Qualla: Georgetown Loop Railroad

Georgetown Loop Railroad: Introduction

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit P. Hughes, CC BY-SA 4.0. The bridge was built backwards. In the winter of 1883-84, chief engineer Robert B. Stanton discovered that workers had installed the entire Devil's Gate High Bridge with its support columns flip-flopped, north for south. Crews tore apart what they had built and reassembled it in the dead of winter, a six-week job that cost the Union Pacific dearly. When the bridge finally opened on February 28, 1884, rising nearly 100 feet above Clear Creek and looping 75 feet over the lower track, it had cost $254,700. And it led to nowhere useful. The Georgetown Loop Railroad, meant to haul silver riches from Leadville, instead became famous for something the engineers never intended: the spectacle itself.

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Image: P. Hughes | CC BY-SA 4.0

Georgetown Loop Railroad: The Problem of Elevation

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ion Tichy, CC BY-SA 4.0. Georgetown and Silver Plume lie just two miles apart in the steep, narrow canyon of Clear Creek, west of Denver in the Rocky Mountains. But those two miles gain more than 600 feet in elevation, far too steep for any locomotive of the 1880s. Union Pacific engineer Jacob B. Blicken...

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Image: Ion Tichy | CC BY-SA 4.0

Georgetown Loop Railroad: A Railroad to Nowhere

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nyttend, Public domain. The Georgetown, Breckenridge and Leadville Railway was incorporated in 1881 with grand ambitions. The silver boom of the 1880s promised fortunes to anyone who could haul ore from the mines efficiently. But after all that expense and engineering, the line only extended four miles ...

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Image: Nyttend | Public domain

Georgetown Loop Railroad: Postcard Famous

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit I don't see any names on either side of the card., Public domain. What saved the Georgetown Loop from obscurity was photographer William Henry Jackson. His images of the completed loop, taken in March 1884, became among the most famous postcard views of Colorado. The Loop's construction coincided with a growing craze for railroad excursions, an...

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Image: I don't see any names on either side of the card. | Public domain

Georgetown Loop Railroad: A Century Later

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jonathunder, Public domain. In 1959, the centennial year of the discovery of gold in Georgetown, the Colorado Historical Society began preserving the site. Interest in restoration gained momentum through the 1970s. The Union Pacific donated track and ties, and construction along the old grade began in 1973....

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Image: Jonathunder | Public domain

Georgetown Loop Railroad: Riding the Loop Today

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PhotogOne, CC BY-SA 4.0. The restored Georgetown Loop Railroad climbs approximately 640 feet between Georgetown and Silver Plume using three miles of track. Passengers board at depots in Silver Plume or Devil's Gate, the latter located about three-quarters of a mile southwest of downtown Georgetown, wher...

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Image: PhotogOne | CC BY-SA 4.0