The primary S&R team members began researching the potential for recognizing and celebrating an historic route along the stage and railroad lines in 2005 in conjunction with establishment of the Collegiate Peaks Scenic and Historic Byway. (You can read the most recent byway Corridor Management Plan here.) The S&R historic route lies largely within that byway, and in many ways is a slow speed history-focused alternative to the formal byway’s route along high-speed paved highways. In its earliest years the S&R project focused on locating physical evidence, especially of the little-know stage route, and building interest and public support for a long-distance route designation amongst the two counties and three towns and public lands through which the stage and Midland RR passed. Local financial support was gained and with generous and repeated grant funding from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Trails Grants program first a Feasibility Study, and a draft Master Plan were produced, with extensive public involvement. 

You can access an early magazine article (2008), the 2012 Feasibility Study and the 2015 draft Master Plan below.