One of the biggest industries in Colorado rotates around CF&I steel plant and all required to feed the mill. Iron ore and coal are needed in large quantities and the personnel and equipment needs are great. The mill is a little over 2 miles southeast from the Pueblo rail yard and was always a major part of the railroad's success.

In 1879 the railroad was beginning expansion and demand for steel rail was high in Colorado. This prompted General Palmer to construct a steel mill south of Pueblo at Minnequa under the name Colorado Coal and Iron Company. The company owned thousand of acres of coal bearing deposits throughout the region. By 1880 the company was using half the coal excavated in Colorado. In 1892 CC&I merged with the Colorado Fuel Company to form Colorado Fuel and Iron. This company became the states largest employer and dominated industry around the state for decades.

Through the process of vertical integration, the company came to own more than just the main steel plant. Over the course of a century, CF&I operated coal mines throughout southern Colorado, as well as iron mines in Wyoming and Utah, limestone quarries, smaller mines for other materials going into the steel making process, and the Colorado and Wyoming Railroad.

Originally founded in 1899, the Colorado and Wyoming Railway is currently a subsidiary of the Oregon Steel Mills Company. It hauls coal, ore and steel products on about five miles of track to connect with the Union Pacific Railroad and the BNSF Railroad.