All of us know there was a railroad that went through Mancos, but we're fuzzy when it comes to the details.
The Denver & Rio Grand Southern started in Ridgway and went to Telluride, Rico, Dolores, Mancos and ended up in Durango. Construction brought the railroad as far as Mancos in 1891. The railroad covered 172 miles and was narrow gauge, 36 inches between the rails, compared with standard gauge, which is 4 feet, 8.5 inches.
The Mancos Times began reporting about the train when its first issue came out on April 28, 1893. The following are a few itemscarried in The Times.
In the first issue:
"F. W. Hamlin and Pete Heibler are bringing in their planning, lath and shingle mills from Montrose and will erect them at their big sawmill at Millwood. They have their 100-horsepower boiler and 60-horsepower engine at work now, and are contemplating building a railroad to the mill, which is three miles from the mainline of the Rio Grande Southern."
In the May 12, 1893 issue:
"Every train brings in hardy prospectors and mining operators seeking investments, but this spring has been so cold and backward that little or no prospecting has yet been done. We have the best gold mining section in the world. Soon we will be shipping car loads of the highest grade gold quartz ever shipped from Colorado."( W. H. Kelly, nicknamed Muldoon because he came from Ouray and an infamous saloon there was named Muldoon, wrote glowing words about gold fields in the La Platas - more was said than was ever done.)
The first depot in Mancos was little more than a barn. Mancos had a new depot in 1896, and the following appeared the Times: "George Bauer, the mayor of Mancos and two other men sold land to the Rio Grande Southern back in 1881. The land was at the far western end of town. Superintendent Walter D. Lee of the RGS was reminded that the railroad company had promised Mancos a handsome depot and a $10,000 hotel in exchange for citizens purchasing land."
Apparently, Lee was given the land holdings, because he asked for at the 1895 gathering and a few weeks later, construction began on the depot.
Darrel Ellis is a historian and longtime Mancos resident.
