History

History & Culture

The canyon has been a mighty barrier to humans. Only its rims, never the gorge, show evidence of human occupation - not even by Ute Indians living in the area since written history began.

1900 - Pelton Expedition

Settlement of the Uncompahgre Valley, which lies just to the west of the Black Canyon, began even as the different bands of Utes were being moved to reservations in Utah in 1881. The main draw for settlers was to provide farm crops that could be sold to people living in the high altitude towns supporting the mining industry. The people living in the towns, though, had only a small amount of water from the Uncompahgre River that could be used for irrigating the desert lands in which they lived. By the early 1890s the people of the valley began to seriously look at the Gunnison River, flowing through the Black Canyon, as a source for water for irrigation, and the desire of a tunnel to divert the water evolved.

John Pelton
A local promoter, who had seen the ups and downs of mining by the time he and his family moved to Montrose, was a person of charm and persuasion. He was best known throughout much of western Colorado for a reservoir that he built and opened to the public. Decades before the common use of air conditioning, people in the valley commonly made summer excursions to Pelton's Lake to cool off before the mid afternoon heat took hold. Along with the bath houses, big shade trees, and plenty of fish that were stocked in the lake, there were two wooden boats that he had available for splashing around.

Talk Turns to Action
The original idea of a tunnel belongs to a miner and farmer by the name of Frank Lauzon, and he created enough interest that a line for such a tunnel was surveyed in 1894. The cost, though seemed prohibitive. Not to mention the fact that, while the canyon was not entirely unknown to the local folks, no one had ever truly made a trip through the canyon to see if digging could be done on the river side of a tunnel.

The summers at the end of the 1890s were hot and dry; and as many more people discovered the pleasures of Pelton's Lake, more of them began to talk of exploring the canyon to take on the idea. By the summer of 1900 many farmers were fed up with the water problems that plagued the people and a plan began to take shape for a trip through the canyon. Organized by Pelton, the exploring party included John Curtis and E.B. Anderson from Delta, and Frank Hovey, a rancher who ran cows on Coffee Pot Hill, and the superintendent of the Montrose Electric Light and Power Company William Torrence from Montrose.

Each had something to offer: Curtis was the surveyor to run a line of elevation down the canyon, Hovey had perhaps the best in-depth knowledge of the rim, Pelton brought his boats, and Torrence, sometimes credited with leading the group, would help coordinate the possibility of generating electricity, if there was a sufficient drop in the river level to do so. In addition, Torrence was a camera nut, and he brought along his "Kodak." We would know the group today as a self-directed workteam.

A Long and Difficult Journey
Juggling conflicting schedules, they finally were underway, riding the train to Cimarron where the Denver & Rio Grande railroad entered the upper canyon, put their boats into the river, and made their way downstream. Although they expected to make the trip quickly, they soon found out that the heavy wooden boats were unable to navigate the rocky waters of the river. The second day one of them crashed among the rocks of a rapid sending splinters downstream and the supplies into the river. Using ropes and might they grunted the remaining boat around the many rocks both in and along the river. And as luck would have it, the skies opened up and it began to rain.

A Brief Break
The year 1900 was an election year, and an important one at that. Pelton was involved in the local Republican Party, and was to represent the district at the state convention. So as their journey became protracted, the group studied the steep slopes, and with Hovey's assumptions, they scrambled out of the gorge on the south side of the canyon. While in Denver, Pelton lobbied state and federal legislators for funds for a tunnel; and when he returned they hiked back down to resume the survey.

A Final Test
As they worked downstream the journey became increasingly difficult. Accounts of the trip vary, and are somewhat distorted, but we know the rains continued, the gradient of the river increased, and they became more battered and worn as they went. The rapids became more dangerous and harrowing, the cliffs rose higher and the walls became narrower. After heaving the boat around a particularly noisy and terrifying rapid, the walls closed in. They negotiated a short distance down through a continuous cascade to a point where the shorelines vanished and the party had to make it between the narrow passage of cliffs. Hovey and Anderson swamped the boat in the pool of water in front of this scene.

After what was probably a thoughtful discussion and a restless night, the group agreed to abandon the trip and scramble out the canyon. Unfortunately, this time they had to climb a steep draw on the north side of the canyon into territory that was very unfamiliar to all of them. They left behind the boat, maybe a few supplies and a name on the rapid just upstream from where they climbed: "The Falls of Sorrow."

The climb up was no small feat in this very vertical cleft, informally named Torrence Draw. They had extra side draws to decide upon, rocky talus that was terribly loose, and warm dry weather that made them thirsty. Upon reaching the top they had nearly 15 miles to hike before reaching a farm house where someone might give them a ride in the wagon to the train station for the trip back to Delta and Montrose.

Though sorrowful, the trip's end did not mean failure. In fact their excursion brought attention from many in power around Colorado and in Washington D.C. The next time a party would make a trip through the canyon, it would be with more assurance that the tunnel could be built.

1916 - Kolb Expedition

Though people had been coming to Black Canyon for picnicking and fishing adventures for years, the first person who came to the canyon for a lengthy recreational trip was Ellsworth Kolb. Born in Pennsylvania, he and his brother Emory owned a photograph studio on the rim of Grand Canyon. They had become well known for the photo services and especially for their adventures down the Colorado in Grand Canyon. By 1916 Ellsworth struck out on his own to "shoot the rapids" and bring publicity to other rivers in the west. He was probably the most determined of the historic adventurers to take on the Black Canyon.

Starting Out
Kolb met up with two of his three partners on the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River near Lake City in July. He oriented them to the photographic equipment, including his cineometograph, and to the canvas boats that were to take them down the river. After running the Lake Fork they met Julius Stone, financier for many of the Kolb's trips, at Cimarron .

The biggest problem to overcome was the high level of water. The year before had been dry, but the winter of 1915-16 was the start of a series of wet years, with abundant water-laden snow in the mountains of the river basin. The estimated river flow was 1,600 cubic feet per second, a very high rate for the Gunnison River. Intending to press ahead, they started off on July 25th after a rainstorm.

A crowd from Cimarron came out to watch their departure from the railroad bridge. Kolb set out, with cameras ready. Nearly out of sight of the crowd was a large "pinwheel" rapid, or a perpendicular whirlpool. Running the rapid like "a bronc at the end of a lasso," he stayed with it, until the river turned him over. Likewise for the second boat and a small life-raft they had brought along. In spite of failing "to cover ourselves with glory," and "being out one boat, a life-raft, trunk, camp bed," and quite a bit of flim, Kolb remained upbeat about the adventure.

They laid over a day at the Black Canyon Hotel in Cimarron due to heavy rains, but getting away early, before sight seers could gather, they portaged around the rapid that had subdued them two days before. They successfully negotiated the river that day, but the next "was not our day of days." The rapids became heavy, and Kolb yearned for the heavy wooden boats that he used on the Colorado . It was difficult, with the high river flow, to cross the river. The current was too swift to swim, and the one small canvas boat made crossing slow and cumbersome. It began to rain, and Stone, who had been ill before the trip, developed a high fever of 102 degrees.

They made their way downstream a little further working along the shoreline, until the remaining boat swamped. The slow pace, unsuitable boat, Stone's fever, and rotten weather led them to abandon the trip. They hiked out the next day, and folks from the Thompson Ranch drove them into town.

A Second Try
Kolb and one of his partners went back into the canyon on the East Portal Road, which leads to the Gunnison Tunnel, and worked his way upstream to get the boat and supplies. After fixing the boat he rode it down river, lining it around rapids when needed. "At a side canyon called Pool Gulch, the walls were jagged and sheer; great fallen boulders all but dammed the torrent. I had lots of trouble here." After making it to the tunnel, he decided to wait for a lower stage of water and the wooden boats to be sent by Stone.

In the meantime, he contacted river runner Bert Loper for river running fun down the Colorado from the high country to Grand Junction in a wooden canoe. Of Loper, Kolb wrote, "He was the most enthusiastic rough-water man I have ever been associated with... which is saying a good deal." They also did a run through the Gunnison Tunnel, completing the 6 mile trip in 65 minutes.

Mid-October brought warm days, clear skies and a lower river level. Stone's wooden boats arrived being most seaworthy, but they weighed 250 pounds. Putting in at East Portal they floated the first stretch without much trouble, lining the boats around Flat Rock.

The next day, when they were lining a boat through a tight channel, the bow shot into the air and the stern settled into the water. "We had overlooked the fact that most of the water ran under the rocks, and the boat was trying to make a short-cut." But the thing was jammed, wedged tight into the boulders. Kolb hiked back to East Portal and borrowed a hammer, drills and dynamite from Walter Tupper, a tunnel gate keeper. They went to work, Loper being a miner and knowing what to do. After drilling a three foot hole, Loper set the charge with a half stick, but the blast merely shook the rock. Two more sticks finished the job, and after repairing part of the boat, they "only lost four days."

These may have been valuable days. Continuing downstream at a half mile per day, they lined the boats through the "unrunnable" rapids to the Narrows. The rocks were "slippery as glass," and while pulling on a rope Loper slipped and struck his back on a protruding rock. In great pain, Kolb nursed him for two days having only a hot water bottle to ease the pain. That night a storm brought several inches of snow. Low on food, they lined one heavy boat through one last rapid. They couldn't get a good footing on the icy rocks and holding the craft proved too much for them. It tipped, and filled with water before they could get it secured, and Kolb slipped on the large boulders, wrenching his knee.

They devoured the last of their food and clawed their way to the rim. Once there they trudged and hobbled back to Montrose. News reports suggest that Kolb broke his kneecap and needed time to recover. A doctor couldn't determine the cause of Loper's back pain, but he had two broken ribs. A telegram from his wife had also arrived saying she was quite ill, so he quickly left for home.

After two weeks of warm days and rest, Kolb found a businessman, William Wright, from Montrose who had a week to spare, who joined him in the adventure. It was November, though and the weather could be unpredictable. They enjoyed a couple of nice days and moved the boat downstream to a precipitous 12 foot waterfall to break for the day. That night a new storm brought more rain and snow, and the discouraged pair struggled to the rim.

Going Yet Again
Kolb returned with a crew of three from Montrose, clambering into the canyon from the north rim on Thanksgiving Day. One of them was 185 pound Jay Hall who was also a good cook, which made the trip more enjoyable. He was not a swimmer, though.

The party was determined to reach Red Rock Canyon, but the river was now mainly frozen over. In some cases this enhanced their efforts, but the work focused on carrying the cumbersome boat around and over the rocks that edged the shore.

The going became easier after rounding the bend below Chasm View, and Kolb ran a rapid in front of the Painted Wall. The top, bottom and sides of the boat separated near the stern, and all of their provisions were lost. A final disaster struck when they were lining the patched craft through another rapid. The power of the river pulled the boat so that the entire strain was on one laborer. Unable to hold it longer, he let go and it crashed and sank.

Intending to hike out, they worked their way downstream until they had to cross the river. The water was swift and deep enough (up to their shoulders) that Hall could not cross. They retreated back to shore, but that night not even the roaring fire could keep their spirits up against the eight inches of snow that fell.

They headed upstream to a long pool sandwiched between rapids, plowed through the ice along the shore, and charged into the arctic-like waters, arm-in-arm to make the crossing. Hall's bulk kept them anchored to the riverbed as they walked. Limping through the snow up Red Rock Canyon they spied four bighorn sheep. Not having eaten for a couple of days, their mouths were watering, but by mid afternoon on December 8th Kolb exited the canyon for the fourth time.

A Final Effort
Ellsworth Kolb stewed all winter about that last section of river, but he bided his time to get the best river running conditions with warm summer temperatures. He and 18-year-old Albert Moore of Montrose, put in at Red Rock Canyon with a small canvas boat and supplies. This was probably the most pleasurable part of the trip and the cool and careful Moore gained Kolb's confidence.

Taking turns swimming and rowing down the river, they marveled at the beauty in Ute Park , and gloried in the rapids downstream from there. The river looked like a mill pond in the last stretch, and after pulling boats almost the entire way down the canyon, Kolb allowed the boat to tow him, swimming gently in the current.

National Parks can offer challenges to the human spirit, and like earlier explorers, Kolb found the Black Canyon to be full of barriers. Even today, those venturing into the canyon will realize obstacles that they must overcome. Yet the nexus of body, struggle, and achievement is one of the reasons we preserve wilderness.

Kolb dragged his boat out of the river at the Delta Bridge beaming with the satisfaction that exploring the Black Canyon was an accomplishment and no longer a dream.

Historic Cimarron

A LIVESTOCK SHIPPING HUB
As the mining boom declined, ranching took on greater significance in Cimarron history. Both sheep and cattle were run in the open lands of the Cimarron Valley and surrounding hills. Cimarron became a major livestock shipping center, with corrals covering over 7500 square feet adjacent to the railroad siding. Local ranchers would typically drive their stock to Cimarron and timed their arrival to allow immediate loading of animals; there were no feeding facilities at the corrals here. Shipment of livestock was concentrated in the spring and fall, with animals being moved either to market (usually Kansas City), a winter range in the desert areas around Grand Junction, Colorado, or into Utah.

CHANGING TIMES
As technology quickly changed, the narrow gauge railroad became a thing of the past. Improved highways and large trucks gradually replaced the railroad, and the corrals and rail yards of Cimarron grew empty. In 1949, a scenic excursion train ran from Gunnison to Cimarron. This was the last train to travel the tracks through the Black Canyon, and shortly thereafter the rails, ties, and corrals were removed. The depot, roundhouse, saloons, ice plant, and individual homes have also disappeared from the old Cimarron townsite.

Today, the National Park Service maintains a visitor center, campground and picnic area where the railroad town of Cimarron once existed. An outdoor exhibit with loading corrals and stock cars helps visitors understand the importance of the railroad history to Cimarron's ranching community and the entire western slope.

When the first train arrived, the passengers were greeted by a host of tents and a single log cabin. Many believed that as the railroad continued on west, Cimarron would disappear. But by the end of 1882, it was recognized that getting trains over the steep Cerro Summit grade would require helper engines. Cimarron developed into a real railroad town, complete with a roundhouse and station facilities.

The original purpose of this railroad was to provide a link for shipment of ore from the mines in the San Juan mountains. However, scenic excursions also ran through Cimarron in the latter part of the 19th and into the 20th centuries. A subsidiary of the D&RG, the "Rio Grande Hotel Company", established the "Black Canyon Hotel and Eating House" in Cimarron. Railroad passengers came to eagerly anticipate the stop in this community known for its hospitality. Its population fluctuated drastically during this time, at times soaring to 250 or dwindling to 25.

A LIVESTOCK SHIPPING HUB
As the mining boom declined, ranching took on greater significance in Cimarron history. Both sheep and cattle were run in the open lands of the Cimarron Valley and surrounding hills. Cimarron became a major livestock shipping center, with corrals covering over 7500 square feet adjacent to the railroad siding. Local ranchers would typically drive their stock to Cimarron and timed their arrival to allow immediate loading of animals; there were no feeding facilities at the corrals here. Shipment of livestock was concentrated in the spring and fall, with animals being moved either to market (usually Kansas City), a winter range in the desert areas around Grand Junction, Colorado, or into Utah.

CHANGING TIMES
As technology quickly changed, the narrow gauge railroad became a thing of the past. Improved highways and large trucks gradually replaced the railroad, and the corrals and rail yards of Cimarron grew empty. In 1949, a scenic excursion train ran from Gunnison to Cimarron. This was the last train to travel the tracks through the Black Canyon, and shortly thereafter the rails, ties, and corrals were removed. The depot, roundhouse, saloons, ice plant, and individual homes have also disappeared from the old Cimarron townsite.

Today, the National Park Service maintains a visitor center, campground and picnic area where the railroad town of Cimarron once existed. An outdoor exhibit with loading corrals and stock cars helps visitors understand the importance of the railroad history to Cimarron's ranching community and the entire western slope.

History

DESIGNATIONS
The Black Canyon was proclaimed a national monument in 1933 by President Herbert Hoover. Congress made it a national park in 1999.

Congress has also designated the park lands below the canyon rims for additional protection within the National Wilderness Preservation System.

1883 - Bryant Expedition

A WINTER EXPEDITION

The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was rapidly pushing its tracks from eastern Colorado, over the mountains, and through the Black Canyon on its way to Salt Lake City. The line reached Cimarron at a natural break in the cliffs of the canyon, and the engineers had a decision to make. One choice was to continue the tracks down the canyon and the town of Delta . The other was to take them over Cerro Hill and into Montrose. A bad choice could cost the company a great deal of money and time. Needing more information, they called upon Byron Bryant to conduct a survey to see if the line could be constructed through the middle and lower portions of the canyon and what it might cost.

Byron Bryant
Bryant was in charge of the "Uncompahgre Extension" of the railroad in 1881 and '82, which means they were surveying a 150 mile extension of the line. He received a telegram in December to explore the "Grand Canyon of the Gunnison," as it was known then, from Cimarron to Delta. He immediately began preparations, hiring a full compliment of men to accomplish the canyon survey and a pack train led by Charles Hall.

Braving the Canyon
They left on December 12th working their way along the north rim. Bryant rode the train to Cimarron and made his way downstream to meet the surveyors in the canyon. They ran a survey line down the canyon from Cimarron, expecting to be done in 20 days. Every morning they would climb down into the canyon a distance of 2,000 to 2,500 feet (when camped on the Crystal River they scrambled 2,800 feet). This scramble in the snow would take two to three hours each way, leaving perhaps 6 hours of work at the river in the shortened days of winter. The arduous work, hopping from ice flow to ice flow, risking wounds and injury, was enough to deter most of the laborers. When the party took a break to move the camp to the south rim of the canyon, all but three of the original surveyors and Hall, quit.

Seeing a Different Gorge
As the days dragged into weeks, the small crew drew closer to each other and to the canyon. Yet the canyon drew an effect on each of them, as well. One of the crew, transitman Harvey Wright, talked in his sleep, dreaming out the situations that impressed his imagination. Yet it was Wright who, later, wrote a most lyrical letter sharing his impressions of the beauties of the canyon.

"For some distance... we had noticed almost a perfect reproduction of the 'Goddess of Liberty,' and depicted on the silver dollars caused by feldspar seams in the darker rocks. The figure was colossal and was seated on her throne about two thousand feet above the river," he wrote of an upstream scene.

Or later on he wrote, "Hereto was unfolded view after view of the most wonderful, the most thrilling of rock exposures, one vanishing from view only to be replaced by another still more imposing. A view which could easily be made into a Scottish Feudal Castle would be followed by another suggesting the wildest parts of... imposing height and majestic proportions."

The party observed the standing needle on what would later be called "The Giant's Stairway." During an enforced break they went out to it. "While standing on the solid rock of the canyon wall absorbed by the overpowering majesty and solemnity of the scene some one suggested stepping across that empty space... to the top of the needle and did so. It appeared incredible that this sliver of rock should have stood so long, or that it could be so exactly balanced as to stand at all; and the experience of seeing it in such a situation and surroundings aroused the wondering and reverent amazement of one's being."

Finishing the Work
They continued working until March when their survey came to a close. The report to the company suggested that it would be financial suicide to take the tracks further down the canyon. But Wright's words still linger in the air of the canyon, a place so impressive that it defies the written word. A description of his near the end of the letter reveals values in the canyon beyond what could be found for commercial gain and suggest that preserving the canyon for its wonder would be of greater benefit.

"The simplicities of life, the primal lessons of humanity, were there impressed on the inmost consciousness never to be effaced. The overruling of a power mightier than one's conception of a force greater than one's utmost effort, yet always for the uplifting of man was here so evident that nothing less could be imagined."

2: The Paleozoic Era

The Paleozoic Era (paleo means "early life") lasted from about 540 to 250 million years ago. Much of what is now Colorado was dominated by two very large mountain ranges lying parallel through the state running lengthwise north to south. The mountain ranges were eroding during this time span, similar to our present Rocky Mountains, so any rocks that may have been here were washed away. In our 1000 page book, the Paleozoic would fill pages 881 through 955. Because these "pages" are missing here we need to look at rocks from other parts of the southwest to see what this area was like.

Important Events of the Paleozoic:

Carboniferous (354-290 million years ago) The first "forests" composed of large primitive trees provide a swampy habitat for early reptiles.

Devonian (417-354 million years ago) Certain fish develop the ability to crawl onto land, leading to the evolution of the first amphibians.

Silurian (443-417 million years ago) The first plants appear on land.

Ordovician (490-443 million years ago) Beginning of assembly of the supercontinent called Pangea.

Cambrian (543-490 million years ago) Evolution of all the major plant and animal phyla, including the first hard-shelled organisms.

Gunnison Tunnel

SETTLING THE WEST
An early pioneer in Colorado faced many hardships. The land is rugged and the climate extreme, and as settlers to the Uncompahgre Valley soon realized, there is not enough water for farming. The Uncompahgre River just wasn't enough water to support irrigation of the valley, but just miles to the north there was the Gunnison River, locked within the walls of the Black Canyon. Could a tunnel be built to unlock that water from the canyon, and to irrigate the Uncompahgre Valley?

SURVEYING THE CANYON
In 1900 five men set out to survey the canyon, and select a site to construct a tunnel. A trip they planned to last five days carried on for four weeks. Their wooden boats were smashed, food gone, and men at the end of their rope. They finally climbed their way from the canyon, without a site chosen for the tunnel. A year later, however, William Torrence, one of the original five explorers returned to the canyon with engineer A. Lincoln Fellows. This time better prepared the two men brought rubber air mattresses and waterproof bags. After nine day of surveying in the formidable canyon the men returned with photographs and several sites chosen for construction of the tunnel.

PAYING FOR A TUNNEL
The construction of a tunnel began in 1901, but very quickly the funds were exhausted. The project was made possible in 1902 when U.S. Congress passed the Reclamation Act which allowed the farmers and water users to pay back the project over a long period of time, interest free. The funds for the project were allocated by the Secretary of the Interior as one of the first projects of the Reclamation service, now known as the Bureau of Reclamation.

BUILDING THE TUNNEL
Construction of the tunnel began again in early 1905, and it was finished in September of 1909. It was one of the largest tunnel projects to be attempted at the time, eleven feet wide by twelve feet high stretching almost six miles through hard rock, clay, sand, and shale. The construction itself was very treacherous work and the average stay of men working on the tunnel was about two weeks. The tunnel was steamy hot because of hot water seepages, underground streams often flooded the tunnel, and there were many other dangers to face.

THE TUNNEL TODAY
The tunnel is still in use today, and it is evident when you drive through the green Uncompahgre Valley. The Bureau of Reclamation has since taken on another large water project on the Gunnison River. Three dams, together known as the Wayne N. Aspinall storage unit, have impounded the forty miles of river directly above the tunnel. These dams are used for water storage, hydroelectricity, and are the reason for the existence of Curecanti National Recreation Area.

1853 - Gunnison Expedition

Gunnison began military service later that year when he was ordered into active duty under General Zachary Taylor. Violent battles had been brewing in Florida between the Seminole Indians and white settlers. As peace talks were undertaken, Gunnison was ordered to explore unfamiliar lakes and rivers in search of provision routes south to Fort Besinger. Although the assignments were challenging and there were many opportunities for adventure, the heat and humidity of the South took a toll on Gunnison’s health. In 1838 he received a transfer to the Corps of Topographical Engineers.

Gunnison experienced many things in his new job and personal life. Among them was his marriage to Martha A. Delony on April 15, 1841 and the births of their children in the years to follow. In the summer of 1841 he received his first western assignment to do a standard survey of the unexplored, wild country of the Wisconsin-Michigan border. Through many challenges and hardships, one of which was long periods of time away from his family, Gunnison and the survey crew persisted and eventually mapped much of the border land and the shores of Lake Michigan.

Going West to the Utah Territory
Gunnison’s first sight of the western lands came as a member of the Captain Stansbury Utah Territory Expedition of 1849. Gunnison, having caught the exploration bug during his previous expeditions in Florida and Michigan, was thrilled to embark on this new adventure. Their task was to explore the route to the Mormon community in Utah.

After a long, yet beautiful journey through the Great Plains and southern Wyoming, they arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. They explored and mapped the Great Salt Lake region and gathered scientific information about their surroundings. That winter incredible amounts of snow fell bringing with it many dangers and hardships. Communication was cut off, leaving the crew with many idle hours. Gunnison began to study the Mormon Church and wrote a book titled The Mormons, or Latter Day Saints in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake: A History of their Rise and Progress, Peculiar Doctrines, Present Condition.

That same winter there was an uprising between American Indians and the Mormons near Salt Lake City. Gunnison negotiated between the two parties, winning the admiration of his peers. The experience led him to believe he could be a mediator, a belief that would later prove fatal.

Exploring Black Canyon
Although relatively inexperienced, Lieutenant Gunnison was promoted to Captain on March 3, 1853 largely due to his successes in Utah and the Great Lakes region. Although happy to be spending more time with his family in the east, Gunnison longed to begin a new adventure and to return to the Western United States that he had come to love. He was selected to lead the search for a Pacific railroad route along the Kansas-Nebraska border. He bid his family farewell, sure to return to them when the expedition was over. His expedition took him through the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains, and into the Grand River (Gunnison River) Valley, where the town of Gunnison is today.

On September 7th, the expedition first glimpsed the relatively tame section of the Black Canyon at Lake Fork. The report of the expedition described the area as "a stream imbedded in [a] narrow and sinuous canyon, resembling a huge snake in motion." The report continues, "To look down over...the canyon below, it seems easy to construct a railroad; but immense amounts of cutting, filling and masonry would be required." Even then, these experienced explorers understood the geologic processes that created such an obstacle – an uplift of the earth, volcanic activity, and the power of water.

The captain rode into the canyon several times during that first day. He esteemed the country, "the roughest, most hilly and most cut up," he had ever seen. Though the party never ventured further downstream, their report contains the first official description of the formidable Black Canyon. Future explorers were also impeded by the canyon. The railroad that eventually came through the area many years later made it no further into the canyon than the present town of Cimarron, only after many surveys and attempts.

People

EXPLORING THE CANYON

While the people of the Ute bands knew of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, it was an obscure geographic feature to explorers for hundreds of years. The Spanish were the first Europeans to canvas western Colorado with two expeditions, one led by Juan Rivera in 1765, and the other by Fathers Dominguez and Escalante in 1776. Both were looking for passage to the California coast, and both passed by the canyon.

Fur trappers of the early 1800s undoubtedly knew of the canyon in their search for beaver pelts. They left no written record of the canyon, though, probably because they couldn't, in fact, read or write.

By the middle of the century, exploration of the American west had captured the nation's attention. In turn expeditions came to the Black Canyon searching for railroad passageways, mineral wealth, or in a quest for water. Eventually explorers came to see the canyon, not for commercial wealth, but for the renewal and recreation that it offered.

Today, you can walk in the footsteps of some of these hardy and inquisitive forebearers. The canyon still offers a rugged and demanding experience, even as it did more than a hundred of years ago.

1901 - Torrence & Fellows Expedition

"When about noon, we reached the mighty jaws past which there was to be no escape, a feeling of nervousness and dread came over me for the first time. Right then I made the only discouraging speech that was made during the entire trip, and I said to Torrence. 'Will, your last chance to go out is to the right. You can make it there if you wish, but if we cross the river at this point there can be no return; we must go on.'"

Those words, uttered by Abraham Lincoln Fellows, revealed feelings of awe and respect for a place that tested his mettle and challenged his courage. He had been studying the canyon for months, and had been a hydrographer (water engineer) for years. He hired Will Torrence, of the 1900 expedition, and they were standing a short distance above the Narrows, where the canyon walls squeeze to 40 feet, and the exact spot where that earlier trip had been abandoned.

Making Some Changes
The trip in 1900 generated statewide and national interest in the tunnel, so Fellows was directed by people in Washington, D.C. to see if the tunnel was really possible.

Like the expedition of 1900, accounts differ and writing that occurred during tunnel construction probably distorted, condensed and romanticized the trip. The account here draws primarily on the texts of lantern slide shows developed by both Fellows and Torrence that they shared with audiences years later.

Unlike the trip in 1900, this trip was conducted in mid-August to take advantage of summer heat, while the river level might still be very low. In addition, they packed lightly. Giving up the idea of boats, they acquired an inflatable rubber air mattress for floating and rubber bags to hold cameras instruments, rope and other equipment, including... "longies so we would have something dry to sleep in at night." On August 12 they rode the train to Cimarron and after getting off, "A woman was heard to remark that she was glad the conductor had put those two tramps off the train."

They made their way downstream rapidly, but "easy walking was never to be found." Plus, "It was necessary to swim through deep water..." fed by melting snow. The water temperature was frigid. "Upon one occasion I [Fellows] was so unlucky as to fall about 20 feet, but so fortunate as to land in a bed of wild gooseberry bushes, which kept me from breaking any bones, but some time picking thorns out of my clothes and body."

"One remarkable point which we passed I called the Giant Stairway. The walls looked almost as if cut into enormous steps by some Titan of old, while statues, turrets and pinnacles adorned the rugged precipices on either side. Leaning out a little from one of the giant steps was a long, thin rock like needle, entirely detached from the cliff. It seemed extraordinary that it could so hold its position for centuries, as it had apparently done."

- Abraham Lincoln Fellows

Facing the Jaws of the Canyon
After two nights in the canyon they faced the narrows. They made their way along the north side of the river, next to the Falls of Sorrow, and then swam across to a gravel bar just above the Narrows and below the falls.From the gravel bar, later dubbed Foster's Slide, they could see only partially through the Narrows as the cliff face bends around to the left. They could see, however, the popping and bubbling foam at the top of Whirlpool Rapid just beyond the walls of the Narrows .

Tradition has it that Fellows floated along the wall first, making it to another stretch of gravel on the other side, safely avoiding the rapid. Torrence followed, and found Fellows with Wilbur Dillon, hired to assist their trip, who had come down a precipitous draw, kindled a fire and had vittles ready. They wolfed down the food and departed.

"At the 'Narrows' the fun began. The canyon is full of great boulders, which form bridges across the stream. Over these we must scramble, one getting on top and pulling the other up. These rocks were slick as grease, and hard to climb. We spent a day in going a quarter of a mile."

- William W. Torrence

They continued yet another day, scrambling up talus slopes, slipping on smoothly polished boulders; and at one point, Fellows was nearly impaled on a sharp piece of driftwood wedged between rocks and pointing upstream as he was swimming through a pool.

They traveled downstream constantly in and out of the chilling water until they were located below what today we can see from Chasm View.

Here "there were deep pools... where we were obliged to swim, into which the water boiled from the caves above and sucked out again through the crevices between the boulders below. In one of these pools I was drawn completely under water in an eddy. I fully expected to be drawn down into the crevices of the rocks below, but by dint of the hardest kind of swimming, succeeded in getting into still water. At this time Torrence felt that he would never see me again."

- Abraham Lincoln Fellows

Aftermath
But they were both successful in making it through these tricky and swift moving pools. After passing around the following bend in the canyon they traversed the canyon in front of the Painted Wall, one of the prettiest parts of the canyon to Fellows, and made their way downstream to where Dillon met them again at the mouth of Red Rock Canyon .

Fellows and his team of surveyors and engineers poured over the canyon for two more years, and their results eventually led to the start of tunnel construction in 1905. Fellows always considered himself a naturalist, a conservationist in the style of Forest Service founder Gifford Pinchot. It was a feeling that stayed with him through his life, and he was the first one to publicly proclaim that the beauty of the canyon should be made available to the public.

His view of the hardships of their expedition, looking back, were worth it, "I think now of the prosperous towns in the Uncompahgre Valley , and I am proud to have been a part of making this all happen."

Material courtesy of:
Western History/Geneology Department, Denver Public Library
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

Torrence & Fellows: The Explorers

In 1901 Abraham Lincoln Fellows and William W. Torrence made the first successful expedition through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Their purpose was to locate a site for a tunnel to divert water from the river to irrigate the lands of the neighboring Uncompahgre Valley. A journey the year before, with the same purpose in mind, ended in near disaster when the five men abandoned their effort and scrambled to the rim. Though many had looked to the canyon as a source for irrigation water, it was the arduous and successful trip made by Fellows and Torrence that moved the effort from merely an ambition to reality.

Abraham Lincoln Fellows
Southern Colorado was still the wild west when Lincoln Fellows arrived in 1887. Christened Abraham Lincoln Fellows, in the rarely used Episcopalian baptism of the dead, Lincoln was given the holy designation as an infant in the wake of grief that followed the assassination of the 16th president. Born in Kennebunk, Maine he attended several New England schools before entering Yale University. He graduated in 1886. He was teaching at a New York prep school the next year when Bryant Turner, a Cortez, Colorado promoter hired him to work for the Montezuma Valley Irrigation Company.

Forge of Experience
He started first as Assistant, and later as Chief Engineer laying out the canal and diversion system to transfer water from the Dolores River to the fields around Cortez. It was while working on the Cortez project that Fellows gained valuable experience in creating tunnels and irrigation systems that could be developed in the Uncompahgre Valley. It was also during his 10 year work on this project that he learned to grapple with living in what was still very much the wild west.

He often rode out to remote work-sites to pay the laborers who were working on the irrigation system, often carrying as much as $5,000. In one instance, when the payroll was late, he had to retrieve some equipment from a camp. When he showed up at supper time, his firm presentation convinced the angry unpaid laborers that they should help him load the wagon. Later, as he drove off in the twilight he uncocked the revolver that he kept handy to defend himself. He was often in the saddle up to 12 hours a day and camping in the wilds, but the naturalist in Fellows allowed him to revel in the outdoors. Whether he was on a slow or a swift horse, he noticed everything and often jotted down every detail of the landscape.

William W. Torrence
Almost from the time he arrived in Montrose in 1896, people began to realize an improvement in their electric service. He started as an electrician with the Montrose Electric Light and Power Company, but rose up through the business and walked "as straight as a bloated bond holder" when he was later named Superintendent of the company. Managing the business carefully, he convinced the owners that growth of the business would be good for the company, and the community as well, helping the town to come out of the economic depression that started in 1893.

Will Torrence was born in Ohio in 1873, and though little is known of his early years, it appears as though he had some schooling. In Montrose he spent much time extending electric service to homes and businesses around town, wiring buildings and outdoor lights as well. Then working with A. Deniston of the Water Works plant he insured the replacement of the old dynamo, or generator, in 1899, which improved reliability and made possible expanded service to the community.

A Community Advocate
Torrence was a gregarious sort, enjoying gatherings of young people or musical and dramatic performances that were presented in the town of 4,000 people. While not considered a "mover and shaker," he was often involved in steering community organizations such as the Knights of Pythias. Yet he was equally recognized in town as one of several who could and would help the valley grow. A jovial tinkerer, he enjoyed working not only in the trade of electricity, but many inventions that resulted from growing technologies of the age, especially the emerging skill of photography. He became known as a camera nut, taking photos of those gathered at many events.

This particular interest of his was especially valuable during the first expedition to locate a site for the tunnel. He made more than 25 images of the trip, showing the struggles and activities of the group during the extended journey. Such images caused local folks to marvel at the group's survival, yet they hoped that a diversion tunnel might still be possible.

Into the Depths
So the hopes of the local communities went with Torrence and Fellows into the canyon that August, 1901. Through their efforts, and the measurements of Fellows, it became evident that a tunnel was possible. Although it would take another 3 years before digging started, the exertion they put into their expedition eventually led to irrigation in the valley.

Narrow Gauge Railroad Through Black Canyon

DENVER AND RIO GRANDE NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD
William Jackson Palmer's Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was built toward Gunnison in hope of tapping the wealth and traffic pouring in and out of the booming gold and silver mines of the area. The steep mountain passes and narrow canyons made the 4' 8 1/2" standard rail width too expensive and time consuming. So Palmer decided to go with the narrower 3' gauge.

The Denver and Rio Grande was not the only narrow gauge railroad to cross the Rocky Mountains, but it soon became the most successful. When the D&RG reached Gunnison in August 1881, it was greeted with cheers from leaders of the fledgling town. Palmer and his men, however, were already looking ahead. They planned to continue to survey and lay track in two directions. North was the prized coal veins and silver mines near Crested Butte. West was an outlet to Montrose, Grand Junction and the lucrative route to Salt Lake City. Yet, between Gunnison and Montrose was land Captain John W. Gunnison described in 1854 as the "roughest, most hilly, and most cut-up" he had ever seen. Palmer and his railroad were committed to find a way through. Actually, Palmer was not satisfied with 15 miles of his railroad through the Black Canyon. He wanted the Denver and Rio Grande to travel the entire 53-mile length, and depth, of the canyon, including through what is today Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. But Palmer's surveyors, who under the leadership of Bryan Bryant endured an incredibly hazardous exploration through the lower, steeper and narrower canyon in 1881, convinced him that 15 miles of railroad through the Black Canyon was quite enough.

SURVEYING A ROUTE
The first 20 miles of track building west of Gunnison to the entrance of the Black Canyon was fairly easy. As the line was surveyed and graded, and hundreds of mostly Italian and Irish railroad workers began to lay track, "terminal cities" were created along the way. The new settlements of Kezar, Cebolla, and Soap Creek (later changed to Sapinero) began with numerous saloons, and little else. These rail stations were later buried under the waters of Blue Mesa Reservoir. At the junction of the Lake Fork and Gunnison Rivers, the Denver and Rio Grande officials had a decision to make: build a tortuous and expensive route up and over the top of several steep mesas or go right through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It was decided that the route along the river would be cheaper and would have a better chance of remaining snow free throughout the rough Rocky Mountain winters. Little attention seems to have been paid to the hazards future train employees and passengers would face.

CONSTRUCTION THROUGH THE BLACK CANYON
Construction of the fifteen miles of Denver and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Railroad through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, from Sapinero to Cimarron continued throughout the winter of 1881-82. Carving a railroad bed from the steep, rugged and extremely hard rock walls made for some of the most difficult and hazardous work. While blasting rock just west of Sapinero (near today's Blue Mesa Dam), a crew was using an unfamiliar explosive called nitroglycerine. The nitroglycerine accidentally detonated and the foreman, Sweeny, was blown into the stream, his body disappearing forever. An African-American worker on the grading crew had his head, left shoulder and side so mangled, he died within an hour. Another African-American worker by the name of Cunningham was blown fifty feet away, but was unharmed. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison had begun to take its toll. Once the grade was finished, it was then up to the mostly immigrant track layers to lay the rails through the canyon and up the Cimarron River to the new town site of Cimarron. While working in the canyon the men often used rail cars as combination mess hall, sleeping quarters, and social club. The final cost of building the narrow gauge railroad through the Black Canyon was $165,000 a mile. But the real costs were only just beginning.

RIDING THROUGH THE BLACK CANYON
The editor of the Gunnison Review-Press newspaper was on that first train through the canyon in August 1882. He commented that this was "the largest and most rugged canon in the world traversed by the iron horse." Thousands of passengers were thrilled by the ride. According to Rudyard Kipling , who rode through the canyon in 1889: " We entered a gorge, remote from the sun, where the rocks were two thousand feet sheer, and where a rock splintered river roared and howled ten feet below a track which seemed to have been built on the simple principle of dropping miscellaneous dirt into the river and pinning a few rails a-top. There was a glory and a wonder and a mystery about the mad ride, which I felt keenly…until I had to offer prayers for the safety of the train." The engineers that took trains through the Black Canyon for the next 67 years may have agreed to the beauty of the canyon, but were extremely fearful of the route - especially during winter. Avalanches and rock falls were common and an engineer and his crew never knew if or when their train would be the next to be swept into the icy waters of the Gunnison River. Despite the dangers and constant repair work, the Denver and Rio Grande made its Black Canyon route the cornerstone of its "Scenic Line of the World" passenger promotions and featured the Curecanti Needle on its emblem.

CIMARRON
At the western end of the narrow gauge's route through the Black Canyon was Cimarron. During the construction, Cimarron was a tent city, but soon became a little town of 300-500 people whose livelihood and schedule revolved around the trains. Here were housed the train relief crews, the roundhouse with the engines that would push the trains west up the steep Cerro Summit toward Montrose, the restaurant that would have 20 minutes to feed passengers, and the railroad's hotel for those staying longer. After mining decreased in the Gunnison region, stockmen continue to gather at Cimarron to ship their cattle and sheep to market via the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Today at Cimarron, an outstanding exhibit displays authentic railroad cars and interprets those bygone railroad days. A short drive north of Cimarron brings one to the remains of a trestle across the Cimarron River on which sits the genuine Engine 278, tender and caboose actually used on trips through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

THE END OF RAILROADING THROUGH THE BLACK CANYON
The decrease of mining activity, the increase of standard gauge routes through the Colorado Rockies, and the rising use of automobiles and trucks led to the gradual demise of narrow gauge railroads beginning in the early 20th century. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad ran regularly, although decreasing freight and passenger service through the upper Black Canyon of the Gunnison until 1940, when scheduled passenger traffic was diverted north to the standard gauge track over Tennessee Pass or through the Moffat Tunnel. Freight trains continued until 1949 when the line from Gunnison to Montrose was finally abandoned and the rails torn up. The route through the canyon, including its nine bridges, became a public road, used primarily by fishermen until construction of the Blue Mesa Dam in the early 1960s. Most of the old Denver and Rio Grande Narrow Gauge railroad bed is now submerged beneath the waters of Morrow Point Reservoir. A short section of the old railroad bed, complete with interpretive displays, is accessible from the Pine Creek Trail. At the end of this one-mile trail is the launch point for the Morrow Point Boat Tours.

REFERENCES
Gordon Chappell and Cornelius Hauk, Narrow Gauge Transcontinental: Through Gunnison County and Black Canyon Revisited, Colorado Railroad Museum, 1971

Cornelius Hauk, ed, Colorado Rail Annual, 1970, Colorado Railroad Museum, 1970

Duane Vandenbusche, The Gunnison Country, B&B Printing, Gunnison, CO 1980