Durango exists because of a railroad that almost went somewhere else. In this documentary, Jeff Johnson traces the arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande in Southwest Colorado — from General William Jackson Palmer's original 1870 push south out of Denver, to the mining boom that pulled the rails toward the San Juans, to the founding of Durango itself in 1881 as a town built by and for the railroad. Jeff follows the line through its boom years serving the Silverton mining district, its near-collapse after the Silver Purchase Act was repealed in 1893, and its unlikely second life as a beloved tourist attraction in the postwar decades. It's a story about how a railroad meant to carry a young civilization toward the future became, in time, our clearest window into the past.

The Power of Place Magazine is a special initiative of the Colorado 150 Southwest organizing committee, featuring 20 articles by professional historians and local writers exploring Southwest Colorado's rich and complex heritage.

By Jeff Johnson

This story is sponsored by Alpine Bank, Sky Ute Casino and Strater Hotel.

Watch the full series, Voices of the Past: Southwest Colorado.

Jeff Johnson's connection to Durango began with a single train ride in 1973, when a family vacation turned into a lifelong calling. That trip aboard the narrow gauge to Silverton set him on a path of decades-long devotion to Colorado railroad history, from the earliest push of the Denver and Rio Grande down through Walsenburg, Alamosa, and Chama into Southwest Colorado, to the mining boom in Silverton that the rails were built to chase. In this episode, Jeff traces the routes, the resources, and above all the people — the laborers, the families, and the women who left comfort behind to build new lives in a rugged frontier. It's a conversation about how the past never really feels that far away, and why understanding the people who came before us matters for where we're headed.

The Power of Place Magazine is a special initiative of the Colorado 150 Southwest organizing committee, featuring 20 articles by professional historians and local writers exploring Southwest Colorado's rich and complex heritage.

By Jeff Johnson

This story is sponsored by Alpine Bank, Sky Ute Casino and Strater Hotel.

Watch the full Voices of the Past: Southwest Colorado series on our YouTube.

Colorado was shaped by the people who fed it. In this documentary, Scott Perez traces the agricultural history of the region from its earliest roots — from the orchards that sprang up near Hermosa Creek in the 1870s to serve hungry miners, to the ditch irrigation systems first developed by indigenous communities and later adapted by American settlers, to the narrow gauge railroads that opened new markets and transformed farming across the valleys. Drawing on diaries, oral histories, and a lifetime of working the land himself, Scott paints a vivid portrait of how agriculture has always been both a livelihood and a lifeline in Southwest Colorado — and why the small farms still taking root here today carry that legacy forward.

The Power of Place Magazine is a special initiative of the Colorado 150 Southwest organizing committee, featuring 20 articles by professional historians and local writers exploring Southwest Colorado's rich and complex heritage.

By Scott Perez

This story is sponsored by Alpine Bank, Sky Ute Casino and Strater Hotel

Watch the full series, Voices of the Past: Southwest Colorado.