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Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History The Desert States Robertson HC 1986
Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History The Desert States By Donald B. Robertson
Hard Cover with dust jacket
Copyright 1986 318
Pages, Indexed
Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico & Utah
This book is a catalog, a record, of virtually every railroad that owned or operated ten miles or more of track as a common carrier in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Many minor operations have been included, such as logging and mining companies, but in much less detail.
It is a compilation of tens of thousands of printed pages. The main sources were Poor's Manual of the Railroads of the United States and Interstate Commerce Commission Valuation Reports. Additional major sources of information and data are to be found at the beginning of each state section.
Every attempt has been made to verify names, dates and places from several sources. But even this does not assure success, because who knows how many authors found some of their data in books which were incomplete or in error. The previously mentioned Poor's Manual was my final court of law for most early data. It was like today's newspaper, cut, indexed and bound into a book each year and hence not subject to someone's memory or recall. A few (very few) errors were found in Valuation Reports; some of them were printed 75 or 100 years after the event, hence not current news as in the case of Poor's reports. Numerous old newspapers have been read to determine construction details and opening dates not found in standard reference works.
Beginning in 1888, the Interstate Commerce Commission published Statistics of Railways in the United States, and this series was checked each year for each company to record mileage alterations, change of name, new owners, leases, mergers and abandonments. The phrase "First listed in ICC for" refers to this publication.
Maps of each territory or state begin with the year in which a few miles of track had been built. They advance by five year periods except when unusual activity was evident, and skip ahead during a lull. The last year is 1915; from that date forward, there was little construction or short line railroad activity except for consolidations into the present majors.
Extensive use was made of United States Geological Survey from the 1880's to about 1960. My access to the Hopkins Transportation Library at Leland Stanford Junior University made it possible for me to begin this work in 1970.
CONTENTS
Preface xiii
Part I: The Development of the West
Western North America 1832 -- 1895 (map) 2
Formation of the western United States 1845 -- 1854 (map) 3
The pre-civil war era 1854 - 1861 (map) 4
The civil war era 1861 -- 1865 (map) 5
Pre-railroad western history 6-8
Military forts of Arizona and New Mexico Territories (map) 9
Military forts of Nevada and Utah Territory 10
Establishment of post offices in the desert states 11-16
Post offices in the eleven western states 1860 -- 1900 17
Compendium of the seventh to fourteenth censuses 18-19
Railroad construction by year and company 1869 -- 1880. 20
Operations in the desert states 1880 - 1890 21
Mileage in the eleven western states 1855 -- 1919 22
Maps of the eight Rocky Mountain states showing railroads 18701895 23-28
Western railroads in 1909 29-32
Summary of railroads in the Rocky Mountain states 33
Construction and abandonments authorized 19211963 34-35
Short line railroads with ownerships 1979 36
Part H: The Railway Age
Mileage constructed 18301920 37
Introduction of the world-wide railroad era 38
Chronology of the development of railroad equipment 39
Notes on track, gauges and equipment 40
The major locomotive builders 41
Locomotive production by major builders 1833 -- 1890 42
Census of coal burning locomotives 1911 43
Locomotive production by era and type 44
The Whyte wheel classification system 45-46
Fuel consumption of western roads 1918 -- 1972 47
Part HI:Arizona
Introduction 49
Index 50-51
Railroad maps of the Territory/State of Arizona 52-62
Road map of Arizona Territory, 1880 63
Graph - Miles of railroad track and population in the Territory/State of Arizona 1878 - 1920 64
The railroads 65-114
Railroad changes from Official Guide - Extensions, new openings, name changes of roads, stations, etc. 115-117
Part IV:Nevada
Introduction 119
Index 120-121
Railroad maps of Nevada 122-129
Road map of Nevada, 1880 130
Graph - Miles of railroad track and population in Nevada 1867 - 1920 131
The railroads 132-168
Profit and loss figures for Nevada short lines - 1928 - 1941 169
Nevada passenger statistics for 1912 169
Railroad changes from Official Guide - Extensions, new openings, name changes of roads, stations, etc. 170-171
Part V:New Mexico
Introduction 173
Index 174-175
Railroad maps of the Territory/State of New Mexico 176-184
Road map of New Mexico Territory, 1880 185
Graph -- Miles of railroad track and population in the Territory/State of New Mexico 1878 - 1920186
The railroads 187-240
Railroad changes from Official Guide - Extensions, new openings, name changes of roads, stations, etc. 241-242
Map details:Santa Fe, Raton & Eastern with parts of St. Louis, Rocky Mountain & Pacific 243
Silver City, Pinos Altos & Mogollon Railroad Co. 243
Santa Rita mining district in 1914 243
Major junction points of New Mexico & Southern Pacific, Atlantic & Pacific and
Eastern Railway Company of New Mexico 243
Part VI:Utah
Introduction 245
Index 246-247
Railroad maps of the Territory/State of Utah 248-257
Road map of Utah Territory, 1880 258
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