Train on Boreas Pass

Abstract

Photograph showing a narrow gauge train consisting of a locomotive and two cars going up Boreas Pass in Summit County. A train trestle is visible in the background. The High Line over Boreas Pass was built by the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad (DSP&P). During the 1870s, the DSP&P and the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG) were in a race to be the first railroad to reach Leadville. DSP&P began constructing their line through Platte Canyon in 1876, and by 1879 they had laid tracks across South Park and over Trout Creek Pass to the Arkansas River. However in 1879 the DSP&P was taken over by the Union Pacific Railroad, and it was decided that the D&RG would be the one to build a line up the Arkansas River Valley to Leadville. According to the terms of a Joint Operating Agreement, the DSP&P was allowed to use the other railroad's tracks to Leadville, but in 1881 they decided instead to begin building the High Line to Leadville.