Moffat Tunnel

"Dynamite is as harmless as a lead pencil if you know how to handle it," said one Thomas Morris of East Portal, Col., as he stuffed a few unimpressive-looking sticks into the groins of James Peak. Next day, in the White House, President Coolidge approached a golden telegraph key, applied thereto his right forefinger. The stimulus of a spark danced across the continent. A few feet of granite were blasted out of their native bed and James Peak had a hole completely through its middle. Outside the hole, safely away from flying granite, Governor William H. Adams shook hands with Mayor C. Clarence Neslen of Salt Lake City. In Denver, 50 miles away, citizens rejoiced. Some thought that the six-mile Moffat Tunnel, longest railroad bore in the U. S., would soon be ready for snorting locomotives. They were wrong. Only the smaller pioneer bore,/- running parallel with the railroad tunnel, was completed last week.

The big tunnel, named after David H. Moffat, famed railroad builder, is scheduled for completion in August. It will be used by the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad and probably leased to the Burlington and other lines. It shortens the route between Denver and Salt Lake City by 176 miles, cuts a 4% grade to 2%. Tunnels are usually thought of as underground things. The Moffat Tunnel is up in the air to the extent of 9,000 feet above sea level; but it is still 4,000 feet below the summit of James Peak. Drillers and dynamiters have been at work on it for nearly five years.

Last week, for the 27th time, Death came to a Moffat Tunnel workman. King F. Weston and E. J. Shepard were carrying a burned-out electric motor when Mr. Weston leaned against an open switch, crumpled, died. Mr. Shepard slipped, crushed his leg beneath the motor.

/-To be used for carrying water from the Rocky Mountains to Denver reservoirs.