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Promoting The Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Line

Striking large lithographic poster promoting the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad over the Rocky Mountains.

The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNG) is an engineering marvel and a living monument to the history of American railroading, specifically narrow-gauge systems. Initially inaugurated on July 10, 1882, by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW), the line was designed to facilitate the transportation of silver and gold ore from the San Juan Mountains. Extending 45.2 miles from Durango to Silverton, the line has been in continuous operation since 1882 and serves as one of the few places in the U.S. that has seen the uninterrupted use of steam locomotives.

The origins of this railroad lie in the visionary enterprise of William Jackson Palmer, a former Union General and civil engineer. Palmer arrived in Colorado in 1870 with a grand plan to build a 3 ft narrow-gauge railroad southward from Denver to El Paso, Texas. By July 1881, the D&RGW had reached Durango and began the final 45-mile stretch along the Animas River to Silverton, ultimately completing it by the spring of 1882. The construction, notably the section through the narrow Animas Canyon, was a Herculean task requiring the labor of mainly Chinese and Irish immigrants. They blasted off steep granite cliffs to create a level shelf for the tracks, thus successfully navigating one of the most challenging terrains.

After an initial boom facilitated by the mining industry, the Silverton branch faced economic hardships, notably after the Panic of 1893 and the end of free coinage of silver. Competition from highway trucking and declining mining ventures also impacted revenue. Nevertheless, by the late 1940s, domestic tourism began to take root, aided by Hollywood movies filmed along the line. On June 24, 1947, the D&RGW launched "The Silverton," a summer-only service, and initiated a new era of tourism that continues to the present.

The railway has received multiple honors, including designations as a federally-mandated National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1968.