West of St. Elmo, 12,154 foot Tincup Pass provided one of the early access routes to Western Slope mining areas. Burro trains such as this one loading in front of the St. Elmo Hardware provided quick, inexpensive and relatively sure transportation for most general supplies. After arrival of the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad, the town became a major shipping point for heavy freight as well and there were a dozen or more companies that were able to handle almost any kind of shipment. Busy winter stagecoach traffic forced drivers to replace wheels with sled runners for the hazardous trip over the Continental Divide between 13,555-foot Emma Burr Mountain to the north and 13,124-foot Fitzpatrick Peak to the south. Haley-Bratton Collection.
