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Trails Among the Columbine 1993/1994 Monarch Branch D&RGW Hard Cover
Trails Among the Columbine 1993/ 1994 The Monarch Branch D&RGW
Denver & Rio Grande Railway
A Colorado High Country Anthology
Sundance Publications Limited
Hard Cover with plastic protective covering
224 Pages
Copyright 1994
Contents
A Railroader's Story... The Monarch Branch 7
By Ted McDowell
Narrow-Gauge Rails to the Top of the World 23
By Russ Collman
The Salida Hydroelectric Plants 57
By Wade Hall
Arborville and "The Hermit of Arbor Villa" 59
By Russ Collman
Narrow-Gauge Operations on the Monarch Branch 65
By Russ Collman
An Epilogue For the Narrow-Gauge Days 152
By Wade Hall
The Salida Rotary Barrel Transfer 180
By Dell A. McCoy
Standard-Gauge Operations on the Monarch Branch 193
By Russ Collman
An Epilogue For the Standard-Gauge Days 222
By Wade Hall
THE MONARCH BRANCH of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad was a little over 20 miles long, ending in the mining camp of Monarch, just beyond Milepost 236 (i.e., 236 miles from Denver via Pueblo and Cation City). However, within this 20 miles of steep, twisting trackage there existed some of the most exciting narrow-gauge railroading found anywhere in the Colorado Rockies.
This mountain-climbing branch of the D&RGW was located in the mountainous interior region of the Centennial State. The branch started in what was once the bustling railroad town of Salida, at Milepost 215.04 near the mouth of the Arkansas River Canyon, on the "Royal Gorge Route" of what was once called the Scenic Line of the World.
The discovery of gold and silver in the Sawatch Range northwest of this little town, which was originally called South Arkansas (and later renamed Salida), sparked the spirit of adventure among many young men "back East." Most of the seekers of fortunes in gold and silver came overland across the High Plains to the fabulous Pikes Peak Country of Colorado. Before 1880, these hardy prospectors had to trek into the mountain wilderness of Colorado on horseback or travel as passengers in rough-riding stagecoaches. However, the melodious whistles of General William J. Palmer's little three-foot-gauge steam locomotives could be heard along the Front Range of the Rockies as this diminutive railroad's first rails were spiked down in 1871, between Denver and Colorado Springs, a distance of 74.8 miles. This pioneering accomplishment was followed by tracklaying south of the Pikes Peak Region into the raw frontier settlement of Pueblo in 1872.
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