The Midland Road, an actual street name, begins in Basalt(in the Roaring Fork River Valley, not far from Aspen, or Glenwood Springs) and climbs to the summit of Hagerman Pass, on the Continental Divide. The road is named after, and closely follows, the right-of-way of the former Colorado Midland Railroad, abandoned about 1918.
As previously described on my Leadville/Fremont Pass/Climax webpage, the Colorado Midland was a standard guage railroad(meaning that the rails are 4' 8 1/2" apart, vs. 3' 6" apart, for most Colorado narrow gauge) constructed to haul out the mineral wealth of the Aspen and Leadville mining districts. It was chartered in the late 1870's. James John Hagerman was the first president of the line. The Midland was built west from Colorado Springs, up Ute Pass(just north of Pikes Peak), across South Park, north along the Arkansas River towards Leadville, then west, over Hagerman Pass, and down the Frying Pan River valley, into Basalt, where it divided, a branch reaching Aspen, and the mainline continuing westward along the Roaring Fork River valley, to Glenwood Springs.
Most 'towns' along the road still exist, in one form or another, however in the 1940's, the Federal Government build a dam across a valley, flooding the Rudie townsight, and creating today's Rudie Resevouir. According the the book Colorado Midland Railway, Daylight Through The Divide, during the severe winter of 1899, a Colorado Midland employee followed the tracks to his home in Basalt, from Ivanhoe, on the west side of Hagerman Pass. It took him 3 days to walk the 42 or so miles, which was pheonominal, considering that the snow, judging by photos from that time, was over 20 feet deep in spots.
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1. Heading east towards Rudie Reseviour and Hagerman Pass, along the Frying Pan River. Probably good fishing, judging by all the cars parked along the way.
2 & 3. Heading towards Rudie Reseviour on the Midland Road, east of Basalt.
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4. This picture was taken on the return trip to Basalt. The building at left, behind the fence is the old Colorado Midland station at this point.
5. Today's Rudie Resevoiur. The original town of Rudie sits at the bottom of the flooded valley. The Resevouir was built in the 1940s to accomodate Colorado's growing population's need for water.
6. This picture was taken beyound milepost 20, east of Basalt, above Rudie.
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7. Looking back at the Rudie area.
8. Looking east, towards Ivanhoe, and Hagerman Pass, on the Continental Divide. On the other side of Hagerman Pass, a few miles east, is Leadville.
9. This photo was taken at a location close to the end of pavement, at about milepost 32 from Basalt. My tour guide and I are not sure, but believed the rock formation in the distance was known as a spot called Hell Gate on the railroad. Further exploration will have to wait until another vehicle is available.
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These pictures were taken on the return trip to Basalt, on the Midland Road.
10. Approaching Thomasville(east of 'town') were these rather impressive industrial ruins. As I've read in the reference, there were some coke ovens west of Haggerman Pass, however these don't look like the convential type of coke ovens I've seen previously. WARNING TO NUTCASES:These ruins could colapse if you try climbing on them.
11. See those spots in the road ahead, in the other lane? What do you think they are? Would you believe wild turkeys? There are 3 or 4 on the road, and another several in the tall grass to the left of the road. This is the largest number of turkey's I've seen in the wild, ever.
12. As you get closer to Basalt, the rocks become redder in color. We're almost back to Basalt at this ponit.
References:
Colorado Midland Railway, Daylight Through The Divide, Dan Abbott, 1989, Sundance Publications Limited, 250 Broadway, Denver, CO.
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Updated 11/13/2003
(c) Copyright, J. Carl Shaw, 2003. All rights reseved. Photos may be used by giving the Photographer credit.