The historic cabins at the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel, built a century ago, are being preserved through modern engineering efforts.
A century ago, the engineers who would build the Moffat Tunnel first had to tackle much smaller engineering tasks: construct two towns on either end of the tunnel. These were specialized towns, however, consisting of bunk houses, cottages, dining halls, drill sharpening shops, powder magazines, schools, hospitals, barns, and more. (Everything except the saloon, as the tunnel was created entirely during prohibition; and no gambling halls as the contractor refused to allow the lifestyle.) In the end, the towns had every amenity of home at both West Portal and East Portal, so that the hundreds of inhabitants at each town wanted for nothing. After all, this was to be their home for the next several years.
Construction started in the late summer and carried through to the winter in 1923-1924. In fact, it was in October 1923 that the men working at West Portal moved out of their tents and into bunk houses. The East Portal was slightly behind, so an additional fifty carpenters were sent mid-October to speed up and finalize the construction of structures.
Meanwhile, the two eight-hour shifts were expanded to three eight-hour shifts, with workers now laboring around the clock to build Moffat’s dream. In the final week of October, the Colorado Power company completed running power lines into both towns. Power generation was crucial for supporting round-the-clock work into darkening conditions: the workers had pushed more than two hundred feet into the mountain at West Portal as they created the pioneer bore (later to become the Moffat Water Tunnel). They were also experiencing less and less daylight as the days grew shorter with the approach of the winter solstice.
Early season snow storms deposited considerable snow in this area of Colorado: 12 inches at East Portal, 18 inches at West Portal, and over 5 feet atop the Continental Divide. In fact, consignment of snowshoes were sent to both portals. That wasn’t all that was requested, however. The Moffat Tunnel Commission appealed to the general public in late October for phonograph records to be played at both recreation halls. Records were delivered to the commission, and subsequently distributed to each portal and placed under the needle to fill both new towns with sweet sounds.
Fast-forwarding a century…
Yesterday at the East Portal, structural engineers were onsite re-examining the five remaining cabins, using tools unimaginable a century ago: handheld computers with unprecedented processing power, infrared sensors to see beyond the visible spectrum, moisture sensors, resistographs, and pocket cameras capable of still and motion photography. The homes of the Master Mechanic, Commissary Manager, Assistant Superintendent, Superintendent, and Paymaster still have life left and the saving of these endangered buildings is crucial to telling Colorado’s story.
Throughout the day, we grimaced as the unrelenting winds shrieked off James Peak, liberating gritty and grainy bits of ice and snow that swirled, tore, and whipped at the structures at East Portal. Thinking back to long ago, what relative respite it must have been to have sought a shift inside the mountain where the persistent, penetrating cold was preferable to the outdoors.
The historic structure assessment will be forthcoming later in November, as will more Moffat Tunnel stories.
B. Travis Wright, MPS | Preserve Rollins Pass | October 31, 2023
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