| *For more history of our area, check out the old newspaper pages. | |
| 1950 | Monarch Branch was standard gauged, which eliminated
the need for the barrel transfer station to dump limestone from narrow-gauge cars into standard gauge. Laura Evans' brothel is shut down by order of District Attorney Stump Witcher. Laura died in 1953. |
| 1953 | Rail service over Marshall Pass was discontinued and the grade was converted to a U.S. Forest Service automobile road. Laura Evans died in her home on Sackett Street at the age of 91. The U.S. Congress approved the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, a plan for multiple purpose transmountain water development in Colorado. |
| 1956 | The Monarch Spur line of the D&RG was converted to standard gauge. Narrow gauge equipment was transferred to Alamosa and service facilities, which had become obsolete, were demolished including roundhouses, engine backshops and the barrel transfer station. Koppers Inc., the creosote plant in Smeltertown, fell on hard times and was closed and the two-foot-gauge railroad that serviced the facility was abandoned. |
| 1957 | St. Joseph's School (present building) was completed. |
| Old Newspaper Articles from Chaffee County | |||||
| Mining | Railroad | Ranching | Industry | Wildlife | |
| Fire & Water | Governement | Recreation | People | Events | |