Complex sentence: Discovery of silver and lead near Leadville in 1877 prompted a race to build rail access to the area and the subsequent Royal Gorge Railroad War between crews of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.
Split into simpler sentences: Discovery of silver and lead near Leadville in 1877 prompted a race to build rail access to the area. The consequent Royal Gorge Railroad War between crews of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.