Road to Broadmoor properties Penrose hired
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers to build the unpaved decomposed gravel toll road. In the depressed economy, this provided work for individuals in need of jobs and helped him to manage construction costs. The cost of the construction was $350,000 (). In 1926, the Cheyenne Mountain Lodge opened at the top of Cheyenne Mountain. Visitors could make the trip up the highway to the lodge on the backs of elephants, such as an elephant given to Penrose by an Indian rajah. The toll gate was situated on the highway just before the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (1926), and the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun (1937) was built on the northern
promontory of the mountain. The Broadmoor also operated a ski area from 1959-1991 on Cheyenne Mountain, near the Broadmoor Shooting Range. The highway was rebuilt and widened, received several scenic turnouts, and paved with asphaltic concrete following a flood that washed out the road in July 1965. It reopened in April 1966.
Cog railroad Penrose opened the original Broadmoor-Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Cog Railroad in June 1938, and
Shirley Temple was a passenger on its first run. The train was a replica of the steam trains operated by the
Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway In 1950, a "new streamlined" cog train called the
Broadmoor Mountaineer was dedicated by
Charles L. Tutt, Jr., The Broadmoor's president, and J. F. Gordon, the president of
Cadillac Motor Company, who operated the train on its inaugural ride. Cheyenne Mountain Cog Railroad offered service on a narrow gauge road from The Broadmoor to the
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo from 1961 until 1974. The railway engine called The Mountaineer was a small edition of the narrow gauge cog trains used to climb Pikes Peak. Two
Plexiglas-topped cars, each carrying up to 20 people, took passengers for a ride through four tunnels. The ride began at a boarding station by the lake at The Broadmoor and stopped at the zoo's entrance, the Thundergod House. ==See also==