Lund, Utah

Lund, Utah used to be the Union Pacific Railroad station closest to Cedar City and some of the surrounding national parks.  A popular way to visit those parks 50, 70, or 100 years ago was often by rail and tour bus.  Lund was the starting point for the Utah Parks Company's bus tours of Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon until, perhaps, the 1960s.  As a result, Lund was, for a time, something of a town.  There was a depot, a store, a gas station, and a few houses.  The railroad even stationed several of its employees in company houses out by the tracks.

When I stopped in Lund last week, it was obvious that only one structure was occupied.  I guess that makes it a ghost town.  The depot is gone; the store is still there, but is boarded up and sagging; and I wouldn't recommend arriving in Lund with an empty gas tank.  The very tidy and well built company houses still appear to be in good shape, but they have been heavily vandalized.  It is too bad.  There is not much to do in Lund, but I still like to imagine living there in the 1930s:  Watching the trains come and go, listening to the wind in the sagebrush, and enjoying the unobstructed views.