Stations and Towns

he Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company formed Durango along the banks of the Animas River in September 1880 to serve the San Juan mining district. Lots of silver (and later, even more of gold) was being discovered in the mountains ever since gold fever struck in 1872 and resulted in the settlement of mining towns like Silverton, 50 miles north. Durango had a more tolerable climate and a good supply of water and coal for operating the smelters to pull precious metals out of the ore. The railroad company chose a site south of the town of Animas City for its depot. It bought up the land in the eventual downtown Durango area using various different names to conceal what it was doing. The land was purchased for less money this way. When the train steamed through Animas City on its way north in 1881, it didn't even stop there!

Today tourism is an important aspect of Durango's economy (along with recreation, natural resources development, education, government and business) and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad continues to run on the spectacular narrow gauge railroad that was carved through the mountainsides along the Animas River Valley more than a century ago.

City of Durango

he Silverton Branch of the Denver & Rio Grande was once part of an extensive network of three-foot-gauge railroads built to service the region's silver mines (hauling both workers and ore). In the mid-20th century, the system (some of which had been converted to standard gauge) began unraveling, until only two sections remained. Both are now tourist lines: the Cumbres & Toltec (owned by Colorado and New Mexico) and the privately owned portion called Durango & Silverton, which operates coal-fired steam trains (freight as well) through Colorado's San Juan Mountains. The Durango depot (1881) is essentially a long one-story building, broken in the center by a two-story cross gable. The upper portion was occupied at one time by the Rio Grande Southern. Covered in clap-boards, the station has simple pedimented window frames. The windows originally extended nearly to the floor, but most were shortened during the 1930s. The interior has been reconfigured for offices, rest rooms, and a gift shop. The current single waiting room was once divided into separate spaces for men and women.

Janet Greenstein Potter / Great American Railroads Stations / 1996

n 1860, Charles Baker and several prospectors entered the San Juan Mountains in search of wealth. They soon found deposits of gold and silver along the Animas River, in an area that was later called "Baker's Park". The prospectors stayed through the summer but returned to what is now northern New Mexico for the winter. News spread of the discovery; however, with the Civil War looming and the discovery being located on Ute Indian land, the miners did not return to the San Juan Mountains until early 1870s.

At that time nearly 1,000 prospectors once again ventured into the high country. The Utes protested, yet they could not stop the inexorable wave of miners and settlers that arrived over Stony Pass.

In 1874 Silverton's town site was laid out and it soon became the center of numerous mining camps. In addition to the miners, Silverton caught the eye of a railroad company in Denver. In July 1882 the first train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad rolled in to Silverton from Durango. By 1883, Silverton boasted of having a population of 2,000 people with 400 buildings - 2 banks, 5 laundries, 29 saloons, several hotels and a bawdy red light district - Notorious Blair Street.

As early as 1874, men were bringing their wives and families to live in Silverton. This influx of families provided an incentive for citizens to keep at least part of Silverton respectable. From the very beginning an imaginary line ran down Greene Street dividing the town between the law-abiding, church-going residents and the gamblers, prostitutes, variety theatres, dance halls and saloons.

Silverton Chamber of Commerce

ocated 45 railroad miles from Durango, Silverton was the northern terminus of a Denver & Rio Grande branch (later Denver & Rio Grande Western). In the 1950s, the railroad sought to abandon the line, but the Interstate Commerce Commission refused permission, because tourist ridership was on the upswing. To discourage railroad business, the D&GW first converted the Silverton depot to a trucking facility. The next step was demolition plans, but the railroad was persuaded to donate the building to the San Juan Historical Society. In 1975, the group was using the depot to store museum artifacts when someone dynamited the freight end. (The perpetrator was never found.) Partly by using materials salvaged from the explosion, the society rebuilt the damaged area. The group also reroofed the depot with wooden shingles and painted it the "Rio Grande" color scheme of yellowish-tan and brown.

The depot's simple exterior has vertical boards to windowsill level, clapboards above, pedimented door and window openings, and heavy brackets supporting the deep roof overhangs. About half the windowpanes are still old wavy glass. A circular window adorns the gable end of the waiting room, which contains benches and a stove (probably brought from other depots in the Rio Grande system), and the original two ticket win-dows. During the 1970s and 1980s, the depot was leased to a publishing house. The journey back to railroad use began when the Durango & Silverton (the tourist operation that bought the branch line) subleased space for a ticket office. The railroad eventually purchased the entire building. The attic space has been remodeled for crew sleeping quarters.

Janet Greenstein Potter / Great American Railroad Stations

n downtown Silverton, the track turns onto 12th Street and stops at Blair Street. This improvement was made in 1963 so passengers did not have to walk from the depot to the main part of town. In 1964 a second parallel track was built to 12th and Blair Streets, so now for several hours each day during the busy summer months, two engines stand side by side with steam slowly hissing from the escape valves. Following a western style welcome, lunch at one of the many cafes or at the hotel, a tour of Silverton's shops and streets, and a visit to the most interesting San Juan County Historical Society's museum in the old jail, four long and loud toots of the train whistle summon everyone back to the train.

Doris Osterwald / Cinders & Smoke: A Guide to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad