Transportation
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Incorporated by Otto Mears on July 5, 1887, the eighteen-mile narrow gauge Silverton Railroad linked Albany, Ironton, Guston, Red Mountain Town, Congress (Red Mountain City), and Chattanooga with Silverton. It included four wyes, a switchback with a covered turntable, a 200-degree loop, and an average grade of 5 percent over the 11,113-foot summit of Red Mountain Pass. The first train reached Red Mountain Town on September 17, 1888. The railroad's real value was in enabling mines to ship medium- and low-grade ore to smelters in Durango and Pueblo. It served the area until the line was abandoned in 1921.
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