The Elbert County tribune., 1909-08-19
coLoRADo's GREAT RAILROAD
BUILDER DESCRIBED IN THE
BANKERS MAGAZINE.
HIS WONDERFUL WORK
BEGINNING WITH DENvER-PA-
cIFIc AND cuLMiNATIno IN
FAMOUS MoFFAT ROAD.

Denver.-A high tribute is that paid
| by William Weston, M. /. M. M, col
onization agent for the Denver, North
western G. Pacific Railroad, to David
H. Moffat. builder and head of the
road, and president Of the First Ma
tional Bank of Denver, in the current
or August number Of the Bankers
Magazine OF Boston, New York and
Chicago.
Since railways to be worked by To-
comotives were first constructed. over
200 years ago." says Mr.. Weston's ar
ticle, among the most wonderful in
stances OF individual engineering and
financial pluck are the oversee Flor
ida Keys railroad, built by Mr.. Flag
Ter, and its antithesis, the over-moun-
tain and inter-valley railway, now be-
ing constructed by David H. Moffat,
banker. OF Denver, Colo.
THE main objects of the Denver,
Northwestern & Pacific railway. the
popular abbreviation of which is the
"Moffat road" are to shorten the dis
tance by existing lines from Denver
to Salt Lake City by about $50 miles.
having its course along the fortieth
parallel; to make available to the peo-
pie OF Kansas, Nebraska. Colorado.
Utah, Nevada and California, and the
steamships plying between Pacific
| coast points and the Orient. the an
thracite and bituminous Goals con-
tanned in the 1000 square miles of the
undeveloped Yampa field, through the
center of which the line is being built,
and to give transportation facilities to
a strip Of country approximately 300
miles in length by $50 miles wide,
hitherto devoid of the same.
Surely this was an Herculean task
for one man to undertake. But now.
at the cost of upward Of S10,000,000 of
his private fortune, Mr.. Moffat has al
ready built from Denver elevation
| 5000 feet) over the great divide be-
tween the Atlantic and Pacific oceans,
crossing the summit at an elevation
| OF 900 feet above tide water, thence
down the Western Slope, blasting out
| q roadbed for miles in the rocky sides
| OF gorges and chasms which are in
places 900 feet deep, boring fifty
five tunnels through solid granite, and
completing 214 miles to the coal fields
and into the town of Steamboat
Springs. and already gets remunera-
tive traffic from the country tributary
to his operated line, and also from
that Of his projected line ahead.
'Mr. Moffat has always had the
faculty OF selecting able managers and
officers. to whom he could give free
hand and trust to carry out his care
fully laid plans and yet devote his per-
| sonal attention to the great institution
over which he still presides, the First
| National Bank of Denver. And here
lies the secret Of the quiet, unostenta-
| tious way in which he has won such
| great commercial victories and proved
| himself above all other men, the gen
| eral of industry who has made Colo
RADIO and Denver what they are today.
The First National Bank of Denver
was organized in 1865, and in 1867
David H. Moffat was made cashier,
and president in 1880, which position
he still occupies, the bank now having
deposit account Of S23.000.000.
In 1869 Mr.. Moffat, with his friend,
the late Hon. John Evans, territorial
governor of Colorado, 1925. organ
lied syndicate to build the Denver
Pacific railway to connection of the
main line of the Union Pacific at Chey-
enne, LOG miles. He was treasurer OF
the road, and sold s2.500.000 worth of
the bonds, and afterward built the line
under contract.
LAS soon as the big silver and gold
mines of the San Juan, Leadville and
Gilpin county began to turn out their
millions, Mr.. Moffat realized that what
was eventually to make Colorado a
| great state and Denver the chief city
west of the Missouri river. was the de-
velopment of the stores of the noble
and baser metals contained i'll the
Rocky mountains, and the Goals of the
l.. l. l.. n
and his able lieutenants to work to
effect this. He and his associates
built the Denver G. South Park rail
road up the Platte canon 150 miles tc
Leadville, which camp up to date has
produced upward of 100000. 900, and
the profits of this line were immense
when the Boulder Valley railroad
was constructed, he built line from
Boulder to the coal banks of Marshall
Later he became president OF the
Denver & Rio Grande railroad, which
he broad-gauged west of Canon City
built branch lines to the mines OF the
San Juan region at Ouray. Telluride
and Rico. brought the road from oui
the hands of a receiver into paying
condition. and resigned in 1891.
Then when the phenomenal camI
of Cripple Creek, which has since pro
duced $685. 100000 in gold. was discov
cred. he built the Florence & Cripple
Creek road to these mines"
The deficit in the treasury of the
Children's Hospital Association a
Denver. caused by the defalcations o.
Mrs. Electra Beard, formerly treasurer
of the association. has, by the sale o
the Beard home and by the receipts o.
witness fees and donations been re