In Durango
Mears was impressed with the potential of the new town of Durango which included the Denver Rio Grande railroad and the establishment of Fort Lewis. He purchased an old roadbed and turned it into the Durango, Parrott City and Fort Lewis Toll Road. While Mears never established residency in Durango, he did own property and spent much time in the town. He built the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. It went from Durango west to the rich mining camp at Rico and then on to Ridgway and Telluride. When the route was completed in 1891, Durango held a celebration – Mears donated 50 turkeys and three barrels of beer for the party. The Rio Grande Southern brought even more ore to the smelter in Durango and opened the Dolores and Montezuma valleys to agricultural production.
Given Durango’s temperate climate, railroad connections, proximity to Silverton, and easy access to coal, Mears decided to make it the center of his railroad empire. He brought his close friend David Frakes Day to town, the infamous editor of the Solid Muldoon newspaper. The Muldoon was known for promoting both Mears’ and Durango’s interests. Eventually, Day started the Durango Democrat, a long-running newspaper.
The Rio Grande Southern brought more ore to Durango than the New York and San Juan Smelter could handle. Mears, with the backing of eastern investors, built the second smelter in town called the Standard. He spent the spring of 1892 in Durango to oversee the construction of the building and became the general manager of the smelter in 1894.