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Pitkin, CO Pitkin was a boom town in 1880 when various types of precious metal was discovered in the area along Quartz Creek. Of course folks rushed to invest and get rich like so many others in so many other places in Colorado. By the summer of 1880 there was a population of over 1,000 and more than 200 structures had been built. The townsfolk even talked the Denver South Park and Pacific (DSP&P) railroad into building to town. But, as luck would have it, the ore veins in the area were shallow and low producers. In fact, by the time the railroad did come to town in 1882, half of the residents had moved on to find better fortune. Lumber turned out to be the most stable industry around Pitkin. The mines still produced for a while but Pitkin went the route of quiet town with periods of good and bad times. The first railroad to enter Pitkin was the DSP&P in 1882. They were building the Alpine Tunnel route across the high mountains west of the Arkansas River. The rail line generally followed Quartz Creek to Pitkin and eventually made it west to Gunnison. The DSP&P (later the Colorado and Southern) sold their railroad line to the Denver and Rio Grande railroad. The D&RG already had a rail line from Parlin to Gunnison and easily connected it to the Pitkin route.
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