East Portal Moffat Tunnel

The east portal housing area was never officially a town, but is an interesting collection of buildings that have weathered harsh mountain winters for nearly 100 years.

History

The housing at the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel, Colorado, was part of a specially constructed company town built in 1922-23 to accommodate the workers who were constructing the tunnel through the Continental Divide. This self-contained community featured bunkhouses, cottages, dining halls, a school, a hospital with an X-ray machine, recreation hall with a movie theater, post office, and various workshops and facilities, all designed to support the lives of hundreds of workers and their families residing there for the duration of the construction project. The town was meticulously planned by Colorado engineer Clifford A. Betts, with the intention of creating a factory-like environment that encouraged a strong work ethic and low labor turnover. The housing included a "Cottage Village" east of the bunkhouse and shop complex, consisting of eleven single-family cottages designed with early twentieth-century architectural elements such as wide eaves, low gable roofs, and exposed rafters. The overall environment was free of saloons and gambling halls since the construction took place during Prohibition and the contractor's policies forbade such establishments.

Geography

Located at approximately 39.8°N latitude and 105.7°W longitude in Gilpin County, the East Portal housing was situated just outside the tunnel entrance amid mountainous terrain. These cabins and buildings remain as some of the last remnants of the unique "factory town" built to support one of the most significant engineering feats in U.S. history—the Moffat Tunnel, which dramatically shortened rail routes across the Rocky Mountains when completed in 1927.

Obscure and Notable Facts

An obscure fact about the East Portal housing is that the community had a notably low worker turnover rate for its era, thanks largely to its comprehensive amenities and well-designed living conditions, which fostered a close-knit community of workers and their families. Today, though largely abandoned and in disrepair, the cabins stand as historical artifacts reflecting early 20th-century industrial community planning and engineering perseverance