David Halliday Moffat
David Halliday Moffat was a self-made millionaire in mining, banking and railroads. He lost his fortune of 25 million dollars trying to get a transcontinental railroad built through the Colorado Rockies. He dreamed of a tunnel to make this possible. He died of a broken heart as no one took his dream seriously, telling him that railroads were all in the past.
The Moffatt Tunnel, near Winter Park, Colorado and in the Rollins Pass was finally built after his death in 1911 due to the endless efforts of his supporters. The Moffatt Tunnel was completed in 1927.
He was born on July 22, 1839 in Washingtonville, New York and died on March 18, 1911 in New York, New York.
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
David Halliday Moffat
born July 22, 1839, Washingtonville, N.Y., U.S.
died March 18, 1911, New York, N.Y.
Moffat, David Halliday. (2005). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 9, 2005, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
American capitalist and railway promoter after whom the Moffat Tunnel in Colorado is named.
After a common-school education, Moffat worked in banks in New York City, in Des Moines, Iowa, and in Omaha, Neb. In 1860 he went to Denver, Colo., and became involved in mercantile enterprises, banks, mines, utilities, real estate, and a newspaper. His vision of Denver as a great transportation centre led him to invest in several railroads that were to provide routes to the Pacific Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Colorado mining districts of Leadville and Cripple Creek. For his Denver, Northwestern and Pacific line (later the Denver and Salt Lake; incorporated into the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad), he planned a tunnel through the continental divide, but he died before he could raise the necessary money. The tunnel was built in the 1920s with public funds.
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