Roads and Trains

Roads and Trains. Historic Olde Town Walking Tour. , Early Routes , Indians, Gold Seekers, Then Travelers , One of the earliest trails in Colorado was the Cherokee Trail. This route, pioneered by gold seekers, followed the Platte Rive to Clear Creek, turned west to Ralston Creek past Lewis Ralston’s 1850 gold find, then curved west and north. Later travelers altered the trail to follow current day Wadsworth Boulevard toward Fort Collins. , Shortest Route to Golden , By 1870, the Ralston Creek Wagon Road was a strongly marked path from Denver to Golden. “…it will assure the shortest and safest route to and from the Valley and Golden.” (Rocky Mountain News, October 6, 1870). Ralston Road today, follows the course of this old wagon road. , Important Crossroads , Two early routes, Pine Bluff Road and Ralston Creek Wagon Road, framed the site where Arvada developed. Ralston Creek Wagon Road curved north toward the settlement of Ralston. There it intersected with Boulder City Road which followed the contours of the rolling plains into Boulder., (page 2), All Aboard! , Rails Through Arvada , In the 1870s, the Colorado Central Railroad (later called the Colorado and Southern Railroad) built a standard gauge line from Denver to Golden through Arvada. Two trains passed through the little station called Ralston Crossing (later changed to Arvada Station). One of them slowed enough to toss a mailbag to postmaster Benjamin Wadsworth. , Narrower Track, More Efficiency , At Golden, the rails and trains changed to narrow gauge trails (three feet apart). The tracks carried passengers and goods through the tight turns of Clear Creek Canyon to the mining districts. By 1879, a third rail was laid between the standard gauge rails, allowing narrow gauge traffic to run into Denver without changing trains at Golden. , Rails Mean Growth , When the railroad came, the pace of commerce quickened and many new businesses opened to serve Arvada’s growing population. Narrow gauge rails and the Arvada Station disappeared in the 1940’s. In the 1950’s steam power locomotion gave way to diesel. Today this railroad line (now operated by the Burlington Northern Sante Fe) serves Coors Brewery and other industries near Golden. , It is one of the oldest railroad lines in Colorado. ,