Qualla: Royal Gorge Route Railroad

Royal Gorge Route Railroad: Introduction

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit W. H. Jackson & Co. -- Photographer, Public domain. Bat Masterson brought a cannon to a railroad fight. In the spring of 1879, the sheriff of Ford County, Kansas, arrived in Pueblo, Colorado, with 60 armed men, seized the Santa Fe Railroad's roundhouse, and reportedly trained a borrowed cannon down the street approach. He had been hired to defend the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's claim to one of the most valuable stretches of railroad corridor in America -- the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River, a sheer-walled chasm where the canyon narrows so tightly that only one set of tracks could ever fit. Today, a 1950s-era domeliner makes daily two-hour excursion runs from Canon City through that same gorge, following rails that were literally fought over with guns, dynamite, and legal injunctions.

Image: W. H. Jackson & Co. -- Photographer | Public domain

Royal Gorge Route Railroad: The Canyon Only One Railroad Could Have

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Self-scanned by original uploader JGHowes at en.wikipedia (Original text: From collection of User:JGHowes for Wikipedia), Public domain. In the late 1870s, miners flooded the upper Arkansas River valley chasing lead and silver in what would become the Leadville district. Two railroads wanted to build tracks to reach them: the Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG), already near Canon City, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa...

Image: Self-scanned by original uploader JGHowes at en.wikipedia (Original text: From collection of User:JGHowes for Wikipedia) | Public domain

Royal Gorge Route Railroad: Forts, Gunfighters, and a Stolen Cannon

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pseudopanax at en.wikipedia, Public domain. What followed was two years of corporate warfare fought with injunctions, sabotage, and hired guns. Grading crews from both sides had rocks rolled down on them and tools thrown in the river. The Rio Grande built 17 stone forts along the canyon to block Santa Fe crews. The Santa F...

Image: Pseudopanax at en.wikipedia | Public domain

Royal Gorge Route Railroad: The Treaty of Boston

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown artist, Public domain. The war ended not with a battle but with a business deal. On March 27, 1880, the two railroads signed what became known as the "Treaty of Boston" -- Boston being the corporate home of the Santa Fe. The D&RG paid $1.8 million, including a $400,000 bonus over actual costs, for the ...

Image: Unknown artist | Public domain

Royal Gorge Route Railroad: A Bridge Hung from the Walls

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Xnatedawgx, CC BY-SA 4.0. The engineering highlight of the gorge is the 1879 hanging bridge, built where the canyon narrows so severely that sheer rock walls plunge directly into the Arkansas River. Kansas engineer C. Shallor Smith designed it, and Santa Fe construction engineer A.A. Robinson built it for...

Image: Xnatedawgx | CC BY-SA 4.0

Royal Gorge Route Railroad: Tracks Preserved

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Royalgorge, Public domain. In 1997, Union Pacific agreed to sell the stretch of track through the Royal Gorge to preserve the scenic route. Two new corporations -- Canon City and Royal Gorge Railroad, LLC, and Rock and Rail, Inc. -- formed Royal Gorge Express to purchase the line. Passenger service on the ...

Image: Royalgorge | Public domain