Town of Wildhorse

(by Suzy Kelly - as published in the Chaffee County Times in November, 2021)

This is a Midland train at the town of Wild Horse. The engine is facing south so the tunnels are behind it. This town was located three miles north of Buena Vista on the flat before the tunnels on County Road 371. Wild Horse had a railroad repair yard and as can be seen in the photo three sets of tracks. It had a turntable which was replaced with a wye in 1903. This Wye allowed the Rio Grande and the Midland to exchange track use. The Colorado Midland came from Colorado Springs and arrived in Buena Vista in July 1887. The tracks stayed on Midland Hill 450 feet above town. The Depot and other buildings were located here. The Barbara Whipple Trail was the stage road down into town from the Depot. At the Arkansans River there was a wooden bridge close to South Main, and used until it was burned in 1955-56.

The town of Wild Horse was located in the 4 mile area south of the tunnels on County road 371. There were homes, section houses a water tank and a schoolhouse. Nothing is left of the town but there are homes built where some of Wild Horse stood. It was built here because there was not enough room on Midland Hill where the depot was located. The four tunnels still are used as a county road and are the only place in the U.S. where the engineer could see through all four as he started through them. The tunnels were numbered 12, 13, 14, & 15. The big rock called Elephant Rock was used for a back drop on excursion train photos. The price for these wild flower excursions round trip from Colorado Spring were one dollar and fifty cents.

One of the last recorded accidents on the Midland Railroad happened at the the tunnels in 1917. The brakeman on a freight running north out of Wild Horse started walking on top the cars, back to the caboose and forgot about the tunnels, He hit his head on the first tunnel and was knocked unconscious, but was not seriously injured and recovered.

The two railroads sometimes had races in this area and were pretty evenly matched but the Rio Grande got bigger engines and easily beat out the Midland. When the Rio Grande Track washed out with high water in the spring they had an agreement to share the Midland tracks. Rock slide could close both tracks at times.

The Colorado Midland ran its last passenger train through Buena Vista and Wild Horse in 1918 and its last freight train in 1921. The track and steel trestles were dismantled for scrap during WW II.