I often talk here about the weather, but mainly my subject has to do with railroad events, like accidents. Even today, a column could talk about the odd and serious traffic accidents seen on Monument Hill. This one is not that different. I found a report of a series of events around the area residents to the effect that an accident had occurred on the Santa Fe, near here.

Back in the day, around 1900, stories relative to railway accidents usually were wildly exaggerated. In looking through the newspapers of the day one gets a different look at reality. I know even today some of the stories in the TV news can still get that way. In this incident, not 20 minutes delay was caused, however.

The facts in the matter were as follows: The rails near a bridge spanning Cherry Creek, about half a mile from the city of Larkspur, spread just as the southbound passenger came in that afternoon. The only car damaged was the baggage car, however, the train was stuck until it could be put back on the rails. Passengers were transferred across the bridge and brought into the railroad station. The train went out 20 minutes late only owing to the efficiency and promptness of the railroad’s employes. The spread of the rails was probably caused by the recent melting snow soaking into the ties and loosening the bolts. Men were at once put to work repairing the track at that point, and it will be all right for today’s trains.

The rumors heard on this side of the hill were much more colorful, involving fatalities and quite extensive damage. It seems when the train passed Palmer Lake and Monument something like an hour late, there was much to be said about how amazing it was. It is interesting to see these tales before we had such immediate action with news events.