Year listed
2012
County
Rural Boulder, Grand, and Gilpin Counties
Status
ALERT
The Moffat Road is an incredible story of engineering and entrepreneurship, of fortunes made and lost, of a Colorado pioneer who left a big mark on Colorado and transportation history. The Moffat Road was the brainchild of David Moffat and roughly follows an earlier constructed Wagon Road (Rollinsville and Middle Park Wagon Road, opened in 1873) that itself had been constructed on what was known as the “old Ute Trail.” Moffat started construction in Denver in April, 1903 on a railroad line that was intended to connect Denver first to NW Colorado through the Continental Divide, to Utah, and finally the West Coast. Engineers demanded that a tunnel be bored for the line, but finances were tight and so Moffat built a temporary line over the Continental Divide with the expectation that the line would hugely profitable and a tunnel could be constructed within a few years. However, operating costs were extraordinarily high and the tunnel wasn’t finished until the late 1920s, by which time Moffat had died.
The Moffat Road is now located on public lands (USFS) within the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest. The rails were removed in the 1930s, but the railbed, several trestles, the Needle’s Eye Tunnel, telegraph poles, remnants of the snow sheds and foundations from the hotel and depot that were built atop the Divide at Rollins Pass remain. However, the extreme winter weather conditions that made the line so expensive to maintain are taking a serious toll on the remaining structures. The trestles in particular receive no maintenance and are exhibiting signs of deterioration and rot.
The Moffat Road is a hugely significant linear historic resource that speaks to the history of Colorado and the development of the American West. However, the story is being lost. The terminus stations of the Moffat Line are both vacant and in jeopardy. The Moffat Road over the Continental Divide is difficult to access, no longer a thru route, and interpretive materials seriously lacking. USFS cutbacks have resulted in very little maintenance for the remaining historic fabric and they are at risk of being lost.
3 Comments
I think preserving the trestles over Devil’s Slide and the maintaining the Needles Eye Tunnel is a great idea.
But…. I also think that Boulder County and the USFS Boulder Ranger District should honor Public Law 107-216 which states that either the Moffat train route or the attendant road (Boulder Wagon Road) should remain open. Boulder County, the BRD and all the other stakeholders agreed to this law written by Doug Young who at that time worked for Senator Mark Udall. A specific and intentional “road corridor” was left between the James Peak and Indian Peak wilderness areas for motor vehicle travel. However the powers to be in Boulder (the commissioners and forest supervisors) have yet to honor their agreement and have kept this road corridor closed contrary to what the federal law states. I am hesitant to sign on to new agreements when the old ones are yet to be completed.
Steve Green
On behalf of the many members of the Rollins Pass Restoration Association, we are honored and look forward to the support and guidance of Colorado Preservation, Inc.
The capital required to save the remnants of “The Hill Route” is so great the only the Federal Government in cooperation with State, local, and foundations could do it. Anything less will fail in the long run. Perhaps the best coarse is to designate the 24 mile route between East Portal and Winter Park a “National Monument” and thus place its management in the hands of the National Parks System. The Moffat Road Hill Route is a perfect fit with the original wording of the American Antiquities Act that created National Monuments. Ironically, in 1905 the Moffat Road was saved from attacks by competing railroads thanks to the timely intervention of President Theodore Roosevelt. Now Roosevelt’s greatest contribution to America, The Antiquities Act, could once again save the Moffat Road.