Thanks for the detailed description (lucky you!). You didn't perchance bring a
camera, did you? I'm curious about the geology, vegetation and buildings. Form
your mention of cowboys and cows, I suppose there was some grass or high desert
steppe. My map suggests pinyon-juniper grading up into pine-doug fir in that
region. The latter presumably provided the early sawmills, but I wonder what
they used for the charcoal industry. If they were just using scrap from the
sawmills, it wouldn't make very good charcoal, would it? Maybe they were using
the burls, though, which would be denser and make hotter-burning coals. Or
perhaps there was oak or chaparral species around, some of which have pretty
dense wood.
Those high desert / high plains ghost towns with just concrete and stone
buildings are some of the creepiest places, with none of the warmth of decaying
wooden buildings. Did they use sandstone for any buildings, as they did in some
of the eastern Colorado towns? (BTW, is the sandstone there more yellow, red,
or a mixture?). And did you see any evidence of adobe construction? I've
wondered to what extent the C&S penetrated the southwestern/hispanic culture
region. It's right on the edge of that area and I haven't really seen any
physical evidence of it.
Thanks again,
Jonathan
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, Chipeta70@... wrote:
>
>
>
> Several years ago when my son was visiting I had several books out. The books
> were The C&S by Wagner, the CRM Santa Fe in the West, one of the Brown Ghost
> Towns of Colorado and the Ghost Railroads of Colorado.
>
> Â
>
> My son suggested taking a trip as he had a company car with free miles.
> Inspired by and armed with these books,
>
> my wife, son and I headed south on I-25 to explore the C&S, C&SE, D&RGW and
> C&W.
>
> Â
>
> We started at Ludlow, went west past the Hastings town and mine sites up the
> Del Agua canyon. Some building foundations, some evidence of coke ovens. No
> sign of a turntable or mine. Â Some c owboys and cows. Beautiful day. Spanish
> Peaks were beautiful.
>
> Hundreds of men died in a disaster at the Hastings Mine in 1917. Only a small
> marker now..
>
> Â
>
> Back at Ludlow we went south and found the ghost town of Ludlow right next to
> the C&S track. It is fenced off and owned by somebody. We went west again
> under the track through another ghost town whose name I can't remember but I
> believe was on a C&S branch. This town was built of stone and concrete, most
> buildings still standing but nobody living there. The road continued over a
> water divide to Bon Carbo and Cokedale on the Rio Grande. Really neat towns!
> People still living there and some preservation still going on. Preserved
> coke ovens at Cokedale. Cows and llamas also.
>
> Â
>
> At Cokedale we went west on CO 12 past Primero(fenced in) Segundo and south
> to Tercio. The maps indicated we should be able to go down into New Mexico
> and hit the west end of the C&S branch talked about in earlier messages. The
> Ghost RR book indicated we would need a jeep. The fence indicated we wouldn't
> be able to find out. The road into Tercio is fenced on both sides and the
> end. There is a cemetery and the foundation of a church,
>
> which probably is the only reason we got that far. The Sangre de Cristos are
> to the west and are spectacular. The company store still stands but is beyond
> the fence. Also as the clouds made things go dark, lights of a landing strip
> paralleling
>
> Â
>
> The clouds and rain came inf from the west and that and a flat tire cut
> short the day.
>
> Â
>
> I must thank the authors of those books for inspiring a wonderful day. Since
> then I have gotten the C&W book and
>
> a couple on the coal wars.
>
> Â
>
> Chuck Seemann   Aurora, Colorado
>
> Life Member CRMÂ
>
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