The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1920-09-23
War For Use of Royal Gorge Recalled

OF the Colorado Springs Gazette. de-
scribes the bitter warfare waged
generation ago for possession of the
Royal Gorge by the Santa Fe and the
Denver & Rio Grande railroad compa-
MES, both of which were endeavoring
at that time to find feasible route to
build their lines to me Pacific coast.
This contest was of dramatic interest
to the people of Canon City, and many
of the older residents Of the town
vividly recall the conflict which grew
out of it. Mr.. Watson's article is a
valuable contribution to local history,
and for that reason The Daily Record
is reproducing it for the benefit of its
readers, most of whom are not fami--
lar with this incident of the commu-
nity's life. He says:
To-day the Santa Fe and the Den
yer & Rio Grande railroads are friends
and they have cooperative scheme
between Pueblo and Denver, each u.s.
ing the others lines, the result of
which is a double track system for
both. But 40 years ago they were en-
gagged in a bitter warfare. kept the
state of Colorado in a turmoil for
more than two years, and resulted in
the loss of human life before peace
was declared. The other day, an old
time railroad man, as he rode on D..
& R. G. train over the Santa Fe
tracks to Denver, remarked to fel-
low passenger on the observation plat
form: 1t wasn't like this in the old
days Ever hear of the Grand
Canon war;" as he told it:
Late in the 70s, the discovery and
development of the silver mines in
the Leadville district determined the
Santa Fe to extend its road to that
city. The D. & R. G. woke up to the
possibilities OF the scheme at about
the same time and decided to push
its rails from Canon City to the new
mining region. There was but one
possible way through the mountains
by way of the Grand Canon of the
Arkansas river, west of Canon City,
now known as the Royal Gorge. This
gorge was the key to the situation,
and the railroad which first took pos
session OF it was the road which could
tap the rich mineral resources Of
Jeadyille, or California Gulch, as It
was also called.
"'The first move was made by tie
Santa Fe. On April II, 1878, w. B.
Strong, vice president and general
manager of the Santa Fe, ordered A.
A. Robinson, chief engineer, then in
charge Of construction at Deep Rock.
50 miles south of Rocky Ford, to rush
a. - -r,s&I
men to take possession of the Royal
Gorge and TO hold it against all odds.
For some reason Robinson failed to
act at once, and at this stage Of the
game, the hero Of the play arrived on
the scene. He was w. r. Morley, an
other Santa Fe engineer who was TO
succeed Robinson at Deep Rock.
When Morley arrived there he found
that Strong's orders had not been
carried out. Realizing the urgency
of the situation he took matters into
his own hands. He asked for an en-
CINE OF take him to Pueblo, and he ar
rived there late in the evening of April
18. At Pueblo ne learned that large
force of men of the d. & R. G., with a
complete construction outfit, had gone
west by the night train to take pos
session of the coveted canon.
Fifteen minutes later Morley was
seated in stout mountain blackboard
behind a team of the best horses that
could be found in Pueblo. and a 40
mile race between a team OF horses
and loconatiye began. The fact
that the Ds-& R. G. roadbed was new
hot
ried was heavy for the little six
wheeled locomotive, was the only fac-
tor in Morley's favor. for the train
crew, ignorant of the pursuit, took
their time in reaching Canon City
and Morely -had. little better than a
fighting chance to win the race. When
morning dawned, the train rolled into
Canon City, followed a few minutes
later by Mor'ey, who had driven his
horses to the point of exhaustion.
Passing unrecognized by the
crew. Morley proceeded at once to the
office of President Clelland of the
Canon City & San Juan Railroad Com
pany, under whose charter the Santa
Fe was operating in Colorado, and de
manded authority to occupy the pass
on behalf of his company. While
the papers were being made out, two
Denver & Rio Grande contractors ap-
preached the office for the same pur-
pose. Morley vanished through the
back door and seeing horse tied to
post against which was leaned a
shovel banded sd. & R. c." he ap-
propriated the animal and rode 10 the
canon, two miles out of town. A few
minutes later President Cleliand
Joined Morley with half dozen
friends and they had hardly reached
the canon when the D. G. r. G. force.