But first let me share about the Strater Hotel in Durango. Amazing! Simply amazing! The hotel is similar to the Old Colorado Hotel in Glenwood Springs, though smaller. And, it's located in the heart of downtown Durango.
The train to Silverton made for a very long day. Total time was about nine hours. In the picture on the left, we are actually seated inside at the back of the train and took a picture of the engine as she rounded the mountain ahead of us. Oft times, the edge of the track was just outside our window. The drop down was longgggg, but gorgeous.
I've included snippits of Durango, the hotel and train below. Accompanying links will offer more information if you're interested in visiting a bit of history in Colorado.
Tomorrow...Mesa Verde. Quite a different spirit.
Until then~~
During the 1870's miners flocked to Durango as they searched for gold and silver. The town of Durango itself was the child of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad Company, established in 1879. Company management planned and laid out the charming downtown that remains today, though when the railroad first "arrived" in town on August 5, 1881, Durango was dubbed the "Smelter City" and "the new city in the wilderness," as it was host to the region's growing smelting, mining and agricultural economy.
Strater Hotel -- 1887-At a time when Durango's future still hung in the balance-would it remain a mining camp or become a metropolis?-a Cleveland pharmacist named Henry Strater had the vision and the faith that Durango would prosper. And with its prosperity, it would need a grand hotel. Strater had the nerve and drive, but he also had three minor handicaps. He lacked sufficient money, he had no experience in the hotel business, and he was still a minor and legally could not enter into a contract. Undaunted, he fibbed a bit about his age, borrowed the money, and plowed ahead. Construction was quite a challenge, but with the help of his brothers, Fred and Frank and His Father Antone, and a lot of enthusiasm, Henry's dream was realized. The Strater Hotel opened after an expenditure of $70,000, and placement of 376,000 native red bricks and hand-carved sandstone cornices and sills. For more information on Durango or the hotel, click on http://www.strater.com/
Durango was founded by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway in 1879. The railroad arrived in Durango on August 5, 1881 and construction on the line to Silverton began in the fall of the same year. By July of 1882 (amazingly, only 9 months after construction began) the tracks to Silverton were completed, and the train began hauling both freight and passengers. For more information, click on http://www.durangotrain.com/
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