MINI TOUR: Iron horses and historic hospitality

By Shelly Steig


Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Engine #478,
© Colorado Scenic Rails

19th century railroad wars gave us 21st century travel memories to last a lifetime.

Soon after railroads first chugged across Colorado, commercial and passenger travel rocketed, igniting a rivalry between two companies: Cyrus Kurtz Holliday’s Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and General William Jackson Palmer’s Denver & Rio Grande. The two railroads clashed over a number of routes, including one through the narrow Royal Gorge. The D&RG recruited lawman Bat Masterson and private militias to help with security, and built stone forts to stop Santa Fe progress. In 1880, a judge settled the battle known as the Royal Gorge War, allowing the Santa Fe to build south (and eventually became a transcontinental line) while confining the D&RG to the west. Yet the D&RG prospered and earned the moniker “Little Giant of the Colorado Mountains,” in part because it adapted to high elevations, harsh climates and previously impassable terrain.

On most of his D&RG routes, Palmer, the man who settled Colorado Springs, built narrow gauge tracks (36 inches wide) rather than standard gauge (48 ½ inches wide). Narrow gauge rails weighed half of standard gauge, could operate with less expensive equipment, were quicker to install and made negotiating sharp mountainous curves possible. These narrow-gauge tracks make Colorado a must-visit destination for railroad buffs worldwide.

Colorado railroad history offers delightful folklore, too. Some contend Palmer implemented narrow gauge rails so that passenger cars could only fit one tiny bed per cabin to keep men and women from sleeping together while on his trains. Mountain newspapers record story-tellers’ claims that after a heavy snowfall in 1898, P.T. Barnum and his circus were traveling by train when the weight of the animals combined with snow-slicked tracks made it impossible for the Denver South Park & Pacific locomotive to climb a steep grade. Quick thinking conductors borrowed the circus elephants and used them to help the train up the mountain.

The railroad wars left us a legacy—historic railroads and tall tales that, coupled with a stay at equally historic hotels nearby, will transport you to Colorado’s liveliest era.

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad & Museum, and the General Palmer Hotel


The General Palmer Hotel,
© Steve Bruno

Founded in 1880 by Palmer’s D&RG as a base of operations, Durango grew rapidly and became the county seat in coal-rich Animas River Valley. Some of its residents laid the 45 miles of steel tracks to Silverton. Once the railroad reached Silverton, that city doubled in size in three years. It is estimated that the D&RG carried more than $300 million worth of precious metals between the two Western towns.

The coal-fired, steam-powered train chugs at a leisurely 18 miles per hour along the Animas River, through rock cuts and across bridges, then hugs steep cliffs known as the Highline—considered one of the most stunning views of any railroad excursion in the world. Showcased in How the West Was Won and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the D&SNGRR is a National Historic Landmark.

Palmer also built a luxurious Durango hotel in 1898 which bears his name. The AAA Four Diamond General Palmer Hotel offers 39 rooms in Victorian décor, replete in rich woods, deep colors and elegant antiques—all a short walk from the rail station. The proprietors bake muffins in the morning and serve warm cookies every afternoon on the hotel’s sweeping back porch.

Georgetown Loop and Peck House
Just two miles apart as the crow flies, but separated by a narrow mountain ridge, Georgetown and Silver Plume presented a difficult challenge to travelers between the two 1800s boom towns. In 1877, 200 men began a seven-year endeavor to complete a four-mile corkscrew route that would link the two cities on a track that climbed 640 feet in elevation. Operated from 1899 to 1938, the Colorado & Southern Railroad abandoned the track after local mines played out.

In 1959, one hundred years after the discovery of gold in Georgetown, the Colorado Historical Society created the Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park. By 1973, the society obtained an 1884 depot, two 1860s mines, an 1871 mill building, the 1874 Pohle House and 978 acres of land. Union Pacific railroad donated track and ties, followed by reconstruction of the 300-foot long, 95-foot high Devil’s Gate High Bridge—one of four bridges on the loop that crosses Clear Creek.

Visitors can board in either Georgetown or Silver Plume (which together form a National Historic Landmark District) to begin a 70-minute journey up Clear Creek Canyon, and past abandoned gold and silver mines. The train stops for tours of the Lebanon Silver Mine. During summer, the Loop offers a Moonlight in the Mountains Dinner Train, as well as a 4th of July Fireworks Train.

Post-excursion plans should include a night in Empire at the Peck House, Colorado’s oldest hotel—just a seven-mile drive down I-70 from the station. The hotel’s namesake, James Peck migrated from Chicago to stake a claim. He built a two-story, four-room home in 1862 and sent for his family. His cultured and elegant wife, Mary Grace, loaded a large ship’s bell, red fainting couch, bird’s eye maple bedroom set and the 15-pound family Bible onto oxcarts for the journey to Colorado.


Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad Engine #1714,
© Colorado Scenic Rails

The Pecks welcomed boarders, and after James’ death in 1880, Mary and her eldest son added guest rooms, game rooms, a ladies parlor, bar and a library, to comply with laws that required all bars contribute to “the education of miners.” The Peck House hosted famous guests, including P.T. Barnum and Union Army generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. Today’s visitors stay in one of 10 rooms, many of which feature Mary’s beloved furniture. An expansive front porch offers views of the Empire Valley.

Leadville, Colorado & Southern Railroad, and Delaware Hotel

This scenic railroad travels the former Denver, South Park & Pacific route along the Arkansas River Valley. The two and one-half hour round-trip excursion originates in Leadville, the highest incorporated city in North America. It then passes through the San Isabel National Forest and along the Arkansas River Valley before climbing 1,000 feet to bird’s eye views of Fremont Pass, the Climax Molybdenum Mine, and Mounts Elbert and Massive. The LC&SR offers wildflower train rides on select summer weekends, as well as a rail-riding, river rafting package.

Post-trip, plan to stay in the Delaware Hotel—a three-story brick building in the French Mansard style. During the panic years, when gold mining declined and many lost their fortunes, widowed Baby Doe Tabor would hobble into the hotel from her wood shack near the Matchless Mine. Her feet wrapped in gunny sacks, Tabor would sit at the hotel desk, warm herself and write letters. Today the Delaware offers 36 restored rooms and suites furnished with antiques and decorated in Victorian style. This summer the hotel celebrates its 125th anniversary with fashion shows, weekly receptions and historical exhibits.

Pikes Peak Cog Railway and Cliff House at Pikes Peak

Simmons Mattress Company king, Zalmon Simmons, also created an insulator for telegraph wires used in the Army signal station on Pikes Peak. In order to inspect those wires, Simmons rode a mule to the summit—a two-day trip. When he got back to Manitou Springs, Simmons soaked his aching bones in a mineral pool across from the Cliff House hotel. The hotel proprietor, Edward Nichols, mentioned he had an idea for a railroad that would comfortably take visitors to the top of the peak. He had a captive audience and Simmons soon provided the funding.


The Cliff House Hotel, Courtesy of the Cliff House

But Nichols faced an engineering challenge. How would he construct a train that could safely climb 14,115 feet above sea level? For inspiration, he looked to cog railroads built in Switzerland and New Hampshire. Unlike railroads that depend on the friction of wheels against rails to provide power, cog railways use a gear that meshes into a center-mounted rack rail, allowing cogs to climb steep grades. It was the perfect solution for Colorado.

The Pikes Peak Cog Railway opened in 1891 after two years of arduous labor in which six workers lost their lives. It is now the highest cog in the world, and the highest railway in the Northern Hemisphere. The PPCR passes through four ecosystems from high plains to alpine tundra. It offers views of towering pines, granite cliffs and wildlife such as bighorn sheep, before reaching the summit.

The Cliff House is just minutes from the historic Manitou Springs Depot, where the PPCR departs. Once a stagecoach stop along the gold mining route from Colorado Springs to Leadville, the property later became an elegant resort that attracted notable guests, including Theodore Roosevelt, the Crown Prince of Austria, Thomas Edison and J. Paul Getty.

The structure caught fire in 1982 and sat neglected for 16 years. The Cliff House at Pikes Peak finally reopened in 1999 after undergoing $9 million in renovations. After another $3.5 million in refurbishments and additions, the AAA Four Diamond hotel now offers 54 rooms, and a AAA Four Diamond restaurant.

Shelly Steig is a Parker, Colo.-based freelance journalist with nine books and more than 300 articles to her credit.

Here are the rest of Colorado’s historical rails:

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