Ark Valley RR .... Cornelia, CO.

Cornelia Colorado

            A wide spot along the rails and a huge warehouse is the extent of the little village of Cornelia. 

            When sugar beets dominated farming in the Arkansas Valley, the farmers built a railroad on the north side the river to serve the sugar beet farmers.  The east end of the rails were Holly Colorado and the west end was at Swink. 

            As the railroad prospered, other businesses were served and small towns popped next to the rails.  Most were not much more then a store and the rail terminal.  A few grew into little town with all the amenities of a prosperous country town. 

            Cornelia was one of the stops along the rails and like the sugar towns is faded into memory banks in the 60’s when federal sugar tariffs changed.  One of the little towns on the rail line was Hasty, the gateway to the John martin reservoir and Hasty Lake.  Here one can see the old rail bed next to the highway.  To the north along county roads there are other little burgs that have reminders of other days. 

            Cornelia is to the west and is on one of those county roads going to over there.  There is a huge warehouse still standing and a processing shed and a couple of homes.  It appears a farmer now operates, the old community remains.