This seldom seen 1975 color film by William L. Loeffler discusses the history of gold and silver mining in and around Durango and Silverton, Colorado. It is narrated by Peter Thomas. Photomontage is employed to recall the Gold Rush days of the Wild West, while live-action documentary footage of the region shows how modern tourism and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (formerly known as the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad or DRGW) have kept the would-be “ghost towns” alive (TRT: 25:40).
Opening titles: “A Colour Images Unlimited Presentation, Rivers of Silver Ribbons of Steel: A Panorama of the Colorado Mining Frontier” (0:08). Photos of Colorado mountains and forests in montage. Wyoming, New Mexico (0:25). The remains of a silver mining operation from afar and closeup (0:51). Title overlay: “Durango, Colorado” and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad station (1:17). A railroad engineer works on a steam engine on “Narrow Gauge Ave.” Locomotive 476, a Rio Grande class K-28 in the trainyard. Amateur photographers and rolling stock (1:31). Lines of tourists. Engineers and conductors. Churning pistons and a steam whistle as the train leaves the station (2:16). The train drives toward the camera. Surrounding farmland. The train runs past rivers and above a gorge (3:30). Tourists wave from the caboose as the image turns sepia-toned (4:19). Photomontage begins. Early expeditions to the Rockies. Settlers, log cabins, donkeys (4:30). An early locomotive. General William Jackson Palmer. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (5:40). Buddecke and Diehl’s Outfitters. Early canyon bridges. “Quinn Brothers, Warren Coulson New and Second Hand Goods.” A busy boomtown (6:53). Gold rush miners at home. “Hotel Vaughn.” Leadville, Georgetown, Ouray, Gunnison (7:29). Silver baron Johnny Brown and the “unsinkable” Molly Brown (8:08). Thomas Walsh and family (8:41). The Palace Hotel, Clarendon Hotel (9:05). Imported palm trees. Central City’s Teller House (9:40). Portraits: An African American man, an Asian man, a reclining woman, saloon customers (10:00). Poker Alice, Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Soapy Smith and the mummified “McGinty” (10:43). A gold mint. Migrant workers and children. The site of a train crash (11:42). Cotton mills. Miners. St. Elmo, Gladstone, and other former boomtowns (12:47). Title overlay: “Silverton, Colorado.” Abandoned buildings and train cars. Gift shops of San Juan county. The Grand Imperial Hotel. “Narrow Gauge Buffet & Spaghetti Factory” (13:43). The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad train approaches from a distance (14:48). Tourists wave at the oncoming train (15:30). Passengers disembark from the cars (15:58). Railroad engineers and photographers (16:25). A photo history of the railroad in montage (16:42). Otto Mears and his rail projects. A turntable in Corkscrew Gulch. Box Canyon (17:22). Photographer William Henry Jackson. Trestle bridges in Lake City. Cliffs on the Animas River. A monument to James Garfield (18:53). Alpine Tunnel (19:36). Early 1901 film footage of the “Georgetown Loop” (19:52). Steam engines plow through snow drifts in winter weather (20:46). Historic footage of trains in normal weather. A car loaded with sacks of cargo. Crossfade to present day (21:21). Color footage of advancing train tracks. Aerial footage of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and surrounding environs (22:08). Train passengers and tourists approaching from a road crossing (23:53). End Credits. Special thanks to: “Adolph Coors Co. Inc., Colorado Railroad Museum, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, Library of Congress” Narrated by Peter Thomas. Written & directed by William L. Loeffler (24:44).
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1968.. The line from Durango to Silverton has run continuously since 1881, when the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (DRGW) sold the line and the D&SNG was formed. Today, the railroad is owned by American Heritage Railways, which also operates museums in Durango and Silverton.Locomotive #476 is the oldest engine still able to be used in regular operations on the historic railroad.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
