1877 Manuscript Map of the Colorado Central Railroad

This is a c. 1877 Silver Boom manuscript map of north-central Colorado west of Denver highlighting the Colorado Central Railroad. The Colorado Central linked several mining towns in the early days of the Colorado Silver Boom with Golden and Denver and, by extension, the rest of the country.

A Closer Look

The hand-drawn map depicts a region of the Rocky Mountains west of Denver between Idaho Springs and Bakerville (ghost town west of Silver Plume just south of I-70). A black dashed line illustrates the Colorado Central Railroad along Clear Creek to Georgetown. A handful of other towns are illustrated, including Mill Creek, Fall River, and Alvarado. Numerous creeks are the only other landmarks, including the North, Middle, and South Fork of Clear Creek, Fall River, and Chicago Creek. The scale is noted along the right edge.

The Colorado Central Railroad

The Colorado Central Railroad was incorporated as the Colorado and Clear Creek Railroad in February 1865 in Golden, Colorado, then capital of the Colorado Territory. Its founders committed to running a standard gauge rail line up the Clear Creek Canyon to Central City. The railroad's name changed to the Colorado Central and Pacific Railroad in January 1866 and the company was reorganized again in 1867 when Union Pacific investors gained control. Denver became the territorial capital that year as well. Construction between Denver and Golden was completed on January 1, 1868, and the railroad's name was changed again on January 14 to the Colorado Central Railroad. The Colorado Central's history is full of battles over control between the founding Colorado business leaders and Union Pacific-backed investors. After local investors regained control in 1871, the railroad acquired the right-of-way up Clear Creek Canyon and began constructing a narrow-gauge railroad up the canyon to mining towns in the mountains. Several fights over control of the railroad occurred between 1870 and 1879 when the bankrupt Colorado Central was leased to the Union Pacific for 50 years.

The Colorado Silver Boom

The Colorado Silver Boom began in Clear Creek Canyon at Georgetown in 1864. During these early days, gold overshadowed silver because of its low value. Congress passed the Bland-Allison Act in 1878, which required the U.S. government to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars. This helped make silver mining genuinely profitable. The boom took off in 1879 with the discovery of silver at Leadville. Between 1879 and 1893 (when Congress repealed the Sherman Act that resulted in the collapse of the price of silver), over 82 million tons of silver was extracted in Colorado.

Dating This Piece

As this is an unsigned and undated manuscript map, we based our date for this map on the Colorado Central Railroad and the Georgetown, Breckenridge and Leadville Railway. The Colorado Central reached Georgetown in August 1877 after years of construction. The Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville Railway did not begin construction out of Georgetown until 1883. It is likely that since this is a manuscript map and it marks the towns along the Colorado Central Railroad, the unknown cartographer would have included the Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Leadville Railway if construction had begun. Thus, we believe this map dates from between 1877 and 1883.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by an unknown person c. 1877. As it is a manuscript, it is unique.