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-16- <br /> <br />cattle industry was no loagar dependent on long drives. ii:e <br />hay industry was able to ship directly to Denver, yet wit:; -11 <br />of these industries the railroad never made enough ::.oney to <br />cover the cost o_f construction or operating costs. The Dever <br />and Salt Lake was saved by Idorld k'ar I .:hen coal demands soared, <br />but after that conflict the road nearly went broke again. Sy <br />1921, the Denver and Salt Lake was bankrupt, despite the fact <br />34 <br />Chat it had been completed to Craig in 1913. <br />The railroad was in serious trouble and many north.estern <br /> <br /> <br />Coloradans knew it. Sdhen talk of a tunnel through the F.o~-ies <br />came up, many citizens of this region were firmly behind such <br />an idea on the basis that once a tunnel had been built to <br />circumvent the treacherous Rollins Pass, the railroad would <br />surely be completed to Salt Lake City and the northwest would <br />boom. In northwestern Colorado citizens' groups .o promote <br />the tunnel were formed.' In 1925, the Moffat Tunnel League <br />was founded and several "Prosperity Editions" of local news- <br />papers were put out to describe the wonderful opportunities <br />to be found in this region. One booklet described an oil <br />gusher at Hamilton, head lettuce being raised in the Tampa <br />Valley, major mining at Oak Cteek and new schools at Kremmling <br />35 <br />and Hayden. Oak Creek was described as being so progressive <br />that it had a soft drink bottling plant, a cigar factory, a <br />packing house, and a sawmill and creamery. Its population was <br />36 <br />estimated to be over 10,000. <br />The ;toffat Tunnel, as it turned out, did nothing to help <br />the northwest corner. The :Moffat Road (the Denver and Salt <br />