The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-12-29
ROCK -MOFFAT
RUM0R IS DISCUSSED
Was Main Topic of Conversation
in Local Railroad Offices
Yesterday.

That the MoIfat road Is about 10 take
en- a new lease of life was the almost
universal opinion in local railroad Offices
yesterday. but President Monats strong
denial Of any deal with any eastern road
was taken with grain of salt There
Mol1at engineers in Salt Lake of late
going. coming and comforting together
70 be readily explained by mere denial
OF the president Of the road.
II was recalled that J. J. Hill had Just
as energetlcally denied having anything
10 do with the Deschutes road now build
Columbia river to the Oregon Nevada
line, but that later he calmly admitted
lhat while he; as an Individual. had
that the big roads under his control
really owned the new line Denials OF
Ben Winchell about changes In the Rock
ISLAM isiandLtrisco system. hardly month old
orally accepted in Salt Lake yesterday In
local railroad circles that Mr.. Morat's
statement was made with certain mental
as yet unknown to the public
The Moffat road said one official
Us practically worthless as il now
boat Springs, small town in western
Colorado. and has to climb prohibitive
grades over Rollins Pass; In winter this
10 a depth Of eighteen and twenty feet
on the level and drifts ninety TO 100 feet
deep Middle Park and Egeria Park
that the road taps. are too high for farm
ing and contain no known mines The
industry along the road Is largely hay
and livestock--the country is thinly set
ued-and some coal, The Moftat road
connects with no other railroad and en-
ters no place OF any commercial impor-
tance, So much for the Moffat road as
IT now stands.
"But-and in this but is the great
possibility of the Molfat road-but the
Moftat road controls the largest and best
terminals In Denver. and the eastern road
that gets the Motat. or makes friendly
arrangements with it on a permanent
basis. will have by far the hest terminals
In Denver, This Will give it great adj
that enter the largest city between the
Missouri river and the Pacific coast
The Denver terminals of the Moffat
road may be said 10 be the largest factor
Moffats trump card. In the long run
the Moffat terminals are worth more than
all the rest OF the Moffat road as IT now
stands. Now give the Moffat road a tun-
mel under Jim peak. as the Denver peo.
pie call James peak. and Moffat Will have
the best grade between Salt Lake and
Denver. providing he drives a few more
tunnels this side OF Steamboat.
''ln other words, let $1,000 900 be spent
on tunnels on the Moffat road proper
be made with the Rio Grande
and the Western Pacific, and there you
have the lowest grade and the shortest
distance between the Missouri river and
the Pacific coast. At present the Har-
riman lines have this advantage, with
about 2 per cent grades over the Rock
les. but they have TO buck snow in the
Sierras. maintain expensive snowsheds
for nearly fifty miles there and climb
heavy grades. The Western Pacific, al
though still raw and with Il roadbcd that
will take several millions 10 make good,
has practically no snow 10 fight in the
California mountains and has / per cent
grades each way between San Francisco
and Salt Lake.
"The Lehgh Valley. the Wabash. the
Rock Island. the Moffat and the Denver
& Rio Grande. the Western Pacific, here
You have the best route from ocean TO
ocean. 1T Will need that seven mile tun-
mel under Jim peak and few others.
but the Lucin cutoff cost as much as
these tunnels will cost. and that TO save
only l06 miles OF bad grades. So the
cost of driving the Moftat tunnel would
be only an ordinary railroad occurrence
as things are done nowadays,
This Jim peak tunnel and the Mofta
terminals in Denver are the prize that
all the eastern roads arc striving for,
They mean the control of the Denver
railroad situation and the best route from
the great plains TO the western sea. Via
salt Lake"