they needed street railway service to get better value from their real estate, launched the Denver Electric and Cable Railway Company in 1885. Incorporated for fifty years, this service was to run on electricity or by cable. Fearing these new methods would prove unprofitable, the Denver Electric and Cable Railway Company, petitioned for and were given the right to use horse-power, despite the Denver City Railway Company's exclusive horse railroad franchise. Some of the initial investors then spun off a new company, The Denver Railway Association, which was given the rights to horse railways. This move was very unpopular with both the Denver City Railway Company and the remaining investors in the Denver Electric and Cable Railway Company. Thus the Denver Railway Association was reincorporated and the newly consolidated company renamed the Denver Tramway. Early experimentations The Denver Tramway experimented with a direct-current series conduit car system connected to an underground electrified line in 1886, but it was expensive, complicated and trouble-prone. After a year of operation it was not making any profits and the Denver Tramway switched to horse-power. After losing a lawsuit to the Denver City Railway Company, they switched over to cable-power and finished their first line using it at the end of 1888. The Denver City Railway Company, finally having serious competition, also switched to cable-power and reorganized as the Denver City Cable Railway Company. They secured a contract from the city to build a viaduct over the South Platte River and began to aggressively expand. Both the Denver Tramway and the Denver City Cable Railway Company were well equipped and determined to drive the other out of business. In 1888 the first practical electric street railway was installed by Frank J. Sprague in Richmond Virginia. His improved designs for a spring-loaded trolley pole, for mounting streetcar motors, and for better gear designs finally made the electric streetcar profitable. Taking note of this success, the Denver Tramway decided to build an electric street car line into South Denver and set up a subsidiary, the South Denver Cable Railway, to operate it. This line proved to be so successful that the Denver Tramway decided to electrify all of its cable lines even though they had years of life left in them. King writes, "The operating expense of the Tramway when using electricity was 2.2 cents per passenger as compared with an operating expense of 3.4 cents for