New Elk Mine Bridge Repair and Replacement Project
<br />arcadis.com
<br />New Elk Mine Cultural Report_TB_Rev030722 NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE 12
<br />The CF&I was the first vertically integrated steel mill located west of the Mississippi River, which means
<br />that the CF&I controlled all the necessary natural resources to produce steel, including coal, iron ore,
<br />limestone, dolomite, and water reserves. At one time, CF&I was the largest private landowner in
<br />Colorado, and the company owned more than 60 mines and quarries in Colorado (Howell n.d.), Utah,
<br />Oklahoma, Wyoming, and New Mexico. The CF&I was also Colorado’s largest private employer for
<br />several years, employing thousands of people, many of whom were immigrants who with their families
<br />lived in the company’s coal camps and company towns.
<br />In 1899, the CF&I established the C&W to transport resources from distant mines to the steel works. The
<br />C&W consisted of three noncontiguous segments: the northern division, which operated 17.89 miles of
<br />track in Laramie County, Wyoming, extending from the Colorado and Southern Railway at Hartville
<br />Junction to Sunrise, as well as connecting with the Burlington & Missouri River Railway at Guernsey; the
<br />middle division, which operated 94.64 miles of track in and around the Minnequa Steel Works at Pueblo,
<br />Colorado; and the southern division, which, at the time it was completed in 1902, operated 58.2 miles of
<br />track in Las Animas County, Colorado, extending from Jansen to Cuatro (Tercio) and connecting with the
<br />Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway at Jansen and the Colorado and Southern Railway and the
<br />Denver and Rio Grande Railroad at Sopris (American Iron and Steel Institute 1908:229).
<br />Construction of the southern division of the C&W began in 1900, beginning at a connection with the
<br />Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway at Jansen past the CF&I mines and coke ovens at Sopris and
<br />continuing nearly 12 miles west to the coke ovens at Segundo by May 1901. From Segundo, a branch
<br />line was constructed northward along Smith Canyon to the Primero mine by June 1901, while the main
<br />line continued west to Weston by October 1901. The original C&W corridor then turned southward toward
<br />the CF&I’s new mine and coke ovens at Tercio, which it reached in March 1902. The mine at Tercio was
<br />short-lived, reaching maximum production in 1907 and shutting down by 1908 (McKenzie 1982). In 1907,
<br />the Frederick Mine was opened at Valdez just east of Segundo and reached peak production by 1913.
<br />The Frederick Mine was one of CF&I’s leading mines and soon became the primary supplier of coal to the
<br />nearby Segundo coke ovens (McKenzie 1982:46).
<br />The southern division of the C&W was plagued by flooding along the Purgatoire River, even before
<br />construction was complete. In the summer of 1901, a series of floods severely damaged the newly built
<br />C&W southern division, with a mile of track between Jansen and Sopris being washout out completely
<br />and other bridges and sections of track undergoing repeated damage (McKenzie 1982:156). As
<br />engineers worked to patch the damaged railroad together, they quickly realized that they had constructed
<br />the C&W too closely to the stream bed and that most of the railroad between Jansen and Segundo would
<br />need to be rebuilt. Of the 75 bridges that were originally constructed in 1900 and 1901 along the southern
<br />division of the C&W between Jansen and Weston, 38 were rebuilt in 1902 (McKenzie 1982:156). Most of
<br />the original bridges were timber trestle bridges supported by wood piles crossing small streams and
<br />drainages, which were replaced with concrete box culverts or timber trestle bridges supported by
<br />concrete piers. Six of the timber trestle bridges crossing the Purgatoire River, however, were replaced
<br />with steel single- and double-span Pratt through-truss bridges (CF&I 1904).
<br />The Frederick Mine’s production began to decline in the 1940s, and following its closure in 1960, all of the
<br />CF&I buildings, including the company housing, were razed, and Valdez and Segundo became relative
<br />ghost towns (McKenzie 1982:115).
|