In the 1860s, collecting placer gold from streams and tapping easily accessible veins diminished. More technical- intensive operations to mine hard rock were needed. By the 1870s, the invention of a smelting system that successfully separated ore (gold) from hard rock and the beginning of Colorado’s silver boom, including the discovery of large deposits high up in Boulder Canyon at Caribou, boosted the state’s economy. Gold outyielded silver in the early 1870s, but by 1874 silver surpassed gold production. Mining required shipping large, cumbersome loads and heavy equipment into the mines and shipping heavy ores out, typically over precipitous terrain. Many Colorado mines had relied on horsedrawn transportation to some extent during producing years, but the capacity of horse, wagons, and mules was dwarfed by that of trains. Trains offered massive hauling power for mines and smelters, and rail lines would connect to mountain mines with supply lines, shipping, and Colorado’s eastern towns. Rail lines were also desirable for their potential to support expansion of the growing tourism industry of the late-eighteenth century. 8 The introduction of the narrow-gauge railroad in Colorado in 1871 made building rail lines into Colorado’s mountainous terrain possible. Narrow-gauge tracks had first been built in Wales, then introduced to Colorado by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. It offered several advantages to the standard-gauge railroads. The two-foot gauge rails (laid two-feet apart) were cheaper to build (by about a third) and the narrow-gauge rails were lighter (weighing about thirty to forty pounds per yard compared to the eighty to ninety-pound rails of standard gauge. The narrow-gauge’s big advantage was in the greater traction it offered in climbing steep mountain grades. The Colorado Central narrow-gauge railroad was the first to reach the region’s gold mines, when they laid tracks through steep Clear Creek Canyon in 1872 to connect Golden with Blackhawk. The impact of the rail line and the advent of the new smelting system was dramatic. Lower freight rates meant precious metals exported from Blackhawk maintained their value, further increasing the value of the railroad. The CC extended track into the coal fields of Boulder Valley in 1873 linking with Blackhawk—this was a direct connection between the new smelter at Blackhawk and Boulder Valley's coal that was needed to fuel the smelter. The 1880s and 1890s were the peak years of railroad development within the state of Colorado. By 1892 Colorado had three times more miles of railroad than in 1880. By 1910 more than 5,532 miles of track serviced the state, accessing not just silver mining but connecting the industries of gold, coal, lumber, stone, agricultural products, and tourism. All three of Boulder’s railroad resources were built and put into service during this time. In 1880 the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Coach No. 280 was put into service and operated on narrow- gauge lines until 1952. Beginning in 1909, Colorado and Northwestern Railroad Locomotive No. 30 served as a mountain tourism line known as ‘The Switzerland of America,’ or the Switzerland Trail until it derailed in 1915. Locomotive 30 is indicative of rail cars of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, as it was modified and upgraded many times to meet the demands of its industries and owners. Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Caboose No. 04990 was built as a boxcar in 1905, but put into service as a working caboose in 1906, and rebuilt into a standard caboose in 1919. Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Coach No. 280 is one of only two intact Jackson and Sharp wooden passenger cars in Colorado that remained in service until retired. Development of the Theme or Area of Significance The three Railroad Resources represent the development of Colorado’s transportation industry, particularly in the expansion of transportation into the Rocky Mountains in the late nineteenth century as part of the development of narrow-gauge railroads within the state. The technology and construction of narrow-gauge railroads and the development of rolling stock for these railroads were instrumental in the development of Colorado industries. Rail transformed the state’s industries, from gold and silver mining, to agricultural products, to advancing tourism by rail. Colorado and Northwestern Railroad Locomotive No. 30 and Coach No. 280 represent important advancements in engineering in the state, particularly related to transportation and the narrow-gauge railroads of Colorado.
8 Fraser, “Railroads in Colorado."
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