Castle Eyrie: An Oddity in Idaho Springs

[Chris Walker]

In a Thread a long time ago, Robert asked one of his tangential questions in regards to the Castle adjacent the C&S at Idaho Springs. http://c-sn3-discussion-forum.41377.n7.nabble.com/Idaho-Springs-Tank-tp1316p1344.html

Castle Eyrie History
link: http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/co_unk4.htm 

As an aside to the Mill research of this area yeilded a number of related views that showed a transition in the outline of the Castle itself and the discovery of the 2nd view shown below that revealed the monstrous crack in the stonework of the Turret.   Subsequent viewing of several more pictures that included this wonderful structure, a type not normally associated with the USA and even lesser with the Narrow Gauge I must add, came to light.   It was noted that there were several revamps of the Turret, the Second storey addition to the East Wing and of some interest to me, the area around the retaining wall at the foot of the grounds beside what I presume is a Springhouse(pre-Era of Auto Garages) alongside the Virginia Creek.

Along with the Clear Creek, Virginia Creek was also subjected to highwater events of the nature of a deluge of water and rock.... a Cataclysm anyone?   This picture shows the aftermath of such an event, obviously trapping Passenger equipment upstream which was soon pressed into Relief train service to transport the army of willing shovellers to the worksite.



from the Idaho Springs Historical Society coll.

Which leads me via this visual odessey to wonder just how the Turret came to be in this condition?  As the upper floor and crennelated top has fallen and the crack is in the ground floor wall, was a planned revamp underway to decapitate the Turret interrupted by the storm, or was it somehow related storm damage?  Note the amount of rock and gravel that has descended the confines of the Virginia Canyon to discharge into the Clear Creek stripping the track from the roadbed.  Oh the joys of living in a mountain Town.

So if one was to model the Castle, something that must have tugged at Harry Brunk given his issues with not enough space for Idaho, just which version is wholly dependant on which Era you wish to portray, obviously the most prevalent view available is that of the first construction and most certainly an anachronism in the Beartrap Era.





http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/3406/rv/singleitem



http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/55542/rv/singleitem



http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/3374/rv/singleitem

Now the Castle Hotel, the Turret had been rebuilt with a heavy capped roof in this view, and the Eastwing now sports a second storey.  Electricity has come to Town.

http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/67930/rv/singleitem

Notice now the Turret has undergone a further rebuild with an Iron-railed balcony.

http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll21/id/9727/rv/singleitem



http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/67655/rv/singleitem



http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/14254/rv/singleitem



http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/1428/rv/singleitem

And by the end of the C&S Era, Castle Hotel has become Apartments with yet another incarnation of the Turret on display and the East Porch also changed.

http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/16947/rv/singleitem

[Chris Walker]

Some prescient thinking perhaps....





The Newspaper references to the collapse of the Turret date this event captured by Lachlan McLean.


In my initial post I was under the impression that these cars were part of a rescue train.



So let us take a closer look: There's the Tender, but where is the Engine?



Given the newspaper reporter states that [Virginia Canyon] "covered the railroad track to a depth of several feet", apparently an understatement given the depth of the cut through the outwash field below Castle Eyrie, the shovellers have yet to exhume the Engine. They certainly could not have extricated and removed it Eastward through that apparently untouched overburden.  Were the Reporters even there?

Is this a Shoo-fly, or an overburden removal track I wonder, given the disparity in gradient and proximity to the streambed of Clear Creek?  Which ever, it was backaching hard work in the pre-machinery era.




Soda Cr. (behind the photographer in the main photo) was also a scene of devastation.

Lachlan McLean photo


There is one other Newspaper clipping referring to this event I have seen, but didn't present on account of being too wordy and more a general report Idaho Springs wide.
Nothing specific regarding the Locomotive number has come to light nor anything further on the other Train stuck at Fall River.

[Ken Martin]

Chris,

Interesting article.

Thank you also for the enlargement of the passenger cars.
The Baggage mail is CC 29 / 1324 / C&S 11.
The coach as best I can tell is CC 10 / 186 / C&S 55.

Ken Martin

[drgwcs]

Interesting article-
I did not catch the changes in the turret- looked at Google earth a while back and the prototype is pretty surrounded by trees where you could not really see the building and any changes in it. It is so obscured I had a couple people ask in the C&S FB group if it was still there. (the change in turret might be some of that question too) There were a lot of Welsh stone masons in the area so I suppose such construction of such would be a byproduct if you wanted one. The stone construction looks like a lot of the Welsh stonework in the area including the Black Hawk station.
The C&S was not alone in having a castle on it's line in Colorado. The Denver and Salt Lake actually had a castle for its headquarters- the old Walker Castle in Denver which was from a turn of the century amusement park. It had a walkway from the 16th street viaduct that looks suspiciously like a drawbridge even.
The beauty of these buildings is the fun you can have with nitpickers. Why do have a castle on your layout in Colorado ....whips out picture......... 
Jim

The Walker Castle on the D&SL from the DPL X-24961