My personal interest in Durango has also been recently rekindled and I will be following this thread! It's off to a great start! Thanks Bonefish!
When I moved to Durango the final remains from the last days of freight operation were still intact but starting to disappear. I was 15 in early 1971 when I started exploring. The track at the mill was still in the ground where the curved loading platform was. It was buried to the top of the ball in the dirt and gravel. I remember parts of a switch that were still there also. Frog, points, mostly buried, but no stand. I walked on the loading platform and that was about it. There were so many things to see and I believe that was the same day I first followed the RGS and went to Perins Peak. The mill just happened to be on the way. I believe the track remained intact until the building was torn down. The Mayflower Moving Company was operating, at that time, out of the building that was left standing in the Andy Payne photo. I remember it being brick... I was down to that a few times after school to check out the arrival status of our stuff but I never went back to the mill.
I agree about the wood cribbing construction. Sturdy stuff! Makes for an nice fire... My band was playing at the Purple Pig in Alamosa the night the elevator burned down. We played a few good sets but we really weren't needed... The entertainment was out the back door! There was pizza going around the joint and people were standing out the back door of the place watching the elevator burn, just partying and getting hammered. So our drummer did also... You could feel the heat a block away. From what I remember the fire department didn't even try to put it out... That was a magnificent old building.
Sure hope some other information comes up about the Graden Mill!
