![]() Finally, be sure to search the Colorado State Library’s Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection for articles about the construction of the Moffat Tunnel and much more. Also published in 1927 was an article in the Colorado Magazine, “ A Glimpse of Moffat Tunnel History,” which begins on page 63 of the March 1927 issue. Volume II of this series contains a great deal of information on the Moffat Road as well as the funding and building of the tunnel. The first train passed through the tunnel in February of 1928 today, you can ride through the Moffat Tunnel on Amtrak’s California Zephyr, and it is also used for freight trains.Ĭonstruction of the Moffat Tunnel was just being completed when James Baker and Leroy Hafen published their five-volume History of Coloradofor the State Historical Society. It took nearly six years to construct the 6.2 mile-long tunnel at a cost of nearly $24 million and with 28 lives lost. (The Act providing funding for construction of the Moffat Tunnel can be viewed online via the digital Colorado Session Laws). It would be more than a decade before the Moffat Tunnel plan was finally financed by the State Legislature in 1922. He never got to see this happen - Moffat died in a New York hotel room in March 1911, a death many speculated was suicide because he had been under great financial pressure at that time. His new route would ever after be known to Coloradans as the Moffat Road.Īs early as 1902, Moffat realized that what would really make the Moffat Road successful would be a tunnel to shorten the trip through the Continental Divide. Moffat’s goal had been to create a route from Denver to Salt Lake City that was shorter than the route available via the transcontinental railroad. He helped organize the Denver & South Park Railroad in 1872 and then, after overcoming fierce competition from the larger railroad companies,* established the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railway in 1903. His influence in the banking community allowed Moffat to pursue his real interest, railroads. A few years later, he took a job as cashier of the First National Bank, rising through the ranks and eventually becoming president of the bank in 1881. One of Colorado’s early pioneers, David Moffat arrived in Denver as a bookseller in 1860. Although he did not live long enough to see it, construction on that tunnel was completed ninety years ago and the tunnel is still in use today. However one man had a vision for a tunnel that would ease travel through the Continental Divide. ![]() Four bonds were issued totaling $15,470,000, and the remainder was obtained from concession profits.Getting trains through the Rocky Mountains has always been a challenge - steep grades, rocky cliffs, and tall snowdrifts are among the many obstacles that early Colorado railroad officials and designers had to contend with. ![]() The cost of the tunnel was approximately $18,000,000.When holed through, the tunnel's lateral alignment varied only 1 1/4 inches, a surveying feat. Alignment surveys were performed at night to avoid solar aberration due to different air densities and temperatures at the survey points.800 men worked round the clock for 3 1/2 years, moving 1.5 million tons of rock.When holed through, the tunnel's lateral alignment varied only 1 1/4 inches - quite a surveying feat. In addition to introducing combination rail/water tunnels to the U.S., the five-year construction effort led to key innovations in equipment and engineering, such as the Lewis traveling cantilever girder, which was able to support roof and walls under unstable rock, protecting lives and speeding progress.Īlignment surveys were performed at night to avoid aberration due to different air densities and temperatures at the survey points. The tunnel's pioneer bore doubled as an aqueduct that carried water across the divide to Denver, increasing the city's water supply by 30 percent. The 6.2-mile rail tunnel, the longest in the Western Hemisphere at the time, opened a new transportation artery through the Rockies and shaved 173 miles off the trip from Denver to Salt Lake City. Three thousand feet under the Continental Divide, the Moffat Tunnel united the eastern and western slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Eight hundred men worked around the clock for 3 1/2 years, moving 3 billion pounds of rock. Known as "the highest and lowest holing in history," the tunnel bored through the Rockies at an elevation of 9,200 feet, 2,800 feet below the surface.
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