Railroad
The town of Gunnison was politically divided in half by the competition of land owners and the railroads. The townsmen and businessmen started taking sides with the battling Railroads.
The Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG) and the Denver, South Park & Pacific (DSP&P), were battling over prized territory. When the city planners disagreed on the placement of the rail yard, the town split in half and the halves were named “old” and “new”. Over time the sides grew together and were just glade to have any railroad stay in town.
In 1881 the D&RG started constructing over Marshall Pass from Salida to Gunnison. This started a feverish race with DSP&P to complete the trans-mountain railway to the heart of the Gunnison valley. The DSP&P made a costly decision by going over the Sawach mountain range with the alpine tunnel; this resulted in a two year overdue arrival.
The D&RG beat all competitors to the valley and began to exploit Crested Butte and the Lake City mines.
Eventually the D&RG would travel through Montrose to Grand Junction to Salt Lake City and continue westward. Coal was still found throughout the mountains after the mining bust, the town had a steady stream of money from shipping all forms of coal.
Cattle, beef, and lumber were also a good source of revenue for the railroad.
Starting in the 1930’s the railroad was hurt by the uprising technology of the day. Mines burned out and trucking became more common. The DSP&P was sold to Colorado & southern and eventually they gave the Pitkin branch line to D&RG.
