The sound of a train whistle was music to the ears of a miner spending the winter on Fremont Pass. Up until just before World War II, Colorado 91 was a dirt track that was closed six months a year, and the railroad was the mine's only link with the outside world.
The Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG) crew that laid narrow-gauge track from Leadville to the top of Fremont Pass in 1881 named the site Climax. It was known, for many years, as the station where no one got off or on. The importance of the line was that it connected Denver with the mining camps at Leadville and Breckenridge.
Denver, South Park and Pacific (D, SP & P) crews laid another set of narrow-gauge tracks over the pass in 1884, effectively winning the Leadville-Denver trade from the D & RG. The D, SP & P route, which became known as the High Line, cut five hours off the trip to the state capitol on the D & RG (which took a roundabout route through Pueblo).
Most of the Denver-Leadville route was abandoned in the 1920's as the region's mining economy waned. But Climax Mine was a growing and vital operation, so the Colorado and Southern continued daily service between Climax and Leadville on the High Line, carrying supplies in and ore out. The High Line was finally abandoned in 1986 after more than 105 years of continuous rail service.
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