On Sept 11, 1889 William Carpenter along with several other businessmen from Grand Junction founded the Little Bookcliff Railway (LBC) in order to haul coal from the Book Cliff Mine as well as supplies from the Denver & Rio Grande or CM railroads to the mining town of Carpenter.

As an attempt to generate extra revenue, the LBC constructed large riding cars for tourists from Grand Junction. The cars, called “Go Devils”, were towed to Carpenter on the back of an LBC train. The adventurous could then climb aboard and go ‘like the devil’ on the return to Grand Junction, powered by gravity with only a wooden brake to slow the descent. Sails were added as an experiment, but they did not work out.

In 1923 when the Bookcliff mine closed, the LBC was also closed and was scrapped. Unfortunately, little of the LBC was saved. However, a damaged freight car truck was left behind and was unintentionally buried in the LBC’s rail yard in downtown Grand Junction. The truck was discovered during the construction of the Mesa County Court house in 2000 and is now on display at the Museum of the West.





CREDITS: Grand Junction Library, The Museums of Western Colorado