Denver and Boulder Valley Railroad

The Denver and Boulder Valley Railroad Company was organized in October, 1870, with a capital stock of $1,000,000. The following well known business men and capitalists constitute its board of officers:

Hon. Jerome B. Chaffee, President
R. R. McCormick, Secretary
W. S. Cheesman, Vice-President
D. H. Moffat, Jr., Treasurer
Directors
John Evans, W. S. Cheesman, J. B. Chaffee
P. M. Housell, D. H. Moffat, Jr., Granville Burkley
General W. J. Palmer

Bonds to the amount of $300,000, bearing seven per cent, interest, payable semi-annually, were issued by the company, their payment guaranteed by the Denver Pacific Railway Company. From the sale of these bonds the necessary funds were realized, and work was commenced on the 24th of October, 1870, and completed to Erie, its present terminus, in January, 1871. From one of the Denver dailies we copy the following description of the road:

"The work has been done in a first-class manner, and reflects high credit on all engaged on it. The contractors were Messrs. Robert E. Carr, of St. Louis, and D. H. Moffat, Jr., whose energy and financial ability are too well known to need any extended praise at this time. The engineer was Mr. H. R. Holbrook, a young man of great experience and skill, and whose success is a sufficient guarantee of his ability. He was ably assisted by Messrs. M. P. Reynolds and J. D. Schuyler. The tracklayers were Mike Green and Alex. Stevens. The road is as good a piece of new track as was ever laid. The bridges are substantially constructed, and everything about the construction may be characterized as a success."

This road penetrates a portion of the best agricultural lands in Boulder County, and its present terminus is at a newly organized town, Erie, in the immediate vicinity of extensive coal mines, the property of the Boulder Valley Coal Company. This company is composed of Denver and Eastern capitalists, with Judge R. Balcome, of Binghampton, New York, president; Hon. E. C. Kattell, vice-president; and Major H. C. Hill, superintendent.

Their property consists of nearly 7,000 acres of coal lands, on which three or four distinct veins have already been discovered. Only one of these veins are worked, at present, but that will furnish an almost inexhaustible amount of lignite, which forms excellent fuel. The road affords facilities for this reaching Denver and other markets, where consumers can be supplied at small expense.

Altogether, the completion of the road, thus far, is an important event in the history of Colorado enterprises, the fruits of which are already apparent, as a Chicago colony has been attracted by the vast resources of the region it penetrates, and has chosen a location near its terminus as the head-quarters of the new and flourishing colony.

The road has been leased by the Denver Pacific railway, and will be under the efficient management of that excellent company. This insures a careful and efficient government of its affairs, and guarantees safety and comfort to passengers, and care and dispatch in the transportation of freights.

Rocky Mountain Directory & Colorado Gazetteer

Source: Rocky Mountain Directory and Colorado Gazetteer, 1871, S. S. Wallihan & Company, Compilers and Publishers, Denver, 1870.