TRAVELING COLORADO'S TOLL ROADS by Pam North Toll roads in Colorado have been in Colorado's history long before the current one on C-470. Mining grew into a major industry after gold was discovered in Colorado in 1859, and as an increasing number of mines were opened, the logistics of transporting ore and supplies became increasingly important. Packing and wagon-freighting linked the mines with the railroads, and toll roads were built to take care of the freighting business. One of the state's toll road pioneers was Otto Mears, whose web of over 450 miles of toll roads interlacing the mountains of southwestern Colorado, along with his pack trains, freighting outfits, and four small narrow gauge railroads, earned him the nickname "Pathfinder of the San Juans." His railroads eventually disappeared, but today his roadbeds underlie modern highways such as the Silverton-Ouray road, also known as the "Million Dollar Highway." Raton Pass, between Colorado and New Mexico, was another route that eventually became a toll road. The pass, used by Missouri and New Mexico traders since 1821, was the most difficult portion of the journey along the mountain branch of the Santa Fe Trail. Its steep grades, and narrow rock-strewn path that wound beside sharp drop-offs, made wagon journeys a nightmare. Hard rains often washed away whole sections of what little road existed. Wagons that had rolled side by side in four columns as they crossed the open plains had to form a single column to manage the ascent through the narrow pass, and the wagons were often damaged along the way. It was so impassable that an alternate but less desirable route called the Cimarron Cutoff had been opened on the Santa Fe Trail. Richens Lacy Wootton, born May 16, 1816, in Virginia, had traveled west at the age of 19, hiring on with William Bent to drive wagon trains along the Santa Fe Trail. A natural-born frontiersman, Wootton (known affectionately as "Uncle Dick" to his friends and acquaintances) spent the next forty-six years in the West, plying the various trades of rancher, trapper, trader, farmer, freighter, merchant and Indian fighter. Wootton realized the potential of the Raton Pass route as a natural highway connecting existing settlements, and envisioning himself as the catalyst in this dream, he moved to the Trinidad area located at the base of the Colorado side of Raton Pass. After applying for contracts to the governments of both Colorado and New Mexico and receiving their approval, Wootton began tackling the formidable tasks of carving hillsides, blasting out and removing boulders, and building numerous bridges through 27 miles of canyon, turning what had been little more than a ragged rail into a decent thoroughfare that could accommodate the passage of wagon trains carrying passengers and vital trade goods. Upon completion of his arduous and monumental task, Wootton sought to pay for the costs of construction by erecting a tollgate in front of his house, and charging travelers a fee to use the road - initially $1.50 per wagon or buggy, and 25 cents per horseman. He divided his potential customers into five categories: the stage company employees, the freighters, the military, the Mexicans, and the Indians. The first three gave him little difficulty, and he wisely decided to allow the Indians free use of the road. The Mexican patrons were the most troublesome, as they were unused to paying for the privilege of traveling on a road, and they resisted settling up at the tollgate. Wootton persisted, using diplomacy (and occasionally a club) to collect his due. His road was successful, bringing in several thousand dollars of revenue in the 12-year period between 1866 and 1878 in which he operated the road. By 1878, two fierce competitors had brought the railroad to central Colorado, and both the Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Denver & Rio Grande companies wished to route their rail lines along Wootton's toll road through Raton Pass. Because AT&SF planned to build its route through Trinidad, whereas D&RG wanted to bypass the town, Wootton allowed AT&SF to purchase the right-of-way in 1879. The railroad was extended all the way to Santa Fe in 1880, ending the era of the Santa Fe Trail. The modern highway over Raton Pass parallels Wootton's toll road today. Wootton retired with lifetime pensions from the railroad for himself, his wife and his invalid daughter, as well as lifetime railroad passes for him and his family. His home near the old tollgate alsways was open hospitably to stagecoach passengers until it burned in 1888. The family lived in another cabin on the property until 1891, then moved to Trinidad. Wootton died on August 21, 1893, having outlived five wives and twenty children, and he was buried in the Trinidad Catholic Cemetery. Through the course of his life he had witnessed the transformation of Colorado from wilderness territory to statehood, and he was content that he had been instrumental in that change. Photo to accompany article is at: http://sangres.com/photos/ratonpass.htm Caption: "Uncle Dick" Wootton's toll road through Raton Pass became a major transportation link.