Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railroad -- Stout Branch

 NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic ruins, defunct railways

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Historic former length of railroad listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The 1881 Greeley, Salt Lake and Pacific Railroad (GSL&P) - Stout Branch represents northern Colorado railroad operations, specifically the early efforts to connect the area with the transcontinental railroad by building a route through Poudre Canyon and west to Salt Lake City, and later use of the railroad to transport raw materials. The branch railroad played a significant role in the commercial and industrial development of northeastern Colorado. The rail line transported sandstone and limestone from quarries west of Fort Collins to building sites and sugar factories in Larimer County and beyond. This short segment of the GSL&P represents several trends in Colorado transportation history, including the search for a transcontinental railroad route through Colorado and the importance of the railroads in developing local industries including stone quarrying, manufacture of railroad ties and the sugar beet industry. The railroad segment provides an opportunity to document, preserve and interpret a disappearing part of the transportation, commercial and industrial history of northern Colorado. Today, a small length of rail remains at the western end of the district, as well as three bridges. The rest of the district consists only of the rail bed, but the route of the tracks is still evident as it cuts through agricultural fields.