St Elmo & Alpine Tunnel

38 photos

St. Elmo, Colorado & the Alpine Tunnel

St. Elmo, Colorado was originally settled in 1878 and was made official in 1880 when gold and silver began to bring many people to the area. The town was laid out in six feet of snow and provided for the miners working in the nearby mines. Beginning with a high moral character, the settlement went the way of other booming mining towns, reaching a population of more than 2000 and taking on all the trappings of a single male population with saloons, dance halls, and bawdy houses. When the Alpine Tunnel was under construction, St. Elmo became the scene of raunchy Saturday night sprees.

The Alpine Tunnel, located nearby, was once the highest railroad tunnel in the world, at an altitude of 11,523 feet, it was the first tunnel to be built through the Continental Divide.

Alpine Pass, CO - Tunnel Gulch Water Tank

Alpine Tunnel, CO - Palisades

Alpine Tunnel, CO - Roundtable

Alpine Tunnel, CO - Station

Alpine Tunnel, CO - West Portal

St. Elmo, CO - Main Street - 2

St. Elmo, CO - Mercantile, vintage

St. Elmo, CO - Buildings

St. Elmo, CO - Entering

St. Elmo, CO - Main Street

St. Elmo, CO - Main Street

St. Elmo, CO - Stark Home and Store

St. Elmo, CO - Street

St. Elmo, CO - Mercantile Today

St. Elmo, CO - School Today

St. Elmo, CO - Town Hall

St. Elmo - American House Hotel

Alpine Pass, CO - Sherrod Loop

Alpine Tunnel, CO - Coal Bunker

Alpine Tunnel, CO - Marker

Guestbook for St Elmo & Alpine Tunnel

Otto, Switzerland(non-registered)

Readind the Narrow Gauge in the Rockies from Lucius Beebe, thiswebsite is a great companion, giving additional details - narratives, pictures and maps.

Marjorie Fahrney(non-registered)

Last summer, 2014, my son took me to Alpine Tunnel to see the Telegraph Station where my grandfather was (one of) if not the first telegrapher(s) in the 1880's. Samuel Silliman Pretts Carruthers was his name. I am looking for information beyond notes that my grandmother made in her own handwriting to substantiate this information. He married Luella Eva Baker from Jefferson, Colorado and they continued to move to other towns no and west where he was telegrapher/station master, including Idaho Springs, Dubois, Idaho and finally Dillon, Montana where he died working for the Union Pacific Railroad. I now live in Buena Vista, Colorado.