The Grit-advocate., 1904-03-04
BUILDING OF THE MOFFAT ROAD
AND BIRTH OF A NEW EMPIRE


Of the Denver Chamber OF Commerce.
Hon. W. G. Smith addressed the mem
bers of that body and the leading bus
lness men Of the city yesterday. at
the MONDAY lunch in the banquet hall
Of the Chamber of Commerce building,
on the Resources OF Northwestern
Colorado" soon to be brought in close
connection with Denver by the con-
struction Of the Denver, Northwestern
G Pacific railroad, known as the Moi
tat Road" Mr.. Smith scid:
The idea Of short line railway di-
rectly west from Denver to Salt Lake
City was frs. discussed and planned
by John Evans many years 60. Since
his first conception OF the idea that
| Denvers growth and prosperity would
! be materially aided by such a project,
various surveys have been made OF such
| proposed line and every canon for one
hundred miles along the mountainous
section just west of the city has been
explored and surveyed with view
to obtaining an easy grade for a line
of railway that could be constructed
at moderate expense. The greatest DIFF
| ficulties confronting such an enter
prise were the apparently heavy grades
! and sharp curvature, and enormous
expense for the first one-hundred miles
west Of Denver. in crossing the main
range The Burlington Railroad Com
pany expended many thousand OF dol
lars in endeavoring to find practical
route west from Denver. At present,
through travel is diverted north Of our
! city by way of Cheyenne. or south by
way of Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
After all thes investigations, cover
ing period OF thirty years past. 1t
remained for David H. Moffat. and the
skillful engineering ability he employ
ed in furthering this railroad project.
to first find the most feasible route for
such proposed short line railroad, and
to put such plans into execution.
The Moffat road runs directly west
from Denver toward the mouth OF
South Boulder Canon, and entering the
| Canon at an elevation of $50 feet above
the creek bed, winding along South
Boulder Creek, it courses due westerly
TO the main range, and overcomes the
most trying portion OF the engineer
ing difficulties in the first sixty miles
of Its line. By taking this course out
of Denver, it Is enabled by the high
land lying between Clear Creek and
Boulder valleys, to gain continual
and gradual upward grade. swinging
around through the mouth of Coal
! Creek canon, and thus gaining eleva-
| ton toward the required tunnel-site
through the main range. The road Is
being constructed with nothing exceed
ing two per cent. grades, and moth
Ing sharper than ten degrees curvature.
Between Denver and Rollinsville we
! oh h RI
ing from 200 to 100 feet in length,
and aggregating two and one-half miles
of tunnel work, all of which have been
completed 16x23 feet in dimensions
within one year past. Enormous fills
are made across gulches to save bridg-
ing, and to make the roadbed more SUBJ
stantial, some of them as high as 80
feet and 800 feet wide on the bottom.
The scenery along this particular piece
of construction where it approaches
Coal Creek canon, and for fifty miles
beyond, is unsurpassed even by the
celebrated Colorado Springs and Grip
pie Creek Short Line.
The first of September next it is ex-
pected that this most difficult part OF
the engineering and construction, and
the first 100 miles. will have been COM
pleted and in operation. taking the road
to the county seat of Grand county, Sui
phur SpriAes. This first section will
Immediately open up the region known
as Middle Park and will offer to the
public one of the most attractive and
scenic railroad trips that can be found
in this country. The inducements to
tourists are most superb-Grand Lake,
a beautiful sheet of water 1900 acres
in extent, and well stocked with trout,
Frazer River. Grand River. and their
tributaries, all of which afford fine
fishing, and Sulphur Springs. an attrac-
tive resort for invalids. pleasure-seek-
ers and others
By 1905 the road should be through
the Gore Canon, and constructed
through Routt county; the following
year should see this great enterprise
across the Colorado line and into the
Ashley valley of Utah, thence through
the great Uintah basin. ITO miles in
length, and then across the Wahsatch
range, and down its western slope into
the City of the Saints. The principal
summer resorts will be Grand Lake,
already referred to. then Sulphur
Springs, in Middle Park, and next
Steamboat Springs. with its 160 hot
and cold mineral springs for bathing
and medicinal purposes. All the
streams in this region are we'll stocked
with trout, and arrangements have
been made by the railway company to
keep them so. Deer and grouse are
abundant in the hills, and stringent ef-
forts will be made to keep them from
being exterminated.
The chief industrial resources along
the road are as follows: In Middle
Park the metalliferous mines consist
chiefly OF the silver-lead mines in the
Wolverine district. northwest Of Grand
Lake (where there are many large
veins Of interchangeable ore capable of
producing large TONNAGE; also the
veins of Buffalo Peak and the Rabbit
Ear range, and the gilsonite mines Of
| Willow creek Middle Park of Grand