Back In Time - Thru The Rockies Traditional Cache

Micro located at historic railroad camp. Due to the narrow road, trailers and vehicles above 22 feet are not recommended. Bring your own pen & tweezers. Do NOT disturb or deface any ruins.

Please make sure container is closed securely and re-hidden as well or better than you found it. Maintaining the difficulty rating depends on you.

History: The name is unknown for this Denver & Rio Grande (Rio Grande or D&RG) railroad construction camp for the Lake City Branch. (See Back In Time – Camp Vanguard for more history on the Rio Grande Lake City Branch.) Several camps of 35 to 125 men were occupied simultaneously along the Lake Fork Canyon as the Rio Grande fulfilled their motto: “Thru The Rockies… Not Around Them”. Constructing the railroad through the Lake Fork Canyon during mid-winter was very difficult. While fighting icy winds and below zero temperatures with hardly any mechanical labor, over 1000 workers had to perform arduous and dangerous tasks such as loading carts with rock, grading railroad bed, using picks and shovels, cutting thousands of wooden ties, and drilling rock. Skilled rock drillers carved 4 miles of railroad bed in the vertical canyon walls. Using hand tools, they drilled holes in the rock and used small amounts of dynamite to enlarge the holes. As much as 100 kegs of black gunpowder were packed into these holes and the massive rock walls were blasted into rubble. At least 1 fatal accident was recorded. Frequently working six days a week from near dawn to dusk during the short winter days, laborers were paid $1.75 per day. In the evening, many workers had to prepare their own meals. Large quantities of bread were baked in dome-shaped stone ovens. A fire was built in the oven and the door closed with a stone or metal plate. When the fire had burned down, the embers were removed, the hot interior was mopped clean, and the bread was baked inside. Sunday, being the only day off, was a chore day when men could wash themselves and their clothing in the icy waters of the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River. The living quarters were constructed from the branches, logs, earth, and rocks available at the site. Often, large boulders or standing trees would be incorporated into the structures. Some structures had crude fireplaces. The less fortunate men had only a rough gravel platform and a canvas tent to shield them from the harsh winter weather. Today, you can see the ruins of these living quarters and stone ovens.

Lake City Branch dated 1880 – 1886 Stone Oven Bench by Oven

Hill House

Hill House View

Boulder House

Large House

Small House

Back In Time is a series of caches placed near historic sites to remind us to remember our past. We can learn so much from studying the past. This series will provide a history tour of Colorado.