People/financier

David Moffat

David Moffat (1839–1911), financier, from United States. Linked to silver, gold.

The lucky break

Invested in mines the railroads served, including Leadville's Little Pittsburg, the Caribou mine and Cripple Creek ventures.1

The downfall

Lost an Omaha real estate fortune in the 1860 bubble. By his death he had spent his whole personal fortune on the Moffat Road, whose tunnel remained unfinished.1

Legacy

Banker and railroad builder who linked Denver to the Rockies by the Moffat Road, still used today.1

Story cards

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Where next

Mines

FinancedLeadvilleA railroad builder who put money into Leadville's Little Pittsburg mine.1

Sources

  1. David H. Moffat Colorado Encyclopedia

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Pictures: South Africa: a crowd of people gathered outside The Goldfields offices in Johannesburg. 1896., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Falu gruva, Lundberg, Bengt A / Europeana (CC0 1.0); Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Pangkalpinang. Mijn 3b. Een reeks koelies bezig met het transporteeren van grond, Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0).