APPENDIX SS. 1795 



THE DEL NORTE AND ALAMOSA RAILROAD. 



Some of the citizens of Del Norte, chiefly men of property, conscious of the fact 

 that their town lias ceased to largely increase in prosperity, and that unless a new 

 impetus be given to revive business it will soon be outstripped by its more youthful 

 rivals in the mining regions, have formed a company to build and operate a line of 

 rail under the name of the Del Norte and Alamosa Railroad, to connect their town 

 with the terminal point of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad at Alamosa. We 

 were informed that it would he constructed simultaneously with the extension of the 

 Denver and Rio Grande. The distance from Alamosa, the new terminus of the Denver 

 and Rio Grande Railroad, is by these surveys of the line, 26 miles ; by the present wagon- 

 road, we are informed, about 33; the estimated cost of grading and ties is hut $1,000 

 per mile, and for rails but $2,000, a very light rail being used, the weight not exceeding 

 24 pounds per yard. 



With the railroad at Del Norte, and the toll-road to the Summit in good order, the 

 construction of a road thence over the range and down the San Juan to Pagosa would 

 be most expedient. With a route judiciously selected, the distance might be short- 

 ened fully 7 miles, bringing the Springs about 60 miles distant from the railroad. 



At the date of writing, however, nothing positive is known of the definite construc- 

 tion of the track from Alamosa to Del Norte. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



With the present situation of the railroad, Ave would recommend the construction 

 of the Chama-Navajo as of prime importance for the development of the Lower San 

 Juan. Both in a civil and military point of view would it he a most profitable in- 

 vestment. The entire route of travel would be settled upon at an early day, and 

 thriving communities at various points arise, now remote from mails and other facili- 

 ties. The roving and unsettled bands of Indians in the southwest corner of the State, 

 and in adjoining territory of Utah and Arizona, committing frequent depredations on 

 the whites, will necessitate hetter protection for the interests of civilization. The 

 present post of Fort Garland, no longer a frontier station, should, in the event of its 

 advancement west, he located somewhere in the Lower San Juan. Communication 

 and lines of supply will necessitate the route via the Chama-Navajo. 



The line of the Alamosa road will shorten the distance to Pagosa over the former 

 but about 5 miles, and its cost being more than twice as much, its construction should 

 not he made from any economic consideration. Beiug, moreover, a line of deep canons 

 and rocky defiles, no outlying country bordering thereon would be opened up or bene- 

 fited, as in case of the Chama-Navajo, which is, especially beyond the Chama River, 

 almost wholly a line of valleys. A lofty route and passing over the range, at about 

 3,000 feet greater altitude than the former, the Alamosa line would be blocked by 

 snow and impassable for a portion of the year, unless constant traffic prevented. 

 Upon the Chama-Navajo, with its lower situation and protection by sheltering mount- 

 ains on the north, a natural blockade would not so completely occur. 



In the event of the building of the railroad extension to Alamosa, the distance from 

 its terminus to Pagosa by the Chama-Navajo would be 105 miles, and by the Alamosa 

 about 13 miles less. This would be an important saving ; but should the track be 

 continued to that point, there is every probability of the construction of the Del 

 Norte and Alamosa Railroad, making Del Norte a terminal point ; in This event the 

 Summit line to Pagosa assumes the most prominent position, the distance by that route 

 being diminished, as already mentioned, to 70 miles. 



The construction of the unfinished Hide from the Summit to the Springs, nearly 49 

 miles by The trail, would entail an expenditure of $18,000. The route will pass down 

 the East Fork of the San Juan, where judicious locations will give easy grades, and 

 shorten the line as compared with the present trail, and afterward along the main 

 stream, the whole a canon region, presenting fewer difficulties of passage than that of 

 the Alamosa. For several miles the main river above the month of the West Fork is 

 inclosed in a box canon, and here would he essential a considerable amount of blast- 

 ing. Several ranchmen located last summer on the West Fork, in a tine open valley, 

 above its mouth, and thence to Pagosa have made for their accommodation a passable 

 way for light wagons, distance about 11 miles. 



COMMUNICATIONS OF AMIMAS CITY AND PARK. 



The most thickly populated section of the lower country, the settlements in the 

 Animas Park ending at Animas City on the west bank of the river, near the mouth of 

 Junction Creek, have outer communication as follows: 



North. — By the toll-road through the Grand Canon of the Animas with Silverton and 

 points beyond. 



