In 1870, a small part of the narrow-gauge railway line making his way down the cavernous walls of the Arkansas Canyon in the heart of Colorado. Control of this railway line will play a significant melodrama in the history of mining in the state and will later be called the “War of the Royal Gorge”. The incident occurred in the Arkansas Canyon in 1878-1880.
Bat Masterson and Ben Thompson, two well-known militants of the day, sided with one of the belligerent railway companies - Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (AT & SF). The rail company tried to claim the tracks that their rival, Denver and Rio Grande (D & RG), built in 1872 as a lucrative connection between Denver and Pueblo.
The stage was set in 1872 when the Denver and Rio Grande (D & RG) Railroad Company built a narrow-gauge railway line from Denver to Pueblo, Colorado. They then opened a line from Pueblo to the Canons coal mines, which were 37 miles west of Pueblo. Then, having built south of Pueblo, they proceeded through the mountains of southern Colorado and into the valley of San Luis, until they reached El Moro in 1876. They extended the line to Fort Garland in 1877 and finally to Alamos in June 1878.
At about the same time, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (AT & SF) Railroad Company built west of Kansas City. AT & SF reached the Colorado line by 1872, but due to delays it did not reach Pueblo until 1876. During the same year, Leadville developed rapidly as a center of silver mines, and a lot of money had to be made to deliver goods to and from the city.
Understanding this potential, AT & SF decided to launch a railway line from Pueblo to Leadville. This required the line to pass through the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River, which was fifty miles west of Pueblo. A narrow passage would allow only one railway line to be built. This was the essence of the conflict; D & RG wanted the same.
By 1878, both railway companies abandoned people and equipment to the area, hoping to ensure the right of passage through the gorge, while the company's lawyers fought for court decisions in their favor. In April of the same year, AT & SF placed more than 300 people in the canyon to secure their buildings. D & RG corresponded to this number, but there was not enough effort to hire men, because their rival paid a higher wage.
Lawyers for AT & SF received a local court to issue a temporary injunction against D & RG, stopping further work in the canyon. But, before AT & SF took advantage of this opportunity, D & RG received its court order blocking Kansas from further work on its line. When both companies were at rest, the men were placed at critical points in the canyon to make sure they controlled the line and equipment.
D & RG built several stone fortifications under the leadership of his chief engineer, a man named James R. DeRemer, who served in the Civil War and knew how to build a rock parapet necessary to fight a battle. These dry masonry “DeRemer Forts”, built on Texas Creek and Spikebuck, differed gun ports and a command view of the track below.
Fortunately, for both sides, stone farms were never used to ambush each other. By November 1878, D & RG ran out of money and was forced to conclude a pact with his consolidated rival. On December 1 of the same year, they received a 30-year lease of AT & SF, thanks to which they used all railway lines and all equipment, including rolling stock.
As AT & SF controlled all tracks and trains, they quickly began squeezing more businesses in Kansas City and less for Denver. Understanding his mistake, D & RG began a trial to terminate the lease. Finally, in early 1879, the case was brought before the Supreme Court in Washington. Anticipating a violet response, regardless of the court’s decision, each company sent armed men to protect their rights and property. AT & SF hired Bat Masterson and a squad of 33 people, whom he enlisted in Dodge City to create a camp in the canyon to protect its builders and company property. They arrived on a special train and after setting up the camp, called Dodge City, Bath returned to Kansas.
On April 21, the Supreme Court ruled that D & RG has a prior right to the Canyon, but does not have exclusive rights. The decision, diluted as it was, did not like either side. In the second half of May, the Attorney General of the State of Colorado joined the court in the State Court to stop AT & SF from operating state railways. Then, on June 10, State Judge Thomas M. Bowen issued an order to stop AT & SF from using or operating any buildings, equipment or rolling stock at D & RG — essentially, canceling their lease. With the orders of Judge Bowen, the D & RG staff went to the sheriffs of each district, traveled by rail, to take possession of all their property.
Before orders could be delivered to the county sheriffs, AT & SF ordered the Bat Masterson to return to Colorado and concentrate its forces in Pueblo. He quickly recruited 50 armed men and bought them on a special train. This group included Ben Thompson and a dozen of his Texan colleagues.
Initially, when the proposal approached him, Ben was tied up with a signature, fearing that, if violence broke out, he would be accused of murder. Finally, he agreed to hold a stone round house in Pueblo until the employees of the law presented him with identification documents. According to Walton's book ( The Life and Adventures of Ben Thompson ) Thompson agreed to do this work for $ 5,000, and D & RG asked him to turn in a round table for $ 25,000. Ben rejected the proposal: “I will die here, free me from the law”.
On June 11, the Denver sheriff and his envoy from the D & RG men stationed an AT & SF office and a round house in Denver. Then the train of agents D & RG headed south to seize this property along the way. At the same time, the former governor of Colorado, AC Hunt, raised a detachment of 200 people, captured the train, and headed north, capturing all the small stations and taking agents as prisoners. In Kucharas, Hunt’s forces shot him with twelve AT & SF members - killing a Mexican and wounding an Irishman named Dan Sullivan.
In Pueblo, Sheriff Henley R. Price supported two officials from D & RG, JA McMurtie and RF Weitbrec, filed copies of Judge Bowen's court decisions to all AT & SF workers at dawn. After serving the orders, Sheriff Price and his squad left for the train dispatcher’s office at 8:30. The dispatcher refused to allow him to take possession of the building, and the sheriff told him that he was thirty minutes to think it over.
At 9:00, the price returned and found an office filled with dozens of armed AT & SF people who refused to budge. Overloaded, the sheriff went back to the Grand Center Hotel and registered another 100 deputies - all heavily armed and refueled with plenty of free liquor.
Returning to the depot at noon, Sheriff Price and his army of deputies demanded that those who surrendered to the depot. They refused, and the detachment went to the round house where Ben Thompson and the Texans were waiting. In the face of Sheriff, Ben said that he was put in charge of the company's property, and he could not refuse him without being authorized to do so. Then the sheriff said that he had come to disperse the armed crowd.
Ben replied that there was no armed crowd in the round house, only men from the construction team who were sent to guard the company's property. Saying that some men had hands, Ben invited the sheriff to enter the round house and look at the men to find out if they were guilty of breaking the law. The price was allowed to enter the round house alone and after a brief search left without any arrests.
Faced with a powder keg of confrontation, Sheriff Price took his people off and saw the advice of local lawyers. After reviewing the judge’s judicial decision, he was informed that he had no right to use force to seize the property of AT & SF. He chewed it until about 3:00, and then decided it was time to take action, regardless of the legality of the order. He and fifty alcohol deputies met in front of the Victoria Hotel, where they were supplied with rifles equipped with bayonets and heavy rations of ammunition, courtesy of D & RG. Marching to the depot, they formed a line of fire in front of the building.
At about the same time, the cattle by the name of V.F. Chumbide broke down from the ticket office. They say that he was “a little under the influence of liquor” and wanted to ask for a deal for those inside the warehouse. He was quickly stuck by one of the deputies and hit in the head.
Then the detachment went to the telegraph, and the shooting began when they beat the door. Most of the men in the office quickly escaped through the rear doors and made it safe. Unfortunately, Harry Jenkins fell when he was running away, and he was shot in a chest with a bullet placed in his spine. The landing crushed the wounded in an express train and sent him for medical assistance. He died after some time.
After the assault on the telegraph, the detachment went to the round house, the last stronghold of the defenders of AT & SF. Thompson met them behind the round house, shouting, "Let's go to you, sons of a bitch, if you want a fight, you can have it." Before he could support his challenge, he was defeated by a dozen deputies and was thrown into prison. Without their leader, those inside are willing to figure it out. After a short time, they sent the building without a shot. They were all torn down and went down the street to join Thompson in the crowded prison on West Fifth Street.
Late in the evening, former governor Hunt and his party arrived by train from the south, and then continued along the Arkansas River in Canon City. By midnight the entire railway line was captured. Sometime that night, Bat Masterson, Ben Thompson and others hired by AT & SF were released from prison and put on a special train heading to Dodge City. Arriving the next morning, Ben collected his money from AT & SF and traveled to Texas through Kansas City and St. Louis. Louie
The Royal Gorge case did not end on June 11, but continued for several more months in court. Finally, “robber baron” Jay Gould bought a fifty percent stake in D & RG and allowed the trial to go on trial. On March 27, 1880, both railways agreed to sign the “Treaty of Boston,” which returned the railroad and property back to D & RG. AT & SF paid $ 1.8 million. The United States is behind the railway line that he built across the aisle, and the war of the Royal Gorge is finally over.
