Ten thousand tourists would follow their lead that season. Two years later, the first passengers, a church choir from Denver, reached the summit of Pikes Peak via a nine-mile ride on cog rails, carted to the top in cars pushed by steam engines. In 1889, the do-it-yourselfer founded the Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway Company. What mattered was getting to the top without having to ride one of those confounded beasts that left him needing his beauty rest. It didn’t matter that the tracks would climb an elevation change of over seven thousand feet. It didn’t matter that trains could handle a four percent grade, and he needed a train that could handle steeper grades up to twenty-five percent. The only way to get there was to hike or to ride a mule.Īfter a two-day trip to reach the summit, he decided that wouldn’t work. Zalmon Simmons needed to check on telegraph insulators, which he also invented in addition to his mattress, at the summit. The founder of the Simmons Beautyrest Mattress Company believed in comfort, and that included getting to the top of Pikes Peak. In the late nineteenth century, most people would look at a 14,000+ mountain and think getting to the peak required climbing, or riding a pack animal. In a state filled with spectacular scenery, riding the historic railway to the top of America’s Mountain offers incredible views and fantastic tales of daring and ingenuity. The Broadmoor Manitou Pikes Peak Cog Railway is one of Colorado’s top attractions.
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