THE COLORADO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
DENVER
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Introduction

The first unit of what became the Colorado and Southern Railway Company was the Colorado and Clear Creek Railroad Company, incorporated February 9, 1865. The next year the name was changed to the Colorado and Pacific Railroad Company, and on January 14, 1868, to the Colorado Central Railway. This company began during the same year that a narrow gauge railway between Denver and Central City was constructed. The promoters were citizens of Golden, Colorado and the mountain counties, and their purpose was to promote the interests of their communities, rather than the interests of Denver. Construction of the line began at Golden, and in September 1870, the first train operated between Golden and Denver.

This company acquired the rights and privileges of companies such as The Apex and Gregory Wagon Road Company, The Golden City and Gilpin County Wagon and Railroad Company, and the Clear Creek and Guy Gulch Wagon Road Company, and pushed the construction of this little line up the rugged Clear Creek Canyon to the forks, and from there up North Fork to the town of Black Hawk. This portion of the line was completed and put into operation on December 15, 1872. Black Hawk remained the terminus of the line until May 31, 1878 when the extension of the line to Central City was completed.

After the construction of the road to Black Hawk, the company proceeded with the construction of a line from the forks of the creek up South Clear Creek Canyon, and on August 14, 1877, the road was completed to Georgetown.

In 1881 the controlling interests of the Colorado Central wished to extend the railroad from Georgetown to Silver Plume and Graymont. In order to obtain the necessary financial backing, they formed a new entity known as the Georgetown, Breckenridge and Leadville Railway Company, which completed the line in 1884. The outstanding feature of this extension was the serpentine "Georgetown Loop."

The first regular passenger train crossed the grand and wonderful highline to Silver Plume on March 31, 1884. The bridge remained in use for fifty-five years until the abandonment of the road between Georgetown and Silver Plume. The bridge was sold in place to the Silver Plume Mine and Mill Company for use in constructing mine trestles. Shortly thereafter, it was torn down.

The Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad Company was chartered in June 1873, and by 1888 had completed a narrow gauge line from Denver to Gunnison and Leadville, with various branches, a distance of 324.54 miles. This road was sold under foreclosure in June 1889 to the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway, which also acquired by lease from the Denver, South Park and Hill Top Railway Company eleven and one-third miles of road between Hill Top Junction and Leavick, the latter point being on the original line built by the Denver, South Park and Pacific.

On April 1, 1890, the Union Pacific Denver and Gulf Railway Company was formed by the consolidation and merging of twelve of the smaller narrow gauge railroads, including the Colorado Central, the Georgetown, Breckenridge and Leadville, and the Denver and Middle Park Railroad.

The Colorado and Southern Railway Company was incorporated December 19, 1898 for the purpose of acquiring by purchase at foreclosure sale the property owned by the Union Pacific Denver and Gulf Railway, 749.05 miles and the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway, 336.56 miles. In June 1900 the C & S acquired the Leadville Mineral Belt Railway, which had built 2.99 miles of narrow gauge road within the town of Leadville; and in March 1900 the C & S purchased the Colorado Railroad company, already having operated under lease the properties of that company, consisting of a standard gauge road in the vicinity of Fort Collins and Walsenburg.

As the mining industry gradually declined, and highways were built into and across the mountains, one by one the narrow gauge lines were abandoned and the tracks taken up. Many of the former railroad roadbeds became routes for modern highways. The last passenger train over the C & S narrow gauge came from Leadville down the Platte Canyon to Denver on April 10, 1937. Freight service continued a while longer, but when the tracks between Climax and Leadville were converted to standard gauge, the company’s narrow gauge operations ended. The last train, with locomotive "Old 76," made the final trip in 1943.

With the property of the U.P.D & G, the Colorado and Southern came into possession of a controlling interest of the capital stock of the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway Company. It had been incorporated on May 27, 1873 to build a railroad from Fort Worth to Texline, 454 miles, where it connected with what later became the Colorado & Southern Railway.

Trackage agreements were made with the Union Pacific between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Denver, Colorado for the operation of freight trains. A joint operation agreement was made with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company between Denver and Pueblo, and trackage agreements were made with the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company between Pueblo and Walsenburg, creating for the C & S a through line from Orin Junction, Wyoming to Fort Worth, Texas.

From A History of the Colorado and Southern Railway Company, 1961 and Growth and Development of the Colorado and Southern Lines, 1909-1927. 1927.

Colorado & Southern Railway Company