Chama

The panel's crossroads town owed most of itself to the railroad. Building west toward the San Juan silver camps in 1880, the Denver & Rio Grande needed an engine terminal for the helper locomotives at the foot of the Cumbres grade, and chose the west bank of the Rio Chama here, on land Thomas B. Catron sold from the Tierra Amarilla grant. Trains ran from February 1, 1881, and a post office opened that year. The company the panel names came later: it became the Denver & Rio Grande Western only in the reorganization of July 31, 1921.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Chama Population 1,199 - Elevation 7,850 ft. From a small crossroads town, Chama became an important site on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad after 1880. The Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Rail- road is the remnant of the San Juan Extension, a narrow-gauge line which once served the min- ing areas of southwestern Colorado.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad — steps away
  A narrow-gauge steam railroad from Chama over 10,015-foot Cumbres Pass to Antonito, kept narrow because nobody ever thought it worth converting.

More markers nearby

• Chama — 3.0 mi
• Cumbres Pass — 11 mi
• Fort Lowell — 13 mi
• Tierra Amarilla — 13 mi