Mar 17, 2008 8:34 pm US/Mountain
Craig Depot On List Of Most Endangered Places
CRAIG, Colo. (CBS4) ―
Colorado Preservation placed the Craig Railroad Depot on its list of the state's most endangered places this year. The depot was built in 1917 and was shut down in 1985 with a computer taking over its functions.
In 2001 the current owners of the depot, the Union Pacific Corporation, delayed demolition of the building and agreed to donate it to the town of Craig, but changed its mind in 2004. Since then the building has deteriorated.
"It's pathetic, it's terrible," said resident Bob Deakins. "I look in that door and see nothing like it used to be." Deakins' father worked at the depot and one point he was the station master.
The railroad itself was the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad. It was the brainchild of rail baron David Moffat.
"His idea was to start in Denver and come through the Moffat Tunnel and go all the way to Salt Lake," said resident Pete Pleasant. "He ran out of money in Craig, Colorado, and that's just the end of it right here."
But for ranchers in the area, the dead-end rail line was a godsend. "Craig used to be the largest wool shipping center in the world," said resident Jim Simos. "You came in and saw the station master and he would tell you he would have x-amount of cars at a certain date."
The depot was also a meeting place for the town. "The building itself was kind of a symbol that I can remember as a child ... my dad bringing cream cans down here and shipping them to Denver," Jim Meineke said.
Eventually Craig's economy became more dependent on gas and oil drilling rather than agricultural resources and that presented new risks for the vacant depot.
"The tracks became more in use, they had an abandoned track, they tore it out and put a new one in, " said Pamela Foster with the Community Foundation of Northwest Colorado.
That reactivated track is on the backside of the state between two active tracks. Union Pacific cited liability concerns about the tracks when it retracted its offer to donate the building.
That retraction left a bad taste with town officials.
"I understand where the big corporation is coming from," said Craig mayor, Don Jones. "You've got to listen to all your people and we're asking for help. Not a whole lot of help, just some cooperation."
"The railroad does what the railroad does," said Al White, Craig's state representative, "though if we bring enough public pressure to bear on them hopefully they will recognize the good that they can accomplish here."
The community promises not to give up its efforts to renovate the Craig Depot.
"It takes a lot of tenacity," said Foster. "We've been working on this project for over 18 years."
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