Even Steeper than Raton Pass

Last week I posted a picture of a train going over the 3.5% grade of Raton Pass between New Mexico and Colorado with a helper engine behind it. That reminded me of another post card I have of several engines going over another pass.

This post card is a picture of Soldier Summit with a train making its way over the 3% grade of Soldier Pass in Utah.
The pass was named Soldier Summit because several soldiers are buried there. During the beginning of the Civil War (1861) General Philip St. George Cooke and several others tried to cross the pass on their way to join the Confederate Army. They were caught in a snow storm in July of 1861. Those who died during the storm were buried there.
The post card shows a Denver & Rio Grande (D&RGR) train. But the D&RGR did not build the line. It was built by the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway, which was incorporated between 1875 and when it was bought by the D&RGR in 1881. Grading for the line began in April of 1877, but railway itself was not completed until October of 1880; it was purchased in April of 1881. The first locomotive was run on the line on September 16, 1878. It helped to build the rest of the line.
The four percent grade heading up to Soldier Summit was a bottleneck, and in 1913 just over 22 kilometers of new line was built between Detour and Soldier Summit. Today that four percent grade route is part of US Highway 6 between Detour and Soldier Summit.

The post card was published by a very prolific company, H. H. Tammen. Perhaps you can see the little "alien" type of fellow in the top-center of the post card. In 1895 Tammen formed a partnership with F.G. Bonfils (whom he had met at the Chicago World's Fair) and they became co-owners and co-editors of the Denver Post. Their publishing business flourished, and Tammen's business successes made him a wealthy man. In 1917 Buffalo Bill Cody happened to die while in Denver, and Tammen (one of the city's biggest boosters) offered Cody's widow $10,000 if she would allow Cody to be buried in Denver; she accepted, and the ensuing funeral procession drew 50,000 people. He established the H.H. Tammen Trust in 1924, providing essential health care for children of families who cannot afford to pay. Tammen died July 19, 1924. The H.H. Tammen Curio Co. was in business until 1953, and possibly as late as 1962.
The post card was mailed two years before Buffalo Bill died.