![]() By March 1879, with allegations that all of its provisions were being violated by the Santa Fe, the Rio Grande sought to break the lease.ĭuring this period, Santa Fe moved to finish construction of the railroad through the gorge itself while the Rio Grande continued construction in areas in the canyon west of the gorge. The lease went into effect on December 13, 1878, and the Santa Fe soon increased freight rates south of Denver to favor shipping to southern Colorado over its lines to the east, to the detriment of Denver merchants using the leased D&RG lines. The Santa Fe thus gained access to Denver in competition with its transcontinental rivals, the Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific Railroads. ![]() The bondholders of the D&RG, fearing financial ruin from this threat, pressured Rio Grande management to lease the existing railroad to the Santa Fe.Īn end to the struggle appeared to be at hand when the companies reached agreement on the proposed lease to all of the D&RG tracks, equipment, buildings and employees to AT&SF for a 30-year period. Santa Fe resorted to its larger corporate power and announced it would build standard-gauge tracks parallel to and in competition with existing narrow-gauge D&RG lines. The Santa Fe opposed this move by attempting to lay track in the upper canyon for its subsidiary Pueblo and Arkansas Valley Railroad. The Rio Grande promptly appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court and began work to finish a line in the upper 30 miles (48 km) of the canyon. The Rio Grande was given the right to lay track that did not interfere with Santa Fe interests, the right to use Santa Fe tracks where the gorge was too narrow to construct its own line. On August 23, 1878, the United States Circuit Court for the District of Colorado found in favor of the Santa Fe and its proxy, the Cañon City and San Juan Company, allowing construction of a railroad through the first 20 miles (32 km) of the 50-mile (80 km) canyon, which includes the Royal Gorge. Temporary injunctions forbidding further construction were filed in the Colorado courts and soon moved to the federal courts, each company claiming the right to use the gorge. By a few hours they had lost the first round in what became a two-year struggle between the two railroads that would be known as the Royal Gorge War. The Rio Grande, whose track ended 0.75 miles (1.21 km) from downtown Cañon City, raced crews to the same area, but they were blocked by Santa Fe graders in the narrow canyon. On April 19, 1878, a construction crew from the Santa Fe's proxy Cañon City and San Juan Railroad, hastily assembled from sympathetic local citizens, began grading for a railroad line just west of Cañon City in the mouth of the gorge. ![]() So on this route, two railroads could not share the valley. At its narrowest point, sheer walls on both sides plunge into the river, creating a nearly impassable barrier. ![]() Extending either of these lines to Leadville would require laying more than 100 miles (160 km) of track through the "Grand Canyon of the Arkansas," a mountain valley 50 miles (80 km) in length at a consistent and railroad-friendly water grade of one percent.įor two railroads to occupy a river valley is not a problem in principle, but west of Cañon City the Arkansas River cuts through the Royal Gorge, a high plateau of igneous rocks forming a spectacular steep-walled gorge over 1,000 feet (300 m) deep and 6 miles (9.7 km) long. The feverish mining activity in what would become the Leadville district attracted the attention of the Rio Grande and Santa Fe railroads, each of which already had tracks in the lower Arkansas valley: Santa Fe in Pueblo and the D&RG near Cañon City, some 35 miles (56 km) west. In the late 1870s, miners descended on the upper Arkansas River valley of Colorado in search of carbonate ores rich in lead and silver. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views 2 A 1950s-era train makes daily 2-hour excursion runs from the Santa Fe Depot through the Royal Gorge along a famous section of the former Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The Royal Gorge Route Railroad is a heritage railroad based in Cañon City, Colorado.
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