North and South of the central San Juans, and he had been on good terms with the D&RG from building the roadbed for their route to Gunnison, over Poncha and Marshall Pass. The Silverton Railroad Mears' first attempt at doing just that was The Silverton Railroad (reporting mark SRR), which went northwest of Silverton utilizing the survey done by the D&RG, mostly following the route of today's US 550 (also known as the Million Dollar Highway) over Red Mountain Pass. With the help of Locating Engineer Charles Wingate Gibbs, Mears managed to build the SRR to Ironton, which made it within 8 miles (12.9 km) of Ouray. However, the remaining stretch through the Uncompahgre Gorge to Ouray was considered too difficult, despite the efforts and engineering feats that had been already accomplished by Mears and Gibbs to get the SRR to Ironton in the first place. A Cog Railway was briefly considered as well as a Spiraling Tunnel, but the two ideas never made it out of the hypothetical realm. The SRR was able to profit from the also immense mineral traffic generating from the Red Mountain Mining District, but the Silver Panic of 1893 didn't do any good to the Railroad, and eventually, the SRR was shut down and removed in 1926. See the Silverton Railroad page for more info. Inception of The Southern Once it was apparent to Mears that the Silverton Railroad wouldn't be able to access Ouray, He considered a Railroad route heading west of Durango. It would head north following Lost Creek and the Dolores River, accessing the mining community of Rico, then over Lizard Head Pass, following the San Miguel River up to the Dallas Divide, and then into the town of Ridgway. This route would essentially bypass the issues that kept the SRR from completing the line from Ouray and the need for various switchbacks and Wyes the SRR Required to traverse Red Mountain Pass, So in 1889, he incorporated the Rio Grande Southern. Construction began that year from both Ridgway and Durango. By the end of 1890, before the line was complete, the RGS was already servicing mining companies in Telluride and west of Durango. One of these was the Porter Coal Mine, built by John Porter, who had started other coal mines throughout the Durango Area to fuel the Durango Smelter/San Juan Smelter that he had built as well. The line