Robert Wyman, who was San Juan County Treasurer, up until about 1974 or so, told me that he was on the county road crew in the summer of 1938 when the crew tore down the river side of the snow shed to move the county road. Up to that point, the county road was the wagon road as shown in Dave Grandt's picture. The stone abutments for that bridge are still in place. Wyman told me that the snow shed failure was a nice story, but not true as they had a hell of a time removing the structure for the road. The line was still in place to Animas Forks until 1938. The section foreman's daily log book is in the archives in Silverton where he notes the removal of track in Animas Forks in 1938. The ICC evaluation maps that Dave Dye copied in the National Archives show that active track stopped at the Sunnyside Mill before 1920. My first trips over that road in the 1950s were over ties still in place through the snowshed. The shed covered a very small portion of the Animas Forks extension. The balance of the track would have to be shoveled out by hand, and I don't think there were enough people or money to pull off that stunt. There is one avalanche after another from the Sunnyside Mill for the next 3 miles. It is a very dangerous stretch of track, and even today few will risk the danger of going over that road in the winter on skis or snowmobiles.
There is no plan to rebuild beyond Eureka. So no fantasies about Ashby's shays charging up to Animas Forks. Cunningham Gulch maybe, but the #12 appears to be firmly planted in Golden. Right now we have available an 8 ton mine engine (3' ft gauge) and a larger diesel that was used on the main haulage track in the Sunnyside Mine up to 1991--it is also 3' gauge. And the Casey Jones. Somehow we'll figure out how to move trains and people. Build a railroad and they will come.
We pretty much finalized the new town county master plan tonight. It formally incorporates the rebuilding of the SN as a joint town/county endorsed project. On the planning commission is a county commissioner who again stated the county's intention to allow the use of county road 22A for the rebuilding effort. I have met with the D&S and Al Harper is knowledgable about our plans and has stated to me that he will work with the project.There are many details to work out. It is the intention that the 315 may run as much as Dennis and his compatriots want--that's their decision. Beyond the "what if" stage, there's not a lot set in concrete at this point.
Fritz
