Formed in 1883, the Midland had existed purely legally for its first four years since it lacked the money to actually build anything. That changed rapidly when James John Hagerman, an Easterner who had already grown rich from mining iron ore in Michigan and silver in Aspen, joined the railroad in 1885. By the end of the next year the Midland had laid of standard gauge track from Colorado Springs to Leadville. The Hagerman Tunnel, at the time the world's highest, got it across the Divide to Glenwood Springs, where it continued the line to Aspen.