Info request: Rocky Mountain related

Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years, 7 months ago to Books
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I'm working through my new book again and need a bit of information.

In my current story I need to place several townships in remote areas of the US Rocky Mountain, areas primarily accessible by rail. I would want locales that are small sized cities - no airport but its own water and electric - or strips of track/road where there is literally nothing around except tree's/nature.

Since I've never traveled to Montana, Idaho, Wyoming or Colorado I have no idea where areas like this exist. I have been to Nevada and Utah but in very limited areas.

If anyone can offer any first hand info on this subject (basic locations and environment - trees/mountainous/water, etc) it would be appreciated.

Allan


All Comments

  • Posted by Ranter 9 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I shall frame it and hang it on my wall. A blank piece of paper, framed, should be a good conversation starter.
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  • Posted by plusaf 9 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    potential pun in the offing, involving the phrase
    "fill-it-sir Prize" or something like that, when the new pages are covered with words...

    :)
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  • Posted by Ranter 9 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    In that case, I guess I'm in. I have about 750 pages of a book series with a blank page in front of me for starting the next chapter.
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 9 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Google Earth Lysite, Wyoming. I drove a tanker (and lived) out there in the early '80s. Made enough to go to grad school at the U of Wyoming. The highlight of a normal day was to stop at the store (Lysite Sid's) and pick up my mail and a case of beer. Good days, it was...
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  • Posted by VictorianMedievalist 9 years, 7 months ago
    If you want strips of track/road where there is nothing but trees and nature, there is Husted, Colorado. It was in a valley of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains near Colorado Springs. Fountain Creek, a tributary of the Arkansas, flows past it. Husted's biggest claim to fame was a rather spectacular train wreck that took place in 1909 (you can find articles about the train wreck on the internet) , but it ceased to be a town sometime in the 1950s. The railroad is still used, it is part of a line that runs coal between Colorado Springs and Denver, but all that is left of the town is the concrete foundation of one or two buildings and traces of a dirt road. The land it was on now belongs to the USAF Academy.
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  • -2
    Posted by Matcha 9 years, 7 months ago
    This has nothing to do with the topic. Anyone want to come to Chile to work as a housekeeper? Live among a mountain with people who have shrugged. Housing provided.
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  • Posted by Xizang 9 years, 7 months ago
    On the eastern plains of Colorado near Kansas is Cheyenne Wells, the county seat of Cheyenne County. Served by highways and Union Pacific Railroad. Just south of town is the site of the infamous Sand Creek Massacre where, in November 1864 a small unit of the Colorado Militia attacked a peaceful group of Native Americans camping along Sand Creek. The soldiers killed every one of the 300+ Indians which were mostly old men, women and children. The soldiers cut off the men's scrotums and made them into tobacco sacks, they cut off their penises and made saddle horns, and they cut off women's breasts and made hats out of the skins. The Indians were flying an American flag, a white flag of truce and were under a treaty with the Army, camping where the local Army commander told them to camp.

    In the mountains west of Denver is the historic old mining town of Leadville. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad served the area until it was taken over by the Union Pacific. Baby Doe Tabor and her husband Horace Tabor and their Matchless Mine are fascinating stories. The railroad is still there but the trains no longer run.

    The old town of Georgetown is in the mountains and along a very busy I-70. Its trains still run, but only for tourists taking a short ride on the Georgetown Loop Railroad. Look up the history of this old mining town.
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  • Posted by mspalding 9 years, 7 months ago
    The Durango to Silverton line goes past a couple of ghost towns (Needleton, Elk Park). They both have a large river flowing by and are nestled among mountains.
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  • Posted by jimjamesjames 9 years, 7 months ago
    Tiny Lysite, Wyoming (pop 200). The railroad ran close to it, it's about 40 miles east of Riverton (pop 9,000). Rails were torn up years ago and part of the roadbed was made into a "rails to trails" recreation route for joggers and bikers.

    Literary license is cool. In my novel, Paris, Wyoming, I moved the Wind River mountain range a hundred miles.............. Jim
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  • Posted by $ cyberwizard 9 years, 7 months ago
    A bit north of the areas khalling mentioned is the town of Rollinsville. It lies at the mouth of a wide (in rocky mountain terms) valley and straddles the Union Pacific rail line on its way to the Moffat tunnel (the model for the Taggert tunnel) , a 6.2 mile tunnel under the continental divide. A dirt road parallels the track and follows the old railroad bed over the continental divide coming out in Winter Park, Colorado. Then on to Fraser which regularly recorded the lowest temperatures in the continental U.S.
    There is also the town of Minturn (near Vail) at the foot of Tennessee Pass which is fed by a rail line through Leadville.
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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Likewise. I'm glad to see you are back on-line after that storm. Hopefully everything is back to normal for you. Yes, I've pickup the virtual pen again after a pretty long hiatus. I'm roughly 3/4 or so done. Naturally I still need a cover and a realistic edit but that comes in due course. This project is very ambitious and is a bit intimidating (You'd never think it was self imposed :) )
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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 7 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Whatever info you can give would be helpful...even a remote site in the wilderness if fine. I have a large amount of creative license I can use considering the time line. :)
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  • Posted by $ rockymountainpirate 9 years, 7 months ago
    You may certainly come visit me in Montana and do some research. I might have some ideas for you but i need to check first.
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  • Posted by khalling 9 years, 7 months ago
    In Colorado, those places you can get to by rail, you can get to by air, if they are current stops. Here's some places to explore in Colorado: Leadville, Buena Vista, Salida. Pitkin, Creede, Lake City, Ouray, Telluride, Silverton. There are airports around there, but they are easy to shut out due to weather, erosion, etc. alot of planes go down near these areas.
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