David Moffat

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David H. Moffat (1839-1911)

David Halliday Moffat ( July 22, 1839 - March 18, 1911 ) was an American banker and industrialist.

Moffat was one of the most important men in Denver , Colorado in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . He was president, corporate financier and held many other offices in banks, railways and regional administration. Over the years he owned about a hundred mines in Colorado and nine railways. When Moffat died in 1911, his dream of connecting the West Coast railroad from Denver, in what would become the Denver and Salt Lake Railway , had cost him $ 75,000 a mile, and at Rollins Pass he lost the remainder of his fortune. He died in New York trying to raise more money. There he met his toughest opponents with EH Harriman and George Jay Gould I (actors of the Union Pacific Railroad ). Moffat was considered a daring dreamer among contemporaries, and it was later recognized that he was way ahead of his time. His legacy included the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad , which would later outlast most of Colorado's railways as part of the Union Pacific Railroad. The Moffat Tunnel and Moffat County , Colorado still bear his name today.

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Moffat was born in Washingtonville, New York State in 1839 . At the age of twelve he began an apprenticeship as a runner in New York City, as a result of which he moved to Denver , Colorado , in 1860 and where he was president of the First National Bank of Denver from 1880. He controlled and successfully ran this bank until his death in 1911.

Railway company

Denver Pacific Railway

On November 19, 1867, Moffat and others founded the Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company under Mayor John Evans of Denver , which on May 18, 1868 laid the foundation stone for their station in Cheyenne (Wyoming) for a railway through the valley of the South Platte River to Denver via Greeley. The railway essentially established the function of Denver as the headquarters of the Colorado region, after Denver had previously been sidelined during the construction of the transcontinental railroad lines. The railway company operated a branched rail network in Colorado and Wyoming and in 1880 merged with Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific , the latter of which continues by name.

Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad

The Denver-South Park Line was created in 1872 by a group led by Mayor John Evans, David Moffat, and others to develop the Denver mining area through Platte Canyon via South Park. They and their branch lines emerged at the time of a great mining boom and were only part of the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railroad in 1889 , then the Colorado and Southern Railway .

Denver and New Orleans Railroad

The Denver and New Orleans Railroad was founded in 1881 by Denver's Mayor John Evans, David Moffat and others to provide a connection from Denver to New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico . With the route from Denver to Pueblo, it made connection with the Denver and Fort Worth Railroad , founded by the same actors for the same purpose in 1881, which continued to Fort Worth in Texas under the direction of General Dodge . The line was completed in 1888 and subsequently merged with the Colorado and Southern Railway.

These three lanes were controlled by Grenville M. Dodge . The railways Colorado Central Railroad and Cheyenne and Northern Railway included in the south of the project later formed the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway .

After this company went bankrupt in 1893, these sections were separated from their parent company and incorporated into the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway by Frank Trumbull, which became the Colorado and Southern Railway in 1899 . In 1908 the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad took over this network and in 1981 it became part of the Burlington Northern Railroad .

Denver Tramway

Denver Tramway was founded in 1886 by Colorado's Territorial Governor John Evans, David Moffat, and others. Denver Tramway operated the first trolleybus in Denver.

Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway

The Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway is a cog railway to Abt system in the state of Colorado that the Pikes Peak climb with its magnificent view over the whole of Colorado. The base station is in Manitou Springs near Colorado Springs not far from Denver. This mountain railway is the highest railway line in the USA . Its construction was initiated by David Moffat and Zalmon G. Simmons, the inventor and manufacturer of the Simmons Beautyrest Mattress Company. The railway was founded in 1889 and started operating as a mountain hotel in 1890. The peak was reached a year later. The railway is still in operation today for pure tourist traffic.

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad

In 1885 David Moffat was elected to the board of the D&RG. In 1887 Moffat became president. Under Moffat, the section from Glenwood to Grand Junction was built, the line between Pueblo to Grand Junction was converted to standard gauge and the tunnel under the Tennessee Pass was built. David H. Moffat resigned the presidency of the D&RG in 1891 because overseas shareholders were dissatisfied with the company's management in Denver. Moffat had planned to build the railway on the direct route from Denver to Salt Lake City and had invested $ 200,000 from the funds of the D&RG in explorations around James Peak. At this point, the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway later built their route under Moffat.

Branch line to Creede, Colorado

In 1892 David Moffat developed plans for a railway line along the Rio Grande River from Wagon Wheel Gap, Colorado, to Creede. On the banks of the Rio Grande near Creede, which was then a center of silver mining, Moffat owned several claims. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad showed no interest in this route, so Moffat built here at his own expense. After making good profits on the railroad, he sold it to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.

Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad

The Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad (F&CC) was a 3-foot (914 mm) narrow-gauge railroad that ran from Florence on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad route from Pueblo to Cañon City, Colorado, on the banks of the Arkansas River , through the steep Phantom Canyon was built up to Cripple Creek and the surrounding mining area that lies west of Pikes Peak. After this line was completed in 1893, it was the first connection between the booming mining region and the “outside world”. This is why the railway was able to generate an exceptionally high profit in its first year. The railway transported people and supplies to the mining region and raw ore to the ore mills near Florence. F&CC opened up the center of the Creeple Creek mining area with the first train station in Victor and owned several branch lines to the largest mines in this area.

In the end, the F&CC ran into financial difficulties in competition with other railways that were built in standard gauge: The Midland Terminal and Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek District Railroads opened up the mining area of ​​Colorado Springs and other directions. In addition, mudslides destroyed the main F&CC route in the narrow Phantom Canyon several times . In the early 1900s, the company was so financially run down that it had to accept support from Cripple Creek Central. One last catastrophic flood convinced the company's management that it was better to abandon the railroad facilities. The well-maintained locomotives of F&CC, eight Consolidation freight locomotives and four ten-wheeler passenger locomotives, could be sold to other companies. An F&CC holding, the Golden Circle Railroad, which offered local transport in the mining area, outlived its parent company by several years.

Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway (Moffat Line)

David H. Moffat and his business associates formed the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway, with a departure station in Denver and a planned destination in Salt Lake City , Utah , but that company ran out of resources before the destination could be reached. In 1913, the Colorado-Utah border was reached at Craig in Moffat County , Colorado.

Moffat tunnel

David Moffat planned a tunnel west of Denver through the overburden of the continental divide, which was built from 1922 to 1927. The Moffat Tunnel is 6.2 miles (9997 m) long and has long been a frontrunner among the longest tunnels in the world.

See also

credentials

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personal data
SURNAME Moffat, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moffat, David Halliday; Moffat, David H. Jr.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American banker and industrialist
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1839
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1911