Defying fate
Rio Grande history - 1
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Defying fate |
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Colorado history, indeed United States history, is tied intimately to the building of our extensive national system of railroads. Without the easy access provided by this semi-public mode of transportation—semi-public because the railroads were mandated by government but trusted to private capital to build—"Manifest Destiny" could not have been so quickly and cheaply achieved. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson predicted it would take 1000 generations to populate the West but we got it done in less than 100 years, thanks largely to the American railroads.
Though most of the nation was constructed to standard gauge, Colorado pioneers forged ahead using narrow gauge as their chief track system—more "slim gauge" lines were built in this state than the rest of the nation combined. From the start an oddity, narrow gauge still exists to this very day in southern Colorado.
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Kids from Silverton grew up with the train and often pursued youthful economic opportunities at the noon stopover. These four (and their dog) wait patiently for one last customer to debark to view their novelty mineral wares, before trotting their horse home for lunch. |
Foremost of all was (and is) an impossible little line, which defied fate and history to thrive—and survive. Begun in 1871, under the misconception that smaller equals cheaper, the Denver and Rio Grand Western Railroad was originally intended to connect Denver City with Mexico City via the river of its name. Instead, it now rises with and tunnels beneath the Rocky Mountains on its way to Salt Lake City and California.
From the post-Civil War reconstruction period to the age of nuclear power, this plucky railroad successfully spanned history, twice declaring bankruptcy, after the devaluation of silver currency in 1893 and during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and regaining solvency twice. Floods, snowslides, heat-kinked rails, dust storms, collapsed embankments and tunnels, fire-ravaged trestles, and more-than-occasional human error took their toll on the railroad's balance sheet, but its "men of steel" just worked harder to keep operations going.
Now part of the Union Pacific System railroad family (Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific, Western Pacific), the tiny, feisty D&RGW fought the odds of winter, struggled through harsh economic periods, skirmishes, including an actual armed battle between two railroad "armies" (the Rio Grande forces were captained by Bat Masterson), and unfavorable legal decisions. At one point, a court hearing awarded ownership of the entire "baby" road to the rival Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad—only to be reversed by a higher court the following year.
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