Nostalgia & History > Denver and Rio Grande, Shoshone

The station at Shoshone in the Glenwood Canyon was probably built in 1887 when the Denver and Rio Grande built the approximately 76 mile Glenwood Extension from Red Cliff through the Glenwood Canyon to Glenwood Springs and the approximately 35 miles from Glenwood Springs on to Aspen.

I did a Keyword search on the Denver Public Library Digital Collections Quick Photo Search, http://digital.denverlibrary.org , for Glenwood Extension and got 81 photos.

On July 13th, 1909 I did a posting on Glenwood Extension and used some of the photos from this search,

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1974239,1974239#msg-1974239

On February 5th, 2010 I did a posting on An Astonishing Feat and used some of the photos from this search,

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2118270,2118270#msg-2118270

I used one additional photo from the above search on this posting of Denver and Rio Grande, Shoshone.

Shoshone is in the Glenwood Canyon approximately 12 miles east from Glenwood Springs. About a mile or so east of Shoshone is the first tunnel of the Glenwood Canyon. This tunnel can still be seen from Highway I-70.

Picture 1, “Call Number: CHS.J3673. Title: First tunnel, Canon of Grand River, Glenwood Extension D. & R.G.R.R. Creator(s): Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942. Summary: A man stands on the Glenwood Extension of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company tracks in Glenwood Canyon (Garfield County), Colorado. The Grand River (Colorado River) and a tunnel are nearby. Date: between 1886 and 1900. Accession number: 86.200.6723; Attribution to Jackson based on the photonegative's inclusion in the History Colorado William Henry Jackson Collection.; History Colorado.; Condition: Corner chipped, emulsion chipped and flaking. Formerly Jackson ‘341 CO.’ Title and number ‘1250’ inked on positive. Physical Description: 1 negative: glass; 28 x 36 cm. (11 x 14 in.). Is Part Of History Colorado, William Henry Jackson Collection.”



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/12 08:28 by flynn.

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Picture 2 is CHS.J3673 enlarged 150%.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/12 11:20 by flynn.

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About a mile or so west of Shoshone is a second tunnel of the Glenwood Canyon.

I did a Keyword Search on the Denver Public Library for Railroad Shoshone and got 81 photos. Three of these photos are below.

Picture 3, “Call Number: CHS.J2425. Title: Second tunnel, Canon of the Grand River, Glenwood Extension D. & R.G.R.R. Creator(s): Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942. Summary: View of the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon, Garfield County, Colorado. Shows a tunnel of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company. Date: between 1880 and 1900? Accession number: 86.200.2154. Attribution to Jackson based on the photonegative's inclusion in the History Colorado William Henry Jackson Collection. History Colorado. Condition: Emulsion missing. Formerly Jackson 3370. Number: ‘3370’ inked on negative.; Title inked on negative. Physical Description: 1 negative: glass; 25 x 20 cm. (10 x 8 in.). Is Part Of History Colorado, William Henry Jackson Collection.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/12 08:30 by flynn.

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In 1910 the Shoshone Dam was built on the Colorado River next to Tunnel 2.

Picture 4, “Call Number: MCC-3851. Title: Shoshone Dam. Creator(s): McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957. Summary: View of Shoshone Dam (hydro electric) construction, Glenwood Canyon, Garfield County, Colorado; shows men on catwalks over the Colorado River and Denver and Rio Grande Railroad tracks. Date: March 17, 1910. Glass plate broken diagonally; oxidizing. Title, signature, date ‘3/17/'10’ and number ‘118’ hand-lettered on glass plate. Physical Description: 1 copy photonegative; 8 x 9 cm. (3 x 3 3/4 in.); 1 photonegative: glass; 21 x 26 cm. (8 x 10 in.); 1 photoprint ; 12 x 15 cm. (4 3/4 x 6 in.). Is Part Of L. C. McClure collection 1890-1935.”



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/12 08:31 by flynn.

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Picture 5, “Call Number: GB-5087. Title: Shoshone, Colo. Creator(s): Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935. Summary: View of a Denver & Rio Grande Railroad train stopped at Shoshone, Colorado in Garfield County. Date: between 1890 and 1935? Scanned image from loaned collection. Title supplied. Physical Description: 1 photonegative: nitrate; 20 x 25 cm. (8 x 10 in.). Is Part Of James Ozment collection of George Beam photographs. “

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Picture 6 is GB-5087 enlarged 50%. The depot is to the right of the water tank and both the bottom of the water tank and the bottom of the depot are behind the train. You can see only the roof of the depot.

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In Picture 6 there is a highway sign that says U.S. 40S. I had always known the highway before I-70 to be highway 6 & 24. Highway 6 was from Denver over Loveland Pass and joined Highway 24 just west of Minturn to become 6 & 24 on west through the Glenwood Canyon and through Glenwood Springs.

The following website, “Glenwood Canyon: An I-70 Odyssey, History of the Canyon and Construction of I-70,” explains the highway sign.

http://www.mesalek.com/colo/glenwood/history.html

The following excerpt is from the above website.

“Pre-Interstate Roads,

When Colorado got into state highway road building in the early 20th Century the road through the canyon became part of SH 4. When the US Highway routes were developed in 1926, the route through Glenwood Canyon was proposed to be part of US 46, but that highway was scrapped and it instead was part of US 40S when the routes were implemented in 1927. In 1936 US 40S was renumbered to be part of US 24. Then in 1937 US 6 was lengthened westward from Denver and was comarked with US 24 through Glenwood Canyon. In the 1920s the roadway through the canyon was only graded and graveled, but during the Depression U.S. Representative Edward Taylor obtained $1.5 million for widening and paving of the canyon road. The improvements were opened August 1, 1938.

US 6-24 through Glenwood Canyon remained pretty much unchanged until the 1960s. In 1960 the federal government approved a proposed extension for I-70 to go west from Denver to Utah. The first divided section of highway was complete in 1965, and went from Glenwood Springs east to No Name. This included the two bores for the No Name Tunnels and bypassed the Horseshoe Curve section of the canyon. East of the canyon (Dotsero) I-70 was built by 1982, but the section from No Name to Dotsero would be the most troublesome to complete.”

From the above information the date of photo GB-5087 must have been sometime between 1927 and 1936.

My Dad worked as a relief telegraph operator at two different times, from Friday, January 6th, 1922 to Monday February 6th, 1922 and from Thursday, March 23rd, 1922 to April 2nd, 1922.

The following is from my Dad's diary.

Page 611, Monday, January 23rd, 1922 to Tuesday, January 31st, 1922. [Shoshone] “Monday up at noon. Dinner and breakfast all in one. The battery situation in the afternoon. Kilgore goes hunting. I at work early. Vi, a good scout to work with. The evening goes quickly. The regular program each and every day. Kilgore goes out hunting for the first three days. Then he goes to Dead Horse every day afterwards to work on his belongings. Newman and I play cards nearly every evening. Kilgore tells of his travels before being married.”

Page 612, “The weather changes for the worse. A real big snow storm and real cold weather. Newman and I plan on going through the tunnel at the dam. But he gets cold feet. So Jack goes in with the crowd on Sunday evening January 29th. A swell scene. Stayed in tunnel until 1:30 am Monday January 30th. A gentleman from Dotsero pays a visit to Kilgore's. (Fannie's Husband). A great deal of sport each and every evening teasing the ‘kids.’ The end of January and Frances still in Rifle. So much so good for ‘Jack.’

Page 613, January ends with Jack at Shoshone. All well at home. 18 inches of snow and below zero weather every morning.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/12 08:22 by flynn.

the canyon is magical, neat times your family had.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbwtMV9SLeE&list=HL1352495373&feature=mh_lolz



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/12 13:11 by dan.

Dan. Thanks for sharing your Sept 2012 video of the chase of the Union Pacific directors special through the Glenwood Canyon. It was spectacular.