I’m not sure that a defunct mine was the best way to advertise Colorado, especially as it is a tacit admission that the mineral revenues that helped pay the Rio Grande’s bills were drying up. In 1943, when this menu was issued, no one had ever heard the term “superfund site,” but still, the mining tailings and decrepit buildings would have been considered more of a safety hazard than a scenic view.
Click image to download a 1.6-MB PDF of this menu.
In addition to a brief note that Colorado produced $834 million in gold between 1858 and 1941, the back cover brags that the Rio Grande increased its freight traffic by 51 percent and its passenger traffic by 168 percent in 1942 on account of the war. Also on account of the war, the menu offers fewer entrées than before the war, and beef entrées are marked with an asterisk that says “or available meat.” Mountain trout were still available, though they were the most expensive item on the menu. Scans of this menu were contributed by a Streamliner Memories reader.