Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-04-09
MOUNTAINS RAILROADS.
Ehey Are Chasing the Stage Coach Gu
OF the Far West.

They Are Chasing the Stage Coach Out
OF tho Far West.
The stage with its lolling concord mo-
ton and the merry Jehu with his long
whip have all gone glimmering down
the misty corridors of time and are no
more forever. Most of the time through
the Sos daily lines of stages ran all over
the southwest part of Colorado, pene-
trating every portion of the rich and APP
parenfIy inexhaustible San Juan and
Uncompahgre mining regions. Lines
along the valleys, in the canyons, on the
mountain sides and through the gorges,
were projected to Ouray. to Telluride
and other San Miguel points, and across
the range to Silverton, Rico, Durango
and other towns in that section. Put
nearly all of these stage lines that have
played no small part in the development
of the rich mining camps scattered in
the mountains throughout the great
Centennial state have been forced by
the more fleet iron horse to step aside
or retire to other localities.
The pioneer Rio Grande, the South
Park and the broad gauge midland rail-
ways have almost completely wiped out
the last vetige of every important stage
line that has been operated in Colorado.
Though useful in their days-in fact,
indispensable to the travelling public at
the time-the stages finally became too
slow and clumsy for advancing civiliza-
ton in this progressive age. They were
important enterprises in their day,
lines that furnished rapid means OF
communication to the numerous lead,
silver and gold camps opening up and
being developed through Colorado. But
most of the stage lines have ended their
lays of usefulness. Railroads have
scaled most of the passes and now reach
nearly every mining camp. Unless new
discoveries are made and new camps
opened and developed, the stages will
be seen no more. They have served
their purpose and served it well, by car
rying many thousands of passengers
into and out of the numerous gold and
silver camps of Colorado, the greatest
mining state in the union.
In the spring of 1880 the bulk of
travel and freight over the range to
what is now known as the western slope
passed between Alamosa and Gunnison.
There were hundreds of miners and
prospectors continually on the road,
many OF them with their outfits packed
on the backs of burros. The greater
part of the travel, however, going into
the Gunnison country was over the
Cochetopa pass. The altitude is but
trifie over 10000 feet above the sea level.
It was often remarked that this pass
afforded an easy all-winter route over
the range, because all the pioneer set
tiers in the Gunnison and Tomichi val
leys went in and out over this pass. Al
though it was some distance farther
across the range to the railroad by this
route than that over Marshall pass, the
altitude of the latter was considerably
higher, being little over 10, $50 feet A
on between Saguache and Gunnison, for
the reason that it was about $50 miles
from the latter point to n connection
with the Denver & Rio Grande road at
Alamosa. 1t was but short time after
the building of the Marshal pass toll
road by Otto Mears until travel on the
Cochetopa route was almost entirely
abandoned, except by prospectors and
movers. Four-fifths of the traffic for
Gunnison, the San Juan and San Miguel
regions was almost from the very first
diverted to the toll road. it being the
nearest and most accessible route tn the
Denver & Rio Grande railway on the
South Arkansas, near Salida.-DenveI
Field and Farm.