Portal to Nowhere

Of the 232 miles of line operated by the Denver & Salt Lake Railway Co., six are important. These are the six miles of the famed Moffat tunnel, which pierces James Peak, 50 miles west of Denver.* It shortens the transcontinental route between Denver and Salt Lake City by about 175 miles, cuts the ruling grade from 4% to 2%. The Denver & Salt Lake has a 50-year lease (with a 49-year renewal option) on the tunnel.

Last week George H. Burr, Manhattan banker, bought for $3,000,000 a 40% interest in the Denver & Salt Lake. "Others are interested in this deal," admitted Banker Burr. Who the "others" might be stirred much Wall Street cogitation. Arthur Curtiss James, the Lon Chancy of rail investing, was inevitably suspected of having engineered the coup.

Vagaries of rumor aside, there are three railroads which could make good use of the Denver & Salt Lake and its tunnel: 1) Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, 2) Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, 3) Denver & Rio Grande Western. The Rock Island and the Burlington, with lines from Chicago out to Denver, would both like to strengthen their transcontinental connections at their western ends by acquiring the Moffat tunnel. The Denver & Rio Grande Western is the most directly interested in the tunnel. Since it runs from Denver to Salt Lake City, the 175-mile saving would be made on its line. At present, in order to reach Salt Lake City over reasonable grades the D. R. G. W. must strike due south from Denver 119 miles and then retraverse northward the entire distance before reaching Salt Lake City. The Moffat tunnel would cut off this useless north-and-south loop. Since stock ownership of the D. R. G. W. is shared between the Western Pacific and the Missouri Pacific, these two roads have been brought within the scope of speculation as the possible buyer of Banker Burr's 20,000 shares of Denver & Salt Lake. The basis of the rumors about Arthur Curtiss James was the fact that he is Chairman of the Western Pacific, as well as being identified with the Burlington. The Moffat tunnel would link the Burlington, via the D. R. G. W., with the Western Pacific into the second shortest transcontinental route--the shortest being the Southern Pacific plus Union Pacific plus Chicago & Northwestern.

Banker Burr and his shares are not the only mystery connected with the Moffat tunnel. Begun in 1923, completed in 1928, the tunnel cost the city of Denver and certain nearby counties $15,470,000 to build. A special ventilating plant (forced draft for eastbound trains, induced draft for westbound) keeps the six-mile stretch clear of smoke. Expensive and well ventilated engineering tour de force though it is, the Moffat tunnel is little used. Few trains go puffing through it because there are no traffic centres beyond it more important than Craig, Oak Creek, Steamboat Springs (pop. 1,000). After passing through the tunnel, the Denver & Salt Lake ends at Craig, Col., without connecting with any transcontinental route. A 41-mile connecting line, the "Dotsero cut-off," between Orestod on the Denver & Salt Lake and Dotsero on the D. R. G. W., has been under negotiation between the two roads for nearly a year. The I. C. C. gives them until July 1930 to come to an agreement as to how they would operate the cutoff. Until this or some other connection with the D. R. G. W. is made, the Denver Salt Lake's Moffat tunnel remains an impressive portal to nowhere.

* The three longest railroad tunnels in the U.S. are: 1) the new Cascade tunnel in Washington on the Great Northern (7.79 miles); 2) Moffat tunnel (6.11 miles); 3) Hoosac tunnel in Massachusetts on the Boston & Maine (4.38) miles.

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