RGS Story, The Rio Grande Southern Vol III 3 Over the Bridges Vance Junction

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RailroadTreasures offers the following item: RGS Story, The Rio Grande Southern Vol III 3 Over the Bridges Vance Junction The RGS Story Vol 3 Over the Bridges Vance Junction to Ophir by Russ Collman, Dell A McCoy & William A Graves SIGNED by all 3 Authors NUMBERED 1189 Hard Cover w/Plastic Protective Cover Reflections from the lights on some photos.496 pages Copyright 1993 CONTENTS Stations, Sidings and Major Bridges 13 Narrow-Gauge Railroading in the Ophir Loop Region 149 The RGS Ophir Station Grounds and Depot 241 Vera and Randolph Belisle and the Ophir Depot 291 The Little Mining Town of Ophir 297 The Mines in the Ophir Loop Area 335 MAP LIST Rio Grande Southern, Ridgway to Rico, Profile Chart 14 Vance Junction 16 Uncompahgre and San Juan National Forests Geographical Map 40 Vance Junction and Ilium Right of Way and Track Map (June, 1919) 41 RGS Right-of-Way and Track Map, Milepost 39 through Bridge 41-A 50 RGS Right-of-Way and Track Map, Bridge 41-B through Bridge 43-A 53 Ames 64 RGS Right-of-Way and Track Map, Milepost 42 through Milepost 44 84 RGS Right-of-Way and Track Map, Bridge 44-A and Bridge 46-B through 47-A 118 Frank Tweedy Topographical Map of the Ophir Loop area in 1894 136 RGS Right-of-Way and Track Map, Milepost 37 through Milepost 47 (foldout map) 151 The Ophir Station and Settlement, 1922 190 RGS Right-of-Way and Track Map, Milepost 43 through Bridge 47-A 216 Kibbe's 1881 San Juan Mining Region Map 241 Sanborn - Ophir Loop - October, 1922 251 Ophir Town Plat 300 Old Ophir 304 USGS Bulletin Alta 337 Ophir, Alta and Matterhorn Area 338 USGS Alta Basin 342 Gold King Mill 345 USGS Palmyra Crushing Plant - Alta 360 Sanborn - Alta Stamp Mill and Bessie Mill 364 Sanborn - Alta, Belmont-Wagner Mining Company 369 Sanborn - Butterfly-Terrible Gold Mining Company, Mill 389 U.S. Bureau of Mines - Silver Bell Mines Company at Ophir 405 Sanborn - Carbonero Mine 406 USGS 1904 Ophir Area Mines 408 U.S. Bureau of Mines - Ophir Area 423 Sanborn - Carribeau Mining Company 429 Sanborn - Upper Suffolk Mine 434 Sanborn - Suffolk Mill, Ophir 441 U.S. Bureau of Mines - Suffolk Mine 445 Sanborn - The Ophir Loop Mines & Metals Company, Silver Bell Mill 455 Silver Bell and Butterfly Mine and Mill 456 Sanborn - Silver Bell Mine 457 USGS - 1904 Silver Bell, Matterhorn 471 Sanborn - Matterhorn Mill 486 Sanborn - San Bernardo Mine 487INTRODUCTION AS THE YEAR 1891 BEGAN, Otto Mears had good reasons to be optimistic about his little narrow-gauge Rio Grande Southern Railroad. Construction on the north end, from Ridgway to Telluride, had been completed during November of 1890. With trains serving the thriving mining town of Telluride, Mears had to believe that he had achieved his biggest reason for building the Rio Grande Southern. The railroad traffic to and from Telluride and Pandora would always be the greatest source of revenue for the Rio Grande Southern. Construction on the south end, from Durango to the coal mines at Porter, was completed, and the winter of 1890-1891 produced handsome revenue for the RGS on both ends of the line. The entire San Juan Region of southwestern Colorado was experiencing rapid growth, and the area from Telluride to Rico was in the midst of a silver boom. With the encouragement of the profits generated by the mining activity in the hills above Telluride, it is not surprising that Otto Mears was anxious to tap the mining potential of the Ophir and Rico areas. Construction on the north end of the RGS was resumed at Vance Junction during the spring of 1891. The first nine miles from Vance Junction to Matterhorn would be by far the most difficult and the most expensive part of the railroad to build. The surveyors worked hard to find a route through the rocky cliffs and canyons above the confluence of the San Miguel River and the South Fork of the San Miguel. The route they selected required nearly continuous gradients of 3.00 and 3.25 percent, as well as the construction of an enormous reversing loop of track, which became famous as the Ophir Loop.All pictures are of the actual item. If t... read more

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