The “War” for the Royal Gorge

by Judy Suchan

Two aggressive railroads, hastily built forts, a cannon commandeered by the legendary ‘Bat’ Masterson, gunfire, and a legal battle that raged in the courts for almost two years. This was the little known Royal Gorge War, an event that helped shape Colorado’s, as well as the nation’s transportation system.

In the late 1870s, miners converged on the Arkansas River Valley of Southern Colorado in the search for silver and lead. Feverish mining in the area led to the town of Leadville and attracted the attention of two railroads, the Denver & Rio Grande (D&RG) and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.

Both railways had tracks in the lower Arkansas Valley at the time. The Santa Fe was at Pueblo, about thirty-five miles east of Cañon City where the Denver & Rio Grande had its tracks. Leadville was over one hundred miles northwest of Cañon City.

Normally two railroads occupying the same valley would not be a problem, but west of Cañon City, and on a clear path to Leadville, stood the formidable, 10-mile-long, Royal Gorge canyon, a chasm that in some places is 1,250 feet in depth and 30 feet at its narrowest point, with sheer granite walls that plunge into the tumbling Arkansas River, creating an impassible barrier.

Both railroads wanted the right of way through the gorge to the rich mining fields in Leadville. But with room for only one set of tracks, the war for the gorge began between the two rail lines.[read the rest here]

• < Prev
• Next >