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Another stop along the tracks of time

Wednesday, October 3 at 9:20 AM

By Jennifer Young

At the eastern edge of Colorado’s rugged San Juan Mountains, along the headwaters of the Rio Grande, lie 22 miles of rail — a small section of which I clambered over as a child. Now older, I walk my dog down the dormant tracks, stomping through thick brush and skirting aspens that have sprouted between the rotting ties. I let go of the leash and watch the part-sled dog bound in and out of the wildflowers.

Soon, our modest excursions will come to an end.

Tourists, as many as 600 a day, will ride a train through this river valley, resurrecting a railroad long discarded. Resurrection, however, is pitting one community against another and adding spice to my family’s dinner conversations.

The railroad, part of the original Denver & Rio Grande built in the 1870s, connects the small towns of South Fork and Creede. Two dozen miles separate these rural communities; many more separate their aspirations. South Fork residents view a tourist train as a boost to their flagging economy while the majority of Creede prefers, like my parents, to keep its town small and familiar.

Opponents are trying through litigation to silence the coming whistle, but so far, the train is still on track, with volunteers at work on restoration.

It is an old story: change confronts status quo; quo resists; change comes anyway. It is an old story unfolding anew here, where railroads are remnants of the Old West, visible reminders of the race for ore that pushed settlements farther into the frontier. These aging lines are now hastening forward the New West, where tourism thrives — some say leeches — on nature’s nexus with history. For less than $100, a tourist can discover wildlife, rousing scenery, ramshackle mines and Pony Express hideouts — all from the belly of a train.

As Frederick Jackson Turner once observed, “The appeal of the undiscovered is strong in America.”

Three miles outside of South Fork, on the way to Creede, sits my family’s cabin, separated from the river by the railroad. The two ribbons of steel masquerade as an appendage to our property.

We sometimes position our cheap lawn chairs in the middle of the tracks to get a better look at Del Norte Peak. We don’t own them, but somehow the tracks feel like ours.

The real owner, Don Shank, president of the Denver and Rio Grande Historical Foundation, purchased the right of way in 1999, after decades of disuse.

Shank points to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge, which hauls more than 200,000 tourists a year, as a success worth emulating.

For Mom and Dad, Shank is persona non grata.

It would be easy to dismiss my parents’ sentiments as the cry of the NIMBY. But they came here, to this land of soaring cliffs, majestic aspens and bad Mexican food, to escape the inertness of suburbia. Why should they trade the quietude of morning — now spent gazing at the river and sipping coffee — for the shrill sound of a train? In Creede, people worry that it will alter not just their mornings but their way of life. For them, the lyrics of folk singer Richard Thompson (All that’s left now of the old days — damned ol’ coyotes and me) are more cautionary than entertaining.

But it is the old days of the West that charm and entice the tourist. The frontier once satisfied a zeal for independence and a longing for expanse. Now, left without a frontier, tourist trains help recast one.

In our cabin hangs a painting of the Rio Grande and Denver Southern. It is affective, the image of the train moving swiftly through the mountains on a snowy evening, conjuring up romantic notions of what came before, of men and women in search of destiny, however manifest. It is this abiding spirit of the pioneer that tugs.

My parents might scoff at this delicate treatment of the train (as well they should), but come on — trying to stop a train is like, well, like trying to stop a train. As for my dog and me, we will listen for the whistle and then find a different path for our walks.

Jennifer Young is a freelance writer living in Colorado Springs.

READER COMMENTS

Not a very well researched article. The real reason there is opposition in Creede (of which I am a full-time resident) is a little more complicated than NIMBY. The Creede Trustees did not vote to block the train. They voted to seek an adverse abandonment of the track within the city limits because of Shank's continued bullying and posturing (threats to collect rent for right-of-way encroachments being one). The adverse abandonment won't mean that there won't be a train, merely that the city will have control of it's destiny. Which might mean not enduring a diesel engine idling in a town that is three blocks wide for hours, while 6 (more likely than 600) search for t-shirts and hamburgers. Creede is not opposed to a tourist train (or to tourists), but the majority of us seem to be opposed to having bad policies and ideas shoved down our throats. There is 22 miles of track to be rebuilt at an estimated cost of $1 million per mile. Instead of fixing the track, Shank and volunteers are in Creede this week, tearing up streets, dismantling a playground and wreaking other havoc to expose buried tracks that are only capable of carrying little putt-putt speeders, not a train. Get your facts straight before airing your opinions in print.

Posted by Michael on October 27, 2007 06:11 PM

Fun article. My family has lived in Colorado since at least 1885. We should have immigrated earlier, because I have never heard of "Pony Express hideouts." Weren't they the guys like Buffalo Bill Cody who outraced Indians and bad guys to get the mail through--all occurring in just a short amount of time in the 1860s? I have never heard they had "hide-outs." From whom? Outlaws? Slow horses? Stage lines? The coming railroads?

Posted by Richard J Sides on October 5, 2007 02:46 PM

nicely written and very balanced piece. i guess these tourist trains do create a new sort of frontier for some folks who would otherwise never see it....

Posted by Julie on October 4, 2007 01:24 PM

NIMBY's are everywhere, but the tracks were probably there first. Just make sure the train doesn't bring a load of gamblers and really ruin the town. The San Juan's are still the most beautiful part of Colorado.

Posted by Gene on October 4, 2007 06:49 AM

I'm the last guy in and I want to keep it that way. So F#@%! all you interlopers. This is mine; its all mine--get your unwanted ass atta here! Its mine!

GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Posted by Hank on October 3, 2007 06:38 PM