And the West is History: Smelter railroad rockslide aftermath – ca. 1910

A newspaper survey of rockslides disrupting the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in the early part of the last century shows dozens and dozens of incidents. Some were minor, some serious and some even took the lives of train employees. This photo shows what happened when a large boulder dislodged from Smelter Mountain and rolled down into this boxcar sitting on the smelter siding. Boxcar 3030 was one of about 750 purchased by the railroad starting in 1904 for $708 each ($24,000 today). It’s not certain if this car was a total loss, but the undercarriage, or truck, was probably salvaged. As far as can be learned, this incident, while impressive, luckily did not cause injury. – Ed Horvat for Animas Museum, edhorvat@animasmuseum.org (Catalog Number: 02.14.55 from the La Plata County Historical Society Photo Collections)