Re: question for the picture

The right of way being referred to in the picture has been there a long time. It was there in 1970 when I moved to town. Always wondered what it was for but never really found out. It was never a county road.
It started at the smelter near the top of the tailings pile and went south to almost where the county road is that goes behind Smelter Mountain. The area on the south end (where the pump station for the Animas La Plata Project is now being built) had been cleared for something many years earlier, and this ROW seemed to stop near there but never continued on to the country road. I remember an old red chemical tanker trailer sat at this area for maybe 10 years or more. I hiked on this in 1971 and, at the time, it seemed like it was wide enough for "2 tracks".
In the late 80s/early 90s, when the tailings pile was being moved, this ROW was continued on to the county road and used by the dump trucks carrying the tailings to the burial spot behind Smelter Mountain. I don't know if this ROW was widened at the time and I can't remember if trucks were able to pass each other.
Interesting topic. It would be interesting to look at old photographs to see when this ROW actually appeared. My guess is that it was built to move more tailings from the Vanadium Corporation's site and the project was shut down before being used.
I'll bet Fritz Klinke can add more to this, and Robert McDaniel at the Animas Museum has information on this.
Anyway, my 2¢!
Ray Loose
Durango, Colorado