History corner: Tunneling Moffat through Gore Canyon
Penny Hamilton/Courtesy photo
This circa 1910 postcard view of Moffat Road tunnels 35, 36, and 37, cut through the Cathedral Rocks, doesn’t give a hint of the difficulty to lay the tracks in Gore Canyon. Although only three miles, the narrow gorge cut by the Grand River, was extremely steep. Survey and construction costs were considerable.
According to a story in the “Steamboat Pilot & Today” in January, 2009, a courageous collection of surveyors called “Argo’s Squirrels” (named for the lead surveyor) dangled dangerously on ropes over the roaring water on handmade wooden platforms tied on the top of the shear, steep 1,000 feet cliffs of Gore Canyon. If not for these intrepid actions, Moffat Road might never have reached Kremmling or Steamboat at all.
On July 25, 1921, The U.S. Congress passed a Resolution renaming the Grand River to the Colorado River.
Penny Rafferty Hamilton, Ph.D., is the author of “Images of America: Grand County.” Contact her at drpenny1@earthlink.net.
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