Moffat Tunnel Deaths
Moffat Tunnel Deaths: In Memoriam of The Lives Lost Building Colorado’s Historic Tunnel
Please note that this page and the underlying research represent ongoing scholarly work. Revisions are made regularly as new information becomes available, and the data presented here should be considered provisional, for now. Finalized analysis and conclusions are anticipated to require several more years of study and verification.
In the lead-up to the 100th anniversary of the Moffat Tunnel’s completion in February 2028, we are gradually unveiling the names of those who lost their lives during its construction. Each month, we’ll add confirmed individuals to this memorial list—ensuring that, by the centennial, their sacrifices are no longer buried beneath time or rock. This is not just a historical exercise—it is a commitment to honoring the workers whose stories were left out of the spotlight for too long. As new documentation and firsthand accounts come to light, this evolving record will reflect both remembrance and recognition.
To our knowledge, there is no plaque, no single list, no formal remembrance for the men who died building the Moffat Tunnel—an absence that speaks volumes. It is a striking omission, especially given that the tunnel is not merely a passage through the Continental Divide; it is, in many ways, a sepulcher of sacrifice carved into stone. That such a monumental achievement lacks a public accounting of its human cost is both sobering and unjust. These were not nameless laborers lost to time—they were fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands whose lives were spent driving progress forward. This effort seeks to correct that silence.
The most commonly cited number of lives lost during the construction of the Moffat Tunnel is 28. But through years of research—cross-referencing historic newspapers, cemetery records, and personal accounts—we know the true number is higher. Some deaths were misreported or unacknowledged, leaving gaps in the official record. Names and details have not only been lost over time—they’ve often drifted. In the absence of a centralized record, misinformation took root and repeated itself. For instance, Rade Lekich was the first documented fatality, killed in May 1924. Yet by December of that same year, newspapers began reporting Harvey Lee Gilson as the first death. Then, in February 1927, articles claimed that a man named L.E. Trick was the tunnel’s first casualty—despite details that identically match Lekich’s death. It appears the name may have been passed along verbally, with “L.E. Trick” possibly originating from a misheard or misremembered phonetic pronunciation of “Lekich” or, more likely “Lekić.” This kind of confusion underscores why original source material and rigorous citation are essential. Every name we share has been carefully traced, corroborated, and contextualized to restore accuracy and dignity to the historical record.
If your family has a relative who died while working on the tunnel but was never formally recognized, we welcome your insight. Names, photos, letters, or memories could help us honor those whose stories were lost along the way. We’re working to correct the record with dignity and historical accuracy—especially as the 100th anniversary of the tunnel’s opening approaches on February 26, 2028.
METHODOLOGY: HOW WE COUNT THE LIVES LOST BUILDING THE MOFFAT TUNNEL
When we remember the men who built the Moffat Tunnel between 1923 and 1928, we also recognize those who never made it home.
Yet even a century later, there is no definitive list of how many workers died during construction. Records from the time were often incomplete or inconsistent, and there was no modern system like OSHA to formally investigate or track workplace deaths. To respectfully and transparently honor those who died, we use a structured approach grounded in both historical documentation and contemporary health standards.
We’ve categorized each case based on available historical evidence and modern occupational health understanding to ensure transparency and accuracy. First, we include confirmed fatalities—these are workers who were killed on-site in the tunnel or who died shortly afterward as the direct result of a documented accident. We also include documented work-related deaths, which account for workers who sustained injuries inside the tunnel but died later in hospitals or at home; in each of these cases, the connection to tunnel work is clear and well-recorded.
We further include a third category: probable occupational illnesses. These are young, otherwise healthy workers who died of pneumonia or similar conditions following extended exposure to the tunnel’s harsh environment—cold, wet, high altitude, subpar ventilation, and physically exhausting. While these deaths may not have been officially recorded as work-related at the time, they would today likely meet the standards for occupational illness under modern health and safety guidelines. As such, they are included in our total, with clear labeling and explanation.
Finally, we acknowledge a set of unconfirmed or speculative cases—deaths where the connection to tunnel work is based on oral history, family memory, or vague reporting, but where no reliable timeline or documentation exists. These individuals are not included in the official total, but we recognize their stories as part of the broader legacy of the Moffat Tunnel and honor them accordingly.
WHY ILLNESSES ARE COUNTED
Some may wonder why we include deaths from pneumonia and similar illnesses in the total. After all, these men weren’t killed by falling rock or dynamite—but by what seemed, at the time, to be natural causes. But history—and medicine—tell a different story.
While Moffat Tunnel construction crews did implement ventilation systems to manage air quality, those efforts were often overwhelmed by the realities of blasting, fine dust, high altitude, and the immense scale of the bore. By the standards of the 1920s, ventilation was present—but by today’s occupational health expectations, the air would be deemed insufficient for sustained human labor. Combined with cold, wet, and damp conditions and grueling shifts, even modest respiratory infections could—and did—prove fatal, including for otherwise healthy young men, some just 22 years old. While some death records list pneumonia as the cause, it’s likely that at least some of these cases were misdiagnosed respiratory conditions related to extreme dust exposure—such as acute silicosis or pneumonitis from inhaled particulates. Today, these would be classified as occupational lung diseases, not simply infections, and would underscore the systemic respiratory hazards workers faced inside the Moffat Tunnel. Period newspaper accounts frequently note that pneumonia, believed to have been contracted while working at the Moffat Tunnel, was the cause of death for not only laborers, but also superintendents and shift bosses. Far from being protected by their supervisory roles, these individuals often spent extended, continuous hours inside the tunnel overseeing operations, increasing their exposure to cold, damp, and dust-laden air. Their deaths illustrate how pervasive and inescapable the environmental hazards were—affecting workers across all levels of responsibility.
Today, such conditions would be flagged as severe occupational hazards. Pneumonia caused by prolonged cold exposure, physical exhaustion, and unventilated air is widely recognized under modern standards as a work-related illness—the result of environmental neglect, not bad luck. In other words, if these men had been working anywhere else, they likely would have lived.
Excluding their deaths would be to overlook not just individual stories, but systemic risk. Including them restores part of what was erased by silence, incomplete recordkeeping, and the limitations of early 20th-century public health.
These men died because of the tunnel. They deserve to be counted.
IN MEMORIAM: MOFFAT TUNNEL DEATHS
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Note: Names shown in bold have been fully verified through multiple independent sources, confirming not just the individual’s identity but also the date and circumstances of death. Names not yet in bold have been documented in at least one credible source; however, further corroboration is still needed to confirm additional details. This approach reflects both our commitment to accuracy and the reality that, in some cases, full confirmation may never be possible. By distinguishing levels of verification, we aim to honor every individual while transparently acknowledging the limitations of the historical record.
| Name | Age | Townsite Association | Date of Death | Cause of Death | Burial |
| Jonas Wilson Pumphrey | 58 | East Portal, Gilpin County | February 25, 1924 | pneumonia | Nederland Cemetery, Nederland, Colorado |
| Rade Lekić (Anglicized as: Lekich) | 38 | East Portal, Gilpin County | May 22, 1924 | struck (run over) by switch cars within the tunnel | unknown |
| Ivor Williams | unknown | East Portal, Gilpin County | NLT October 30, 1924 | unknown | unknown |
| George Schaaf | 22 | West Portal, Grand County | December 9, 1924 | pneumonia | Cedar Creek Cemetery Montrose, Colorado | Section F, Block 15, Lot 3, NE 1/4 |
| Harvey Lee Gilson | 50 | East Portal, Gilpin County | December 28, 1924 | rockfall caused lacerations and subsequent blood poisoning | Mountain View Cemetery, Longmont, Colorado | Block 36, Lot 42, N1/2, Space 3 |
| Joseph Grusser | 34 | West Portal, Grand County | January 22, 1925 | cave in | Riverside Cemetery, Denver, Colorado | Block 12, Lot 31, Section 45 (no headstone) |
| Warren W. Wilson | 21 | West Portal, Grand County | February 27, 1925 | falling rock | Damascus Church Cemetery, Enterprise, Alabama |
| A.E. Adams | 60 | East Portal, Gilpin County | March 2, 1925 | amputation of an arm that led to death | unknown |
| Orville J. Markham | 25 | East Portal, Gilpin County | May 14, 1925 | pneumonia | Mountain View Cemetery, Longmont, Colorado | Block 27, Lot 30, Space 2 |
| Gage M. Beegle | 22 | West Portal, Grand County | June 5, 1925 | drill hit an unexploded charge of dynamite | Fairview Cemetery Galion, Ohio | Section 12 |
| William Geimer | 32 | East Portal, Gilpin County | September 27, 1925 | while scaling loose rock, a large piece gave way and crushed him | unknown |
| As we observe the centennial of the Moffat Tunnel’s construction, this list continues to grow—each month bringing new additions through deliberate, methodical research. | — | — | — | — | |
| Running Averages | Average Age: 36.2 years old | East Portal: 7; West Portal: 4 | — | — | — |
CONSTRUCTION YEAR SUBTOTALS
Confirmed fatalities by year will be updated as research continues:
1923: 0 lives confirmed lost
1924: 6 lives confirmed lost; research is underway and count is incomplete
1925: To be announced as names are verified
1926: To be announced as names are verified
1927: To be announced as names are verified
1928: To be announced as names are verified
This comprehensive memorial is the result of original, ongoing research. Each name added to this list has been carefully vetted through primary sources and corroborated across multiple records. Because much of this information has never before been compiled or published in a single location, we ask that any reuse or citation of this work properly credit the researchers (B. Travis Wright of Preserve Rollins Pass) and our project. Attribution ensures the integrity of the record and honors the effort that has gone into reconstructing these long-overlooked histories.
WHY THE MOFFAT TUNNEL NEEDS A CENOTAPH
Given that the final resting places of many who died during the construction of the Moffat Tunnel remain unknown, or are located in distant cemeteries far from the site, it is time to consider establishing a cenotaph to be unveiled during the tunnel’s 100th anniversary weekend in February 2028. This memorial would serve as a permanent and solemn acknowledgment of the laborers whose lives made the tunnel possible, regardless of where they are buried. Some were never given headstones. Others were misidentified, their names lost to clerical error or the passage of time. A cenotaph near the tunnel would offer families, historians, and the public a place to reflect, to mourn, and to remember. It would anchor their sacrifice to the very landscape they helped shape and ensure that their legacy is not forgotten.
BEYOND THE WORKERS: UNCOUNTED LOSSES AT THE MOFFAT TUNNEL CAMPS
Workers were not the only ones who died during the construction of the Moffat Tunnel—tragedy extended to their families as well. Life in the remote tunnel camps was unforgiving, and the toll included wives and children who lived alongside the laborers. As one example, The Steamboat Pilot reported on January 6, 1926: “Mrs. W.C. Dell died at West Portal on Christmas Day. Her husband is a driller in the Moffat Tunnel. She leaves a 4-year-old son.” While these deaths are not included in our official worker fatality totals, they bear mentioning nonetheless. Their losses, though quieter and less often recorded, are part of the broader human cost of this project and deserve remembrance.
A FOOTNOTE: THE TUNNEL THAT TOOK—AND GAVE
We also intend to track unique stories where the existence of the Moffat Tunnel—prior to its official opening to rail traffic in 1928—may have repaid, in part, some of the lives it had taken. These instances, though rare, reflect moments where the partially completed tunnel was used in ways that offered life-saving utility or emergency access. As we follow progress precisely 100 years to the month it occurred, there is not yet any news to share on this front—the tunnel has not yet been holed through; the two ends remain separated.
DEATHS AFTER THE 1923-1928 CONSTRUCTION PERIOD
Even after the completion of the Moffat Tunnel in 1928, the danger did not end. The tunnel and its surrounding infrastructure continued to claim lives in the years that followed—through accidents, maintenance incidents, and railway-related fatalities. These post-construction deaths are not included in our tally of lives lost during the tunnel’s building phase, but they are part of the tunnel’s extended legacy. From workers struck during improvement work to those involved in derailments or caught in mechanical failures, these later losses serve as a sobering reminder that the cost of such monumental infrastructure is not confined to its construction alone. The tunnel has long symbolized engineering triumph—but it also carries a quieter, enduring human toll.
Note: Names shown in bold have been fully verified through multiple independent sources, confirming not just the individual’s identity but also the date and circumstances of death. Names not yet in bold have been documented in at least one credible source; however, further corroboration is still needed to confirm additional details. This approach reflects both our commitment to accuracy and the reality that, in some cases, full confirmation may never be possible. By distinguishing levels of verification, we aim to honor every individual while transparently acknowledging the limitations of the historical record.
| Name | Age | Project/Incident | Date of Death | Cause of Death | Burial |
| Ralph C. Poucher | 42 | moving large boulders within the water tunnel | October 16, 1932 | high compression drill struck a stick of dynamite that was in the bore unexploded for ~six years | Crown Hill Cemetery Wheat Ridge, Colorado |
| Joseph O. McCloskey | 27 | relining the water tunnel | July 11, 1935 | injured when a jack hammer he was operating exploded a charge of powder which had not ignited during blasting operations a few minutes before. The explosion drove the handle of the heavy hammer into his abdomen | Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado |
| Martin Callahan | 56 | pushing a train over the apex from West Portal | February 13, 1937 | crushed and scalded to death by a helper engine that derailed in the tunnel; first rail accident in the tunnel (Martin was an engineer on the second section of the first train to run on schedule through the tunnel on opening day in 1928) | Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery Wheat Ridge, Colorado, |
| Charles L. Root | unknown | pushing a train over the apex from West Portal | February 13, 1937 | severely scalded and later died that day; staggered through 1.5 miles to carry the news about the engineer (see above) | unknown |
The primary purpose of our work is to inform the public.
