Pamphlet for the farmers’ industrial train of the Utah Agricultural College [Click image to enlarge; click it again to browse all pages.]

(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Farmers Institute and Housekeepers Conference, 18.10:36.)

To support the Agricultural College of Utah’s land-grant mission, its faculty visited rural communities to encourage the adoption of better farming practices. Extension work included instruction at schools; exhibition at local, regional and national fairs; and conducting Farmer Institutes throughout the state. The college also partnered with the Union Pacific and Denver & Rio Grande Railroads to sponsor agricultural exhibit trains: the railroad companies provided the train cars while college faculty furnished equipment and livestock to demonstrate new farming and housekeeping practices. These special trains—variously called “industrial” or “educational” trains—stopped at railroad stations throughout Utah and eastern Nevada, lecturing and demonstrating to groups of farmers along the way.