Buena Vista's rescued depot gets restoration grants

Brief by Central Staff

Historic preservation - August 2007 - Colorado Central Magazine - No. 162 - Page 8
Copyright © 2007 by Central Colorado Publishing Co. All rights reserved.
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The old Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad depot in Buena Vista, now placed in McPhelemy Park, will be restored thanks to grants and donations from the State Historical Fund, the DSP&P Historical Society, Collegiate Peaks Bank, and the town and county.

They picked an appropriate contractor, Older Than Dirt Construction of Salida, which has been restoring the Hutchinson Homestead between Salida and Poncha Springs. The company's main mover, Mike Perschbacher, worked on the Como Roundhouse restoration 20 years ago, and his grandfather and great- grandfather both worked for the South Park Railroad as engineers and conductors.

Once the restoration is done, the town plans to make it a transportation museum. Buena Vista, like Leadville, was served by three railroads: the South Park, the Colorado Midland, and the Denver & Rio Grande.

[DL&G depot in Buena Vista awaiting restoration]

Buena Vista was on the main line of the D&RG. The Midland's station was well above town on the east side (a fairly easy walk from the Whipple Trail), and a team and wagon from town met the trains. The Midland reached the Arkansas River a few miles north of town at a station called Wild Horse, then headed north to Leadville through a series of four concentric tunnels near Elephant Rock.

The South Park's main line dropped from Trout Creek Pass to Nathrop, then west up Chalk Creek to St. Elmo, the Alpine Tunnel, and Gunnison. Buena Vista was served by a spur track from Nathrop. The South Park's Leadville branch took off from Como, crossed Boreas Pass to Breckenridge and Frisco, then crossed Frémont Pass at Climax to reach Leadville -- where the last 12 miles are still in service as the Leadville, Colorado & Southern.

It's simplest to call it the South Park, but it's more complicated than that. It began in 1872 as the DSP&P. That was acquired by the Union Pacific in 1881, and so it was formally the South Park Division of the Union Pacific. The UP spun it off in 1889 and it was re-organized as the Denver, Leadville & Gunnison RR. In 1898 the DL&G, along with some other one-time UP properties, were consolidated into the independent Colorado & Southern, which came under Burlington control in 1908.

While we're big fans of both historical preservation and railroad history, we must take issue with the press release from Buena Vista Heritage, which says the building "may be the only Denver, Leadville & Gunnison depot still in existence."

There's one in Jefferson, now used as a real-estate office, right next to the highway. Elsewhere in South Park, the depot, along with other railroad structures, still stands in Como. And the Leadville depot, built in 1893 for the DL&G, not only remains, but is still in use as a railroad depot.

But even if it isn't the sole DL&G survivor, the Buena Vista depot can use donations of either money or memorabilia; Buena Vista Heritage is at P.O. Box 1414, Buena Vista CO, 81211, 719-395-8548. That's also the number to call for tickets to a special fund-raising raft trip, with pull-outs that feature historical presentations and re-enactments, scheduled for August 12.

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