Denver County, History of Colorado, BIOS: MOFFAT, David Halliday (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II

p. 48, 50-51
photo p. 49

DAVID HALLIDAY MOFFAT.

	Banker, miner, mine owner and railroad builder, the activities of 
David H. Moffat along these lines would alone entitle him to 
distinction as one of Colorado's most prominent, honored and 
representative citizens; but in other fields, too, he left the impress 
of his individuality upon the history of the state, for he was a man of 
benevolent spirit, constantly extending a helping hand where assistance 
was needed, speaking an encouraging word and giving his friendship to 
all who were worthy of it. These things endeared him to his fellow 
townsmen, while his business activities constituted an important 
element in the upbuilding of the state and the advancement of growth 
and progress in the west.

	David H. Moffat was born in Washingtonvllle, Orange county, New 
York, July 22, 1839, and had therefore passed the Psalmist's allotted 
span of three score years and ten when he was called to his final rest, 
his death occurring in New York city, March 18, 1911. His parents, 
David H. and Kathleen (Gregg) Moffat, were also natives of the Empire 
state, the father being one of the largest mill owners of the east, 
widely known as a manufacturer and also prominent in legislative 
circles. The son attended the schools of his native town to the age of 
twelve years, when he secured employment in the New York Exchange Bank, 
now the Irving Exchange National Bank, of New York city. His initial 
position was a minor one-that of messenger boy, but he eagerly availed 
himself of every opportunity to gain knowledge concerning the banking 
business and his interest and fidelity were noted by the president, 
Selah Van Duser, who advanced him to the position of assistant teller. 
In 1855 he received word from an elder brother that a new bank was to 
be opened in Des Moines, Iowa, and that he could have a position 
therein it he so desired. Accordingly he made his way to Des Moines and 
became teller in the banking house of A. J. Stevens & Company. While 
thus engaged he formed the acquaintance of B. F. Alien, of Des Moines, 
a capitalist who was planning to open a bank in Omaha, Nebraska, and 
who offered him a position in the institution. Mr. Moffat accepted, 
becoming cashier of the Bank of Nebraska, and at the end of four years 
he closed the bank, paid its indebtedness in full and divided the 
surplus among the stockholders.

	The lure of the west was upon him and with a supply of provisions 
loaded on a wagon drawn by mules he started for Denver. He found on 
reaching his destination a settlement of a few hundred people, mostly 
prospectors, on Cherry creek. Mr. Moffat entered into partnership with 
C. C. Woolworth, of St. Joseph, Missouri, and they placed on sale in 
the new settlement a stock of books and stationery which they had 
purchased, Mr. Moffat to take charge of the selling end of the 
business, while Mr. Woolworth was to stay in St. Louis and attend to 
the buying. The stock was loaded on four wagons and three drivers were 
hired, while Mr. Moffat drove the fourth team on the journey across the 
plains. They arrived in Denver on the 17th of March, 1860, and the 
store was opened on Eleventh street, below Larimer street, on the other 
side of Cherry creek. Success attended the new undertaking and with the 
growth of the town the business was removed to a location on the north 
side of Larimer street, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets. Mr. 
Moffat remained a partner in the business for a decade, but in the 
meantime was extending his interests and investments in other 
directions. On the 17th of April, 1865, the comptroller of the treasury 
department authorized the organization of the First National Bank of 
Denver, which was opened for business on the 9th of May, the original 
stockholders and directors being Austin M. and Milton E. Clark, Bela S. 
Buell, Jerome B. Chaffee. Henry J. Rogers. George T. Dark. Charles T. 
Cook and Eben Smith. Mr. Chaffee was elected the president, with H. J. 
Rogers as vice president and George T. Clark as cashier. The new 
banking institution took over the private bank of Clark & Company, 
which was located on Blake street, then the business center of the 
city. Little success attended the new institution, however, until 1867, 
when Mr. Moffat was elected cashier and an almost immediate change was 
noted in the business of the bank. He remained the controlling spirit 
in the institution until his death, being elected to the presidency in 
1880. and the policy which he instituted and the progressive methods 
which he Introduced were the salient features in the continued growth 
and success of the institution.

	It was in 1869 that he became a directing factor in connection 
with railroad building and management in Colorado. He entered into 
association with Governor Evans and other prominent men of the state 
for the building of a railroad from Denver to Cheyenne, to connect with 
the Union Pacific at the latter place; and in 1870 a locomotive 
christened the David H, Moffat steamed into Denver. The discovery of 
the wonderful ore deposits in the Leadville district resulted in his 
next venture in railroad building. He was the organizer of the 
syndicate which constructed the Denver & South Park Railroad line, one 
hundred and fifty miles in length, which connected Denver with the 
Cloud City. With the discovery of the Creeds mineral field Mr. Moffat 
urged the directors of the Rio Grande to build a line through Wagon 
Wheel Gap to place the new camp on the map, and upon receiving a 
negative answer to the proposition Mr. Moffat, with characteristic 
energy, replied: "Very well. then I will build it myself." With him, to 
plan was to perform. He had a similar experience in the opening up of 
the Cripple Creek district, when other railroad directors refused to 
build into the new gold camp. He therefore undertook the work of 
constructing the Florence & Cripple Creek road, which proved a very 
profitable venture. With the building of the Boulder Valley Railroad he 
was selected as treasurer of the company and personally built the 
extension from Boulder to the Marshall coal banks. In 1885 he was 
elected president of the Denver & Rio Grande and continued at its head 
until 1891. when he resigned.

	With his opportunity of acquiring broad and accurate knowledge of 
the mineral fields of the state, Mr. Moffat became the owner of some of 
the best mining properties in Colorado and became a multimillionaire 
through his operation of such mines as the Maid, Henriette, 
Resurrection and Little Pittsburg at Leadville, and the Victor, 
Anaconda and Golden Cycle at Cripple Creek. He naturally became 
interested in banks and had large holdings in the Fourth National and 
the Western National Banks of New York city and was also one of the 
large stockholders in the Equitable Life Assurance Society of New York. 
He held a large amount of the stock of the Denver City Tramway Company 
and of the Denver Union Water Company. Perhaps no other single activity 
of his life brought him into such national prominence, however, as the 
building of the famous Moffat Road, which might well be termed the 
crowning achievement of his career. He had long hoped to place Denver 
on a direct transcontinental line of railway and he was sixty-three 
years of age when he announced his plans for the building of a road 
which should pierce the Rocky Mountains on an air line, establishing a 
direct route to Salt Lake City. This dream became an actual realization 
ere death called him. Some of the most difficult engineering problems 
were solved in the building of the line, which attracted the attention 
of engineers and scientists throughout the world.

	A contemporary writer has said of him: "Moffat was truly the 
'Empire Builder.' His most daring dream, the construction of a railroad 
over the Continental Divide at sixty-three years of age. when most men 
are winding up the affairs of life, stamped him as a man of genius. He 
raised money where others would have failed; and when he failed he drew 
upon his own immense personal fortune to realize his dream. He came to 
Colorado first, intending to return east when he had made seventy-five 
thousand dollars, but he remained in the state for fifty years and won 
a fortune estimated to be twenty million dollars. He 'found a 
wilderness and left an empire.' Of his temperament, the incidents when, 
meeting discouragement in the quest for support of his railroad 
ventures, he remarked 'I'll build it,' illustrate the courage and 
tenacity of the man. There are three ways of making a fortune; by the 
great arteries of commerce which extend over the land, in other words, 
the railroads; by tracing the rich veins of minerals under the earth's 
surface; and by the great financial medium known as banking. Moffat 
amassed his fortunes by all three of these methods. He was quiet, 
unpretentious, lovable, a man of patience and courtesy, and never spoke 
ill of anyone. During the panic of 1893, when the banks of the country 
and the business firms were involved in the maelstrom of disaster, 
Moffat's First National Bank stood as a rock of Gibraltar, carrying 
through without a tremor and bringing with it numerous other 
institutions and business houses. It was the refuge which saved the 
fortunes of many men in that time of stress. His first venture in 
railroad building was when he assisted in the construction of the 
Denver Pacific, the first road into Denver. Before he died he had 
become interested in nine railroad undertakings, exclusive of his 
labors in building branches and in broad-gauging the Denver & Rio 
Grande system. He was preeminently a financier and in his plan to 
tunnel through James' Peak, thus throwing open to commerce the rich 
coal fields of Routt county, he proclaimed himself a master executive 
and man of initiative. The term 'Moffat interests' became a term 
commonly used. In other cities it would have been hard to find 
financial interests whose holdings were so largely in non competitive 
enterprises. Moffat was regarded as severe and masterful in the 
direction of institutions and enterprises with which he was associated, 
and yet he had the happy fortune to escape practically all public 
criticism of painful character, when his institutions were involved in 
controversy with the people or the law. There was something about him 
which seemed to incline rebuke or reproach to stay its shafts. Perhaps 
this was an exhibition of that deep regard in the community for a man-a 
builder-who, in uprearing his own fortune, also advanced the material 
progress of the state, developed new country and commerce, gave 
employment to human toil and kept his capital busy in enterprise."

	On the 11th of December, 1861, Mr. Moffat was married in Saratoga 
county. New York, to Frances A. Buckhout and they became parents of a 
daughter, Marcia A. Moffat, now Mrs. James A. McClurg, who has one 
daughter, Frances Moffat. Mrs. Moffat was a daughter of Edward A. and 
Mary A. (Bradshaw) Buckhout, of Saratoga county, New York, born June 
15, 1843, in Mechanicsville, New York, and is descended from one of the 
famous Knickerbocker families of the Empire state.

	Mr. Moffat might have had any position within the gift of the 
people of the state had he so desired, but his ambition was not in the 
line of office holding. However, he served as adjutant general during 
the administration of Governor Evans and for four years was treasurer 
of Colorado during territorial days. He belonged to the Denver Club, 
the Union League Club of New York and the Chicago Club of Chicago. One 
who knew him well said of him: "His friendship takes not so much the 
smiling as the helping turn. I speak not of what he gives away in 
charity, but in a straight business way he has helped more men than any 
other man in the state. That would be little to say of him now because 
he is the richest man in the state, but it could have been truly said 
of him long before he became the richest man and actually was widely 
said." It may well be said that he was a man of genius and his record 
one of notable achievement, that the efforts of few have been so vital 
and dynamic a force in the upbuilding of the west; but it was his 
personal traits and the character of the man that so firmly established 
him in the affections and regard of his fellow citizens. He was not 
only honored but was loved by the people with whom he was associated 
and his democratic spirit rated men at their real worth. To count David 
H. Moffat as a friend was indeed an honor, but it was more -it was an 
intense joy.