Thistle Valley … in Utah County’s Spanish Fork Canyon … for well over 140 years. The railroad built a siding there for livestock and produce in 1883-1884.

In 1890, the railroad built a branch line … starting at Thistle … down to the Sanpete Valley Railroad at Manti. Then the rail line led down to the mine loading ramps at Marysvale.

But why was it given the name Thistle? Well, it was simply because the valley was full of Canada thistles.

The town quickly grew into a typical railroad town. Hard to believe looking at it now but the town had railroad yards, loading ramps and coal and water towers.

Homes, stores, a church and a school were all built in the town. In 1913, a roundhouse was built to prepare locomotives … helper locomotives … for the long steep pull up Soldier Summit.

What Caused Thistle Utah’s Demise?

But … causing the demise of so many of these ghost towns in Utah … the railroad industry modernized. Diesel locomotives were introduced. Operations were streamlined. Empty buildings were torn down and the work force drifted away. The town simply shriveled up and died.

Prior to 1983, when I first came to Utah, my wife and I would drive right through Thistle on the way to a farm her dad owned in Indianola. I remember a few families living there. There were a few cars and trucks. Smoke occasionally could be seen coming out from a couple of the chimneys.

Prior to 1983, there was an abandoned schoolhouse. Some remnants of a service station and several interesting-looking old homes survived. Some of these homes were obviously still occupied.

The Final Blow

In the spring of 1983, something happened in Utah during which you had to have lived through to really understand the magnitude of. Massive flooding in the spring of 1983 hit Utah and to some, it seemed almost Biblical. In early April, melting snow from an extremely heavy winter caused unprecedented flooding throughout the state.

The mountain on U.S. 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon … yes, the mountain … started sliding five inches an hour! By April 17, the last of Thistle’s 22 families were evacuated from their homes.

The sliding mud had dammed up Spanish Fork River causing the water to back up behind it. The town of Thistle Utah almost disappeared under the waters with water reaching the rooftops.

The flooding formed a lake … dubbed Lake Thistle by the work crews. The lake eventually subsided but the entire mountain had moved! And was continuing to move at the rate of one to two feet per hour.

Eventually, the highway was rebuilt up the mountainside taking traffic well above the former road below. The highway … SR 89 … which then went on to Price as Highway 6 had originally wound its way through the valley below. But no more.

Now, after going up the mountainside, you turn south on Highway 89 and drive back down to get to Thistle and then Fairview, Mt. Pleasant and Ephraim beyond. All that remains of Thistle are a few rooftops, poles and trees sticking out of the green, stagnant water.

The road was rebuilt right at the new level. Where once you drove right through the town between the houses, you now drive at rooftop level.

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