By the time of a huge silver and lead strike in the late 1870s, when miners began pouring into the Arkansas River Valley of Southern Colorado in search for gold, silver and lead, the Denver and Rio Grande Railway (D&RG) and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) were already bitter rivals.
May 1891 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad map
In 1878, the AT&SF competed against the D&RG to put
the first line through Raton Pass. Both railroads had extended lines into
Trinidad, Colorado, and the pass was the only access to continue on to New
Mexico. There was a great deal of legal maneuvering, and even threatened
violence between rival gangs of railroad workers. To break the impasse, in
February 1878, AT&SF hired a number of local gunfighters. Faced with this
threat, and running out of money, the D&RG was forced to cede the pass to
its rivals. With this loss, their ambitions of achieving the “Rio Grande”
portion of their company name also ended.
The large gold finds in Leadville attracted the attention of both railroads. Both had tracks in the lower Arkansas Valley at the time. The AT&SF had reached Pueblo, about thirty-five miles east of Cañon City where the D&RG had its tracks. Leadville was over one hundred miles northwest of Cañon City. Both these railroads wanted the right-of-way for transporting ore and other freight to and from the mining regions.
1881 Royal Gorge
Normally, it would not be unreasonable for two competing lines to build tracks close to each other. The big bottleneck that dictated only one could travel this route was the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River. Starting about eight miles east of Cañon City at the confluence of Grape Creek, the ten-mile-long canyon was comprised of sheer granite walls that plunged 1,250 into the Arkansas River. It was thirty feet at its narrowest point. The floor of the gorge presented itself as an almost impossible barrier for placing one set of tracks. It could not accommodate two.
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| Tour train at beginning of eastern entrance Royal Gorge |
In April of 1878, a construction crew assembled by the AT&SF began grading for a rail line west of Cañon City at the mouth of the gorge. The D&RG, which had track that ended about three-quarters of a mile east of Cañon City, quickly sent crews to the same area, but were blocked by the AT&SF workers at the narrow entrance. This was to be the first round in the two-year struggle of the Royal Gorge War.
1871 Baldwin 2-4-0, first D&RG locomotive
Smaller in size, but big in ambition, the D&RG held its ground and refused to allow Santa Fe access to Royal Gorge. Both rail lines hastily built forts. This time, both rail lines hired gunslingers to drive off the opposition. Both bought politicians while courts intervened to bring settlement to the disagreements.
Both railroads went to court in an effort to establish themselves as having the primary right of way. In April 1879, the D&RG was granted the right to build through the gorge.
AT&SF announced it would build parallel tracks and
compete with existing D&RG lines. Fearing financial ruin, bond holders of
D&RG pressured management to lease the tracks to AT&SF for thirty years.
A short-lived truce was established.
AT&SF controlling the D&RG lines proved to be detrimental to both the D&RG and the Denver merchants. AT&SF quickly began to manipulate freight rates south of Denver in favor of shippers from Kansas City over its lines to the east. During this period the AT&SF constructed the railroad through the Royal Gorge itself.
D&RG continued their construction west of the gorge in a continuing effort to block the AT&SF.
On March 20, 1879 the AT&SF hired Bat Masterson, a sheriff in Ford County, Kansas, at the time. Some sources allege AT&SF used its political influence to obtain a U.S. Marshal’s appointment for him so he could legally defend their property. He put together a group of famous gunmen including Doc Holliday, Ben Thompson, Dave Rudabaugh, and “Mysterious” Dave Mather and about seventy other men. While lawyers argued both sides in court, armed men hired by Santa Fe took control of Rio Grande stations from Denver to Cañon City.
However, over the months, the income from the leased portion of the D&RG tracks continued to shrink. D&RG went to court to break the lease. On June 10, 1879, court injunction restraining the AT&SF from operating on the D&RG lines, This sparked the armed retaking of the railroad by Denver & Rio Grande crews.
A form of guerilla warfare continued, with the AT&SF doing well through early June 1879. There was heavy fighting at the AT&SF’s garrisons in Colorado. The garrisons in Denver and Colorado Springs fell quickly. Masterson's headquarters in Pueblo held out the longest, but they eventually conceded defeat.
Castle Rock D7RG depot south of Denver
One story of the conflict took place in June 1879 involved R.F.
Weitbrec, treasurer of the D&RG, suggesting to Chief Engineer J. A.
McMurtrie, Sheriff Henly R. Price, and his deputy, Pat Desmond, that they
“borrow” the cannon from the state armory as a way to drive Masterson and his
men from the roundhouse. To their surprise and dismay, the group found that
Masterson had already “borrowed” the cannon and had it at the roundhouse
trained on the line of attackers.
Weitbrec assembled a group of gunmen. They stormed the telegraph office on the railroad platform and drove the defenders out the back windows, where, it is said, Henry Jenkins, the only causality of the war, was shot in the back by a drunken Rio Grande guard. They then turned their full attention to the roundhouse.
With the cannon trained on them, Weitbrec met with Masterson, who then surrendered the roundhouse. One anecdotal story claims Weitbrech paid Masterson and his men to leave. Although later criticized for accepting $25.000 to leave, Masterson probably left because of the court decision.
Whether the above is true or not, the battle that counted took place in the courts. On June 10, the state Fourth Judicial Circuit, with the later concurrence of the Federal Courts, ruled in favor of the D&RG. That completely changed the situation. With the assistance of the sheriffs in the counties through which the railroads passed, the Denver and Rio Grande mounted an attack on its rival's forces until the AT&SF surrendered their claim.
Salida, Colorado, Roundhouse
In March 1880, a Boston Court granted the AT&SF the
rights to Raton Pass, while ordering the D&RG to pay an exorbitant amount for
the trackage extending through the Royal Gorge. While this "Treaty of Boston" did not completely favor the original
D&RG intentions, it did give them access to the booming mining district of Leadville,
Colorado, the wealth of the new mining
settlements to the west, and the opportunity to expand into Utah.
The railroad “robber baron” Jay Gould agreed to loan the D&RG $400,000 while announcing the intention to complete a rail line in competition with the Santa Fe from St. Louis to Pueblo.
On March 27, 1880, both railroads signed what was called the Treaty of Boston, which settled all litigation and gave the D&RG back its railroad. D&RG paid Santa Fe $1.8 million for the rail line it had built in the gorge, the grading it had completed, materials on hand, and interest. The Royal Gorge War was over.
D&RG resumed construction and the rails finally reached Leadville on July 20, 1880. From there, it built westward.
If you would enjoy reading one of my earlier posts about the formation of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway, please CLICK HERE
Set in the end of 1882, my next book to be released, Vinegar Pie by Varinia in the Old Timey Holiday Kitchen series takes me back to the Salida, Colorado, region. The Denver & Rio Grande Railway reached this town on May 20, 1880. To find the book description and pre-order link, please CLICK HERE
Sources:
https://www.coloradocentralmagazine.com/the-%E2%80%9Cwar%E2%80%9D-for-the-royal-gorge/
https://www.coloradocentralmagazine.com/
http://usgwarchives.net/maps/colorado/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysterious_Dave_Mather
https://royalgorgeregion.com/royal-gorge-railroad-wars/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_Wars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_and_Rio_Grande_Western_Railroad
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