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Durango, Colorado
Since its establishment in the 1880s,
Durango, Colorado
has nestled itself into the narrows of the Upper Animas River Valley. On
our 1965 visit, the town had not yet expanded beyond its original borders.
Today, a regional shopping center featuring Wal-Mart and
Home Depot greets
travelers arriving from
Aztec, New Mexico in the south.
Durango
is a year-round tourist destination. To the chagrin of prospective
homeowners, cash-buyers swooped in during the early 2000s. Durango’s high
prices now send the budget-minded to nearby Bayfield or Mancos. During a
recent visit to Canyon De Chelly, Arizona, we spoke with a Native American
artist, selling his works there. Each week, he commuted two hundred and
forty miles, to work on construction jobs in Durango.
During
the 1960s, the
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was in transition.
Construction gangs upgraded the gravel roadbed and then laid heavier rails.
Those improvements support the larger, more powerful locomotives seen on the
rail line today. As old as they appear, the current engines represent
relatively modern designs, when compared to the originals. The upgraded
railroad helped carry the cities of Durango and Silverton through their
transition from a mining, farming and ranching economy into today’s
recreation and tourist-based economy.
With Durango’s gentrification came new residents who did not
appreciate steam locomotives in nearby barns, puffing coal smoke into the
night air. A recent
Durango Herald letter to the editor asked that the locomotives
extinguish their fireboxes each night, so that nearby residents could sleep
in peace and clean air. Old wags pointed out that one could not restart a
locomotive each day as if it were a diesel engine. The general sentiment in
the community was, “if you do not like coal smoke,
move elsewhere”.

Email James McGillis