Breckenridge, CO - Boomtown from mining to skiing

A beautiful summer day in the now very touristy town of Breckenridge.

A free gondola ride to the top of the mountain to see all the summer activities.

Kids 'learning the ropes'

Alpine slides are in most of the ski towns now.

Always love the Colorado Columbines

And then the history - we always try to get the story.

                            Survival in an isolated town.
 

The winter of 1898 had snow of 20 feet.

The “supply chain” was blocked for 78 days

 by the snow on the railroad tracks with snow drifts as high as 50 feet.

                            The Legendary High Line 

Train completed in 1884 from Denver to Breckenridge to Leadville, and crossed the Continental Divide twice.

The journey that had taken days by stagecoach or mule train could be done in about 12 hours.

These towns were no longer isolated from the outside world.

During the snow storms, the engineers would first try “bucking” to get thru the snow (moving forward thru the drift, then back again). 

 

When that failed, they would bring on the rotary snowplow (like a giant snowblower) to try to get thru. 

If that failed the townspeople would come out and shovel by hand.

Then in the BIG SNOW, all efforts failed for 78 days.

Lou examining the rotary engine.