Re: Gunnison, CO

I have many hours of tape recordings of my interviews with retired D&RGW engineers Frank Wright and Clarence Russell. Both started in Gunnison in 1914. Mrs Wright's wife's dad was an engineer on the C&S Baldwin branch and she rode in the cab of his engine when the C&S rotary broke down at Pitkin and was brought to Gunnison for the D&RG to repair. When they headed east with the rotary, they put her dad's engine behind the rotary. It was snowing hard when they got to Pitkin so he put her in the cab of the rotary. Later that day, they came back to Gunnison running light. So she went thru Alpine Tunnel in a rotary and an engine. She was 5 years old then but remember a lot of details when I spoke with her in the 70s.

Tony Matkovich worked in the Crested Butte depot and later moved to California where he became a Western Pacific motive power superintendent. When he died, his daughter gave me all his D&RG photos and pass collection.

Ben Snyder worked for the CF&I store in Crested Butte and one of his duties was to take groceries and supplies to the CF&I branch store at Floresta. He rode in the caboose. Told of playing on the turntable at Floresta.

I have never had time to transcribe all of the tapes.