The Railroad

Compiled by Vicki Moran, see sources.

David Moffat brought the Denver Northwest & Pacific Railroad to the canyon. The line was known as the Moffat Road. Work began in December 1902. The original plan was to run the line through Coal Creek Canyon and some grading was done as far up as Twin Spruce Road. This proved to be too costly; the plan was abandoned and the work was redirected to run the line along the front of the foothills and up South Boulder Canyon. Workers with pack mules hauled up supplies and used dynamite to dig the steep grades and drill the tunnels. The first train steamed through the mouth of Coal Creek Canyon on June 23, 1904. The Coal Creek Canyon Road went under a different trestle at that time and there was a water tower that used a pump to bring water from the creek to the tank. The creek flooded in 1938 and washed out the road, damaging the pump house. The road was rerouted to its present elevation, a new trestle installed over the road, and the old trestle was buried. The current rail bed sits atop of the original. A 150-foot long culvert accommodating the creek runs under the span close to where the old road was.

Passenger trains stopped at Crescent Landing, near where Gross Dam Road crosses the tracks today. Tourists and summer cabin residents came to Coal Creek Canyon by train and some were picked up by a horse-drawn carriage and driven by Mr. A. S. Carter to his rental cabins at Carter Lake, now the Four-Square Camp on Camp Eden Road. There was another ranch for tourists farther up Camp Eden Road, the Diamond B Ranch, now the Axton Ranch. The exclusive and private compound, Miramonte, backed up to Crescent Landing as well.