As has already been noted Engine 100 was purchased and put into service
as soon as the railroad started operating.
The Rio Grande Southern Railroad bought a number of engines in both 1890
and ’91 and, as it was not yet in operation and did not need so many, it
kept its sister railroad in supply. A record of those it loaned to the
S. R. in 1892 is as follows:
No. 8—January 1 to April 12
No. 5—July 7 to November 19
No. 7—August 14 to September 2
No. 6—September 2 to October 10
No. 34—November 27 to December 31
A picture of No. 5 with a train at Summit may be found herein.
It has always been supposed that the Shay engine belonged originally to
the Silverton Railroad but the Lima Locomotive Works’ records reveal
that Mears bought it under his own name in the spring of 1890. It, as
No. 269, was used on construction of the Rio Grande Southern throughout
that year and the next.
It isn’t known how or when it got into the possession of the S. R. but
it was with that company in the summer of 1892 and a picture of it on
the lower leg of the turntable track exists. It seems to have been
called both “Ironton” and “Guston” during this period. It was traded to
the R. G. S. for the latter’s Engine 34 on November 27, 1892. (Note that
the table above shows the 34 merely on loan. The trade date, however, is
correct.)
Locomotive 34 was a Baldwin of the 56 class which had, before going to
the R. G. S., belonged to both the D. & R. G. and the R. G. W. The S. R.
numbered it “101” but several years later changed it to a mere “1”.
Red Mountain and Ironton became two flourishing towns with plenty of
stores and all the appurtenances of civilization. In the eighties and
early nineties Red Mountain had three newspapers. In 1890 it had a
population of 598 while Ironton had 322. Even Chattanooga had a mill,
some stores and 51 people. The locality was a beehive of activity as
mines and mills were working every place. The hills were liberally
sprinkled with houses, stores, mills, boarding houses, barns and mine
buildings. An incendiary fire at Red Mountain on August 20, 1892
destroyed practically the whole town causing property damage estimated
at $259,000. But nothing daunted these optimists. They immediately went
about rebuilding it.
The transportation of supplies to the district—machinery, timbers for
mines, lumber, living necessities, coal and feed for animals—must have
been terrific for such little trains to handle. Return trains carried
ore bound for the smelters at Silverton and Durango. A company in which
Mears was interested built a smelter, the Standard, at Durango in 1889,
to handle copper ore from the Red Mountain area but it did not prove a
success. Eventually, in 1897, the property was sold and rased. The slag
pile may still be seen just south of town.
Operation, not counting sharp curves and steep grades, was complicated.
Turning facilities were numerous for such a short piece of
railroad—Silverton, Sheridan Junction, Red Mountain, Corkscrew Gulch,
Ironton and Albany. The Operation of the turntable has already been
exhibited. It, very soon after completion, began having trouble with
snow, and a long entrance shed was built to alleviate the condition.
Each leg of the wye at Red Mountain would accommodate only two cars, and
so the engine and baggage car went around it and hooked onto the other
end of the coaches.
Four regular freights and probably an extra one or two operated. The
company did not have enough engines or anything else for such traffic
and so must have borrowed from the R. G. S. and the D. & R. G. Passenger
business was only a sideline but Mears maintained the dignity of his
little railroad by running daily, each way, two passenger trains, each
with two or three coaches and baggage car. He charged 20c per mile
straight and had all the riders he could handle.
Business had been very good, so good, in fact, that the Silverton
Railroad had the reputation of being the best-paying for its size in the
state. Mears even used profit from it to assist the R. G. S. which was
not doing as well as had been expected.
An extension of the Silverton Railroad up the Animas River Valley had
been considered for several years. It became a reality in 1893 when the
two miles from Silverton to the Silver Lake mill at Waldheim were built.
It was considered a part of the S. R. system, not a separate line.
The San Juan’s most common precious metal was silver. Others were gold,
lead, zinc and copper. Trouble had been brewing for some time but when
the government repealed the Sherman Silver Purchasing Act in 1893 a
panic descended not only on the San Juan but on all of the United
States.
All mining towns had, of course, boomed and were replete with hordes of
promoters, prospectors, miners and hangers-on. Saloons, gambling joints
and brothels flourished. Now, mines closed by the dozens and the
populace departed. Many towns, especially the small ones, were
practically deserted. Train operation came down to a mixed freight and
passenger.
As some of Mears’ letters indicate, he was, after the panic, having a
most difficult time in making ends meet. He gave up the Rio Grande
Southern almost immediately and allowed it to go into receivership on
the 2nd of August, 1893. He tried, however, to hang on to the Silverton
Railroad but, as some of the letters reveal, he had to do a good deal of
juggling with bonds, stocks and notes to stave off creditors.
In 1896 the company claimed 18.25 miles of track from Silverton to
Albany, 3.75 miles of branches and .48 miles of spurs. In the same year
it listed two locomotives, three combination cars, 36 box cars, one
caboose and one “other”.
Even with the hard times Mears managed by borrowing to extend the
railroad in 1896 from Waldheim to the Sunnyside mine at Eureka, another
6½ miles. This entire piece, Silverton to Eureka, he incorporated as the
Silverton Northern. This railroad was justified as both the Silver Lake
and Sunnyside mines carried a good deal of gold.
At the turn of the century the most talked of and anticipated event in
the mining country was the Meldrum Tunnel which was to bore through the
range west of Red Mountain town and connect with mines at Pandora near
Telluride on the other side.
The tunnel was to be large enough to contain a railroad which was to
connect the Silverton Railroad with the Rio Grande Southern at Pandora.
This would have saved much mileage and would, except at the ends, have
been free from snow.
Andrew Meldrum, a Scotchman, the originator of the project, raised money
and started work in 1898. He left a point on the west side one and a
half miles south of Pandora and drilled eastward until he had reached a
depth of 1400 feet. Except for one joggle it was quite straight. At the
same time he ran another tunnel westward from a point about one-half of
a mile north of Joker Tunnel to a depth of 600 feet or more. Altogether
he drilled about 1.6 miles on the west side and .6 mile on the east
side. Finally, in 1900, with 3.4 miles yet to go, he ran out of money
and had to abandon the project.
However, Meldrum’s dream did materialize in 1946 during World War II
when the government loaned the Idarado Mining Company, which had bought
the old Treasury Tunnel workings at Red Mountain, the money to complete
a tunnel through the mountain to the Pandora side. It takes several
drops and rises and goes in various directions in order to contact the
ore veins, so that the total length is 7½ miles. This amount does not
include some tail tunnels.
The Idarado property is now considered one of the richest in the world
for hardrock ores—silver, gold, lead, zinc, copper and manganese.
Meldrum lived out his life in Ouray and died in a cabin there all alone,
a few years too soon to see his dream come true.
Everybody hoped and expected that mining would soon revive but the time
dragged on and it did not. William Jennings Bryan ran for president of
the United States in 1896 on a “free coinage of silver” platform and the
“Silver San Juan”, Mears especially, ardently campaigned for him. When
Bryan was defeated, Mears gave up on a mining revival and early in 1897
moved to the East. There he took up several business enterprises and
stayed for ten years. However, he retained a general supervision over
his railroads and made numberless trips back to the San Juan.
Revenues had decreased so greatly that the railroad was finally, in
1898, forced into receivership. Alex Anderson, a Scotchman and a former
auditor, was made the receiver.
The Crawford interests who were promoting the Joker Tunnel (a drainage
operation) got control of the railroad in a foreclosure sale in 1904. On
November 3 of that year it was incorporated by Otto Mears, Alex
Anderson, John Ewing, George Crawford and Harry Riddell as the Silverton
Railway, with Mears as president. The new company replaced the old
30-lb. steel with 45-lb. Mr. Ridgway, as superintendent at this time,
1904 and 1905, had to keep three sets of books—one for the S. R., one
for the S. Ry. and one for the S.N.
Just before and after the reorganization, business revived until it was
nearly as good as in the beginning though only one passenger train ever
ran again and then only as far as Joker Tunnel. The train consisted of
two coaches and a baggage car to Red Mountain where one coach was set
out and the rest went on to Joker. In 1912 a daily passenger was running
only as far as Red Mountain. In 1919 and ’20 a passenger was still going
to the same destination. During this period about two freights operated
though the number depended on the amount of business. A little engine
could haul three loads up to Red Mountain and a big one could haul five.
Both handled ten loads down. In the winter operation was suspended
either for short periods or for the season because of snow blockades.
The turntable was still standing in early 1906 for John Crum who that
spring drove a logging team from Albany Gulch to the Gold Lion mine, at
night turned his horses loose on a flat nearby and in the morning had to
play tag with them around the table to catch them.
Mears, who was expecting great things of the Cold Prince mine and mill
at Animas Forks on the Silverton Northern, decided he needed a turntable
worse there than at Corkscrew. So, in the summer of 1906, Edward Meyer,
an engineer, took a train to the gulch to retrieve all essential and
removable parts along with other appurtenances. These were then
transported to and installed at Animas Forks.
Joe Dresbach, the general manager of the time, has also stated that
essential and removable parts of the turntable at Corkscrew were
retrieved and installed at Animas Forks.
Charles Decker, an engineer, says that the housing and operating parts
of the turntable at Corkscrew were gone when he went there for the first
time in 1907. The train merely ran over the stationary table onto a
switchback that had been extended to hold several cars, and then backed
out.
After the turntable was abandoned a train leaving Red Mountain headed
into Corkscrew Gulch, backed down to Joker Tunnel, headed into Corkscrew
again and finally backed to Red Mountain. Or the operation was reversed
by backing out of Red Mountain to begin with. As trains will not back
through much snow downhill and practically none uphill this railroad got
into trouble in the winter no matter how it started out or what it did.
Mears was employed by the D. & R. G. to reconstruct the railroad in the
Animas canyon after the disastrous flood of October 5, 1911. He used S.
Ry., S. G. & N. and S. N. engines and crews to work from the north end.
Trains went to Joker Tunnel to pick up rails that had been brought that
far by freight teams from Ouray. Silverton ran out of coal, and some
that had already been hauled to the Treasury Tunnel at Red Mountain was
brought back to town. In about 60 days the line was open and the first
two freight cars to arrive in Silverton were one of caskets and one of
beer.
Many derailments and minor accidents occurred but in its 39 years of
operation only one fatality. In 1902 or ’03 an engine ran off a short
rail at Sheridan Junction causing it to overturn. The engineer, Bally
Thompson, was caught and crushed under the boiler. The whole top of his
head and jaw were torn off and his skin was cooked like that of a
roasted turkey.
The year ending June 30, 1911 showed a cash balance of $9 while the year
ending December 31, 1917 turned up with a deficit of $25,241. Regular
operation ceased in 1921 and abandonment proceedings were held in the
early fall of 1922. All rolling stock, including Engines 100 and 101 (1)
were turned over to the S. N.
Below is the last station list ever published:
.00 Silverton 9,300
5.30 Burro Bridge 10,236
7.23 Chattanooga 10,400
10.64 Summit 11,235
11.97 Red Mountain 11,025
12.66 Vanderbilt
12.85 Yankee Girl
13.26 Robinson
13.46 Guston
13.93 Paymaster Coal Track
14.38 Corkscrew Gulch
14.81 Paymaster Ore Track
15.03 Silver Belle
16.06 Joker
As the track was not immediately removed an occasional train was run to
Red Mountain or even to the mines beyond. With the salvaging of the
rails in 1926 the Silverton Railroad made its last run.
The original Red Mountain Town was on the east side of the small hill
called the Knob. The place began declining about 1907 and the time came
when it was deserted and all structures were in a state of near or
complete collapse. The Idarado, the old Treasury Tunnel, to the north
side of the Knob, with all its prosperous looking mine and mill
buildings and its nice dwellings, most of which were moved there from
Eureka, now constitutes the town of Red Mountain. _This_ Tunnel is a
World War II development and is famous because it bores through the
mountain to the mines on the Telluride side.
The new highway has almost obliterated the old railroad grade. It may be
seen crawling along on the sidehill up to Burro Bridge, and again at
Chattanooga Loop and overhead as it climbs to the summit. It also may be
seen curving around the Knob to old Red Mountain town, crawling along
the mountain to Corkscrew Gulch and dropping down to Joker Tunnel. Then
all traces of it are gone except some old grade at Albany. First a road,
then a railroad and again a road!