Wither the South Park?

Chris Walker Wrote:
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> was watching the DSP&P marching up Kenosha(who
> also didn't know just where they were eventually
> headed other than the coal lands at Kubler and
> Baldwin just North of Gunnison), Leadville wasn't
> yet bustling
>
Oh the DSP&P always knew where it was going, it just never got there.
At the time of original incorporation and construction ('73-'74) the plan was to build to Fairplay, then on to the San Jaun mining district (Jasper et. al.) via Trout Creek & Poncha passes thence S'westwards to the Pacific (via area around Wolf Creek?.)
By the time construction really got going again ('78) the D&RG was building into Alamosa which made the original plan a bit iffy but Leadville *was* booming. The Leadville boom started in '74-'75. By the time the railroads arrived, June 1880, Leadville was the 2nd largest town in Colorado and #151 for the country as a whole with a pop of 14,820. (I have an 1880's American history/government text which includes a bunch of stuff from the 1880 census with a June 1880 date)
So when the DSP&P headed up Kenosha, it was heading for Leadville. There was some doubt about the best route, leading to incorporation of subsiduarys to cover both the Buena Vista route and the route via the Blue River valley. DSP&P had put out a call for bids on Alpine Tunnel in the Fall of '79 with the contract awarded near the end of November.
In February of 1880 DSP&P amended its articles of incorporation to include two lines from Gunnison:
The Arizona extension, via Black Canyon, Uncompahgre, San Miguel & Delores river valleys thence onwards via? (think RGS!)
The Utah extension via Ohio Creek, the North Fork of the Gunnison and the Gunnison river to the Grand River and thence to SLC.
As more evidence, consider the names given DSP&P engines of the period esp #3 (Oro City, 5/78), 5 (Leadville 4/79,) 7 (Gunnison 4/79,) 8 (Lake City 4/79,) 11 (Ouray 8/79,) 22 (Crested Butte 12/79,) and 26 (Rico 6/80.)
Palmer also knew where he planned to go, in the 1881 D&RG annual report (April '81, IIRC) he touted the Marshall Pass line as the route to the Northern San Juan districts and then on to SLC. D&RGW Ry was already building/buying lines in Utah by this time too!
So the "Race to Gunnison" was really a race to the Western Slope of Colorado and beyond, and everybody knew it.
hank
PS then UP dropped the ball...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/2016 09:24AM by hank.