Tonopah bonanza. [volume] (Butler City [i.e. Butler], Nev.) 1901-1909, 1907-10-05
VAST OUTLAY FOR
RAILROAD TUNNEL
MOFFAT RAILROAD INTENDS TO
PIERCE MOUNTAINS AT
COST OF $15, OOO,O 900.

prise was brought to practical ms
turity yesterday. 1t has alread
claimed and gained the support q
some of the leading men of Denve
and Colorado, and it is assured of tn
financial support of every enterpris
ing man in the state. It's conclusion
will revolutionize the passenger an,
traffic systems of the western states
It will bring Denver within lively,
hours of Salt Lake City.
Behind this great undertaking Il
already the influence, capital anC
support of Thomas f. Walsh, c. B
Kountze of the Colorado Nationa
bank, Dennis Sullivan of the Denver
National bank, Dennis Sheedy, F. G
Bonfils, j. w. Springer Of the Con.
tinental Trust company, Charles
Boettcher, David Moffat, w. G. Evans
and other men of known stability and
large interests in the state.
1t will involve capital to the
amount of $1,000, 900 and the pierc-
ing Of a tunnel five miles long that
will be a new railroad track and ir-
rigation highway through the Great
Divide of the Rockies. A large
amount of the stock necessary to the
financing of the enterprise has al
ready been underwritten and ar
engagements are being made for a
trust company to take up the bal
ance and offer it for public subscrip-
ton.
Although the scheme is independ-
ent of the Moffat road as a financial
corporation. its purpose is to carry
the tracks of that road through
James Peak instead of over the pass.
and thus both shorten the distance
Inc reduce the grade to such an ex-
tent that freight and traffic will be
carried through the tunnel between
Denver and Salt Lake City in twelve
hours.
The Moffat road as originally de.
signed, and as it has SO far been
built, although it will reduce the
distance by rail between Denver and
Salt Lake from 742 to 500 miles. had
yet the disadvantage of a comparat-
lively long route over tremendous
grades, and the new undertaking has
been originated to do away with that
single disadvantage. The purpose of
the enterprise is to pierce a great
tunnel, wide enough to carry a
double line of railroad tracks and in
rigation waterways through that por-
ton of James peak known as Coro-
ma pass.
The mouth of this tunnel on the
Denver side will open some little dis
lance about Holland and debouch on
the other side of the mountain in
Middle park. This tunnel will be five
miles long and its estimated cost So
100000. The new company subscrib-
ing the capital will be free from the
control and financially independent
of the Denver, Northwestern a. Pa
cific Railroad company, commonly
known as the Moffat road, but the
100000 worth of stock represent
ing the capital of this new tunnel
company will be bonded as a first
charge upon the Moffat road, which
is financially free from any ineum-
FRANCES.
With the financial backing and
support of the new company already
secured, the enterprise is already an
assured success, and when this tun-
mel is finished and the Moffat road
Suilt through TO Salt Lake City. Dem
yer will be the inevitable entering
point of all trans-continental rail-
road traffic. The railroads that now
Denver 104 miles on one side
and 1S1 miles on the other will
either have to converge into Denver
and obtain a right of way through
the tunnel or lose out on the a c to
the Pacific coast.
From Denver to Salt Lake City
the Union Pacific tracks is now
GIG miles and the journey takes
twenty-seven hours. Over the Den
yer and Rio Grande 1t is 626 miles
and the time occupied in travelling is
twenty-five hours. The new tunnel
will cut the distance for the Moffat
road to some $50 miles and the time
TO twelve hours, almost cutting the
distance in two and reducing the
by half.
The great importance of this un-
dertaking cannot be fully appreciated
on a first consideration, and its in
tuences on the fortunes and destines
u both Salt Lake City and Denver
will be tremendous and far reaching.
And 1t Is a most significant thing that
his great undertaking has brought
.ogether in a common interest men
If varying interests who have not
oined hands for a single purpose for
many years.
And the cooperation of the gentle
men whose have been pub