The Switzerland Trail is the site of a historic
narrow gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
railroad line that was operated at different times by the
Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railway, the
Colorado and Northwestern Railroad, and the
Denver, Boulder, and Western Railroad around the turn of the 20th century in the
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
front range mining area near
Nederland,
Gold Hill Gold Hill may refer to:
Canada
* Gold Hill, British Columbia
United Kingdom
* Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, Dorset, a steep street used in Hovis commercial
United States
;Alabama
* Gold Hill, Alabama
;California
* Gold Hill, El Dorado County, C ...
, and
Ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
. The west end of the trail is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
as the "Denver, Boulder and Western Railway Historic District".
Description
The earliest segment of the trail dates to 1883, with continual track growth until 1894 by the GSL&P, when a large flood destroyed many tracks and bankrupted the company. In 1896 the line was reopened as the C&N took over, completing many spur lines and the southern branch of the Switzerland Trail. The C&N is responsible for the name "Switzerland Trail", given in 1898 in a successful attempt to attract the tourist trade. By the end of the 1800s, the C&N had folded and the DB&W took over. In 1919 the line was shut down and the tracks were subsequently pulled up, but the roadbed remains. A large portion of the roadbed is "maintained" (benignly neglected) as a hiking/biking trail as part of the Boulder County road system. It was, and remains, well known for its beautiful scenic views of the Front Range hills.
The remaining mountain route, about long, winds between altitudes of 7,000 and over 9,000 feet, from the townsite of
Eldora, Colorado
Eldora (pronounced el-DOH-ruh), previously known as "Eldorado" then "El-Dora", then Eldora or Camp Eldorado, and still called Happy Valley,Bauer, Carolyn (1987). ''Colorado Ghost Towns: Remnants of Colorado's Mining Days''. American Traveler Press. ...
, past Nederland, on north through Sugar Loaf and, ultimately, Ward. The line winds past several local historically prominent mines, including the
Blue Bird Mine and a few miles from the Caribou Mine in the then-bustling (now ghost-) town of
Caribou. The main line originated in
Boulder, Colorado, coming up
Fourmile Canyon
Fourmile Canyon or Four Mile Canyon is a mountainous canyon in western Boulder County, Colorado that channels a stream known as Fourmile Creek or Four Mile Creek (this is not Fourmile Canyon Creek which runs a few miles north of Fourmile Creek).) ...
through the mining communities of
Salina, Colorado
Salina is a former mining town in Boulder County, Colorado, United States approximately west of Boulder. Established in 1874, after Colorado's first gold discovery in 1859, Salina was founded by miners who migrated to Boulder from Salina, Kansa ...
and
Crisman, Colorado. It was connected via a three-rail track shared with railroads to
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
.
In its heyday, near the turn of the twentieth century, the Switzerland Trail was the major source of bulk transportation in the area, carrying supplies and tourists to mining camps and towns in the front range, ore from the myriad mines to a few centralized mills, and refined metal down to Boulder for transport to the rest of the nation. A federal ore assay office, built at the turn of the 20th century, was located near the now-sleepy community of
Wall Street, Colorado, at the intersection of the Switzerland Trail route with Fourmile Canyon. At the time Sunset was a bustling community, driven by the presence of an ore mill and the railroad. The building remains and is now something of a curiosity: the
James F. Bailey Assay Office Museum, located in Wallstreet, Colorado, now a somewhat remote grouping of houses at least 20 minutes by car from the nearest town (Boulder). The C&N and the DB&W railroads were more canny than the GSL&P, and did a brisk business transporting tourists from Boulder and Denver up into the mountains. Several dedicated park sites and hotels (including the Mont Alto park site, its location now marked by a sign) were built or encouraged by the railroad to draw day-trippers.
The demise of the line came from a variety of factors, including: the extremely harsh winter conditions in the Rocky Mountains, which limited the tourist trade to about four months per year, forced frequent line closures, and periodically killed train crews; the invention and rise of the automobile; mine closures in Ward and Eldora; and failure of several ventures including a long tunnel/adit mine that was to be dug from Sunset into rich underground gold seams to the northwest.
The Switzerland Trail remains a well known hiking, OHV, motorcycle, 4x4, and biking trail
because the smooth grade and 2%-5% slope of the railway make an easy traverse, while the narrowness of the railbed (typically wide) brings users close to the spectacular terrain.
See also
*
Fourmile Canyon
Fourmile Canyon or Four Mile Canyon is a mountainous canyon in western Boulder County, Colorado that channels a stream known as Fourmile Creek or Four Mile Creek (this is not Fourmile Canyon Creek which runs a few miles north of Fourmile Creek).) ...
References
*Crossen, Forest. "The Switzerland Trail of America", 1978, {{ISBN, 978-0-913730-24-9 (Robinson Press).
External links
Boulder Daily Camera article on the Switzerland TrailBoulder County Assay Museumin
Fourmile Canyon
Fourmile Canyon or Four Mile Canyon is a mountainous canyon in western Boulder County, Colorado that channels a stream known as Fourmile Creek or Four Mile Creek (this is not Fourmile Canyon Creek which runs a few miles north of Fourmile Creek).) ...
Mont Alto Park history and hiking trail includes sketch map
includes photo gallery
Mont Alto history geocaching
Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific l ...
site
Narrow gauge railroads in Colorado
Mountain railways
Hiking trails in Colorado
Protected areas of Boulder County, Colorado
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado
National Register of Historic Places in Boulder County, Colorado
Railway lines on the National Register of Historic Places
Rail infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado