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Shrine to Our Lady of Barranca Hill

by Jim Vogel

web # 10225

Original Paintings

Oil on canvas panel with antique wood, iron, and tin frame

Image: 32"h x 10 1/2"w; Framed: 41 1/2"h x 14"w x 4"d

The Chili Line ran from Antonito, Colorado to Santa Fe, New Mexico until 1941. The rails carried cargo and passengers across the high plains of southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico eventually dropping over 1,000 feet at a four percent grade down Barranca Hill. This incredibly steep run ended at Embudo Station on the banks of the Rio Grande. The train would continue down the Rio Grande Valley, serving the villages along its tracks until reaching its southern most point, Santa Fe.

In July of 1929 a tragic descent down this notoriously steep run gave birth to the legend of Our Lady of Barranca Hill. It was common in those days for men from the villages along the Rio Grande to ride the Chili Line north to find work in the more prosperous San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado. They would usually return home at the end of the growing season with their saved wages. On this southbound train was a young man anxious to get back home. While working in Southern Colorado he had received word that his young wife had given birth to their first child, a beautiful daughter. Knowing it would cost him the lost wages he none the less boarded the train in Antonito to his village of Embudo.

He knew the train was finally nearing home when it came to a stop on the Barranca siding. It was mandatory for all southbound trains to stop here and set the double retainer brakes before proceeding down the steep grade. Impatient to complete the journey, the young man gazed out the window, daydreaming about his new family. As the crew prepared the train for its descent, the new father sensed the presence of a beautiful young woman, obviously with child, staring up at him from the edge of the tracks. Reminded of his own wife, he became concerned when the woman turned and walked into the piñon and sagebrush landscape. Concern grew into alarm when he realized that she was walking into the wilderness without an escort. And in her condition! He raced from the train calling to her to stop. Catching glimpses of her blue dress and red shawl between the trees, he was drawn higher up the wooded hill and farther away from the tracks. The young man was sure he would overtake her as he entered a small clearing. To his dismay the only thing there was a flock of bluebirds, bursting into the air upon his intrusion. His racing heart sank when he heard the whistle of the Chili Line as it signaled its departure from Barranca siding.

Angry with himself and cursing the apparition for his needless delay, the young man walked back to the siding. Knowing there would be no train until tomorrow, he started the last leg of his journey on foot, following the tracks down Barranca Hill. After walking a few hours and with a little more than five miles to go, the young man’s heart was starting to lift when he rounded a curve and came upon a horrible sight. The train lay scattered on both sides of a trestle spanning a deep arroyo.

Rushing to the accident he found many of the passengers and crew seriously injured. One of the survivors told of how the engineer and fireman tried in vain to control the train’s speed. They unfortunately did not survive the wreck.

The young man then realized that the phantom he had previously cursed was instead a saint, who deserved his prayer of gratitude, for she had spared his life. Local passengers called upon Our Lady Of Barranca Hill to protect them on their travels up and down the Chili Line from that time forward.