Colorado 1915

Goal: Your task is to cross the great ranges, extract minerals from the mountains and establish a fledgling auto industry. The period is 1915-40.

- - - Your objective is to deliver 5 loads of autos to each of the following places where dealers wish to set up: Granby. Kremmling, Alamosa.

- - -

Achieve all three for the Gold, two for the Silver, one for the Bronze.

Author's Comments: The main objectives of this scenario are finding ways across Colorado's majestic scenery and establishing industries based on local resources. Many of these are quite lucrative. The human population, by contrast, is patchy and barely profitable.

We are indebted to Jeff Preston for the original, stunning map which we have merely upgraded and provided with this scenario. It is fitting therefore to quote from Jeff's historical notes:

"The first rails were rolled into Colorado in late June 1867 by the Union Pacific. These first connections were an attempt to link Denver with the east. It wasn't until 1887 that the formidable rockies were penetrated in Colorado with a difficult grade laid by the Colorado Central railroad from Denver to Georgetown through Clear Creek Canyon to tap the silver mines there. Some of the highest rails in the country were laid from Georgetown through Silver Plume up to Waldorf near Mt. McClellan to service the Vidler mine. Here, the Argentine Central used Shays to climb to 13,110 feet to give the tourists a view of Grays and Torreys peaks. In the summer you can still ride the narrow gauge from Georgetown to Silver Plume.

There are two traditional routes through the Colorado rockies from Denver to Grand Junction. But dozens of passes over the divide have seen rails over the years. Most were short haul, short lived, financial disasters motivated by the rich mineral deposits here. The first Denver-Grand Junction connection went from Denver to Bailey to Como to Buena Vista through the continental divide via the Alpine Tunnel, then downhill through Gunnison, Montrose, Delta to Grand Junction. The other principal route is Denver to Granby via a tunnel under the Divide, then to Kremmling, Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction. This is the route that Amtrak uses today. In the map, two reasonable grades have been provided to replace the tunnels. One at Monarch Pass which is very near the Alpine tunnel, and a couple of switchbacks over the divide between Denver and Summit County to replace the tunnel that exists near Granby."