The Kenosha Pass RR station still survives?

[Kurt Maechner]

Not long ago I got a booklet called "Bits and Pieces of History Along the 285 Corridor" by Harold Warren. In it I found the following:
"The depot that once stood at the top of Kenosha Pass was moved to Grant and is now a part of the bar at the Platte River Inn. A quick look at the back side of the building will show you the eaves of the depot peeking out from under all the additions that have been tacked on since that time."

Has anyone here ever found this moved depot? Any photos? I'd never heard of this.
Kurt

Below is an image I found of the Platte River Inn online.

[Chris Walker]

Kurt,

your image of the Inn is in Honor, Michigan.

[Kurt Maechner]

Ha!  Woops!  The caption read, "Cyndis Platte River Inn Grant, Colorado".  Weird!

[Wayne Taylor]

Maybe it refers to the Kenosha Lodge in Grant, CO???

[SteveG]

Not much in the way of exterior shots that look promising on their website:
https://images.trvl-media.com/hotels/17000000/16450000/16440900/16440846/7b17b891.jpg?impolicy=fcrop&w=1200&h=800&p=1&q=medium
That building on the left in the photo linked above is the closest candidate, but the roofline looks wrong?

Steve

[Rick Steele]

I think that the answer given at the NGDF is probably the definitive one, that  the depot was hauled down the pass and was unused, and was boarded up until it was demolished.

Photographic evidence shows that it was built on the floorplan of the small DSP&P depots like Fort Logan, Dome Rock and Estabrook. By the Valuation the depot at Estabrook shows that it was 18' 3" x 24'. The depot at Kenosha does not show on the 1918 Valuation. It shows a section house, but no depot. Perhaps the depot had been closed and abandoned by the Railroad by then. The 1918 map shows the depot inside of the wye there, however.

The 1886 B&B Book shows the depot at Dome Rock to be 18 1/2 x 24 1/2, the same as that at Estabrook. Kenosha shows to be to be 16 1/2 x 24 1/2. A bit smaller than the other two and the existing photos show that the window placement was different on Kenosha than the other two mentioned. These dimensions are confirmed by the 1894 B&B book.

Rick

[Norm Acker]

I always chuckle about DSP&P/C&S "standard dimensions". Depots, like water tanks, seemed anything but standardized. :)

[Dave Eggleston]

Ha! I hear what you're saying, Norm.

Standards are hinted at from the earliest days, in photos and documents, but adherence to a given set of standards seems to change and also to be concentrated in certain sections of the line, not across the entire railroad. This all is likely tied to specific contractors at different times between 1879 and 1883. Of course each change of management and ownership after that brought new ideas; mix those over 60 years and things look pretty mixed up.

One example that comes to mind are railroad structures in the string of towns on the west slope between Alpine Tunnel and Gunnison built during initial construction. From Woodstock to Quartz to Pitkin to Ohio City to Parlins, when they had them, the original bunk or telegraph houses, the section houses, the water tanks and tool sheds were all of not just near-identical dimension (per B&B books, inventories and maps) but are nearly identical to the eye, where we have pictures. I know that dimensions will vary with construction but the similarity of each building type visually added into the documented dimensions over time points to a standard design for each type. Look at Quartz' section house compared to the one at Ohio City...same. The bunk house at Ohio City and the telegraph office at the Tunnel (the ex-Woodstock bunk house)...same.

Maybe not quite as rigid, but still looking to have used standard plans, we have Hancock, St Elmo and Alpine (later Fisher) station structures, and also the water tanks at Alpine (Fisher) and Hancock, and things point to the Lady Murphy tank being similar to those, too.  

Of course all this initial "company look" went to hell over the years.