7th Street Shops - Romley; An Historical Overview - Post 32

 

Camera positioned over the D.S.P.& P.Ry. M.P. 155.6. (Romley, CO). Ogden Eating House and both depots to left. Spur tracks to ore bin and rear of 3nd mill to right.  1987 - Poole Photo

(Fig.1) R.R. r.o.w. & MMMC road at Murphy, 1881 - Poole Col.

It was 2.3 miles from St. Elmo to what would become Romley. Of course, there was no Romley in 1881; there was nothing except the road Col. John Kelly, (General Manager of the Mary Murphy Mining Company) built from the mine head to St. Elmo in 1880. The purpose of the road was to transport ore and supplies between the mine and the town and it was one of the first improvements to the property by the new owner.

The mine was discovered near the top of  Chrysolite Peak, perhaps as early as 1870. It with other industrial properties were purchased by a St. Louis company for $300k and the Mary Murphy Mining Company (MMMC) was formed to develop the property. The 2.5 mile road that Col. Kelly built started at the mine head, dropped down Pomeroy Gulch until the south bank became so precipitous that the road had to turn south and traverse to the valley floor. There it looped to the north and proceeded to the town. (fig. 1). When the D.S. P.& P. track came through, it crossed the pr-existing road.at Mile Post 155.6 and the railroad designated the station as "Murphy".

Mary Murphy, Chrysolite Peak, 1983 - Poole Photo

Over the years, names for M.P.155.6  came and went. Unlike "Murphy", Romley had no district source; spoken, locale, cultural, persona or "otherwise". But even the several interim names tended to be confusing. In a few cases two names appeared on the same page as the same place. Sources and advent of names were often obscured. But, as we may find once available information is sorted out, it will become more clear how the names and town evolved.

M.P. 155.6; Ogden, MMMC ore bin & mill, June 1882 - Poole Col.

Right away the railroad installed a switch at M.P. 155.6. This was to service an ore loading bin and perhaps a platform constructed above the grade by the MMMC. There after the railroad renamed M.P.155.6 Murphys Switch. The photo shared below was probably take in June, 1882. Along this spur a coal car was spotted next to the ore bin (for low grade ore). Also the mine's first stamp mill appeared in the background. However, the dense stand of pine below the grade where the town would later be built appeared untouched. 

Early in 1882, Fred H. Werlitz, the company  Engineer, approached Augustus Helmer, Postmaster of St. Elmo, and request a Post Office for Murphys Switch. In response, Frank Hatton (First Assistant to the Postmaster General in Washington D.C,) sent an application to Werlitz; care of Gus Helmer. Werlitz's promptly filled out the application and returned it to the Department of the Post Office (DPO). 

Fred's information on the application supplied substantial insight into the beginnings of what would become Romley. Accordingly, there was "no village" near the station. Mail would be delivered to the mining office (this was within the boarding house from which it is likely the June 1882 photo was taken!). Fred also stated that the population of Murphys Switch was 105 individuals - "and increasing". Of course, most of this population was employees of the mining company but perhaps there were a few attached to the Ogden Eating House.

 MMMC's 1st stamp mill at Murphys Switch, June 1882 - Poole Col.

The application proposed naming the new Post Office "Neva". The significance of this name is unknown and, fortunately, it is never seen again! The document from Hatton was dated 25 April and Werlitz returned it on 18 May, 1882.

Nothing came of the 1882 application. Nor has an explanation turned up as to why. Presumably the application did not qualify. A reasonable hypothesis might be gathered from information on the application. Perhaps most significant is that there was no town at Murphys Switch. The small population, was almost entirely employed by a private company with no allegiance to stay at the location other than money literally dug out of the rock. Even the applicant was an officers of  this objectively dubious operation. From the perspective of the DPO the application simply did not qualify.

Boarding house at Level 4, 1983 - Poole Photo

The MMMC had two boarding facilities for employees. The first, as mentioned, was at M.P. 155.6 in the same building as the  company office. (See painting in Post 8.) This 2 story structure likely had a dining hall and could house 40 men. The second was at the Level 4 Tunnel about a mile up Pomeroy Gulch from M.P.155.6. This building had a capacity to bunk of 60 men.

As the largest producer in the district, employment at the MMMC was indeed increasing and optimism that would have justification a request for a Post Office is understandable. But transient men living in boarding houses was no measure of a permanent, growing community. It is plausible that the MMMC recognized this as the reason for the apparent denial. Neither is it hard to believe that the company would have translated this setback into determination. So far as we know, there isn't documented to substantiate what seems evident; that they set out to rectify their shortcoming by building their own town. As the stand of pine below the grade began to recede a company town emerged. It was first called Morley after the company President, James H. Morley.

 

7th Street Shops - Romley; An Historical Overview - Post 31

 

St. Elmo late 1890s; depot at left edge (above the turntable) with the 1164 sq. ft.freight building along the Aspen Spur (added to 1894 B&B listings). View looking up East Chalk Creek toward Tincup Pass. Romley was up the valley to the left - Poole Collection

The Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad (D.S.P. & P. or South Park) reached Forest City (St. Elmo) at the confluence of Chalk Creek and East Chalk Creek on 31 December 1880. The rails were in a construction race to reach the rich gold fields of the Gunnison River Valley; Gunnison, Crested Butte, Lake City and the San Juan region beyond. As the "Pacific" in the herald implied, the South Park had ambitious goals set for itself. Immediately in front of their efforts was the Saguache ("sah-watch") Range - the Continental Divide. 

From the former D.S.P.&P.R.R. right of way near Nathop, Mt. Princeton at 14,204 feet, towers more than 5,000 feet above the Arkansas Valley. The Chalk Creek District is through the gap at left.   Princeton shoulders Chalk Creek on the north and Mt. Antero (14,271 feet) shoulders (out of view) on the right . Beyond is the Divide of the North American Continent and Alpine Tunnel. Carrol Weiss Photo, 1942 - Poole Collection.

Work on the Alpine Tunnel under Altman Pass (renamed Helmers Pass) had already begun. This pass, yet 8 miles up hill from St. Elmo, was a relatively low point in the ridge The area at the top of Tunnel Gulch had been intensely and meticulous surveys throughout 1879. Excavation started on 9 January 1880. There was great expectation that the tunnel would be completed even before track reached Altman and that the South Park would handily beat the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (D.&R.G.) into Gunnison. However, when track arrived at St. Elmo, tunnel work was already 6 months behind. A train would not pass through until July of 1882 (an engine went through in Dec. 1881.) and the D.&R.G. reached Gunnison in August 1881.

Beyond the farthest ridge (Mt. Antaro) is the Arkansas River (25 miles east, 4000 feet down), the camera was a few hundred feet above Atlantic (east portal, Alpine Tunnel) and mere yards from the Continental Divide. Romley is at the center of this view. Pomeroy Peak rises to the right - Poole photo 1985

The elevation at the apex inside the tunnel was 11,524 feet and only about 500 feet below the pass. The tunnel was 1772 feet long but measured as 1780 feet daylight to daylight in March, 1900. At the east portal (Atlantic) the track entered on a 24 degree curve that turned more than 90 degrees to the left  Geographically, the tunnel is aligned north to south.

Jackson Photo Special (Engine 42 with sleeper) stopped just beyond Pacific in the small hanging valley named Alpine. William H. Jackson took this view not long after the first train passed through the Tunnel on 19 July 1882 - W. H. Jackson Photo, Poole Collection.

View directly before the train in the photo above. Poole Photo 2005

If you need more details about the Alpine Tunnel a good place to start would be Dow Helmers' "The Alpine  Tunnel". Also, "The D.S.P.& P" by Mac Poor and Colorado R.R. Museum "Rail Annal No. 12" (Cornelius Hauch). There are many more publications in both books and magazines that are excellent resources for this and much more about the railroad. . 

The South Park gauged the rails at what Coloradoans (note the CORRECT  spelling of that noun!!) call Colorado Standard Gauge - 36" between the rails. (The rails were 30lbs to the yard.) This diminutive sizing was intended to reduce the costs of building a railroad in the Colorado Rockies where the motto was; "around the rocks, not through them". But this Tunnel - which was the only tunnel on the entire narrow gauge system for nearly 70 year of history - was an unavoidable exception, given the company goals.

In the distance, Brittle Silver Basin and the head waters of Quartz Creek. The railroad climbed out of the valley where it passed The Palisades and crossed the Toll Road down from Williams Pass. Poole Photos - 2005

During 1881, the South Park pushed the track work as fast as the crews could lay it; they reached the tunnel in mid October 1881. When grading reached the Tunnel several months earlier, it provided a direct supply route to the construction site.  The construction companies used the grade as a wagon road for transportation ahead of the track as it was built.

Of course, this wasn't the only road into Tunnel Gulch. For many years prospectors had traipsed all over the district. Some of the trails they created or "developed" from the natives became wagon roads and eventually a toll road was built from Forrest City (St. Elmo) up Chalk Creek. It crossed the Continental over Williams pass. On its decent into Quartz Creek, this Alpine & South Park Toll Road was crossed by the railroad grade just above the feature known as "The Palisades" (a vertical rock formation that rises several hundred feet above the grading). Supplies via the Toll Road could be forwarded up grade from the crossing into Alpine, the small hanging valley that is the location of the Tunnel's Pacific portal.

On the Atlantic side there was a road from the Toll Road westward up Tunnel Gulch but the construction camp was still hundreds of feet above the creek and the road.

Supplies were also packed over Altman Pass from Atlantic construction site.When the bore finally broke through, the arrival of the grading at Atlantic improved the supply to both construction camps from the east portal. .

View from above the railroad grade at Romley, looking north and down grade. The Pomeroy Bridge is located just beyond where the road disappears. Poole Photo - 1987

In the next post we will continue the overview of Chalk Creek and in particular Romley. This series of post is relative to Post 8.