For two railroads to occupy a river valley ordinarily was not a problem, but west of Cañon City was an incredible obstacle - an obstacle that would result in a war between the railroads.
The railroads went to court with each trying to establish their primacy to the right of way.
A final peace in the war came after the intervention of the Federal courts, and the railroad "robber baron" Jay Gould who loaned the D&RG $400,000 and announced the intention to complete a rail line in competition to the Santa Fe from St. Louis to Pueblo.
As Lucius Beebe writes, "Two narrow gauge railroads, the RioGrande and the South Park, raced for Leadville when that carbonate citadel was at the heights of its boom.
The RioGrande, which was already in operation up the canyon of the Arkansas [River], got there first by the simple expedient of building a five-mile branch connecting with the main line at Malta.
The owners moved the car to the Durango railroad yard and commissioned one of the finest interior designers in the Southwest, a specialist in Gay Nineties decorations, Robert Klein of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to conduct historic research and restore the interior to its original splendor.
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