Big Dan

The Story of a Colorful Railroader

Born in 1873, Daniel Goode Cunningham started working for the railroad at age 18 as a machinist apprentice and became general foreman on the Norfolk and Western Railroad; general foreman for the Santa Fe at Needles; Superintendent of Shops for the Denver & Rio Grande Western at Salt Lake City; Superintendent of Motive power for the Denver & Salt Lake; and master mechanic of the Salt Lake Division of the Rio Grande. He was a community leader in modernizing the Salt Lake City Fire department. When he retired from active service on the railroad in 1941, he was honored by the railroad, the families of the employees, Salt Lake City, and the State of Utah. This book, by acclaimed author Frank Cunningham, is the biography of “Big Dan” Cunningham and a history of the railroad in Denver and Salt Lake City.