54 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



of the great transcontinental railway systems, should, after starting 

 from Denver, go due south 119 miles, to Pueblo, before attempting 

 to cross the mountain range in a westerly direction. It is generally 

 assumed that the road was built southward in order to reach the 

 valley of the Arkansas and that this valley affords the best route 

 through the mountains. This can hardly have been the reason for the 

 southward extension, however, for other roads cross north of Pueblo 

 and Canon City, and hence there must have been some other reason 

 for the course pursued by this road. The explanation of this southerly 

 course is bound up in the general railroad history of this mountainous 

 region, a brief account of which is given in the footnote below.^^ 



"Considerable difficulty was ex- 

 perienced in the early days of Colo- 

 rado in getting moneyed men inter- 

 ested in the construction of railroads 

 in or across the mountains, but by the 

 persistent efforts of those who had 

 become identified with the movement 

 to develop the natural resources of 

 the State capital was obtained and 

 the building of railroads was begun. 



The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad 

 was incorporated October 27, 1870. 

 The leading spirit in the organization 

 and building of the road was Gen. 

 William J. Palmer, a Philadelphian 

 by birth, who had received his early 

 railroad training on the Pennsylvania 

 Railroad under the presidency of J-. 

 Edgar Thompson, He served with 

 distinction in the Civil War and 

 earned the rank of brigadier general 

 in the Army of the Tennessee under 

 Gen, George H, Thomas, Upon the 

 conclusion of the war he became man- 

 aging director of the Kansas Pacific 

 Railroad and was placed in charge of 

 the construction of the last division, 

 extending from Kit Carson to Den- 

 ver, Here he accomplished the al- 

 most impossible task of building 150 

 miles of railroad in the same num- 

 ber of days without having materials 

 of any kind to begin with. It is 

 doubtful if this record in railroad con- 

 struction has ever been equaled. When 

 this road was completed. Gen, Palmer 

 became interested in the mountain 

 region of Colorado and, like the true 

 empire builder that he was, foresaw 



wonderful possibilities in creating a 

 system of transportation that should 

 cover the entire region. In speaking 

 of him, William J. Beyers, founder and 

 for a long time editor of the Rocky 

 Mountain News, says: 



" The Denver <& Rio Grande Rail- 

 road, with its numerous branches in 

 the mountains, was Gen, Palmer's con- 

 ception. It was a comprehensive 

 scheme, by many regarded as Utopian, 

 because it contemplated the construc- 

 tion of hundreds of miles of railroad 

 through a country practically unin- 

 habited and generally considered unfit 

 for habitation. Aside from a few 

 white settlers at Pueblo, small Mexi- 

 can settlements at Trinidad, a village 

 of pioneers at Colorado City, small 

 bands of Cheyenne and Arapahoe In- 

 dians, and scattered settlers at some 

 other points, there were not enough 

 inhabitants for the nucleus of a com- 

 munity anywhere on the proposed line. 

 But Gen. Palmer's prevision pene- 

 trated farther than the vision of 

 others who looked with doubt and sus- 

 picion on the enterprise. He proposed 

 to lay tribute on the hidden treasures 

 of the mountains and to stimulate pro- 

 duction «f the precious metals by af- 

 fording facilities for shipment and to 

 encourage the farmer and ranchman 

 to occupy the plains for the purpose 

 of agriculture and stock growing by 

 affording the means of quick trans- 

 portation to distant markets. It was 

 gigantic, a daring proposition, but not 

 visionary, for the man who conceived 



