Tooele Valley Museum & Historic Park

In 1981, Claude Atkin began to gain support to request Anaconda/Atlantic Richfield to donate the Tooele Valley Railway complex and equipment to Tooele City for a museum.  A year later, after hearing petitions from the city, county, and influential citizens Atlantic Richfield agreed to donate the property.  Later that year our locomotive was moved from a city park to the depot, and ten months later the two rail coaches followed.  In the summer of 1983, a museum opened in the old depot.  The first museum board was dedicated to preserving the history of International Smelter & Refining and the Tooele Valley Railway.

Since then, the collection has grown to include items from other mines.  We also began collecting items from all over Tooele County during the twentieth century and strive to preserve and tell the history of the many exciting people and events in the city and county.