INTRODUCTION. Xxl 
In 1886 the Colorado Midland Railroad, which had built its line from 
Colorado Springs to Leadville in order to get part of the profitable ore- 
carrying business of the latter place, was induced by the promising devel- 
opments of ore at Aspen to project a line to that point. This work had 
hardly been undertaken when the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Com- 
pany, whose line was already built down the Eagle River to Red Cliff, felt 
obliged to enter into competition for the Aspen trade, and a railroad- 
building contest ensued, each striving to reach the objective point first. 
The line of the Colorado Midland, which was a broad-gauge road, ascended 
the Sawatch Range directly opposite Leadville, passing through its crest 
by a tunnel at Hagerman Pass, and descending Frying Pan Creek to 
the Roaring Fork. The route of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad 
was longer, but it was then a narrow-gauge line, and it followed valleys all 
the way, descending the Kagle and Grand rivers to Glenwood Springs, 
and thence ascending the valley of the Roaring Fork. In spite of the 
difficult engineering and the many tunnels in the magnificent canyon 
of Grand River above Glenwood, the Denver and Rio Grande reached 
Aspen first, in October, 1887, while the trains of the Colorado Midland did 
not actually reach the town limits until February, 1888. By the advent 
of the railroads the expense of transportation of ore to the smelters at 
Leadville, Pueblo, or Denver, was reduced to $10 or $15 per ton, and 
in later years, under special circumstances, this rate has been reduced as 
low as $5 per ton, the charges being in a measure proportioned to the 
value of the ore, thus favoring, in the interest of all concerned, 
the working of ores of lower grade than would otherwise be possible. 
LITIGATION. 
Another cause besides the difficulty of transportation that has retarded 
the development of the Aspen mines has been the many lawsuits in regard 
to the ownership of the most valuable ore bodies that have sprung up as a 
natural conseqence of the peculiar unfitness of the United States mining 
laws for giving a clear title, or even any title at all, to deposits of this 
nature. 
It is not the province of employees of this Survey to discuss the merits 
or demerits of rival claims to mining property under survey; indeed, as 
they often enter properties in regard to which suits are pending, it is their 
