Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad

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Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad

Locale	Colorado
Dates of operation	1872 – 1889
Track gauge	3 ft (914 mm)
Headquarters

It has been suggested that Denver, South Park, & Pacific be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

The Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad was a historic narrow gauge railway that operated in Colorado in the western United States in the late 19th century. The railroad opened up the first rail routes to a large section of the central Colorado mining district in the decades of the mineral boom. The railroad took its name from the fact that its main line from Denver ascended the Platte Canyon and traversed South Park. The company operated as an independent railroad from its founding in 1872 until it was sold in foreclosure proceedings in 1889. Its lines later became part of the Colorado and Southern Railroad. In the first half of the 20th century, nearly all the company's original lines were dismantled or converted into standard gauge. A section of the standard gauge line between Leadville and Climax is operated as a passenger excursion railroad called the Leadville, Colorado and Southern Railroad.

[edit] Description of lines

The company's main line was 3-foot gauge and went from Union Station in Denver up the valley of the South Platte River to the town of South Platte, then followed the North Fork of the South Platte through Buffalo Creek and Bailey. West of Bailey the route along North Fork and through the north end of the Tarryall Mountains essentially followed the route of present-day U.S. Highway 285 to Como, where it branched northward (see below). From Como the main line transvered South Park to Garo, where a spur went northward to Fairplay and Alma. The main line continued south over Trout Creek Pass. On the western side of the pass, a small spur of the main connected to Buena Vista, then traversed the southern end of the Sawatch Range through the Alpine Tunnel to Pitkin and Gunnison. The distance along the main line from Denver to Gunnison was approximately 208 miles.

A principal branch of the main line north from Como went over Boreas Pass to Breckenridge, Dillon, Keystone, Frisco and Climax. This branch terminated at Leadville.

A small 7 miles branch of the main line 9 miles south of Denver connected to Morrison (this line was actually constructed first).

[edit] History

The company was incorporated in the Colorado Territory as the "Denver, South Park and Pacific Railway" on October 1, 1872 with 2.5 million dollars in capital. Less than a year later, on June 14, 1873, it was reorganized as the "Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad" with an increased capitalization of 3.5 million dollars. In August of that year in began grading the line from Denver to Morrison. The first rails were laid on May 18, 1874. On June 20, the tracks reached Morrison, and on July 3, scheduled service began between Denver and Morrison with two 2 round-trip mixed trains per day.

From 1874 until 1878, the company progressed slowly on its main line, using a series of different construction companies as it struggled to remain solvent. The tracks finally reached the mouth of the Platte Canyon on May 4, 1878, 20 miles from Denver, and by June 2, the tracks reached 12 miles up the canyon. The tracks reached Buffalo Creek on June 17. The following year, on May 19, 1879, the tracks reached to the summit of Kenosha Pass and on June 27 they reached Como.

In November 1879, with the tracks only as far as South Park, the company contracted for the initial construction of the Alpine Tunnel, with an expected finish date of July 1, 1880. The following month, the tracks reached to the summit of Trout Creek Pass. That same year work began on the branch line ("High Line") to Leadville, and on July 2, 1880, the first train arrived in Leadville.

The Alpine Tunnel was "holed through" on July 26, 1881. The main line reached Gunnison the following year in 1882.

The railroad went into receivership on in May 1888. On July 17, 1889, the company was sold at foreclosure proceedings to the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway, a new railroad which was formed to operate the DSP&P lines. The successor company went into receivership on August 4, 1894. The Colorado and Southern, charted in 1898, took over the former DSP&P lines in January 1899. The Colorado and Southern started dismantling in 1910 with the closure of the Alpine Tunnel. In 1930, the C&S attempted to shut down the main line through the Platte Canyon, in cooperation with the Denver Board of Water Commissioners, who desired to build a dam in the canyon (the dam was never built). Nevertheless, the construction of modern roads in the Rockies led to a decrease in revenue and traffic. The last freight and passenger trains between Denver and Leadville operated in April 1937, and on April 10, 1937, the South Park Line officially closed down. The last regular freight train operated between Denver and Como on April 25. The last narrow gauge section, between Leadville and Climax, was converted to standard gauge on August 25, 1943.