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Central Arizona Railroad by Thomas Schuppert Arizona's central Timber region DJ
Central Arizona Railroad by Thomas Schuppert
and the railroads of Arizona's Central Timber region
Hard Cover w dust jacket
101 pages
Copyright 1993
CONTENTS
Chapter 1The 35th Parallel Route 9
Chapter 2Flagstaff 15
Chapter 3Boom and Bust in Flagstaff 23
Chapter 4A Railroad to Nowhere 29
Chapter 5Tracks to Carry Timber 39
Chapter 6All in a Days Work 49
Chapter 7Steam in the Woods 55
Chapter 8Rival Rails 61
Chapter 9Thirty-three Years After 71
Chapter 10On to the Grand Canyon 85
Appendix 91
Bibliography 92
Rosters of Motive Power 95
Index 98
DUST JACKET INTRODUCTION
During December 1878, the Southern Pacific began its eastward march across southern Arizona, reaching Tucson in March 1880. The Atlantic & Pacific (Santa Fe) began laying rails through northern Arizona in 1881, reaching Needles, California, in April 1883. This left the vast 325 mile span between the two transcontinental lines ripe for railroad development. Central Arizona, comprising part desert, and part heavily timbered high country, was an area rich in mineral and timber wealth.
Colonel James W. Eddy, a western mining and construction engineer, formed the Arizona Mineral Belt Railroad to build south from Flagstaff to Globe, and eventually to Tucson, to fill in this void. After building 35 miles of track, the company ran out of funds, and became bankrupt.
The assets of the Arizona Mineral Belt were purchased by the Riordan brothers representing the Arizona Lumber Company of Flagstaff, and the railroad began to haul logs to the Flagstaff mill under the name Central Arizona Railroad. Future plans were similar to those of Colonel Eddy, however, the Riordans never could interest financiers to build the railroad north as the Flagstaff & Grand Canyon Railroad, or construct a line south to Jerome, Globe, or Tucson. All these great plans never materalized, and the Central Arizona Railroad remained a logging railroad.
The Riordan brothers later reorganized the Arizona Lumber Company as the Arizona Lumber & Timber Company. The firm milled heavy bridge supports, railroad ties, mining timbers, and finished lumber, shipping them all over the West. Over the years various lines were extended into timber, then withdrawn. The Central Arizona Railroad would never reach any city other than Flagstaff, nor serve any commerce other than the lumber industry.
This book portrays the life and times of the Arizona Mineral Belt, the Central Arizona Railroad, and other associated lines such as the Flagstaff Lumber Company, and the Greenlaw Lumber Company. Described are the locomotives, the line extensions, the rolling stock, operations, bucking snow, life in the camps, the people who ran the railroad, and the lumber mills.
In the early 1940's, the Saginaw & Manistee Lumber Company of nearby Williams, Arizona, having exhausted its timber holdings, leased the Arizona Lumber & Timber Company and its Central Arizona Railroad. The company underwent another transformation in 1948, when the Southwest Lumber Mills built a mill at Flagstaff, and sub-leased the railroad. It finally purchased the whole operation in 1953 and was renamed Southwest Forest Industries. In 1966 the railroad was gone, replaced by trucks.
Also included in this book is the building of the Atlantic & Pacific across Arizona, and its absorption into the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Discussed is the intent of building a line from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon as the Flagstaff & Grand Canyon Railroad, the Santa Fe & Grand Canyon Railroad which was built north from Williams to near the canyon rim before going bankrupt in 1900. The eventual takeover by the Santa Fe in 1901, and today's operation of the line as the Grand Canyon Railway.
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