Show JAMES PEAK TUNNEL PLANNED 50 YEARS AGO The rhe James Peak reak tunnel now certain cain tain of construction was a dream 01 ol oldie tile the pioneers more than half halt a cert cert- ury tury ago A friend of ot the Steamboat Pilot t Gordon ordon Kimball of Ouray sends a clipping cUpping from th the Hocky Mountain News of 1912 ten teu years ago in which he told some dome ot ol ottile the tile history of the great project that w was sevea even then then taking 1 or the of f th the pioneers Thi This I. I b what what Mr Ir Kimball said As the proposition to cons construct the so called Moffat tunnel looms large I Ion on Denver's western horizon it harks me back over forty years ears to an incident directly connected with that enterprise In the late summer of or 1869 there i came to Central City Giles F. F of ot St. St Louis a member of or the board of ut directors ors of the the old Kansas Pacific Paci Pad tic fic which was then poking its nose into the territory of Colorado While there he suggested a to maxe maite a trip to James peak I secured a ail il li ery rig and we drove out over a awOod awood awood wood road which led through the timber which skirted the base of the mountain and then made our way wayon wayon wayon on root loot to the summit When Filley stood on cn tue moun mountain tam tain top in that rare atmosphere andI and beheld Middle park and nd the Frazier I seemingly so near and yet so far sloping slowly to the west while to the east his eye rested on South Boulders Boulder's mammoth gulch that had eaten its way into the very base ot of the mountain suggested a possible gateway for his road or that the idea was was' preconceived I cannot an an- But on his return to Denver he ne wrote requesting me to secure tile the services of a a. competent surveyor survey survey- or and have a preliminary survey made with a a. profile map showing the approximate length of tunneling dependent on practical roa roadbed bed ap ap- ap I a surveyor by bythe bythe bythe the name of Major Hill Hill many o 0 ot the timers old will him him him- and he made the survey and him I urn- urn the profile map which I sent sont lo Lu Filley That was four forty years ago 1 the h Queen City of the tho Plains was ivas is 15 it were in her rompers buying only a permanent population of oL like ke O. O but I t have havo litie little little lit lit- tle ie doubt that if the proposition dad ad been put to her with proper guarantees she would wohld have hava exploit exploit- d d it for tor all there was in it Lt t. t er Denver nad llad so some e men with big Heas lId was a heap big talk m In those days so much s 10 o 1 rem rn- rn ocr oer that it excited the ridicule of he khe Pueblo paper which displayed dIJ a cartoon on its front page represent r representing ing ng Denver Demer as a tarantula the legs serving as pr proposed posed railroad lines seeking and clamoring for terminal rights In the city little dreaming that that his sarcastic prophecy would come caine true 1 J L |