1 dag / 21 mijlen / 1 uur en 7 minuten
The Leadville silver boom posed challenges and opportunities for railroad magnates. Competition to serve the area and share in its riches soared. The Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad headed for the action in 1880 across the rubble of old placer strikes on Tarryall Creek. Rail reached the summit of Boreas Pass in late 1881. Winters were harsh, and few places harsher than the Pass renamed for the God of the North Wind. By September 1882, the line reached Breckenridge, and by December 1884, tracks ran into Leadville.
Dag 1
9:00 - 0.5 mijlen / 1 minuut - 9:01
The Como Roundhouse was built by Italian stonemasons in 1881 and served as the main locomotive maintenance facility for the town, expanding from the original six stalls to nineteen by 1900; after the railroad left Como in 1939, the stone structure was repurposed for various uses, including a sawmill and a barn, before falling into serious disrepair by the 1970s.
The Roundhouse is a major part of the Como Project's dedicated to preserve and restore a segment of the old Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad complex in Como.
The South Park Rail Society opens the Como Roundhouse and the surrounding railroad yard for tours several times a months during summer.9:06 - 0.8 mijlen / 2 minuten - 9:08
2. McLaughlin / Lechner Coal Mine
Coal was an important product during the gold and silver boom. Production reached its height during the
1880's, when several additional mines were opened
southeast of Como.9:13 - 1.3 mijlen / 2 minuten - 9:16
Competing towns, Tarryall City and Hamilton, were established on both sides of Tarryall Creek. Tarryall City was known for little besides its unfriendliness and greed. It did become the seat of Park County government for a short while, but its population never matched its rival across the creek. Despite the district's production of $2,000,000 worth of gold between 1859 and 1872, Tarryall City was a ghost town by 1873. Hamilton fared little better. What was left is covered by large piles of tailings from dredging operations in the 1940s.
9:21 - 1.2 mijlen / 2 minuten - 9:23
At this junction, the railroad grade and road become one. The railroad spur here served the mining area to the northwest in the shadow of Mt. Silverheels, as ore and concentrates were brought here to be loaded into cars.
9:28 - 1.5 mijlen / 5 minuten - 9:34
As mining lagged, the need for the railroads lessened. In the 1950's, almost 20 years after the last train crossed the Pass, the Army Corps of Engineers built the existing road which follows the railroad bed. Grover G. Davis was a young dozer operator killed during the construction of the road. From the pullout, one can see South Park from the same vantage that John Fremont had in 1842 leading the expedition into South Park to map Platte River. Ranches and hay fields did not stretch below then; instead, a valley floor of native grasses and browsing buffalo might have been evident.
9:39 - 1.2 mijlen / 4 minuten - 9:43
This is a good place to stretch one's legs on a short stroll out to Rocky Point. Here, a small stretch of original railroad grade remains unaltered due to expensive rockwork required to widen it for auto travel. From Rocky Point, one looks down upon Tarryall Creek and drainages beyond. The old workings of the Fortune Placer are visible to the left. Placer mining was highly dependent upon the "water season."
Great labor and expense went into dams, ditches and other structures that served to conduct water to the gold-bearing deposits. The remains of much of the water development activity arc still visible below. The ditch routes can be traced as they lead down to the Fortune and other nearby placers. A mile beyond Rocky Point, a side road drops to Selkirk Campground on the valley floor.9:48 - 0.1 mijlen / 0 dagen - 9:49
Given the steep grades and sharp turns of the route up Boreas Pass, train wrecks were a constant danger. To retrieve runaway trains that derailed, temporary spur tracks sometimes had to be built. Cables, ropes, pulleys and chains were used to right and haul the misplaced equipment. In January, 1936, two locomotives descending from the Pass at about 20 mph hit a frozen snowdrift and plunged down the mountain. One of the engines slid 208 feet from the track; the other stopped 50 feet from the track. Temporary grade for the retrieval of these engines is still visible.
9:54 - 4.4 mijlen / 16 minuten - 10:11
In its own way Boreas Station was a bustling location. By 1886 there was a two-room telegraph office, a two-story section house and a storehouse, all built from logs cut at the pass. These stumps are still visible. Walking along the roadside at the pass today, one sees fallen boards and rotting lots that once held back snowdrifts from the tracks. The section house where several workers bunked and a small log building from the wagon and stage days still stand. They are now used as museums in the summer and ski huts in the winter. There was a stone engine house with a turntable, coal bin and water tank inside, which was destroyed by fire in 1909 leaving only the quarried stones now scattered west of the remaining buildings. A 600 foot snowshed was later extended to 997 feet with doors on the Breckenridge end to keep out drifting snows. In 1898 a depot was built onto the snow-shed for the comfort of boarding passengers. Boreas Station had a post office from Jan. 2, 1896 to Jan. 31, 1906, reported to be the highest in the country.
All these amenities failed to foil Boreas winters. Elevation at the top of the Pass is 11,481 feet. Winds are constant, strong and icy. Snow is unending. The winter of 1898-99 was particularly severe. Snows began early; by November, trains and tracks were under ten feet of snow. Clearing the tracks, always costly and time-consuming, became impossible and no train ran between February 6 and April 24, 1899.
Although Boreas Station was all but deserted by 1905, the railroad workers remained at the Pass to keep the tracks open and the trains running.10:16 - 1.5 mijlen / 5 minuten - 10:22
1.2 miles beyond the summit was the train station called Farnham. Named for its postmaster, W.H. Farnham, the site boasted little except its dreams. A promotional letter in the Summit County Journal by J .B. Farnham (presumably a relative of the postmaster's) confidently touted the town's potential as a resort. The Breckenridge Daily Journal gave additional credence to the plan. Alas, no croquet lawns, promenades, or fountains were ever built.
Farnham had a store operated by Wilbour Wood and Calvin Pike. Two mines in the area were Warrior's Mark and 7:40. Pike served as a local agent for W.H. Illif's 7:40 mine. Legend says that the 7:40 was first named 7:30 Mine for the time the miners were supposed to start work. The mine name was changed in response to the habitual lateness of the workers.10:27 - 1.8 mijlen / 7 minuten - 10:34
Water tanks, such as Baker's Tank, were common sights along the railways. Loaded tenders, the small cars behind the train's engine, carried vast amounts of coal and water. Depending on the grade and the weight of the load being hauled, stops providing water were usually every 30 miles. The closest water tanks to Baker's Tank were 4 miles away at the top of Boreas Pass, 6 miles away in Selkirk, and 12.5 miles away in Dickey. Tanks were placed below natural streams and fed by gravity. The Tank's spout, hinged upright in its resting position, was lowered into the open hatch on top of the tender. A "flop valve" in the spout opened to release water into the train's tender. The current Baker's Tank was moved here in 1910 from the Alpine Tunnel when the first tank proved to be too small. When full, Baker Tank held 9,305 gallons of water.
10:39 - 1.5 mijlen / 5 minuten - 10:45
Five miles from Breckenridge lies Indiana Gulch, a heavily mined area in the second mining boom. The head of the gulch gave rise to Warrior's Mark, the most productive mine in that area. At the western end of Indiana Gulch, one mile west of Warrior's Mark, lies a horseshoe-shaped meadow. Now returned to its natural state, this meadow marks where Colonel S.P. Congers discovered silver in 1879. He named the discovery the Diantha Lode, after his wife. Within eight months the camp had 42 voting residents.
When the railroad came in 1881 it became known as Argentine, after the mountain to the southwest. It was renamed Bacon after the turn of the century. In 1886 Argentine boasted a store and a post office. Mine ownership expanded to include coompanies based in Midwestern and Eastern status. Mining prospered well into the 20th century. By all accounts, Argentine was less rowdy than earlier mining towns. The most exciting events noted in the Breckenridge Daily Journal detailed human encounters with bears and mountain lions. Although the town has vanished, sharp-eyed hikers may spot outlines where cabins once stood.10:50 - 3.1 mijlen / 8 minuten - 10:59
The road winds past the ruins of the Puzzle Mine and Jacot Sawmill to Barney Ford Hill, named for a former slave. Ford made a fortune in the mines, then lost it all, only to find it again. He then established the Inter-Ocean Hotel, one of the finest in Denver.
Ford returned to Breckenridge in 1880 and opened Ford's Chop Stand, which quickly became the best restaurant in the area. Although it burned down, his house still stands. It was considered one of the ftnest cottages in town.
The Washington Mine, now an interpretive site of the Summit Historical Society, was located on Barney Ford Hill. It produced gold, silver and lead and was worked intermittently until 1971.11:04 - 1.9 mijlen / 3 minuten - 11:07