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El Paso and Southwestern
Railroad Company |
It began as a
36-mile long railroad from the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee, Arizona to a
connection with the Santa Fe’s Arizona & New Mexico Railroad located at
Fairbank, Arizona. The initial name of this railroad was the
Arizona & Southwestern Railroad, built in 1888-1889 by the Copper Queen
Consolidated Mining Co. a subsidiary of Phelps Dodge Corp. Its
main purpose was to be able to transport copper anodes from a smelter in
Bisbee to a refinery in El Paso, Texas. To further reduce
transportation expenses, in 1894 Phelps Dodge Corp. extended the
railroad another 19 miles to the north to a connection with the Southern
Pacific Railroad at Benson, Arizona.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, the
country was increasingly turning to the use of electricity, causing a
great demand for copper. To meet these demands of the copper
industry, Phelps Dodge replaced the smelter at Bisbee with a new, larger
one at the newly formed town of Douglas, Arizona, named after Dr. James
Douglas, a prominent figure with the Copper Queen Mine. This town
was located on the flats southeast of Bisbee on the Mexican border.
In 1901 the Arizona & Southeastern extended its line 25 miles southeast
to Douglas to provide transportation to this new smelter.
On June 25th, 1901 the Phelps Dodge Corp.
formed El Paso & Southwestern Railroad Co., and transferred over the
properties of its Arizona & Southeastern Railroad. Plans were to
extend this railroad across the extreme southern portion of New Mexico
and into El Paso, Texas.
The railroad was continued laying rails in an
eastward direction from Douglas into New Mexico, passing through the
small settlement of Animas. Construction continued around the
north end of the Little Hatchet Mountains, just north of the mining
community of Hatchita, and into the wide valley just east to the present
site of Hatchita. This location was chosen because of ample water
supply. The mining community became known as “Old Hatchita”
The crews continued eastward to a location
where the town of Hermanas was built. In June 1901, construction
crews began grading a road from Deming, New Mexico, over a 31-mile,
level route to Hermanas. The two crews connected the lines in
February 1902 and this gave the El Paso & Southwestern a connection to
the Santa Fe railroad in Deming.
Construction also continued east from Hermanas,
through the Mimbres Valley to the small border community of Columbus,
New Mexico, The railroad then followed along the Mexican border to the
Rio Grande Valley and into El Paso, Texas. With completion of this
railroad, El Paso, and Tucson now had two railroad routes to follow, The
Southern pacific, built in 1881, and the El Paso & Southwestern,
completed in November, 1902. The EP&SW crossed the continental
Divide at 4,694 feet, (155 feet higher than the SP) but the grades
were less than that of the SP. With the completion of the EP&SW railroad
into El Paso, the EP&SW now consisted of 291 miles of mainline from El
Paso to Benson, and 40 miles of branch lines.
Growing copper demands led to more and larger
smelter operations for Phelps Dodge corp. This generated a growing
need for coal and coke to operate these smelters. On July 1st,
1905 The El Paso & Southwestern bought the properties of the El Paso &
Northeastern Railroad that had lines from El Paso, northeast to
Tucumcari, New Mexico and branches from Alamogordo to Cloudcroft and
Russia; Carrizozo to Capitan; and Tucumcari to Dawson. This gave
Phelps Dodge Corp rail connection from the coalfields around Dawson, New
Mexico, and its smelters located in El Paso and in southern Arizona.
Additional branches were acquired over
the next few years. A Branch to Tombstone was built in 1903.
The mainline was extended from Benson to Tucson in 1912. Another
branch line was constructed to Tyrone in 1921. A merger with the
Arizona & New Mexico Railroad was finalized on January 1, 1922,
including the old Lordsburg & Hatchita Railroad.
Not much activity took place on the portion of
the El Paso & Southwestern between Douglas Arizona and El Paso, Texas
due to low population. The towns of Rodeo, Animas, Hatchita grew to
become farming and ranching communities as well as stations and water
stops for the railroad. Columbus was still a sleepy border community
with a port of entry into Mexico.
A U.S. Army camp was established at Columbus, In March 1916, Pancho
Villa raided the village. Activity increased in the area when
General Pershing increased troops in an effort to capture Pancho Villa.
Following World War I, the price of copper
began to drop, causing activity at many of the mines in the area to
cease or reduce their operations. Traffic on the El Paso &
Southwestern was drastically reduced. This put a great financial
strain on the Phelps Dodge Corp. whose primary product was copper.
In an effort to focus on the copper production, Phelps Dodge Corp. made
the decision to sell the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad. By this
time, consisting of over 1,200 miles of road, the Southern pacific Co.
offered to purchase the railroad for about $ 64 million dollars, payable
in a combination of cash, stock and bonds. The ICC approved the
sale and the SP took control of the El Paso & Southwestern on November
1, 1924,
In 1955, in an effort to simplify the corporate
structure, the Southern Pacific Co. made several internal mergers
collapsing several of its acquired railroads under one name, including
the El Paso & Southwestern. The portion of the line from El Paso
to Douglas became known as the “Southline” because of its southern route
opposed the “Northline” given to the original Southern Pacific route
that went through Deming and Lordsburg.
Over the years traffic was decreasing on the
“Southline” due to lower population and a slightly longer distance (29
miles) than the “Northline”. Studies indicated that very little
traffic originated east of Douglas. Even with the additional
mileage used to ship copper anodes from Douglas, through Benson to the
refinery in El Paso via the “Northline” a significant savings would be
realized with the abandonment of the portion of the railroad” from
Douglas to Anapra (6 miles west of El Paso). Following ICC
approval, this portion of the “Southline” ceased operation on December
20, 1961. Pending litigation, the tracks and facilities remained
in place until 1963
During the years to follow, the rails were pulled up, ties removed,
and many of the townsites along the route became ghost towns when the
railroad employees pulled up their roots and moved elsewhere. |
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