Photo – The first train to arrive in Denver was from Cheyenne, June 24, 1870 – Courtesy Denver Chamber of Commerce
A competing rail line between Cheyenne and Denver is completed on this date, December 4, 1870.
Of course, the first train from Cheyenne arrived in Denver on June 24, 1870. The first connection was built by the Denver Pacific Railway.
In 1880, DPR merged with the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads, creating the link between Denver and the transcontinental railroad at Cheyenne. This achievement was widely credited as making Denver the “dominant metropolis” of the region. At around the same time, a rival train line was forming.
The Colorado Central Railroad, which was underwritten by W.A.H. Loveland, the man who helped establish the Town of Golden, at the height of the Colorado god rush in 1859.
Photo – W.A.H. Loveland – Courtesy Wikipedia
Two months later, after the first train arrived in Cheyenne from Denver in August of 1870, the Kansas Pacific completed its line to Denver and the first train arrived from Kansas.
Very similar to the race to the moon a century later, the race to Cheyenne was real. It was populated with characters like Tomas Durant, vice president of the Union Pacific Railroad, who pronounced Denver “too dead to bury”. Colorado Territorial Governor, John Evans, declared, “A Colorado without railroads is comparatively worthless”.
So, the money people went into action. Led by William Byers, founder of Rocky Mountain News, a group of politicians and investors formed a railroad company that would link Denver to the national network of rails. The company was incorporated in the Territory of Colorado on November 19, 1867, and called Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company.
A sense of urgency existed for this Denver based corporation. Due to the formation of a rival, the Colorado, Clear Creek, and Pacific Railway (later changed to Colorado Central), by W.A.H. Loveland and citizens of nearby Golden, with the intention of linking Golden directly to Cheyenne. This would make Golden a natural hub of the territory. The Colorado Central line was able to complete the direct Golden to Cheyenne route (by way of Boulder and Fort Collins) in 1877. After the completion, the new city of Loveland was founded in Larimer County along this rail route and named in honor of W.A.H. Loveland. Loveland Pass in the Rockies, west of Golden, is also named for him.
By this time, Denver had established its supremacy over its rival, Golden, as the population center and capital city of the newly admitted State of Colorado.
Also found during the research of this story, was the following:
Sitting Bull says he would have fared better if he had been an Ohio man.
