Moffat (Colorado)

Saguache County

08-51250

Moffat is a city ( Statutory Town) in Saguache County in the state of Colorado in the United States. The city is located in south-central Colorado in the middle of the San Luis Valley.

History

In the 1870s, Moffat had several thousand inhabitants and was the center of trade and freight network, that's what made the city one of the most important mining and cattle farming areas in southern Colorado. In choosing the capital of the new State of Colorado Moffat narrowly defeated the city of Denver. For economic downfall came when the United States lost a process with Mexico over water rights and as a result to compensate for the deficit built a water diversion system, the water from the northern half of the San Luis Valley on the central watershed in the lower Rio Grande redirected. This ultimately led to the drying up of the mines and to the migration of the agricultural industry in the west of Colorado. The local population has no access to the local water today.

Demography

At the time of the census in 2000 ( U.S. Census 2000) Moffat had 114 inhabitants on a land area of 3.6 km ². The median age was 45.0 years ( national U.S. average: 35.3 years ). The per capita income ( per capita income engl. ) amounted to U.S. $ 14,388 ( U.S. National Average: U.S. $ 21,587 ). 25.2 % of residents were with their income below the poverty line ( national U.S. average: 12.4% ) .17,5 % of the inhabitants are Irish and 8.8% German ancestry.