Just weeks before Utah commemorates the historic meeting of the rails 150 years ago, federal and state land managers have leased lands along the first transcontinental railroad route west of the Great Salt Lake for oil and gas drilling at bargain-basement prices — 26 parcels to a single obscure company with no known history in the energy business.
The parcels are either on or near the historic Central Pacific rail corridor about 40 miles west of the Golden Spike National Historical Park, recently upgraded under a massive public lands bill signed in March by President Donald Trump.