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    Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads
    Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads
    Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads
    Ebook200 pages1 hour

    Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads

    By Sandra F. Mather Ph.D. and Bob Schoppe

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    About this ebook

    Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads tells the story of the two railroads that fought for dominance in Summit County, Colorado, during the late 1800s and early 1900s: the Denver, South Park & Pacific and the Denver & Rio Grande. The two railroads developed an intense rivalry as they sought to monopolize the county's economic potential. Altitude, heavy winter snow, and rugged mountainous terrain combined to provide a unique set of challenges to company management as well as to the crews as they battled to lay the tracks and provide much-needed rail service to the residents and businesses of the county. Intimately tied to the mining economy, the fortunes of the railroads plummeted when the mining economy collapsed. Although poorly financed and poorly built, the railroads changed the living conditions for county residents. Without the railroads bringing the necessary equipment and lumber, nine huge gold-dredging boats would not have scoured the county's major waterways between 1898 and 1942.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateNov 7, 2016
    ISBN9781439658659
    Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads
    Author

    Sandra F. Mather Ph.D.

    Authors Bob Schoppe, president of the Denver, South Park & Pacific Historical Society, and Sandra F. Mather, PhD, professor emerita of the Department of Geology and Astronomy at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, combine to bring the stories to life with text and unique photographs, some never before published, from local collections and archives.

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      Book preview

      Summit County's Narrow-Gauge Railroads - Sandra F. Mather Ph.D.

      Mather.)

      INTRODUCTION

      The development of the mining and agricultural economies of Summit County required cheap, efficient transportation. From the spring of 1859 on, when gold was discovered in what became Summit County, adequate, reliable transportation meant the difference between economic advantage and stagnation. Without it, ore, hay, timber, sheep, and cattle could not reach local or distant markets, and food, clothing, and mining and agricultural equipment and supplies would not be available for those needing them.

      Although pack trains and wagons carried a staggering tonnage of merchandise and ore to and from Summit County, some pieces of equipment for the mines proved far too heavy and bulky to be carried by wagon and sled. Stockpiled ore had to be moved more quickly and at cheaper rates to be profitable. Merchants and miners required something that could carry larger loads faster and at less expense—that something was the railroad.

      Two narrow-gauge railroads served Summit County: the Denver & Rio Grande and the Denver, South Park & Pacific. The word Pacific told of the company’s desire to reach the Pacific Ocean. Investors and entrepreneurs created both as a means of efficiently moving the mineral wealth of the county, thus tying their fortunes to the mining economy; when it died, so too did the railroads.

      The president of the Denver & Rio Grande, William Jackson Palmer, felt that a population engaged in mining is by far the most profitable of any for a railroad. Therefore, he built the Leadville, Ten Mile & Breckenridge Railroad (officially the Leadville & Ten Mile Narrow Gauge Railroad), which ran from Leadville through the Ten Mile Canyon, serving Robinson and Kokomo by December 1880, Wheeler by September 1881, and Dillon by November 1882, a distance of 36 miles. A hoped-for extension along the Blue River to Breckenridge, which would have been called the Blue River Branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was never built. Keeping all of its options open, the company also surveyed an alternate route to Breckenridge over Hoosier Pass. Despite the ambitious plans, lack of money halted the line at Dillon.

      Another plan that never materialized included a route to Kremmling that would have tapped the ranches lining the lower Blue River. Rumors flew in May 1902 that the Denver & Rio Grande would finally build its extension north. The railroad graded along the waterway and laid track about a mile north of Dillon. A train ran over the short extension each day to maintain the right-of-way. Eventually even this stopped. After workers removed the rails and ties, the grade became a county road.

      The Denver, South Park & Pacific (DSP&P), created by Gov. John Evans in 1872, became part of the Union Pacific rail system in 1880. Led by Jay Gould, the railroad wanted its own line to Leadville rather than share one as it had been doing with the Denver & Rio Grande. Railroad surveyors arrived in the county in June 1881. Feeling that the county’s mineral resources, especially in the Snake River valley, warranted its attention, the railroad decided to begin work at once on a main line that would fully control passenger and freight service in the county. The company planned to build spurs to mines off the main track. The newspaper editor crowed that with the coming of the railroad, Breckenridge would be lifted into the list of cities within the pale of civilization. It [Breckenridge] would have distribution facilities almost equal to Denver.

      The South Park began laying track from Como in 1881, reaching Boreas Pass by the end of the year. The tracks extended to Breckenridge by September 1882 and Dillon by December 1882. The Keystone Branch began service in January 1883. The line continued through the Ten Mile Canyon, arriving in Leadville in 1884.

      The mountain railroads of Colorado laid their tracks three feet apart. Railroads in the East and on the plains used standard gauge, meaning four feet, eight and one-half inches between the rails. Narrow-gauge tracks offered advantages. Sharp turns so necessary in the mountains required less blasting. It proved cheaper to go around objects than going through them. The shorter ties saved money, as did the smaller, lighter engines and cars. Narrow-gauge track could be laid faster. Rather than cut and grade new beds, the railroads bought rights-of-way from wagon companies. Crews laid iron rails on untreated ties of spruce and yellow pine spaced 18 inches apart, using approximately 3,000 ties per mile. Rocks blasted from the bed and, later, cinders from passing engines became ballast. Ashes from the firebox, dumped along the tracks, added to the ballast. Work crews did little true grading as the companies rushed to complete their lines. Tracks bent and sagged in the middle, causing the cars to sway sideways and lurch forward and backward. Maximum speeds for passenger trains reached less than 22 miles per hour in the county and less than 12 miles per hour for freight trains in the Ten Mile Canyon and over Boreas Pass. Passengers did not enjoy a speedy, comfortable ride. Instead, the Denver, South Park & Pacific earned the nickname Damn Slow Pulling and Pretty Rough Riding.

      At the turn of the century, financial problems dictated corporate changes. Reorganizing to avoid bankruptcy, the Denver, South Park & Pacific (commonly referred to as just the Denver, South Park) became the Denver, Leadville & Gunnison Railway Company in 1889. Faced with continuing fiscal instability, the newly formed company was purchased first by the Colorado & Southern (C&S) in 1898 and then by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in 1908. These owners had little interest in maintaining the narrow-gauge line because of high operating expenses. Little high-grade ore filled the cars. Most of the ore was low grade, as was true throughout the entire mining era of Summit County. The newest concentration methods resulted in even less to carry. In addition, electricity, available in Breckenridge in 1898 and in Frisco and Dillon in 1909, reduced the need for coal, which had always been a big part of the tonnage carried on incoming trains. The inability to integrate narrow- and standard-gauge rolling stock created further difficulties for the company. To compound the problem, cars, trucks, and buses began replacing the railroad as the primary carrier of people and freight.

      The Denver & Rio Grande ended service in the county in 1911. After many years of trying, beginning in 1910–1911, the Colorado & Southern abandoned its lines in 1937. Engine 9 carried the last passengers and freight from Como to Leadville and back on April 9–10, 1937. The Denver Post on Friday, April 9, 1937, reported:

      The Last Train leaves Denver on Famous Leadville Line.

      Return on Saturday will end traffic on road closely linked with romantic period in history

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