Mears Junction

Above Mears Junction, on the old Denver and Rio Grande "Chile Line," a water tank once let trains refill their boilers before the climb over Poncha Pass. Local telling holds that in the fall of 1894 a small child named Annabell left the train to walk in the woods with her brother and was never found again, despite a search by her family, the county sheriff and local ranchers. Engineers and conductors have since reported glimpsing a child playing in the trees, and campers in the area have described hearing a small voice singing in the aspen groves east of the old railbed. No independent record of Annabell or the search has been found.