Mention two-foot gauge to most readers and they immediately think of Maine and the legendary Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes or the Wiscasset, Wa-terville & Farmington, but there were a few railroads out west that chose 24-inch as even more economical than the three foot width most railfans associate with western narrow gauge lines. Colorado's two-foot Gilpin Tram has been described by a number of writers and modelers and now the Silver City, Pinos Altos & Mogollon will enjoy better notoriety thanks to Duane Ericson. Author Ericson grew up in Southern Arizona where he spent many weekends with his parents exploring the ghost towns and abandoned mines scattered throughout the desert, relics of America's early mining history. He now resides in Silver City where he has spent the last several years carefully gleaning material from local libraries, area mining historians and the remains of the railway itself to compose this authoritative account of the Silver City, Pinos Altos & Mogollon Railroad. Ericson devotes his opening chapter to an overview of the region, describing the early Spanish discoveries of copper deposits that were significant enough to warrant the long haul into Mexico where the ores could be refined. Once the threat of Apache attacks eased, miners exploited the area with better equipment and better transportation when they became available after the opening of the Silver City, Deming & Pacific Railroad in 1883.
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