Silverton Northern Railroad
Encyclopedia
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
railroad constructed to reach the mining area north of Silverton, Colorado
Silverton, Colorado
The town of Silverton is a Statutory Town that is the county seat of, and the only incorporated municipality in, San Juan County, Colorado, United States. Silverton is a former silver mining camp, most or all of which is now included in a federally designated National Historic Landmark District,...
along the upper Animas River
Animas River
Animas River is a river in the western United States, a tributary of the San Juan River, part of the Colorado River System. The Spanish named the river "Rio de las Animas Perdidas", "River of the Lost Souls". It is also the last free-flowing river in Colorado. The river's free-flowing status...
. This line, the third railroad project by Otto Mears
Otto Mears
Otto Mears was a famous Colorado railroad builder and entrepreneur who played a major role in the early development of southwestern Colorado....
, began in 1889 as a branch of the Silverton Railroad
Silverton Railroad
The Silverton Railroad, now defunct, was an American narrow-gauge railroad constructed between Silverton, Colorado and mining districts near Red Mountain Pass, Colorado. Construction of the line, a project of famed Colorado railway-builder Otto Mears, began in 1887...
to Eureka
Eureka, Colorado
Eureka is a mining ghost town in San Juan County, Colorado, United States, along the Animas River, between Silverton and Animas Forks.-History:...
. Incorporated in 1895 as the Silverton Northern Railroad, the line was projected to run past Eureka to Animas Forks
Animas Forks, Colorado
Animas Forks is a ghost town located twelve miles northeast of Silverton in San Juan County, Colorado, United States. The area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.-Location:...
and on to Mineral Point and then on to Lake City
Lake City, Colorado
The Town of Lake City is a Statutory Town that is the county seat of, and the only incorporated municipality in, Hinsdale County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 375 at the U.S. Census 2000...
via Henson Creek, including a proposed three-quarter-mile tunnel through the mountains. However, Animas Forks was the end of the line, which was reached in 1896.
Operations on the line were seasonal, due the tremendous amount of snowfall that was typical in the San Juan region, and the Silverton Railroad and the Silverton Northern, while never officially merged, were operated as one entity, sharing rolling stock and motive power. In 1915, the Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly Railroad
Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly Railroad
The Silverton, Gladstone and Northerly Railroad was incorporated in 1899 after Otto Mears and associates were unable to procure financing to build a branch of the Silverton Northern Railroad to the mining area around the town of Gladstone...
was purchased by Mears, becoming the SN's Gladstone Branch.
The railroad managed to survive bad weather and fluctuating metals markets for years, the Silverton Railroad being dismantled in 1926 after several years of inactivity, and the main line was cut back from Animas Forks to Eureka in the late 1930s. Finally, in 1942, while the mines were idle and US involvement in World War II was increasing, the remaining SN equipment was requisitioned by the US Army for use on the White Pass and Yukon Route
White Pass and Yukon Route
The White Pass and Yukon Route is a Canadian and U.S. Class II narrow gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway, Alaska, with Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other railroad. Equipment, freight and passengers are ferried by ship through the...
during the hurried construction of the Alcan Highway, and the rails were torn up for scrap.