New Mexico's Railroads David Myrick Historical Survey Soft Cover
New Mexicos Railroads By David Myrick An Historical Survey
Soft Cover
207 pages Indexed
Copyright 1970
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
The Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway 1
Santa Fe 1
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad 17
Belen Cutoff 20
Colmor Cutoff 25
Santa Fe Lines in New Mexico 29
Pecos River Valley 39
Potash and Sulphur 44
New Mexico Central Railway 49
Southern Pacific Transportation Company 59
The Southern Pacific Railroad Company of New Mexico 59
El Paso and Northeastern Railroad System 71
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Company 92
Tucumcari 106
Introduction
Early in 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state of the Union, but this late entry in no way shrinks the extended history of European discovery and settlement which predates that of many areas along the Atlantic seaboard. Santa Fe, the capital of the state, founded by the Spanish in 1610, was the objective of traders from a vast area. Journeys of the traders to and from the Missouri resulted in the Santa Fe Trail. Not surprisingly, New Mexico figured prominently in the Pacific Railroad Surveys of 1853-56, although nearly a quarter of a century was to go by before the first locomotive whistle echoed through a mountain pass leading into the territory.
Early railroad proposals were concerned with building through the territory while actual railroad building, measured by the number of lines, was largely for development within the borders of New Mexico. The slogan, "Land of Enchantment", may have provided the stimulus to bring many visitors to this part of the southwest in later years, but it was the unusually wide range of natural resources that brought pioneer industry, jobs, people and the short line railroads that served them. Extensive coal deposits, oil fields, potash mines, metals such as copper, zinc, lead, iron, silver and gold, agricultural and livestock lands and great stands of timber were effectively linked to markets by rail-both short lines and branches feeding to the main lines of major systems.
The number of railroads in New Mexico's history can be expanded or contracted at will depending on definitions. Most of the larger railroads were the result of a series of combinations of corporate names, often the same piece of track having a succession of legal ownerships. Of the companies owning or operating rail properties in New Mexico, the enlarged definition would probably yield a number in excess of 100. A list of railroads filing papers of incorporation in the Territorial days is almost double that number. As Texas laws for many years required that railroads operating in that state he incorporated under its laws, railroads running from El Paso into New Mexico added still more corporations to the list. Because of their significant contribution to the overall railroad history of New Mexico, railroads in Western Texas are included in this book.
Though major railroad projects such as the Atlantic and Pacific had their inception earlier, November 1, 1869 was the date of the first railroad incorporation in New Mexico. While its principal office was given as Santa Fe, the title gave no hint as to the area to be served: Mississippi Valley and Pacific Rail Road Company. One of its several proposed routes was from Gallup to Raton Pass to meet the Kansas Pacific. The promoters also had in mind a later project to follow Beal's wagon road across Arizona to meet proposed California railroads near Fort Mohave.
A few weeks later, some of the same busy people filed papers for their El Paso and Rio Gila Railroad and Telegraph Company. Projected routes included one from El Paso to Yuma, El Paso to Delaware Creek, Texas (near the southeast corner of New Mexico where the Santa Fe completed its sulphur branch in 1969), as well as a link to their other system. Great ideas were these railroads hut, with no construction funds forthcoming, ideas are all they were.
More incorporations were to take place, but it was not until late in 1878 that the first railroad entered New Mexico. Steaming across the boundary at Raton Pass, the Santa Fe opened an active period of construction in New Mexico in which two other companies soon joined. By the time the Santa Fe had finished building southward through the territory to reach El Paso in June 1881, three railroads had built over 1,000 miles - all in just 30 months.
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