Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-14
WILL Be SHORT
ROUTE TO DENVER
Moffatt Road Will Diminish Dis
tance Between Two
Towns 200 Miles.
ROUTE OF PROJECTED LINE.
Colorado Promoter Not Discouraged
In His Attempts to Secure
Needed Capital.

with the Moffatt road frequently be-
fore the public attention, there is neces-
sarily speculation as to its future own
ership, and the advantages of that
route over parallel lines In the mat
tcrs OF time. physical resources. and
other things. 1t has been pointed out
that the route when built, will be 1s1
miles shorter than the Denver & Rio
Grande between Salt Lake and Denver.
and Sc miles shorter than the Union
Pacific. The Moffatt road uses three
and one-third miles OF the Lyons branch
of the Burlington, between Denver and
Utah junction whence II branches off
TO the west. north of Central City and
Golden. and entering the canyon al
Rollinsville. southwest of Boulder rhe
line crosses the range directly west TO
Vasquez, whence 1t goes north on the
east side of Elk mountain, and then
west to Hot Sulphur Springs and on
10 kremling where Ii enters the Gore
canyon. Competitive interests did
everything possible and seemingly i'm
possible to shut the Moffatt line out
of Gore canyon, the government being
involved in the attempt to have the
canyon declared n natural reservoir and
dam built therein. The scheme failed.
so the road was built through to Mccoy
on the other side of the range, und
thence north to Steamboat Springs
where II terminates for the presen: PA
miles from Denver.
SIX MILE TUNNEL.
Were 1t not for the tremendous climb
over the main Rocky mountain range
west of Denver 1T would be comoara-
lively easy sailing. But the 80 miles
between Rollinsville and YaSquez in-
wolves an ascension from 1857 feet al
titude to 1850 feet, climb of 1900
feet in "a miles. For a large share Of
the year, travel here is attended with
special dangers In the way of snow
blockades in addition to the tortuous
climb, so Six mile tunnel is proposed.
between Antelope and Arrow stations.
cutting out % miles. and reducing the
altitude by 2.455 feet at the east portal,
and 2.075 feet at the west portal. The
cost will be several millions: but the
escape from the SHOWS, elimination of
the climb. saving of distance and short
ening of tho. time. will amply pay Cor
the expenditure. When this is done.
Mr.. Moffatt hopes to be able to dictate
to the other lines in general and the
MINERALIZED DISTRICT.
West of Steamboat Springs the route
makes almost straight line through
Routt county containing immense coal
fields. both bltumlnous and anthracite,
there are also valuable brick and pipe
clays, glass sand, glass brick material.
mineral springs, onyx. uranium and
vanadium ores. agricultural and pas
toral lands. forest lands undcrlaid with
! coal, hydrocarbon fields. and metal
| lifcrous ore tract along the road.
PROPOSED ROUTE.
The projected line enters Utah so@:h
| of the Ya'npa plateau, crosses Ashley
| creek at Jensen, passing through the
Fort Duchesne military reservation,
| through Duchesne village, sklrting the
| eastern side of the Strawberry range
| to Daniels pass. and thence to Heber
! and parallels the Rio Grande through
Provo canyon to OlmStcad at the mouth
| of the canyon where the line turns
| north to American Fork without going
| to Provo. There Is an alternate route
| from q point east of Duchesne, north
west to Park City, and to Salt Lake
| parallel also with the Rio Grande from
| the Park.
Mr.. Moffatt has invested most OF his
| millions in this road, so that he is un-
| able to build further on his own mo-
| ton Repeated attempts to borrow in
| the New York markets have been
| thwarted by the opposing railway in
| terests: but still he does not despair.
! He knows. and the opposition interests
know that IL money is raised to bore
| that tunnel. Moffatt will be In POSI-
! tlon to dictate to his business enemies
| So he keeps eyerlastlngfy at IL, With
| reasonable hopes of finally securing the
| needed funds II ore bodies are found
| in tunnelng they may pay the entire
expenditure of excavation. and on this
| considerable hope is based IT is ap
| parent to every railroad man that with
| the tunnel built and the Denver-Sa!t
| Lake route reduced to o5o miles. the
| competing lines north and south must
| come to terms with the Denver pro-
| moter The Moffatt road is already
| hauling large quantities of coal into
| Denver.
SUCCESS IN FINANCING.
From Denver the word comes that
| Mr.. Moffat has finally been successful
| In financing his scheme for the six
| miles tunnel under James Peak. 1t VIII
be built at a cost of $1,000. 600. or SS33000
! per mile, by a syndicate including Mr.
| Moffat William C. Evans, c. B.
| KountZe, f. G. Bonills. Dennis Shcedy.
| Lawrence Phipps. Charles Boettchcr
| and other prominent Denver capitalists.
| The bonds. bearing . per cent interest,
| with the 30 900 shares of stock. have all
| been subscribed for. the par values being
| 800. The fact that Denver men are
| TO construct this tunnel would suggest
| that influence of the competing roads
| I'm the New York markets has cut Off all
| assistance from that quarter.
This Is about as good bit of rail-
road news as has reached this city for
| a long time, for 1t will be seen that
| the building of that tunnel means a
speedy fulnlment OF long cherished
| hopes of A direct short line between
the Utah and Colorado capitals. Tho
length OF time required to cut through
the mountain depends very largely on
methods OF operation. r. NJ Nelson,
an experienced civil engineer and tun-
mel expert. says II will take all OF three
years TO cut through that mountain.
| The formation, he says. Is entirely diff
fcrent from that OF the Gunnison noun
tain, where tho government engineers
encountered hot water and quicksand
in such formidable quantities In the
latter locality the formation Is sedi-
mentary but I'm the James Peak noun
tain range the formation IS porphyry
and hard rock. 50 that the work IL
straight rock cutting Mr. Nelson says
| the number OF shafts to be sunk In the
tunnel line depends n great deal on
| the abrliDtness OF the elevation. In this