FRONT COVER—“The covered turntable at Corkscrew Gulch.It served as part of the main line.” (C. W. Gibbs)See discussion and diagram pages 12, 13 and 14.
THREE LITTLE LINES
By Josie Moore Crum
SILVERTON RAILROAD
SILVERTON, GLADSTONE & NORTHERLY
SILVERTON NORTHERN
The originals of these articles appeared in Bulletin 74 of the Railway andLocomotive Historical Society in October 1948. A second edition was publishedby Bert Baker in the fall of 1956. The present volume contains additional informationand pictures gathered since the appearance of the earlier publications.J.M.C.
Copyright 1960
by Josie Moore Crum
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publishers.
Reprint Rights
L.A. “Johnny” Johnson
Box 348
Ouray, Colorado 81427
Published by
DURANGO HERALD-NEWS
Durango, Colorado
INTRODUCTION
The Southwest has had a most romantic history. It is the oldest portion,both in the way of interior exploration and in the way of settlement, in theUnited States.
The Coronado Expedition of several hundred Spaniards left Mexico in1540 and journeyed up into what is now central New Mexico. The convoyconsisted of soldier aristocrats on their caparisoned horses and in their picturesqueregalia, and of common soldiers, fortune seekers and servants. Accompanyingthe train were hundreds of horses packed with supplies and hundreds ofcattle, sheep and hogs for food purposes.
They established themselves at Tiguex, New Mexico and spent two years,1540-42, conquering the Indians and searching for treasure. One party wentwest and discovered the Grand Canon and another went east as far asKansas. They found no riches but explored, mapped and named the countryand took possession of it for Spain.
New Mexico was settled in 1595, permanently, except for a short periodwhen the populace fled because of an Indian uprising. The first capital wasSan Juan though it was soon moved to nearby Santa Fe. It should be noticedthat this settlement preceded colonization on our eastern coast.
No one knows when the Spanish first entered Colorado but the countryseemed well-known and named when Juan Rivera made his first trip into it in1765. He led a party across the southwestern part of the state to the Utahborder and back to the Gunnison River near Hotchkiss. Within the next tenyears he made three more trips of the same kind.
The Escalante expedition of 1776 wanted to find a northern route fromSanta Fe to Los Angeles. They followed the same trail as had Rivera to Hotchkissbut from there went north and then west to Utah Lake. Because of ashortage of food they started home, crossing Utah, the Colorado River andArizona and arriving at Zuni, New Mexico. This party very thoroughlymapped and named everything in the course of the journey.
The most commonly traveled route across Colorado was the “Old SpanishviTrail”, used in the 1830’s and 40’s by trade caravans operating between SantaFe and Los Angeles, woolen goods going to the west and horses and mulesto the east. It tra