Mile 691.6 from San Francisco
Track-laying crews reached Bovine March 28, 1869 and established a section station. A freight platform was constructed in Bovine in 1885. The site was named after Bovine Mountain located directly north of the site. Herds of feral cattle roamed the area having apparently been lost or abandoned by emigrants.
The freight business suffered a massive blow by the construction of the Utah Northern Railroad in 1871. The railroad was built by the Mormon people with the intent of capturing the market that supplied the mining fields to the north of Idaho and Montana.
After the silver panic of 1873, the Utah Northern Railroad was sold to the Union Pacific. As silver prospecting ended, the demand for supplies shipped by rail dwindled significantly.
In 1869, facilities here included a section house, train car body, Chinese bunk and cook house, and a water tank. The site as been extensively looted, with most of the small artifacts carried off. Features that can be seen today include a bake oven cut into the side embankment of the railroad grade and a brick walkway leading from the rear of a house foundation to an old outhouse.
The section station was abandoned following the completion of the Lucin Cutoff, but the siding continued to be used for a time by area ranchers.
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