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Show pST n . ? LHniiHsiiliI ey'r::;V pT - " . -iXff SALT LiKE CITY rfiii,Miii.rnPcrr uouhtaw lll,clKny--Sti e Sj-fe isi V -"W"'WtMI park 4 i i U I fa T V""3 JU"dti - ) fOororadoSpriSS fll Wl COLORADO TO DMV''yJ Ilfr D CV. MOFFAT TUMFL Wtfn f C K ? , ? STi BMtLES-TmmtEH. fr? ByJOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN .... -s"" -'Vc f -HE State of Colorado will W0RIJ).S mo TUXNEI.8 V , .v "jPJf 3 drive a six-mile tunnel , Cv r ' "jP through James Peak (13,- 511. 1 Jj l&Ajlf A V - i; 283 feet) on the Con- 1 simpion, switzeriiu.d itjy 115.3 ' - .lor-a. Li n.i ij , ti I 8t- Oothard, SwKzerJnnd Italy.. 9.2 i I -" - tinental Divide of the ' u,.,, ' SwjM Alu, 0 By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN I HB State of Colorado will T drive a six-mile tunnel through James Peak (13,-283 (13,-283 feet) on the Continental Con-tinental Divide of the gv Colorado Rockies for the WffiL- "Moffat Road-" The Mof" fat tunnel will cost nearly ife22F seven million dollars three and one-half mll- ' ' ' lions for boring and three 7 and one-half millions for complete transportation equipment. The work will begin this fall and its completion is set for 1925. By the construction of the Moffat tunnel Colorado expects to bring about the following results: Give a new transcontinental trunk line to the nation at once, shorter and more scenic than any other. Develop the Colorado western slope of the Rockies an "undiscovered country" of vast potential riches. Increase the state's population and put Denver on the railroad map and make it a city of 500,000 people. For a generation Colorado has been talking of tunneling James Peak. Denver Den-ver voted ten years ago to extend Its credit for financing the Moffat tunnel, but the courts declared against the constitutionality of the plan. This time the state of Colorado has passed an act under which the counties benefited most by the tunnel constitute a bonding district (indicated on map by shaded portion) and raise the funds by sale of bonds. The progress of the Moffat tunnel will be watched with sentimental interest in-terest by hundreds of thousands of people in every nook and cranny of the United States. As tourists they have made a trip on the Moffat road from Denver over the Continental Divide; have played in the snow in July at Corona (11.060 feet) where the" road breaks all world altitude records; have exclaimed over the majestic ma-jestic scenery, and have marveled at the daring and skill of the men who found the way and bored the tunnels and laid the rails. Not a few of them will thrill at the thought that at last the vision of David Ilnlliday Moffat is to be realized real-ized For this Denver pioneer miner, banker and railroad builder dreamed a dream that was a prophetic vision. Denver is the gateway to thirty-two national parks and monuments. Nine railroads enter it. Nevertheless, it Is not, strictly speaking, on the railroad rail-road map. For behind the city rises the Colorado Colo-rado Continental Divide, which says to the railroads "Come not across go around 1 And the railroads have gone around, making wide detours to the north and south on their way to the Pacific. Thus thev linve left Denver in a n.u-kot and have passed far from the western slope of the Continental Pivlde in Colorado and Utah-a region l,!gu-er than all New Kngland and of fabulous potential riches. Moffat dared the terrors of the Cou- ;i r I WORLD'S BIG TUXNELS I I J ML I , Simplon, Switzerland Itly 115.3 J I St. Oothard, Switzerland Italy.. 9.2 J I Loetschberg, Swiss Alps 8.0 ( Mt. Cents, France Italy 8.0 J Moffat, Colorado 6.S I I Arlbergr, Austria C? I Rlcken, Switzerland....; 8.8 J I Tanern, Austria B.3 I Ronco, Italy B.S Tenda, Italy 5.0 I Transundean, Chile Argentina... 6.0 I I ConnauKht, Canada 6.0 ' Iloosac, Massachusetts .. 4.9 .. Ij tinental Divide. He organized the Denver, North Western & Pacific which tfle people promptly named the "Moffat Road." He started his road straight west over the Continental Divide for Salt Lake City. The engineers went into the field December 31, 1902, and stayed on the job three straight years, winter and ijummer. They climbed on slopes where a misstep meant death. They hung from ropes in deep gorges. On snowshoes and skiis they traveled among the peaks of the divide far above timber line In Arctic temperatures. tempera-tures. But they found a way tortuous tor-tuous and difficult though It was for a first class railroad. Into this work Moffat poured his personal fortune of many millions. The cost of construction was appalling since Moffat would have nothing but a broad-gauge standard railroad for transcontinental traffic. The grading and tunnel work alone on the first fifty miles out of Denver cost on an average $1)0,000 a mile, and the thlrty-flve thlrty-flve miles from the poinl where the road begins to climb the foothills to the site of the proposed tunnel cost .$100,000 a mile. These figures include only the tunnel work and grading, and not the cost of ties, rails, the labor of laying the track and the expenditures expendi-tures for stations, water tanks and equipment. One particularly difficult mile actually cost S2Gj,000. On the 77 miles from Denver to Arrowhead, which is over the Continental Divide in Middle Park, there are thirty-four tunnels. In one stretch of eleven miles there are twenty-nine tunnels through solid jjrnnite. The cost of operation oyer the divide in winter was also appalling. So Moffat planned to bore through James Peak and dodge the snowdrifts of timber line (ll.oOO feet) by going through the living granite. Then came the time of financial difficulties. Moffat exhausted his enormous resources, Promised supirt failed him. His name was anathema to transcontinental roads. Finally lie tt 1 1 ( 1 with his road only completed to Craig 231 miles from Denver. Reorganization Re-organization of the company has changed the name of the road to the Denver & Salt Lake but It will al- ' ways be the Moffat road to the people. j Governor Shoup has appointed a I tunilel commission of five members to serve until August Ml ; succeed in a I commissioners will tie elected. II has. organized with William P. Roblusoni of Denver as president and MaJX. D. Blauvelt as chief construction engl- neer. The Moffat tunnel will cut the high-' est altitude of the Moffat road from 11,660 feet down to 9,220 feet. The elevation of the east portal ls 9,190 feet and of the west portal 9,100 feet It will eliminate snow slids, and reduce re-duce Its maximum 4 per cent grades to 2 per cent grades and its maximum 16 degrees curve at Yankee Doodle Lake to 10 degrees. The construction of 324 rulles over comparatively level country Westward from Craig will curry the Moffat road to Salt Lake and shorten the shortest railroad distance by 73 miles. By the construction of a cut-off of forty-one forty-one miles from Orestod on the Moffat line to Dotsero on the Denver & KIo Grande Western the distance from Denver to Glenwood Springs would be reduced from 343 miles to 173 miles. The tunnel will probably he 24 feet high and 10 feet wide. One track will be laid. Electric power will be used. Automobiles will be transported on flat cars. . Ultimately the tunnel may also curry water across the divide. Construction will probably begin at each end at the same time and a parallel pioneer or uuxlliary tunnel will be built. This would furnish water, compressed uir and ventilation, facilitate excavation and allow several sev-eral gangs to work at once. From 600 to 1,000 men will be employed. Colorado Is rejoicing over the fact thai the Moffat tunnel will bring closer the eastern and western slopes of the stale, now practically separated by the Continental Divide. Last winter when the Moffat road was snowed under there was dangei of the northwestern part of the state starving and volunteer ivorkers turned out to dig out the line. Moreover, the western slope, both In Colorado and Utah, is a veritable land of natural riches, according to a survey of the area made by Prof. Itussel D. George, state geologist of Colorado. According to his report oil shale deposits underlie a territory of approximately 7.000 square miles In northwestern Colorado and northeastern north-eastern Utah alone, beslkles available coal ; both bituminous and anthracite, aggregating 0;..00u,000.000 tons. There are also deposits of an nsphaltlc nature, na-ture, in addition to clay, carnotite and copper ores, gold, iron, gypsum, graphite, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, marble, salt, scoria, silver, slate, sulphur, tungsten and zinc. There is also any nmount of water power. So Steamboat Springs has already had a ceVi-liration attended by thousands thou-sands from all the region round about. Denver plans to stage a state celebration cele-bration w hen work begins hi the fall . . I |