Denver & Salt Lake

Company History: The D&SL was the result of the 1913 reorganization of the failed Denver Northwestern & Pacific Railway. The line ran west from Denver, Colorado into the teeth of the Rocky Mountains. Initially, the route featured a manageable 2.2% grade into South Boulder Canyon but the assault on Rollins Pass included the highest mainline crossing of a mountain range in North America at 11,670 feet with stretches of 4% grade. The line then descended the west face to Bond before turning north to Steamboat Springs and west again to Craig. That was as far as they had built at the time of the reorganization. They were barely a third of the way to the goal of Salt Lake City.

Operations over Rollins Pass were extremely difficult. The city of Denver was still seeking a through route to the west and offered to back the construction of what became the 6 mile Moffat Tunnel under James Peak that would bypass Rollins Pass. The tunnel opened for service in 1928. However, the D&SL still only went as far west as Craig. The D&SL line near Bond did come within 40 miles of the Denver & Rio Grande Western mainline at Dotsero. Rio Grande agreed to build a line from Dotsero up the Colorado River to a new connection on the D&SL near Bond. The new junction would be called Orestod (Dotsero backwards.) D&SL would then grant D&RGW trackage rights over their mainline to Denver. The connection was completed in 1934. In 1947, the Denver & Salt Lake was merged into the Denver & Rio Grande Western.

Successor/Parent History: The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad (reporting mark DRGW), often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

In 1988, the Rio Grande's parent corporation, Rio Grande Industries, purchased Southern Pacific Transportation Company, and as the result of a merger, the larger Southern Pacific Railroad name was chosen for identity. The Rio Grande operated as a separate division of the Southern Pacific, until that company was acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad. Today, most former D&RGW main lines are owned and operated by the Union Pacific while several branch lines are now operated as heritage railways by various companies.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.