Laserfiche WebLink
-13- <br />or the Denver and Rio Grander. In 1908, the Denver and Salt <br />Lake Railroad reached Steamboat Springs and by 1909 Steamboat <br />Springs was the largest cattle shipping point in the United <br />28 <br />States. The cattle industry suffered from the post [Jorld <br />k'ar I depression and was displaced by sheep in the 1920's. <br />The cattle business revived during idorld Star II and during the <br />195J's, but again fell on hard times during the 1960's and <br />1970's. Currently, cattlemen are faced with rising costs and <br />constantly lower .prices. In some cases they are turning to <br />dry land wheat farming for income. <br />While the cattle and sheep industries were mainstays <br />of northwestern Colorado's economy, there were other businesses <br />that grew and flourished in the region. The gilsonite industry <br />4 was one example. Gilsonite was discovered by Samuel Gilson <br />of Salt Lake City in the 1880's. He found that it could be <br />used for lining beer barrels as well as for asphalt. From <br />th:s beginning the gilsonite industry arose. The major mine <br />was the Black Dragon mine near Dragon, Utah. In Colorado the <br />Gilsonite Hills produced smaller quantities of the mineral. <br />At first mules hauled the gilsonite, but this proved too ex- <br />pensive. In 1906, the Uintah Raiway was built from Dragon, <br />Utah to Mack, Colorado to haul gilsonite. It was narrow gauge <br />and cost $1.75 million. The Uintah Railway served as a freight <br />road and it carried passengers. In 1906, a toll road was built <br />29 <br />from Dragon to Rangely, Colorado to provide stage service. <br />The gilsonite industry boomed during the early 1900's, thanks <br />to nation-wide road building programs, but by the late 1930's <br />