Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Moffat County, Colorado
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
=== Development and growth === David Moffat had been the primary force driving the establishment of a railroad from Denver to Salt Lake City. He established the [[Denver and Salt Lake Railway|Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railway]], and attempted to build a route from [[Denver]] to [[Salt Lake City]]. Construction on the 'Moffat Road' track began in the early 1900s but it faced constant delays and challenges. It finally reached Moffat County in 1913, ending in the town of Craig.<ref>{{Cite web |last=yongli |date=May 25, 2016 |title=Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railway Hill Route (Moffat Road) |url=https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/denver-northwestern-pacific-railway-hill-route-moffat-road |access-date=September 4, 2022 |website=coloradoencyclopedia.org |language=en-US}}</ref> The railroad was important for cattle ranchers in Moffat County's early years; however, the track was never extended into Utah. In 1934, another more direct route was established to Salt Lake City, and Moffat County remained a branch line and never part of the main commerce rail artery between Denver and Salt Lake City.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In the 1920s, [[U.S. Route 40|U.S. 40]], a major cross-country highway, began construction. The route selected put Moffat County, and the County Seat of Craig on the 'Victory Highway' and almost exactly halfway between Denver and Salt Lake City. In 1938, the final section over the Rocky Mountains was completed<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Timeline |url=https://www.codot.gov/about/CDOTHistory/centennial/timeline |access-date=September 5, 2022 |website=Colorado Department of Transportation |language=en-us}}</ref> and paved, with the exception of Rabbit Ears Pass in Routt County, which was paved by 1950.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Colorado US 40 |url=https://www.mesalek.com/colo/us40.html |access-date=September 5, 2022 |website=www.mesalek.com}}</ref> This expanded Craig's economy by adding lodging and tourism. Moffat County was excluded from the initial [[Interstate Highway System]] plans as [[Interstate 80|I-80]] was routed through southern Wyoming and [[Interstate 70|I-70]] was planned to end in Denver and not cross the Rocky Mountains. Then Colorado Governor and former Moffat County resident, [[Edwin C. Johnson]] lobbied for I-70 to continue through Denver and connect to Salt Lake City. Eventually, the federal highway agency approved I-70 to continue through Colorado but routed it through Grand Junction, Colorado, leaving Moffat County as a secondary highway isolated between the two main east/west Interstate arteries.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} The population in Moffat County stabilized at just over 5,000 people by the first census in 1920; however, it remained stagnant until the 1970s when construction of three coal-fired electrical power plants began. Those three plants are now scheduled to be closed in 2025, 2028, and 2030, respectively, creating a severe impact on the county's economy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 19, 2022 |title=Colorado coal town grapples with future as plant shuts down |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2022/01/19/colorado-coal-town-craig-plant-shuts-down/ |access-date=September 4, 2022 |website=The Denver Post |language=en-US}}</ref> Beyond the energy industries, Moffat County's ranching, agricultural, and tourism industries round out its primary economy. The 2020 census data showed the population at 13,292 people, which is almost the same as the county's post-power plant boom in the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=U.S. Census Bureau |date=September 3, 2022 |title=Quick Facts - Moffat County, Colorado |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/moffatcountycolorado}}</ref>
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Moffat County, Colorado
(section)
Add topic