Royal Gorge

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal Gorge, the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River

The Royal Gorge (English: "Royal Gorge") is a canyon of the Arkansas River west of Cañon City in the US state of Colorado . The gorge begins at the mouth of Grape Creek, a good three kilometers west of Cañon City and continues in a west-northwest direction for almost ten kilometers to US Route 50. The Royal Gorge is also known as the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River. It is up to 380 meters deep and very narrow: At the bottom of the valley, the royal gorge is only about 15 meters wide, while its upper opening is only a little more than 90 meters wide. It lies between Fremont Peak in the north and YMCA Mountain in the south.

Native Americans from the Ute tribe liked to use the Royal Gorge as winter quarters because of the relatively mild climate inside and the wind protection it offered. Among the first Americans of European descent to explore the Royal Gorge was Zebulon M. Pike's 1806 Expedition.

The nearby town of Cañon City was founded in 1860 to develop suspected mineral resources in the area. The discovery of silver and lead at Leadville in 1877 sparked a race between the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé Railroad Companies (AT&SF) and the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad (D & RGW) to build rail access to the mining area.

Royal Gorge, Grand Canyon of the Arkansas, photograph by William Henry Jackson from the 1880s, Museum of Photographic Arts Collections

The Arkansas River's Royal Gorge was too narrow for both AT&SF and D & RGW to have their railroad tracks through, and there was no other access to the relatively gold-rich South Park Valley in Colorado. Because of this, the "Royal Gorge Railroad War" broke out between the two railroad companies, a two-year, sometimes violent, conflict until the US federal government intervened and brokered the Boston Treaty between the two railroad companies, on the basis of which the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad built their railway line through the Royal Gorge and rented it to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway for shared use.

After years of legal disputes between AT&SF and D & RGW, the first excursion train was able to travel through the Royal Gorge on May 7, 1879.

The hanging railway bridge in the “Royal Gorge”, circa 1918. In front an uncovered observation car, behind it a closed pulpit car (“observation car”). Colored picture postcard; Original image title: “8144. Observation Car in the Royal Gorge, Colo. "

In the 1890s, the Royal Gorge was used for passenger trains in intra-continental rail traffic. Up to four trains a day drove through the gorge. Over time, however, alternative rail routes were built through the mountains and the Royal Gorge gradually lost its importance for intra-continental passenger traffic until regular rail traffic through the Royal Gorge finally ceased in 1967. Today only sightseeing trains run through the Arkansas Canyon.

The bridge over the Royal Gorge, seen from the south edge, 2001

In 1929 Cañon City approved the construction of the Royal Gorge Bridge , which - at 291 meters above the river - held the record as the tallest bridge in the world from 1929 to 2001. The bridge is the heart of the Royal Gorge Park, an amusement park with rides and attractions on either side of the gorge. On June 11, 2013, fire broke out near the Royal Gorge Bridge, destroying 48 of 52 buildings in the park on either side of the gorge. The bridge was only slightly damaged. The park was restored and reopened on August 30, 2014.

  • Train and suspension bridge in the Royal Gorge, 1965

  • Looking east from the bridge over the Royal Gorge, with cable car gondola, 2012

source

See also