DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 



55 



Near milepost 85 the Santa Fe Eailway crosses the Denver & Rio 

 Grande Western bj- an overhead bridge, and a short distance farther 

 on it crosses to the right bank of Fountain Creek. 

 Three miles below the overhead bridge is Fountain, 

 the largest village in the southern part of El Paso 

 County. The lower part of Fountain Creek valley 

 is not particularly interesting to the traveler. There 

 is little or no irrigation, and success with dry-land crops depends 



Fountain. 



Elevation 5,577 feet 

 Population 505. 

 Denver 88 miles. 



it was able to procure the necessary 

 capital to complete the undertaking. 

 No single agency has done more to 

 establish mining camps and open valu- 

 able mines in Colorado than the pro- 

 jection and completion of this vast and 

 complex system of mountain rail- 

 roads." 



In 1S70 only one road, the Union 

 Pacific, had been built across the con- 

 tinent, and this road was north of 

 Colorado, where the low passes pre- 

 sented no great difficulties. Gen. Pal- 

 mer's scheme was not to build an 

 east and west line but a north and 

 south one. As stated in the first an- 

 nual report of the board of directors : 



" The idea of a north and south 

 railway, following the eastern base of 

 the Rocky Mountains from the prin- 

 cipal city of the new West — Denver — 

 southward to Mexico, arose from a 

 conviction that this belt of country 

 had especial advantages in its loca- 

 tion, climate, and natural resources." 



It was urged that a railroad in this 

 direction would traverse a belt of 

 country having an excellent cli- 

 mate and well watered by mountain 

 streams ; that it would be closely ad- 

 jacent to the mountains, which contain 

 silver, gold, lead, copper, iron, and 

 other metals, as well as abundant sup- 

 plies of timber for manufacturing and 

 construction ; that it would tap sev- 

 eral fields of coal well suited for mak- 

 ing steam and for general manufac- 

 turing; and lastly, that it would con- 

 trol the freight business in this iso- 

 lated territory and would levy tribute 

 on any east and west road that might 

 be constructed through it. 



The main line of the Denver & Rio 

 Grande, according to Gen. Palmer's 

 scheme, was to extend from Denver to 

 Pueblo, thence up through the " Big 

 Canon" (Royal Gorge) of the Arkan- 

 sas to ^Salida, thence southward 

 through Poncho Pass to Alamosa on 

 the Rio Grande, and thence down that 

 stream to El Paso and on to Mexico 

 City. A loop was to extend south of 

 Pueblo through La Veta Pass and 

 connect with the other line at Alamosa, 

 and still another line was to be built 

 through Raton Pass south of Trinidad. 

 Branch lines were projected into the 

 mountains at many points, two of 

 which had Salt Lake City as their 

 objective. A map of the system as 

 originally planned is given in Plate 

 XXXI. 



Gen. Palmer was a great believer in 

 the economy of construction and opera- 

 tion, in a mountainous country, of a 

 narrow-gage road, so after careful 

 consideration and investigation of such 

 roads abroad, a 3-foot gage was de- 

 cided upon for the new road. This 

 did not meet with general approval, 

 and for a long time it was referred 

 to as the "baby railroad," a name 

 which seems singularly appropriate 

 when the rolling stock of that day is 

 compared with the rolling stock of the 

 present time. (See PL XXVII, A, 

 p. 48.) 



Track laying was begun at Fifteenth 

 Street in Denver on July 27, 1871, 

 and the road was completed to Colo- 

 rado Springs, 75 miles away, by Octo- 

 ber 21 of the same year. Construc- 

 tion was pushed southward rapidly. 

 and the road reached Pueblo June 29, 



