David Moffat

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

Moffat was the late 19th and early 20th century, one of the most important men in Denver, Colorado. He was president, funders of companies and has held many other offices of banks, railroads, and in the regional administration. Over the years, he had about a hundred mines in Colorado and nine railroads. As Moffat died in 1911, he had his dream to connect from Denver to West Coast by rail, in the form of the later Denver and Salt Lake Railway, cost $ 75,000 per mile and on Rollins Pass, he lost the rest of his assets. He died in New York when he tried to raise more money. He met with EH Harriman and George Jay Gould I on his harshest opponents ( players of the Union Pacific Railroad ). Among contemporaries Moffat was considered daring dreamer was later found that he was ahead of his time. His legacy included the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, which should last as part of the Union Pacific Railroad, most railroads in Colorado later. The Moffat Tunnel and the Moffat County, Colorado still bear his name.

• 2.8.1 Moffat Tunnel

Curriculum vitae

Moffat was born in 1839 in Washingtonville in upstate New York. At twelve, he began in New York City, as errand boy as a bank clerk, in consequence of which he moved in 1860 to Denver, Colorado where he was from 1880 and President of the First National Bank of Denver. He controlled and led the bank successfully until his death in 1911.

Railway undertakings

Denver Pacific Railway

On November 19, 1867, under Mayor John Evans of Denver, Moffat and the other " Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company ," which laid the foundation of the May 18, 1868 for their station in Cheyenne (Wyoming ) for a railway through the valley South Platte River through Greeley to Denver laid. The web -founded the Denver essential function as the headquarters of the Colorado region, after Denver had anticipated to be sidelined in the construction of the transcontinental railroad lines. The railway company operating a branched network in Colorado and Wyoming in 1880 and went to the merger with the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific one, the latter of which in particular persists.

Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad

The Denver South Park Line was created in 1872 by a group under the Mayor John Evans, David Moffat and others to develop the mining area of ​​Denver through Platte Canyon on South Park. They and their branch lines built during a major mining boom and went on until 1889 in the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railroad, then in the Colorado and Southern Railway.

Denver and New Orleans Railroad

The Denver and New Orleans Railroad was founded in 1881 by Denver Mayor John Evans, David Moffat and others to create a connection from Denver to New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico. She managed the route from Denver to Pueblo connection to a company founded by the same actors for the same purpose in 1881 Denver and Fort Worth Railroad, which the sequel took over under the leadership of General Dodge to Fort Worth in Texas. 1888, the line was completed and went on in the sequence in the Colorado and Southern Railway.

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

After bankruptcy of this company in 1893, these sections were separated from their mother and placed in the Denver, Leadville and Gunnison Railway by Frank Trumbull, to the Colorado and Southern Railway in 1899. 1908 took over the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad this network and went in 1981 to the Burlington Northern Railroad.

Denver Tramway

Denver Tramway was founded by Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans, David Moffat and the other in 1886. Denver Tramway operated the first O bus in Denver.

Manitou and Pike 's Peak Railway

The Manitou and Pike 's Peak Railway is a cog railway to Abbot system in the State of Colorado, the climbs Pikes Peak with its magnificent views over the whole of Colorado. The base station is located in Manitou Springs near Colorado Springs near Denver. This mountain railway is the highest altitude railway in the United States. Its construction was initiated by David Moffat and Zalmon G. Simmons, inventor and manufacturer of Simmons Beautyrest Mattress Company was. The track was established in 1889 and commenced operations on to the mountain hotel in 1890. The summit was reached a year later. The track is pure tourist traffic still in operation today.

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad

1885 David Moffat was elected to the board of the D & RG. 1887 Moffat became president. Under Moffat section of Glenwood were built to Grand Junction, the route between Pueblo to Grand Junction converted to standard gauge and the tunnel under the Tennessee came through. David H. Moffat gave the president of the D & RG 1891, because shareholders from abroad with the management of the Company in Denver were not satisfied. Moffat had wanted to build the railway on the direct route from Denver to Salt Lake City and had $ 200,000 invested from the funds of the D & RG in exploration to the James Peak. At this point later, the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway built under Moffat their route.

Branch-line to Creede, Colorado

1892 David Moffat developed plans for a rail line along the Rio Grande River from Wagon Wheel Gap, Colorado to Creede. On the banks of the Rio Grande in Creede, which was a center of silver mining at that time, Moffat had several claims. The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad showed no interest in this route, so Moffat built here at their own expense. When he import good profits on the web, 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 railway from Florence to the route of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad from Pueblo to Cañon City, CO, on the banks of the Arkansas River through the steep Phantom Canyon up to Cripple Creek and the surrounding mining area was built, which lies to the west of Pikes Peek. After this track was completed in 1893, it was the first link of the booming mining region in the "outside world"; It results that the railway in its first year generated an exceptional profit. The railways transported people and supplies into the region and mining virgin ore to the ore mills at Florence. The F & CC opened up with the first train station in the center of the mining area Victor Creeple Creek and owned several branch railways of the largest mines of the area.

At the end of the F & CC came in competition with other railways in financial difficulties, which were built to standard gauge: The Midland Terminal and Colorado Springs & Cripple Creek District Railroads opened up the mining area of Colorado Springs or other directions. In addition, multiple landslides destroyed the main line of the F & CC in tight Phantom Canyon. In the early 1900s the company was financially ruined so that she accepted support from the Cripple Creek Central. One last catastrophic flood convinced the management of the company, that it was better to abandon the railway facilities. The well-maintained locomotives of the F & CC, eight Consolidation freight locomotives, and four ten -Wheeler Personenzugloks could be sold to other companies. An F & CC - participation, which offered Golden Circle Railroad, the transport in the mining area, survived its parent company for several years.

Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway ( Moffat Line)

David H. Moffat and his business partner founded the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway with starting station in Denver and planned destination in Salt Lake City, Utah, but the funds of this society were exhausted before the target could be achieved. 1913, the border between Colorado and Utah at Craig in Moffat County, Colorado was reached.

Moffat Tunnel

David Moffat planned west of Denver a tunnel through the overburden of the Continental Divide, which was built in 1922 until 1927. The Moffat Tunnel is 6.2 miles ( 9997 m) long and finished among the longest tunnels in the world for a long time a leading position.

See also

• History of the railway in North America

Credentials

• Athearn, Robert G.: The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad: Rebel of the Rockies. University of Nebraska Press, 1977.

Swell

• Encyclopedia Britannica

• Entrepreneurs (railway)
• Americans
• Born in 1839
• Died in 1911
• Man