Possession is 9/10 of the law

As long as taxes were paid to Mineral County since the r.r. quit running in the 1980s, very little can be done by Creede locals to stop operations, other than petty obstructionism. In fact, there is the potential of indictments for trespassing by the town on r.r. property.

Creedians think their recently minted art colony will succumb to the Silverton model, with rubber tomahawk and t-shirt shops supplanting small galleries that display local artists. Their fears are somewhat understandable, as other arts colonies nationwide have seen this happen, to the point that some locations were no longer destinations for art buyers. All I would do is point out the incredible impact 36 years of tourist railroad operations have had on downtown Antonito. It would have also helped is Mr.Shank had emphasized early that tourist operations into Creede would be relatively low-impact.

Unfortunately there seems to be some general opinion out there that tourist railroads and kitchy tourism go hand-in-glove.
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