The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-01-04
DRIVE MOFFAT TUNNEL
THROUGH GREAT DIVIDE
SHORTEN DISTANCE ACROSS THE
cONTlNENT-DEVELoP RE-
SOURCES OF COLORADO

(Denver correspondence Christian
Science Monitor)
Actual construction work upon the
Moffat tunnel through the continental
divide. so miles west of Denver. which
will give America its shortest trans
continental railroad, is expected to be
begun in the very near future, as a
result of the Colorado supreme courts
recent decision upholding the cOnsti-
nationality of the measure enacted by
special session of the state legislature
authorizing a bond issue of SO, 72O, 600
for the boring of the tunnel.
Such tunnel through the Rocky
mountains, representing as it does a
gigantic engineering feat, is of nation
al Importance, for when it is complet-
ed in about three years it will shorten
the distance by rail between Atlantic
and Pacific coast cities some 20 miles,
compared with present railroad dis
tances. and place Denver and salt
Lake City. Utah, closer together by
17S miles.
The proposed tunnel will not only
accommodate standard guage railroad
trains. automobiles and other vehi-
cles, as well as telephone and tele-
graph lines, but it will embody provi-
sions for transmission of power and
the trans mountain diversion of wa
ter Ca right upheld recently by the
Colorado river compacD, for munich
pal uses in Denver and vicinity. The
tunnel will be six and fraction miles
long, the estimated cost being approx
imately S1.OOO,OOO miles, and it will
be cut through solid granite largely.
Empire of Natural Resources.
A veritable empire OF natural re-
sources in northwestern Colorado
hitherto untapped will become Access
sible to development upon the compile
ton of the Moffat tunnel. Construc-
ton of the tunnel, it is declared, will
insure the building of a railroad line
from Salt Lake City connecting with
the present terminus of the Denver &
Salt Lake (MoffaD railroad, which
will open the rich gilsonite beds of
the Uintah basin in Utah. Surveys
for such a line have been made al
ready.
Government experts report that the
completion of the Moffat tunnel will
open to the world a coal field rich
enough to supply the entire United
States for the next 100 years. Beyond
the tunnel are 1000 square miles of oil
shales, estimated to contain so billion
barrels of oil. The by-product of this
shale would total 300 million tons OF
sulphate of ammonia-enough to fer
tiilze every farm in the Mississippi
valley, it is declared.
over 10 billion feet of lumber is now
standing on the mountain slopes of
the territory to be opened up by the
completion of the tunnel With trans
pOrtation facilities which the tunnel
would furnish the early settlement
and development of a million or more
acres of government lands is antici
pated In this northwestern portion |
of Colorado, stupendously rich in nat
ural resources, there are now approx
imately 100000 acres of land which |
try Cattle ranging on the hills west /
of the divide would be stimulated tre-
by the opening of the tun-
mel, which would make accessible the 1
nearby markets.
Coal and Mineral Areas.
OF the government lands open to
entry 625,OOO acres are coal lands. The
,c oil -
Of it's public schools $4,000 acres of
and in Routt and Moffat counties in
his region, of which 10000 acres are
lnderlaid with thick, workable beds
If splendid coal, according to state
'eports. Because railroad facilities
nave not penetrated this wonderland,
is vast natural resources have not
)een developed.
Gold, silver, tungsten, copper, zinc,
gypsum. asphalt and lead are among
he minerals deposits that may be OBJ
aimed by the tunnel.
The Moffat tunnel commission, Gre
tied by the legislative act authorizing
he bond issue, announces the COM {
,letion of detailed plans and specifica-
ions for the big bore. which will
pierce the Rocky mountains alongside
If James Peak According to these
,lans the eastern portal of the tunnel,
y miles west of Holland Station on
he Moffat railroad. will be $3.50 feet
ibove sea level; the western portal, K
rear the station of Vasquez, will be
100 feet above the sea. The highest q
,oint in the tunnel will be 1920 feet
lear the center providing drains both
Ways.
The present Moffat railroad, the
highest standard guage road in the
world. reaches an elevation of 1850
eet at Corona, the summit of the di
tide. It is estimated by engineers
hat snow conditions constitute II per s
.ent of the operating costs of the
doffat road, and that most of this ex-
,ense is centered around Corona. The
unnel will shorten the present route
n xvasfern Colorado bV % miles and ]