Tunnel delays made DSP&P lose the race to Gunnison

Sidebar by Kym O’Connell-Todd

Transportation History – July 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine

Enthusiasm was high — the tension even greater — during the rail race of 1879.

Two narrow-gauge railroad companies, the Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG) Railroad and the Denver South Park and Pacific Railroad (DSP&P), fought neck to neck to reach the prosperous mining town of Gunnison first. Even though both companies faced the formidable Continental Divide, each chose to approach the engineering problem in radically different ways.

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West Portal of Alpine Tunnel getting a facelift

Article by Kym O’Connell-Todd

Transportation History – July 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine

At a little more than 11,500 feet above the tides, a small wooden building leans into whistling tundra wind. Abandoned for many years and left as a makeshift home to marmots and other mountaintop squatters, the little depot still shares the snow-patched landscape with the remains of the colossal Alpine Tunnel project that began 115 years ago.

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Shall We Gather at the (Gunnison) Ditches?

Article by Kym O’Connell-Todd and Mark Todd

Local Festivals – May 1994 – Colorado Central Magazine

For the past century or more, the Gunnison Valley — in one way or another — has drowned in water issues. From its infancy, Gunnison provided a paradise for those who recognized the value of the region’s resources — especially water.

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