Ghost Town: Woodside, Utah

cruiseroutfit

Moderator & Supporting Member
Supporter
Site: Woodside
Alternate Names: Lower Crossing
County, State: , Utah
Years of Occupation: 1881-mid 1990's
Status of Site: Partially Open
Classification: Class 3 - Abandoned Town
Type: Agriculture/Ranching & Railroad/Transportation
Remnants: Several buildings, foundations and remnants. Current population is 0
GPS Coordinate: 39.266160° N 110.346859° W
NRHP Reference#: N/A
Date of Last Visit: May 7th, 2016

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You have sped by it, some of you a hundred times or more. Woodside is that sleepy but alluring out-of-business gas station along US6 south of Helper/Price/Wellington and north of the I70 intersection near Green River. Some will likely remember stopping their for fuel, food or a cold drink, for others it has boarded up and in-decay since the mid-90's and nothing more than something to eye as you roll by on the highway.

Site History:

Construction on the site began with a Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad bridge and water stop. The area's first resident was a local prospector named Henry H. Hutchinson, who settled here in 1881. Other homesteaders arrived the next year and started digging an irrigation canal. Attracted by relatively abundant water and an extensive growth of cottonwood trees, they founded a settlement known as Lower Crossing. As the town grew, adding a few stores and a blacksmith shop, it was renamed "Woodside" for the cottonwood groves.

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One of Woodside's biggest challenges was the Price River itself. Before the construction of Scofield Reservoir the streamflow was highly variable, peaking early and nearly drying up by late summer. The river's large drainage basin also meant that even a distant cloudburst could bring a destructive flash flood. Despite these problems the town continued growing. A hotel and stockyards were built adjacent to the railroad station, and Woodside became a supply point for neighboring ranches. A schoolhouse built in 1892 served as a town gathering place. In 1897, following a train robbery at Castle Gate, Butch Cassidy hid in an network of tunnels under one house outside town.

In 1900 the population stood at 114; it had almost tripled by 1910, when it had schools, saloons, and a large hotel, and the population had reached 328. The population dropped to 300 in 1920. In the late 1920s Woodside's livestock shipping facilities and railroad station were taken away when the railroad consolidated much of its operations in Helper. This blow was followed by severe droughts in the 1930s, and by 1940 the population had dropped to 30.

In the 1940s Woodside became a minor tourist attraction. In the 1880s the railroad had dug a large water well here, which had later turned into a cold bubbling mudpot driven by naturally-occurring pressurized carbon dioxide gas. The hole was developed into a cold water geyser, along with a filling station, store, and cafe. In 1924, Utah Oil & Refining drilled the Woodside #1 well, located about three and a half miles southwest of the town. The well did not encounter oil, but rather a large flow of helium-rich gas. President Calvin Coolidge set aside the "Woodside Dome Field" as "United States Helium Reserve #1". The Field never produced any helium because most of the other gas was inert (nitrogen), but the potential reserves are said to be substantial. Today, it remains an untapped helium resource.

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In the 1960s, the Highway Beautification Act led to the removal of a number of billboards advertising the town's geyser along U.S. Route 6, which had a major impact on tourist visits. The cafe and store burned down around 1970, and the geyser and filling station are the only remnants of Woodside. The geyser formerly spouted as high as 75 feet (23 m), but is much lower now. (Update: The geyser is no longer erupting)

A tanker truck explosion scene in the 1991 film Thelma & Louise was shot in Woodside; the town was bought by Roy Pogue in the early 1990s. In 2012 Pogue decided to sell the townsite.
History information courtesy of Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodside,_Utah

The town is for sale, for a $3.9 Million you could call it home. The seller touts industrial, commercial, retail and agricultural value to the 700+ acres. Learn more at: http://www.woodsideland.com/

Further Reading:
http://www.woodsideland.com/index.html http://www.woodsideland.com/Page 2.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodside,_Utah
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/25/nation/la-na-town-for-sale-20120925
http://www.onlineutah.com/woodsidehistory.shtml
http://web.archive.org/web/20080510235914/http://ghostdepot.com/rg/mainline/utah/woodside.htm

Directions to Get There:
From Price, Utah: Take Highway US-191S/US-6E approx 39 miles south. The Woodside site will be on the west side of the highway. There is a small access road north of the more recent gas station that leads to the Woodside Cemetery. Follow the dirt road over the abandoned Hwy 6, up a slight hill through a gravel quarry, the cemetery will come into view on the crest of a small hill to the south. The original town alignment can be viewed from the now abandoned original Highway 6.

Additional Pics:

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99discovery

Sightseer
Wow, I've never heard of it. Then again, I've probably only driven by it once or twice; due to the fact that I take I70 to Green River and Moab since I live south of the Wasatch Front.

Is the geyser still active? Can you see it? I smell a weekend road trip...
 

cruiseroutfit

Moderator & Supporting Member
Supporter
Wow, I've never heard of it. Then again, I've probably only driven by it once or twice; due to the fact that I take I70 to Green River and Moab since I live south of the Wasatch Front.

Is the geyser still active? Can you see it? I smell a weekend road trip...

The Geyser is dried up and it's pretty well posted as "Private Property" fwiw
 

bryson

Conveniently inconvenient
Supporter
OSC Alumni
I guess my roadtrip wouldn't be a total waste if the Jerky was good. Too bad it's all closed off now. :(
They were still selling jerky from an RV there as of yesterday afternoon around 3pm... No idea if the jerky vendor has permission from the landowners, but they're there either way. And, if you believe the signs, the jerky is REALLY GOOD!
 

odyseuss

Member
Too bad the listing didn't mention the Really Good Jerky.

The trailer often looks like its blocking the main entrance to access.
 
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