"Until the driving of the Golden Spike on May 10, 1869, the Mormon people had been able to establish their Great Basin empire mostly undisturbed by any influence from the rest of the nation. All at once their isolated silence was broken by the steam whistles that inaugurated an influx of outsiders coming by train from east and west. The construction crews building the railroads were the first to meet the Saints of Utah, and some of the entrepreneurs accompanying the railroad penetration immediately saw the possibility of founding a railroad town that could capture the lucrative wagon trade to the Montana mines, heretofore controlled from Salt Lake City. Corinne, the first large Gentile town in Utah, was the product of that dream."
Published by the Utah State Historical Society - 1980
