Durango & Silverton
Birth of a Legendary Train

2008 marks the 126th anniversary of the D&SNGRR's arrival into the town of Silverton.

It is hard to make railroading pleasant in any country. It is too tedious. Stage-coaching is infinitely more delightful," observed a youthful Mark Twain in 1869. Mark would hardly have found anyone to agree with him in Durango and Silverton, or most other places as well.

The railroad provided the ultimate Nineteenth-Century travel achievement for American communities - the fastest, cheapest, safest, and the most comfortable way to get from here to there. Without a railroad and its connection to the wider world, a town was doomed, while its neighbor, which had one, prospered.

The Denver & Rio Grande answered both communities' prayers. It had, in fact, been the father of Durango in 1880. The rails did not arrive that year, but they did in July, 1881, and the first official train came the next month. Just at the thought of the railroad arriving, Durango's population soared. In September, the soon to be "magic metropolis" burst on the scene and by December, the "planters of empire," numbering a reported 2,000, crowded into their "booming" town.

Older Silverton, high up in the silver San Juan mining region, watched this with interest. After all, the purpose of the D&RG coming to southwestern Colorado had been to tap the mines, towns, and to develop the region.

The community yearned for railroad connections; no mining district really prospered until the iron horse appeared. Excitement inSilverton, "the gem of the Rockies," mounted, as the D&RG built beyond Durango to Rockwood, while winter set in and deep snow stopped construction. According to the La Plata Miner, "It is impossible to estimate the great advantage in every way the completion of this road will be to our camp."

Both the railroad and the town pushed to complete the line from Durango. It was an engineering achievement, particularly along the "high line," where the ledge had to be blasted out at a rumored cost of $1000 per foot. Some skeptics thought this would bankrupt the railroad, but it kept on coming.

As spring returned, construction started in earnest on the final push to Baker's Park, Silverton, its mines, and the opening of regular service. Anticipation grew as the San Juan Herald cheerfully encouraged locals (March 16), "keep up your courage, boys: the good time's coming right along." Then, in late June, the locomotive whistle was "distinctly heard in Silverton for the first time."

By July, rails had nearly reached Silverton, even though some of the bridges were not yet completed. A big celebration was planned for the arrival of the first train on the nation's birthday, but by July 4, the track remained three miles out of town. Silverton went ahead and celebrated anyway. The Fort Lewis military band, baseball team, and Durangoans arrived by train and carriage to join the locals for a baseball game, a parade, and a grand ball.

Said the La Plata Miner, July 15, 1882, "So far, all that can be done by the outside world has been done, for by this medium it has been opened to us - what now remains is for us to do - to commence to make ourselves and make good our statements." The community sat on the threshold of long expected prosperity.

Regular trains now left Durango at 7:15 a.m. and arrived in Silverton at 12:40 p.m., returning to Durango at 2:15 p.m. Silverton, "Queen of the Silver Land," had come of age.