Re: Fairbanks rail scale

Very interesting--we are about to lose the Martha Rose--Walsh smelter site in Silverton as the site will be graded this summer for hazardous waste cleanup prior to the area being used for affordable housing. The Silverton Railway mainline ran through this site and there were several sidings at the smelter, and much of the site still yields tangible clues to trackage and building sites. Our county policy is to preserve these right-of-ways and we have scheduled a planning commission meeting for this next week as to how the developer (San Juan County) plans to comply with its own regulations for development and preservation of historic sites. One suggestion is to preserve part of the siding off the main that had the scale. The stone pit for that scale is still on site in fairly decent condition, and we have one good photo of it to document the housing for the weigh beams and the top of the scale itself. If the county agrees to restore that in lieu of maintaining the main line through the site, then we'll have a short piece of track plus the scale platform, and related signage. The Chama scale is of much later vintage, probably the same as the Durango and possibly Silverton scale, but still very interesting.