collected in the snowsheds causing temporary blindness, loss of consciousness, and sometimes death. Workers on the Moffat Road had an adage: "There's winter and then there's August", reflecting the fact that in the high mountains of Colorado, snow will often cover the area for more than six months and very cold and snowy weather may occur nearly year-round. It was these heavy snowstorms that led to the financial demise of the Moffat Road and served as the incentive for construction of a permanent railroad tunnel through the Rocky Mountains and into Middle Park. Following scuba dives, no evidence exists that locomotive, rotary, or wreck debris rests at the bottom of Yankee Doodle Lake or Jenny Lake. However, many derailments, wrecks of Mallet locomotives, accidents resulting in injury and/or death, and/or the loss of portions of rail manifests occurred on both sides of the pass: Despite the challenges documented above, by 1918, it was reported that 45 or 46 engines were part of the motive power of the railroad along with 3 rotary snowplows. The Moffat Tunnel Several locations for the Moffat Tunnel were scouted prior to the selection of the present-day location; one possible location was identified at high altitude between Yankee Doodle Lake and the Forest Lakes. Plans to build a longer tunnel at a lower elevation were better planned and financed; the single-track Moffat Tunnel opened just south of Rollins Pass on Sunday, February 26, 1928. The Moffat Tunnel eliminated 10,800 degrees of curvature along the Rollins Pass route; the tunnel resulted in considerable time savings as well as money that was used for snow removal atop Rollins Pass. After the first year of operations, an annual report to stockholders showed "marked savings in operating costs" by 24.86%. Savings were seen in other areas, including in fuel reductions ($89,074.45 savings; $1.3 million in 2018 when adjusted for inflation), engine servicing ($156,188.89 savings); whereas gross tons per train hour increased by 34.84%. After the Moffat Tunnel opened, the tracks over Rollins Pass remained in place and were maintained at least as late as July 1929 as an emergency route. This emergency route was needed only once for a several day-long closure: on Thursday, July 25, 1929, dry rot of wooden timbers caused a collapse and of rock caved-in and blocked the Moffat Tunnel near the East Portal. It took until Tuesday, July 30, 1929 for the tunnel to be