Train # 315, The Shavano; 4 cars, snow, and steam, on its way to Gunnison, Colorado from Salida, November 17, 1940

Dust, Drought, Depression, and War No. 14¹

The Shavano, a local mountain route narrow-gauge train in Colorado, operated round-trip daily for 3 1/2 years, ending on November 24, 1940.  It ran from Salida [7,083 ft (2,159 m)] over Marshall Pass [10,842 ft (3,305 m)] to Gunnison [7,703 ft (2,347 m)] in the morning, returning in the evening. Today, a gravel road still follows the old railroad route over Marshall Pass but is closed to wheeled vehicles during the winter.²

The train’s name came from Mount Shavano, a 14,231-foot (4,338m) summit located in San Isabel National Forest.  It lies just east of the Continental Divide and west of the Arkansas River rising 7,200 feet above Salida.  The mountain was named for Ute Chief Shavano.³

War chief of the Uncompahgre (Tabeguache) band of Southern Utes and a close friend of Chief Ouray, Shavano had a deep mistrust of white people and the government.  A violent temper and propensity for hard-drinking led government administrators to block Shavano from becoming chief after Ouray’s death. Serving as one of the medicine men for the tribe, in 1885, Shavano was shot twice in the back by Sarrup, the father of two sick boys Shavano had failed to save. Someone had told Sarrup that Shavano had poisoned the boys. Shavano died three days later.^4,5

Call Number: OP-8479
Title: D&RGW train (Narrow Gauge), engine number 479, engine type 2-8-2
Credit: Denver Public Library Special Collections
Alternate Title: Denver & Rio Grande Western train (Narrow Gauge), engine number 479, engine type 2-8-2
Creator: Perry, Otto, 1894-1970
Date: 1940
Summary: Train #315, The Shavano; 4 cars, snow, and steam effect. Photographed above Mears Junction, Colo., November 17, 1940.
Description: 1 photonegative ; 9 x 14 cm; 1 photoprint (postcard) : silver gelatin, black and white ; 8 x 13 cm
Part Of: Otto C. Perry memorial collection of railroad photographs
Type of Material: Film photonegatives; Photographic postcards; Silver gelatin photoprints
Subject: Locomotives; Railroads–Trains–Pictorial works; Narrow gauge railroads; Railroad locomotives–Colorado–Mears Junction; Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway Company; Railroads, Narrow-gage.
Format-Medium: Photograph

Denver Public Library Digital Collections item permalink.

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Mike’s notes:

Image restoration note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
– fade correction,
– color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
– selected spot and/or scratch removal
– cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject matter
– straighten image

Image restoration is the process of using digital restoration tools to create new digital versions of the images while also improving their quality and repairing damage.

1. While the main theme of this project is the bitter times between the 1929 crash of the stock market and the end of World War II, some of the items covered will be other interesting and historical material from the period.
2. “Shavano (Train).” Wikipedia, last edited May 11, 2021. Accessed September 7, 2021. https://en.wikipedia…Shavano_(train).
3. “Mount Shavano.” Wikipedia, January 28, 2021. Accessed September 7, 2021. https://en.wikipedia….Mount_Shavano.
4. Morreale, Don. “Menu.” YourHub, December 3, 2020. https://yourhub.denverpost.com/blog/2020/12/a-colorado-panorama-chief-shavano-and-josephine-speer/270819/.
5. Hogue, Una. “An Indian Chronicle & a Sketch on the Life OF Shavano: …” Salida Regional Library, 1920. Accessed September 7, 2021. http://salidaarchive.info…Life-of-Shavano.pdf.