Railroad Bingo
Durango the Railroad Town
The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad was established in 1870 by William Jackson Palmer. Palmer's initial plan to build a railroad from Denver to El Paso. It was thwarted by the Santa Fe Railroad so Palmer expanded his railroad into the San Juan Mountains to support the growing mining town of Silverton.
In 1880 the railroad's land company acquired property along the Animas River just south of Animas City which was established in 1876. It was there that they built a new town called Durango. It was probably named for the town of the same name in Mexico where Palmer had other railroad interests. Durango had local coal supplies, a landscape suited for a railroad yard and a smelter for processing ore. The town was surveyed in September of 1880 and boasted 2000 inhabitants by December of that year. The tracks to Durango were completed in late July of 1881.
The smelter is visible in the foreground of the image above (catalog number 95.11.24) which was taken around 1888. The railroad yard with the depot and the roundhouse is across the river from the smelter. Both the depot and roundhouse were completed in 1882 as the tracks were being laid to Silverton. The image below (catalog number 17.18.19) shows a modern arial view of the roundhouse which was rebuilt in 1989 after a devastating fire.
The Denver & Rio Grande was one of the first 3 foot narrow gauge railroads in the United States. Standard gauge railroads were built with 4 feet 8.5 inches between the rails. Palmer learned that narrow gauge railroads could handle tighter curves and steeper climbs than standard gauge. Narrow gauge railroads were also less expensive to build than standard gauge.
The image above (catalog number 15.41.83) shows the difference between the two gauges. This photograph was probably taken between Durango and Farmington, New Mexico. Although the main line from Antonito, Colorado to Silverton was narrow gauge, the branch built from Durango to Farmington in 1905 was standard gauge.