Following the C&S Ry. from St. Elmo to Alpine/Fisher-video

[Kurt Maechner]

A few years back my family and my in-laws went to a Christian family camp called Trail West just outside of Buena Vista.  One day we were all taken on a jeep ride (we got to drive ourselves which was a blast) on a jeep road which ended in St. Elmo.  After a stop there to walk around and feed chipmunks we headed back via the old South Park right-of-way.  This is a video of the stretch east from just outside of St. Elmo to the townsite of Alpine, later renamed Fisher.  I mostly point out the spot on the line as noted in the railroad overlay on Google Earth (you can find this overlay on the dspphs.org site-It's an awesome tool!).  Unfortunately, I didn't know of many specific photos from railroad operation days except at Fisher.  At Fisher I put in some Then and Now images that line up fairly well with my view from our jeep.  

[Dave Eggleston]

Kurt,

Here is one from 1880/1881 in happy times, when Alpine was still the railhead (or just slightly after the railhead moved to St Elmo), when the South Park and D&RG both ran multiple daily trains from BV to this point. South Park construction trains pushed up Chalk Creek. UP control of the line was just looming or had just begun. The Tunnel was in the future, the D&RG was moving on its own line to Gunnison. Leadville had only recently been linked to Denver by rail. This was the height of the South Park's prosperity and dreams.

https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll22/id/3427/rec/37



This is one of two photos taken from this location on this day, minutes apart. In the other, the horse cart on the crossing in front of the tank isn't there. DPL has a few copies.

The station is of the same design as would be seen at St Elmo, Hancock (later Romley) and in larger form at Pitkin. Room sizes and arrangements varied among these buildings.

The town is off frame, down from the tracks on the right by Chalk Creek. At this time a mill was still active here. Things would rapidly decline as St Elmo was reached and that location became the focal business point of the canyon.

Ferrell has a different image in his South Park book during DSP&P or maybe DL&G days, of trains passing here, but I believe IIRC (my copy is packed away) he mislabled it as St Elmo.

[Jim Courtney]

Thanks Kurt, for putting together this video, especially the image overlays at the end.




You succeeded in firmly establishing that this photo is, in fact, of Alpine (later Fisher). The photo has been published in multiple books and given various locations by the authors. Kindig, et al., in The Pictorial Supplement, does identify it as Alpine. Chappell, et al., in the Rail Annual 12, captions it as St. Elmo. Ferrell, in his The South Park Line, states that the photo is a meet at Romley. Most agree that the photographer was M.E. Chase, taken in the summer of 1888.

The Romley mis-location has been taken by some as proof that the Hancock depot had been moved to Romley by 1888--note the tiny bit of the roof eave at the left frame. But you've proven that this is Alpine, and the depot was still there in 1888. Both Rick Steele and Dave have stated that the Alpine depot was at some time moved to Castleton, and used as a pump house. I'd love to see the reference for that factoid.

This is my favorite Alpine photo, a companion to the one Dave posted, from 1881:




There are both D&RG and DSP&P freight cars on the siding. Alas, that neat water tank downgrade, didn't last. Per the 1886 UP Bridge and Building book that Rick Steel has posted:




Best that I can make out, the water tank burned in 1888, and was replaced with an iron stand pipe (1890?). A photo of the "Fisher" iron stand pipe was included in The Pictorial Supplement. Similar stand pipes were used at Crossons (before the water tank replaced it) and atop Kenosha Pass. The first standpipe at Breckenridge was of the same design.




Is it me or do the mountains in the background look all wrong for Alpine/Fisher?  I'm leaning for the mountain vista looking east from Kenosha.

Thanks for sharing your videos with us. I enjoy every one.

[Dave Eggleston]

Ah, Jim, you came through on both photos! The companion and the mis-cited photo. Thanks for that. Alpine would make for a fascinating model project placed in the joint ops timeframe.

The Alpine tank burned in '88 per the B&B book notes but one thing that I have wondered is if the replacement stand pipe was in fact the actual pipe control structure that was originally on the Alpine tank itself?  

[Chris Walker]

Perhaps Matt Huson would be kind enough to go check(if he reads this  )   because although Kenosha has similar, there is a comparitive ridgeline near Mt Princeton.  If you will Matt, let me know back channel first.

Jim,

Castleton pumphouse eh...

[Chris Walker]

Your mission; should you decide to accept it:  two ridgelines to compare with the orginal photo and todays location(s).



If only I was there, again!  

[Matt Hutson]

Hi all,
From yesterday:

Taken facing north from Fisher/Alpine. My jeep is on the grade.

I will likely be traveling over Kenosha Pass in late August...

Cheers,
Matt

[Kurt Maechner]

Does anyone know about this building that is in the area of Fisher?

Is it a newer structure or does it have some historical connection?
Kurt

[Chris Walker]

Chris Walker wrote

Your mission; should you decide to accept it:  two ridgelines to compare with the orginal photo and todays location(s).



If only I was there, again!  

Bumping this up to the front page in hope of some resolution.

[Dave Eggleston]

Historic in terms of "historic to the railroad" or "historic to Colorado"?

Fisher was the new name for Alpine station in the later 1890s. There was a depot (a near clone of those at St Elmo and Hancock) and water tank (a near clone of the one at Hancock and Lady Murphy) in 1881, the tank burned in 1888. I suspect the station went into slow decay well before 1900. Alpine was already on shaky ground when the South Park built up Chalk Creek. As the end of track for a few months it flourished briefly. A mill and smelter were there for a time but it lost prominence quickly to St Elmo by 1881/1882.

A 2-story section house was upgrade between Alpine and St Elmo and that structure doesn't look like it--or it's heavily modified.

That building doesn't look like a railroad structure to me or it is massively reworked.