Moffat Tunnel
The Moffat Tunnel is a railroad/water tunnel that cuts through the Continental Divide in north-central Colorado. It was named after Colorado railroad pioneer David Moffat. Fifty miles (80 km) west of Denver is the East Portal in the Front Range, about 10 miles (15 km) west of the town of Rollinsville. The West Portal is near the Winter Park Resort. The railroad tunnel is 24 ft (7.3 m) high, 18 ft (5.5 m) wide, and 6.2 mi (10.0 km) long. The apex of the tunnel is at 9,239 feet (2,816 m) above sea level. Moffat Tunnel finally provided Denver a western link through the Divide as both Cheyenne, Wyoming to the north and Pueblo, Colorado to the south enjoyed rail access to the West. It follows the right-of-way laid out by Moffat back in 1902 while he was seeking a better and shorter route to Salt Lake City. The water tunnel runs parallel south of the railroad tunnel and is part of the water supply system of Denver.
History
The tunnel was the brainchild of David Moffat of the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific (DNW&P) railroad as early as 1902. The original DNW&P tracks climbed Rollins Pass with a series of switch back loops requiring steep grades and experiencing severe snow conditions. Removing snow from the original line made it unprofitable to operate. Try as he might, Moffat could not raise the funding required to build the tunnel before he died, never seeing his lifetime railroad dream become a success. But the forces behind the tunnel continued on, and in 1914 a Denver bond issue was approved to finance two thirds of the construction cost of the tunnel. However, the issue was defeated in the courts when it was found that Denver did not have the constitutional right to enter into a joint venture to construct the tunnel with a private corporation. In the spring of 1922, Denver's lawmakers in the state legislature found an opening. That spring, Pueblo was devastated by a flood, and Gov. Oliver Shoup called an emergency session of the legislature. Denver lawmakers now had power over Pueblo. They would vote for emergency funding for the beleaguered town (an economic rival to Denver) in return for legislation authorizing the issuance of bonds for their tunnel. A political deal was struck, and on April 29, the Moffat Tunnel Improvement District was created. The following summer, bonds were sold and construction began.
Construction
The Moffat Tunnel was cut under a shoulder of James Peak. A pioneer tunnel was bored parallel with the main tunnel to facilitate the work and was eight feet high and eight feet wide. All did not go well for the new district, however. In 1925 bad rock at the west end of the tunnel held up construction and costs soared. The pioneer tunnel was officially 'holed' through on February 18, 1926, the blast of dynamite being set off by President Coolidge upon pressing a key in Washington, and the program being broadcast to the country by radio from the heart of the mountain. The pilot bore eventually became the water tunnel. Three more bond issues were sold before the tunnel was completed.
Although the original cost of the tunnel was pegged at $6.62 million, final assessments collected by the Moffat Tunnel district, including interest, were $23,972,843. The cost of the two tunnels was $15.6 million, which is $475 per linear foot or $1,440 per meter. The project involved the excavation of 750,000 cubic yards (570,000 m³), or 3,000,000,000 pounds (1,400,000 metric tons) of rock, equal to 1,600 freight trains of 40 cars each. 28 people died during the 5-year project, six in a single cave-in July 30, 1926.
The tunnel is under lease to the City of Denver, which operates it as a trans-mountain diversion project that transports water through to the eastern slope of the range. The railroad tunnel was 'holed' through on July 7, 1927, and formally turned over completed to the lessee on February 26, 1928. Railroad connections through the tunnel shortened the distance between Denver and the Pacific coast by 176 miles (283 km). The tunnel took 48 months to bore—average daily progress being 21 feet (6.4 m). The first train passed through the tunnel in February 1928.
Dotsero Cutoff
In 1931, the D&RGW acquired the Denver and Salt Lake Western Railroad (a company in name only) subsidiary of the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad (D&SL) which had acquired the rights to build a 40 mile (64 km) connection between the two railroads. After years of negotiation the D&RGW gained trackage rights on the D&SL from Denver to the new cutoff. In 1932, the D&RGW began construction of the Dotsero Cutoff about twenty miles east of Glenwood Springs to near Bond on the Colorado River, at a location called Orestod (Dotsero spelled backward). Despite the common misconception that Dotsero is a shortening of "Dot Zero," the station name exists from the construction of the Standard Gauge line to Glenwood Springs in the 1890s. Construction was completed in 1934 giving Denver a direct transcontinental link to the west. The D&RGW though slipped again into bankruptcy in 1935. Emerging in 1947 it merged with the D&SL on 3 March 1947 gaining control of the "Moffat Road" through the Moffat Tunnel and a branch line from Bond to Craig, Colorado.
D&RGW/ SP/ UP
In 1988, Rio Grande Industries, the company that controlled the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, under the direction of Philip Anschutz, purchased the Southern Pacific Railroad. The combined company took the Southern Pacific name due to its name recognition among shippers. On September 11, 1996 Anschutz sold the combined company to the Union Pacific Railroad in a response to the earlier merger of the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe which formed the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. The Union Pacific Railroad still uses Moffat Tunnel today. During the past 69 years, millions of travelers have crossed the tunnel on the California Zephyr and other historic trains. Although its major role today is as a rail route for coal and freight and as a water tunnel from the Pacific watershed to Colorado's Front Range population centers, its passenger train route remains a major attraction for tourists and skiers.
References
- Athearn, Robert G. (1977). The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad: Rebel of the Rockies. University of Nebraska Press.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/moffat/
- http://ghostdepot.com/rg/mainline/moffat%20route/moffat%20tunnel.htm