| Show D R G W railroad has played important role rok in bistor history y of green river WT ar 0 the california zephyr stainless steel vista dome streamliner between chicago and san francisco via denver and salt lake city stretches out over the utah desert lust just east of green river in the sha dows of late afternoon on the main line of the denver rio grande western railroad the denver rio grande western railroad has been identified closely with green river utah almost from the date of its establishment settled in 1878 the town was a mail relay station between salina utah and ouray colorado until the railroad pushed west from grand junction in 1883 since that time green river has been a regular station on the main line of the rio grande the denver rio grande was incorporated in 1870 by general william jackson palmer and was projected as a north south trunk line from denver to mexico city along the course of the rio grande river hence its designation as denver rio grande with dis co veries of precious metals in the colorado mountains the road turned west securing a main line route through the royal gorge of the arkansas river over 10 ft marshall pass and along the gunnison river to grand june junc tion rails reached the colo rado utah border december 19 1882 utah operations of the future rio grande system were rated july 21 1881 1831 with the formation of the denver rio grande western railway organ iced with the intention of con necking salt lake city and den ver this company acquired small disconnected and mole pendent utah roads already in operation and let contracts for constructing a line from salt lake city south and east towards the colorado border the bingham canyon camp floyd line the wasatch jordan valley railway and the utah pleasant valley railway all passed into possession of the den ver rio grande western by august 1 1882 additional lines imes from salt lake city to spring ville and over solder sold er summit to cotton colton had been constructed providing a total length of 60 miles in utah by april 8 1883 the line from colton to the utah colorado bor der had been completed linking the capital cities of the two states by rail tor for the first time on may 21 of the same year the salt lake city ogden link was corn coin plated and a through narrow gauge line denver to ogden miles in length was put in sched aled operation in 1890 the entire denver rio grande main line was stand ard gauged and the present day main line was put into operation over 10 ft tennessee pass and down the valley of the colo rado rada river to grand junction the need for a line directly west from denver over the con divide shortly became evident in 1902 david moffat started building of the denver salt lake railway crossing the divide at an elevation of 11 ft then the highest standard gauge railroad in the world con st ruction and operation was costly and the line had reached only to craig in northwestern colorado by 1913 A tunnel under the divide had been envisioned as early as 1861 and in august 1923 construction of such a bore was undertaken by people of the moffat tunnel district completed in february 1928 at a cost of approximately ty the 62 mile moffat tunnel is the second longest railroad tunnel in the united states running side by side with it is the pioneer barq bor which carries water from the weste western m slope for the city of denver in 1934 the rio grande built the 38 mile dotsero dottero cutoff along the colorado river linking the tracks of the denver salt lake at orestod and the rio grande at dotsero dottero colo and providing two main line routes through the the moffat tunnel route is some miles shorter than the original royal gorge route from denver in 1947 the denver salt lake was rated in the rio grande system most recent line improvement in the green river area was made last year when an entirely new section of roadbed a and d track was laid near agate utah eliminating two sharp curves and lifting restrictions on train speed over this area A century mining rush has been precipitated in the colo rado plateau area south and east of green river by the dis covery of uranium in what may be the largest deposits in the united states emphasizing the importance of green river in the booming atomic age is the recent lease of part of the rio grande station grounds to the vitro uranium company for the handling of uranium and um ores historically the rio grande has been closely associated with green river in the pioneering march of transportation in utah As the basic elements of atomic energy are providing green river with new incentives so is the rio grande moving ahead re bently an agreement was signed with the Ator atomic ruc energy corn com mission by the rio grande and baldwin lima hamilton corpora 14 ae 11 4 1 A w V 1 4 4 v V U k 41 41 X L s A i S fea te K 4 A W t manifest freight rolls smoothly over a newly relocated section of bio rio grande mam main line track near cisco the new section eliminates sharp curves lifting speed restrictions and raising operating per firmance for mance tion of philadelphia for study of a nuclear powered reciprocating engine which might be used as a power plant for locomotives and for other industrial uses since 1883 1833 the rio grande has served green river today fast freights and modem streamlined passenger trains such as the daily salt lake city denver royal gorge and prospector con dinue the profitable partnership in progress the vista dome california zephyr chicago san francisco streamliner also op crates through green river al though it does not stop |
