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snow. The railroad purchased a rotary snow plow in an <br /> • effort to keep the rails to the town open, but on several <br /> occasions miners had to be called out of the mine with their <br /> shovels to aid the big plow. <br /> After a couple of seasons of battling the elements <br /> the company gave up , and it became standard practice to <br /> close the mine for the season after the snow got too deep to <br /> handle . The superintendent would announce that the last <br /> train for the winter was leaving in a few hours , and the <br /> residents would pack essential belongings and go to Redstone <br /> or Carbondale until the line could be opened again in the <br /> spring . <br /> Osgood' s fortunes declined after the turn of the <br /> centurv. His resources were drained by the expense of <br /> modernizing the Pueblo steel plant and a fight for control <br /> of the company . In 1903 , he relinquished control of CF&I to <br /> George Gould and John D . Rockefeller . While he retained <br /> some property and a couple of land and construction companies <br /> in the Crystal River Valley, including Cleveholm, the <br /> beautiful mansion he had built for himself and his wife <br /> south of Redstone , he lost the Coal Basin Mine and the <br /> Crystal River Railroad . CF&I continued to operate the mine <br /> and the Redstone ovens . <br /> On January 12 , 1909 , the word went out that the <br /> last train of the season would leave Coal Basin that after- <br /> noon. The residents , now used to this annual event , packed <br /> • only necessities for the trip to Redstone . However , later <br /> 8 <br />