Milestones: Gateway to Somewhere

Last week the first transcontinental trains ever to pass through Denver chufied through the Moffatt Tunnel ("Gateway to Nowhere") and on to the West Coast— two double-header freights loaded with Nebraska corn, Colorado coal, stoves, grits, lumber, hoboes. Instead of going around through Pueblo to the south or Cheyenne to the north, they bored under the Continental Divide, rattled down the Denver & Salt Lake, switched off on the new Dotsero Cutoff to Denver & Rio Grande Western's main line into Salt Lake City. Next day the Governors of Colorado and Utah, the Mayors of Denver and Salt Lake, six railroad presidents and several thousand rejoicing citizens rode out on a fleet of trains, shuttled back & forth over the Cutoff, held a mighty barbecue, drove ceremonial silver spikes. Running time for passenger trains between Denver and Salt Lake City over this newest transcontinental line had been cut a good eight hours.