Caught between the non-Spanish European influx of settlers and the Ute Indians protecting their holdout in the San Juan Mountains, the San Luis Valley was entering its growth era. The immense land grant of Sangre de Cristo / Lee & Beaubien was being divided into farms and towns. Water projects were starting to irrigate areas that were without natural water. Artesian wells supplied many of the farms and towns along the Rio Grande River and were easy to drill because of the shallow depth needed. The growth outpaced the ability of the outside world to supply the valleys needs. Wagon trains south to Santa Fe and others over the eastern pass of La Veta could not come close to take the crops to market or supply the needs of the growing population. With the 1870 treaty with the Ute Indians, the western San Juan Mountains were opened to exploration. Mines of rich silver ore were located throughout Colorado, with this there was monies to be earned supplying transportation into and out of the mountain mining towns. A Russian immigrant Otto Myers built the first and probably finest of the early Toll Roads

By 1885 the connections were completed west to the mining areas of Silverton & Telluride, and the valley line west to Wagon Wheel Gap and the silver mines of Creede.

Highway 160 is now located to the right and slightly up hill on this photo, the old railroad grade is now County Road # 168.

The train tracks looped around the top of the hill in the background and down the right slope on their way to Walsenburg and then onto Denver...

You can drive the rail line over the old narrow gauge road bed, Station and other original buildings are at the top of the pass...  Turn offs are about two miles down on either side of the pass...

We enter this era with the valley supplying the war effort with food, silver and thousands of local youth.

Narrow Gauge rail line connection to Santa Fe "The Chile Line" is removed in 194?

Except for the narrow gauge sections, Diesel takes over in the 1950’s with the last steam to run across the valley line in 1956. The Rail connection to the upper valley and onto Salida is removed, 194? The San Luis Southern line toward Taos is removed in 197?

The last of the Roundhouse and Maintenance facilities are removed in Alamosa during 1980's?

With the closing of the Home Stake Mine in Creede in 1985 the last of the Silver Ores are carried out of the valley by rail.

Currently Pourlite and Volcanic Rock from the mines south of Antonito are the only mining materials being carried out of the valley by train.

Other materials being rail transported are Fuel Oils & Fertilizers coming in and Grains, Potatoes, and other food items being removed.

The valley line took several years to build, and along with the engineers and surveyors came a large group of workers. A true blending of the world’s people, Spanish, American Indian, Swedes, Germans, Irish and many others were in the mix. Many left when the construction was over, many stayed to make this valley their home. Life on the rail can get into your blood and is usually passed down to later generations. It is not unusual for three generations of a family to be working on the rail line at the same time.

The hardest work by far is maintaining the rail line and equipment. Work crews are always short handed, most time without the proper tools for the job. And never have enough time to do the job the way they would like. Derailments, rock slides, snow depths deep enough to bury the engine, and for the train crew the always-feared runaways were just some of the problems these rail crews faced. Roundhouse crews faced other problems but just as lethal, High pressure steam, Engine heat that would pull off skin in a second if one gets careless, Replacement parts that weighed thousands of pounds that were manhandled into place. Yard workers that dodged 10 ton cars, switches that easily failed causing derailments, working in the dark, all these things working to get a piece of the worker.

The modern bumper sticker " Not Hungry? - Thank a Farmer…" would be just as true in the 1870’s as now..

Lets roll back to 1880 and look at the life of the new farmers in the valley, A tent to live in until the first crop comes in, then if all is well off to the bank to borrow a few hundred to construct a quickly built log or frame cabin. No tractors, no trucks, No barns, just lots of hard work…. But they did work hard and through their determination, San Luis Valley became known as the "Salad Bowl" of Colorado.

Crops of almost all description were produced in the valleys farms, lettuce, potatoes, sugar beets, grains and scores of other food crops. Artesian Wells, free flowing rivers, water works, and windmills supplied the water, The ground supplied the soil and nutrients, The farmers work put it all together and his abundant crops fed the state very well. By the turn of the century it became evident that the best crops for the area were potatoes and grains and these became the preferred crops by the 1930’s and on into the present.

Cattle is raised on the non-irrigated portions of the valley and during the 1800’s was a large part of valley ranching, but with the construction of water projects and dams to feed them, the portion of the valley utilized for cattle has dwindled and cattle is now a minor player in valley ranching.

The businessmen and storekeepers were a vital part of the valley community. Hardware stores to supply farming and city needs, Grain mills to store and grind the food, Banks to supply the funds necessary for this growth, The foundries to create the tools and implements for the farmers, the blacksmiths to repair hardware that was broken, and Doctors to fix the Farmers that were broken, it took these and many more professions to create this functioning community.

The valley is probably the best example of the strength of the mixing of peoples of different backgrounds that can be found in Colorado, if not in the whole western U.S. The initial Spanish farmers traveling thousands of miles by sail than by foot, the northern Europeans brought in by rail to farm and build towns, the Asians brought in by sailing ships to build the railroads, the Black Buffalo Solders that came in to guard the new comers. All of these diverse people working together to construct what we see today. San Luis Valley is not a series of separate towns and peoples, true it is spread out, but it is one fully functioning community, that is surrounded by tall majestic mountains placed as to hold it all together.