Laramie, North Park & Western Locomotive No. 8, near Cowdrey, approx. 1942.

North Park in the 1930's remained isolated from the rest of Colorado. The Highway leading out north out of Cowdrey was described in the WPA Guide to Colorado as a "graded and graveled road poorly maintained.Route paralleled by the Laramie, North Park & Western RR between Wyoming line and Waldren. Accommodations limited between Rand and Cabindale."

Cowdrey, approximately 10 miles to the northwest of Walden, the country seat of Jackson County, was described in 1915 as having a population of 25 and a store and post office. By the 1920's it was described as a village of log homes and a population of 25. Mark Jenkins in his "A Man's Life", Modern Times, 2007, p. 153-154, commented, "Cowdrey is so small, it doesn't even have a bar." Cowdrey was also a loading point for fluorspar. The Ozark-Mahoning Company had three mines as to which Cowdrey was the closest town. Ozark-Mahoning's mines in North Park all closed in 1973 as a result of Congress eliminating subsidies for fluorspar, as a critical element. Cowdrey dates back to the 1880's when Charles H. Cowdrey established a hotel along the stage road to Laramie. Cowdrey later owned a ranch on the Michigan River a nearby tributary of the North Platte.

Approximately half way between Cowdrey and Walden at the Brownlee Ranch, established by early North Park settler Samuel S. Brownlee, was a siding for loading cattle. In the 1920's exploration for petroleum was undertaken in the area. In 1926 petroeum was hit in the north McCallum Oil Field a short distance out of Walden. The siding was a loading point for the field. The field was at the time was somewhat unsuccessful. One of the wells achieved fame as the "ice cream well."

Frost on top of oil pipeline McCallum Oil Field, photo by Henning Swenson.

Mixed with the petroeum was frozen carbon dioxide gas which when it came to the surface froze the oil into a frozen foam-like substance which resembled lemon sherbert. The cold oil was cause a thick coating of frost to form on the outside of pipelines even in the middle of the summer.

Walden, Colorado, approx. 1911. Photo by Photo by J. H. Van Horn (attributed).

Walden dates back to 1880 when Marcus A. Walden esablished a post office. The railroad arrived in Walden on October 18, 1911. The town celebrated a two-day "Railroad Day." See Waldron New Era, Oct 25, 1911. Some 60 citizens of Laramie attended. The LNP&W's official photographer J. H. Van Horn was in the town for the entire week. Earlier the New Era, August 10, 1911, had announded that the mine in Coalmont would open when the railroad reached it. It wrote:

Further information comes to us in regard to the opening up of the coal field in North Park by the Laramie Hahns Peak & Pacific railway. The Northern Coal company already has much of the machinery in the field and plans to be in operation as soon as posible after the railway reaches there. The output of the mines will be easily thirty of forty cars a car of hard coal which does not break up into slack and is very clean. It leaves few ashes and burns longer than the coal Larmaie is accumstomed to according to a gentleman who has been trying it.

Walden, Colorado, approx. 1936.

By 1942, the Walden railway depot was somewhat uninspiring, appearing to be suffering from deferred maintenance and covered with tar paper to keep out the cold. later it was replaced with a building constructed from a boxcar.

Walden Depot, approx 1942.

Between Walden and Coalmont was the small ranching town of Hebron. Hebron takes its name from the Old Testiment. Allegedly the biblical Hebron was the oldest Jewish community in the world. Abraham settled there. It was there that Sarah was buried and King David was annointed. In 1915 it was described as consisting of a combination store and post office. Today Hebron, Colorado, consists of an abandoned building and the intersection of Route 14 and a road leading to Coalmont.

Coalmont, 1911. Photo by Photo by J. H. Van Horn (attributed).

In December 1911, the Laramie, Hahn's Peak & Pacific reached Coalmont about fifteen miles south of Walden and 111 miles south of Laramie.

Coalmont, approx. 1911. Photo by J. H. Van Horn (Attributed).

Coalmont proved to present difficulties. Because of its elevation, 8,215 feet, snow was a problem. In Coalmont the railroad becasue of snow, used a loop to turn trains around rather than a wye. On an average the heaviest snow was in May. The railroad had to have a rotary and crew stationed at Coalmont.

Locomotive at Coalmont, undated.

Rotary, undated. Note "Laramie Plains Line" identification on side.

Contrary to the earlier reports by the New Era the coal proved to be "brown coal;" that is, lignite which is a soft coal which provided less heat that hard coal. because of its bulk, it was more expensive to transport. Thus sale of coal was generally more localized. An advantage, however, is that it is usually closer to the surface. In Coalmont this made open pit mining possible.

Coalmont, approx. 1915.

Coalmont mine,1940.

Coalmont mine,1940.

Instead of the thirty or forty cars a day, J. C. Miller in a 1934 report for the Department of the Interior, Circular 5, "Geology of the North and South McCallum Anticlines, Jackson County, Colorado," p. 4 noted "At present, only biweekly runs are made by the railroad between Coalmont and Laramie." The Coalmont mine closed about 1953 and the Waldon-Coalmont extension of the railway was abandoned. It was apparent to all that the little railroad that could was dying. It was sold and became an excursion railroad, with used locomotives and cars from the Alaska Railroad. The dining cars had kitchy names such as the Albany and the Laramie, but it was to no avail. On July 7, 1995, final confirmation as to the lack of economic viability of the railroad came in the form of a notice in the the Federal Register:

All workers of Louisiana Pacific, Northern Division, headquartered in Hayden Lake, Idaho, and operating at the following locations, who became totally or partially separated from employment on or after April 10, 1994 are eligible to apply for adjustment assistance under Section 223 of the Trade Act of 1974:
Belgrade, Montana TA–W–30,952A;
Chilco, Idaho TA–W–30,952B;
Deerlodge, Montana TA–W–30,952C;
Libby, Montana TA–W–30,952D;
Moyie Springs, Id TA–W–30,952E;
Pilot Rock, Oregon TA–W–30,952F;
Priest River, Idaho TA–W–30,952G;
Rexburg, Idaho TA–W–30,952H;
Saratoga, Wyoming TA–W–30,952I;
Tacoma, Washington TA–W–30,952J;
Walden, Colorado TA–W–30,952K;
Walla Walla, Wa TA–W–30,952L
and operating in various other locations in the states of: Idaho TA–W–30,952M; Montana TA–W– 30,952N''
Signed at Washington, D.C. this 26th day of June 1995.
Victor J. Trunzo,
Program Manager, Policy and Reemployment Services, Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance.

In the words of Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) the little railroad that could did not go gentle into that good night. It seemingly called on Boreas the ancient god of the North Wind and Winter to delay the inevitable.

Before the railroad could be finally abandoned, it was necessary to clear the tracks of cars and pending freight. In May, 1996, the tracks near Albany were still blocked by eleven foot drifts. The Rocky Mountain Railroad Club, Denver, described in its June 1996 described the death of the railroad:

Sunday, May 5th, the UP rotary, two UP SD40-2's and a leased Conrail unit headed west from Laramie to clear the remaining snow drifts. Most of the snow has melted in the Snowy Range Mountains, but 11-foot drifts were intermittently found on the Loops above Albany and near WY0C0L0, on the Wyoming and Colorado state line. May 6th found the train departing Fox Park, CO, after 7:00 a.m. to finish opening the line to Northgate, WY. Unfortunately, the hard-packed snow drifts derailed the rotary twice during the day around Wyocolo, back in the woods. After seven hours, the train finally made it to Northgate, WY, where the train turned on the wye and stayed the night. The rotary made its way back to Laramie from Northgate and onto Cheyenne, WY, where it tied up May 7th around 7:00 p .m.

The last shipments from Walden, CO, will be some 100 cars of contaminated coal in May, 1996. Once the coal movement is completed, the scrapper will pull the rails between Walden and Northgate this summer. Track removal has already commenced in Walden where the siding tracks have been pulled up and is creating a sea of ties around the yard.

Trains will be moving ARCO's feldspar [Sic. should read "fluorspar"] from Northgate most of this spring and summer. October 1st is the deadline for the train operations, and then the scrapper will go to work removing the entire line except for one mile near Laramie that serves a food warehouse operation. The UP's Coalmont branch will soon be history, but what a way to go! (Steve R. and Darrell A.) .

The fate of the LHP&P came again to the fore before the Unite States Supreme Court in 2018, see Marvin Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States, 572 U.S. ___ (2014). The Railway was no longer a minor footnote in dusty tomes. Marvin Brandt was the son of a 1930's settler in the Foxpark area and had homesteaded. He received his title to his homestead subject to the easement in favor of the LHP&P for railroad purposes, but the government had not reserved to itself any residual title. The Forest Service wanted to take Brandt's a part of his land and convert it to a hiking and bicycling trail. It is generally recognized in the United States that under ancient principles of the Common Law of England, when easements are abandoned, they disappear and the owner of the underlying property such as Brandt then own the property free and clear of the easement. The government earlier in other litigation recognized and successfully argued the principle.

Although not specified in the Court's opinion, the Court applied another principle of the Common Law to the Government, Allegans contraria non est audiendus; that is, having successully argued one thing, one may not be heard to argue the opposite., A principal must act consistently; he cannot, as was stated by the 18th Century Lord Chancellor, Lord Kenyon, blow hot and cold; or, to use Lord Cairns' expression, derived from the Scotch phraseology, he cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time. See Republic of Peru v. Peruvian Guano Company, 36 Law Reports 489 (1887) per J. Chitty where the principle was applied to a government.

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Arrival of the Laramie, North Park & Western from Centennial, approximately 1942. Artwork by G. B. Dobson, based on a photo.

Half a League

Poem found in the 1913 Walden [Colorado] High School Annual,
The Medicine Bow

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward
All in the Vallely of North Park
Roll the unencumbered
Tains of the L.H. P. & P.
While every man can see
That the long hours of his journey
Are yet unnumbered.

Sage brush to the right of them
Sage brush to the left of them
Sage brush behind them
The passengers thundered
That they'd no further go.

And said to each other
"Someone has blundered" And then rode back--but not
Not with six hundred.
As quoted by Frank R. Hollewback: "Laramie Plains Line," Sage Books Denver, 1960.

Background music this page: Waiting for a Train, sung by Ernest Tubbs.

Next Page Centennial Ridge continued, Douglas Creek and Keystone Mining Districts.