The Denver and Rio Grande had started work on the expansion to the Gunnison City.

1


Denver and the Rio Grande competing for the
Gunnison City to build their railroad...

• The Denver and Rio Grande had started work on the
  expansion to the Gunnison City.
• There was a race between them and the Denver and
  South Park to see who could get there first.
• Denver and the Rio Grande was building fast.

2
The railroad is completed through Gunnison!

• By August 6, 1881 the tracks had reached Gunnison
  City.
• After it was completed, Gunnison became one of
  the busiest towns in Colorado.
• The route the railroad took was over Marshall
  Pass into Gunnison County and then down the
  Gunnison River to the Black Canyon.
• The goal now was to continue building into Salt
  Lake City.

3
Salida to Gunnison and Montrose

• The railroad through the Gunnison Valley starts
  in Salida, goes through Gunnison and then on to
  Montrose.
• The railway goes through Monarch Pass over 1,000
  feet below the summit.
• West of Sargent, the route followed Tomichi
  Creek to Gunnison.

4
By the spring of 1881, the Denver and Rio
Grande made it so that the Gunnison City would be
the place for their railroad. It took six
construction companies to build the railway
through the Black Canyon. Until mid-1952
large amounts of coal were being shipped from
Crested Butte to the steel mills at Pueblo.

• Some Information about the railway through the
  Gunnison Valley...

5
More Information...

• On January 14, 1954, the depot in Gunnison was
  closed for the last time, bringing to an end a
  continuous service that had begun 73 years
  before.
• At Gunnison the line entered the Gunnison Valley
  and then continued down to the Black Canyon where
  there were little trees.

6
And More...

• Montrose was a large trading center for a large
  irrigated region and was founded in 1882.
• The Ouray Branch began at Montrose and ran up to
  Ridgeway and Ouray.
• It was built in 1887

7
A little bit more...

• Many Spanish explorers came through this way.
• The end of the route is at Ouray.
• The San Juan Mountains stopped the construction
  of the railway.

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THE END