LAND HISTORY

The Ute people are the oldest residents of Colorado…

and the original owners of the land on which the West Line Winder takes place.

Inhabiting the mountains and vast areas of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Eastern Nevada, Northern New Mexico and Arizona. According to tribal history handed down from generation to generation, our people lived here since the beginning of time.

Prior to acquiring the horse, the Utes lived off the land establishing a unique relationship with the ecosystem. They would travel and camp in familiar sites and use well established routes such as the Ute Trail that can still be seen in the forests of the Grand Mesa, and the forerunner of the scenic highway traversing through South Park, and Cascade, Colorado.

The Utes settled around the lake areas of Utah, some of which became the Paiute, other groups spread north and east and separated into the Shoshone and Comanche people, and some traveled south becoming the Chemehuevi and Kawaiisus. The remaining Ute people became a loose confederation of tribal units called bands.

The Weenuchiu band of the Utes occupied the valley of the San Juan River and its north tributaries in Colorado and Northwestern New Mexico. The Uncompahgre (Tabeguache) were located near the Uncompahgre and Gunnison, and Elk Rivers near Montrose and Grand Junction, Colorado.

The Ute people lived in harmony with their environment. They traveled throughout Ute territory on familiar trails that crisscrossed the mountain ranges of Colorado. They came to know not only the terrain but the plants and animals that inhabited the lands. The Utes  developed a unique relationship with the environment learning to give and take from Mother Earth.

When the Ute people were forcibly placed reservations they could no longer travel on their familiar trails, to gather or hunt for food. As more and more elders pass they take traditional knowledge about plants and their uses with them. In the past the Ute vocabulary included many words and their uses for plants. Unfortunately, these ancient words have been lost.

As westward expansion increased and eastern tribes were displaced and relocated to barren lands in the west, pioneers began to travel west. Gold and silver were discovered in the San Juan Mountains and the Utes soon found themselves in a losing battle to retain their homelands.

There is much more to the Ute history than what fits into these short paragraphs.

The information above was sourced from: Southern Ute Indian Tribe, where additional information can be found about the tribe and their history.

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY

the NAMESAKE OF West Line Winder

The Colorado Midland Railway (reporting mark CM), incorporated in 1883, was the first standard gauge railroad built over the Continental Divide in Colorado. It ran from Colorado Springs to Leadville and through the divide at Hagerman Pass to Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction.

The CM was the vision of Homer D. Fisher, who was in the timber industry and believed a standard-gauge line would prove successful for moving not only lumber, but also tapping Colorado’s lucrative mining industry.

The Midland (as it was colloquially known) was an extraordinarily difficult railroad to operate, in large part because it had very little level track. In crossing Colorado, the line made three summits – at Hayden Divide, west of Colorado Springs, at Trout Creek Pass, and at Hagerman Pass on the Continental Divide. The 2,164-foot Hagerman Tunnel was completed in 1887.

The road, incorporated on April 2, 1883, was meant to be the greatest competitor to the Denver & Rio Grande (D&RG) and would operate a route from Colorado Springs through Aspen and Leadville, with eventual dreams of reaching Utah. Funding for the project came primarily by way of iron mining magnate James J. Hagerman of Michigan, although other financiers included Irving Howbert (banker) and Jerome Wheeler (investor). Building west from Colorado Springs and a connection with the Santa Fe, the CM reached Buena Vista by June 1887, Leadville by September 1 of that year, and Aspen by February 4, 1888.

By October 1888, the CM was open to Newcastle and had a connection with the D&RG, featuring 221.1 miles of railroad in operation. Additionally, via the jointly owned Rio Grande Junction Railway with the D&RG, the Colorado Midland was able to reach as far west as Grand Junction by November 1890. This concluded the extent of the CM’s network, which actually consisted of few branch lines aside from reaching aforementioned Aspen and Leadville along with Spring Gulch.

That same year, the Santa Fe acquired the company but fell into bankruptcy following the financial Panic of 1893. The road was renamed the Colorado Midland Railway in 1897. Three years later, it came under the control of the Colorado & Southern and Rio Grande Southern (a later D&RG subsidiary).

With debts mounting and traffic slumping as a result of surrounding competition, and Colorado’s crumbling mining industry, the CM again entered bankruptcy in 1917. That year the United States entered World War I, and the railroad was meant to handle the traffic for the conflict as mandated by the United States Railroad Administration (USRA), who had full control of the industry at that time.

The USRA recognized the CM’s line as the shortest across Colorado. Unfortunately, the CM’s poor infrastructure could not handle this surge, so freight was shifted onto the D&RG. In 1918, the CM again entered receivership and finally shut down altogether during early August that year. Much of the railroad was eventually pulled up, although the eastern leg of the route from Colorado Springs to Divide remained in use as the Midland Terminal Railway until February 20, 1949.

RESOURCES:

USDA Forest Service- Midland Rail

Uncover Colorado - Midland Railroad Tunnels - Buena Vista

Denver & Rio Grande Railroad History

Wikipedia - Colorado Midland Railway

Take a ride on the Midland!