Historical Lehi
Lehi boys playing ‘chicken’ with a train
Lee Anderson | Lehi Historical Society
On the hot afternoon of July 21, 1924, Lehi teens Richard “Dick” Gilchrist, Ned Darling, Darrel Cox and Jack Racker headed to Spring Creek near the Lehi Sugar Factory to cool off. Eager to jump in, they decided to take a shortcut over the trestle the interurban train used to cross the Mill Pond. Jack and Darrel went first, with Ned and Dick following.
Jack and Darrel were a lot faster and were already in the water when Ned and Dick were only about a quarter of the way across the bridge. At that moment Ned and Dick heard a sound that made their blood run cold; the Interurban train was behind them heading for the trestle.
The boys knew they could not outrun the train to the East, so they turned around and ran the way they had come. Ned could see the train coming and knew he was not going to make it so he jumped off the track onto a nearby telegraph pole, worked his way around to the back side of the pole so the train wouldn’t knock him off and hung on for dear life.
Dick continued the deadly game of “chicken,” running toward the train stepping two railroad ties at a time, praying he would reach the edge of the trestle before the train. When he saw the train was gaining on him, he increased his stride to four ties at a time and fell, catching his arm between two ties, breaking both bones below the elbow.
Ignoring the pain, he quickly got to his feet and desperately ran, reaching the edge of the trestle seconds before the train came rumbling past.
Some railroad section men who were working nearby witnessed the drama and came running to help. When they saw Dick had broken his arm, they put him on a hand car and rushed him to the hospital, which was in the Cutler Mansion on State Street at the time.
Two years later, Dick Gilchrist graduated from high school, lied about his age and joined the Utah National Guard at the age of 16, beginning a lifetime career of service in the military.
