Clear Creek trestle identified

On a family trip with my parents back in the early 1990s, we drove through Clear Creek Canyon.  Upon exiting a tunnel, we stopped to along the side of the road to get a look at the C&S roadbed that clearly wound around the mountains that the road tunneled through.  We were treated to a neat surprise because when we looked over the guardrail we saw an abutment of a C&S trestle.

I took several photos of this abutment.  It wasn't until years later that I figured out how to identify which specific trestle it once supported.  By looking above the roadbed I noticed a very distinctly shaped rock formation rising up to the left.  I was then able to identify this formation in old C&S and Colorado Central photos.

The abutment, then, belongs to what once was Elk Creek Bridge No. 19, named for nearby Elk Meadow.  It was built in 1872 as a wooden trestle.  The track is on a 3 percent grade, then is level on the bridge, and returns to 3 percent as the road heads toward the west including Forks Creek and beyond.

On the side I am standing on, there once was a section house, a pump house, a handcar, a stone cellar, and water tank.  On the 9th of July, 1907, a deluge took out the original bridge and it was replaced with an iron one.

I also took a photo of what appears to be a small bridge.  I don't know for sure which one it is.  My guess, based on it's small size, is that it is bridge No. 18.  This was 8 1/2 miles west of Golden.

The third photo I have shows the rockwork along Clear Creek on the grade headed east from Elk Creek bridge.

The fourth and final photo I took that day shows what I perceived to be old railroad ties in Clear Creek.  I have no idea if a wooden tie would remain unrotted after all those years, so it is not for sure that these are ties at all.

Historical details above and the b&w photos are from "Colorado Central Rail Road" by Abbot, McCoy, and McLeod.