The herald., 1897-08-09
Will Soon Be Reached by
Railroad
THE MECCA OF THE TOURIST
SANTA FE'S NEW LINE THROUGH
ARIZONA
Improvements on the Southern Pa
cific's Phoenix Connection-More
Railroads Being Surveyed
Associated Press Special Wire.

Associated Press Special Wire.
PHOENIX, Ariz., Aug. 7.-Were it
given me to select the most important
happening Of the week in the southwest,
I would unhesitatingly give verdict to
the Incorporation of company to build
railroad to the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado. There have in the past been
similar organizations, but none that
promised so well. believe the line will
be in opera tion by the first day Of the
| new year. The scheme has the backing
Of the well known financial firm Of
| Lombard, Goode Ss Co., of Chicago, and
| the bonds of the line are now being
| placed in the east and to good advantage,
as the road is understood to have the
active sanction of the Santa Fe. The
name selected for the line would indicate
as much-the Santa Fe and Grand Can
yon. Chief among the Arizonians inter-
ested is Mayor O'Neill of Prescott,
whose energy in this, as in other enter
prises, would appear to ensure a sue
| cesSful termination.
The starting point for the road will be
at Williams or at Flagstaff and the
canyon will be tapped at distance of
about seventy miles. This will not be
exactly direct, but several valuable cop
per mines are thus to be reached. For it
is not the scenic wonders at the end on
which the roads promoters base their
hopes of profit. The Lombard-Goode
company is heavily interested in the
| copper mines that lie between the can
you and the Santa Fe line, and until
railway transportation is secured these
mines are practically valueless. For
copper mine has heavy freight bills to
pay and wagon transportation is
costly way in which to reach the outside
world. There can be no doubt Of the
value of these copper deposits Of north
ern Arizona. They may for the most
part correctly be termed deposits, since
the mineral Is found rarely in ledge
| form, but rather permeati ting the carbon
ferrous limestone that caps the canyon
region to the depth of 800 feet.
| A TOURISTS PARADISE
| I spent a month in the Grand canyon
this summer, and, though seasoned
Arizonan, thinking himself surfeited
with scenery, found myself as exclam-
atory and as emotional as the
veriest tenderfoot. There is no
description of the Grand canyon
possible-as well attempt to describe the
infinitude of the stellar systems. 1t sim
ply is beyond the comprehension of man.
1t can be understood and described only
in detail, and the detail is endless 1t
is region where the mountains are all
underground" Were San Francisco
peak, the highest in Arizona, razed level
from the plain near Flagstaff and set
into the abyss, its top would not appear
above the canyons rim. The loftiest Of
| the peaks of the California coast range,
if transported to the canyon, might form
but small portion of the rocky land
scape viewed from above. The eye is
deceived for there is nothing visible
| of comprehensive size wherefrom COM
parison might be made. But it is six
or seven thousand feet down to the
stream that family sends its roar to you
and the cliff on which you stand is per-
haps 1000 feet in its sheer descent.
| But 1 am not attempting to describe
the canyon-I'm merely attempting to
show the impossibiIity of adequate de-
scription. There is only one way to ap-
| prScldle the CduyOH. Iudl way IS u 80
there yourself and stay awhile. The
first view is almost overpowering. Ac-
quantance and appreciation will not
come till later.
| Heretofore and now the only way to
reach the canyon has been and is by
stage or wagon. Though the trip is re-
ally not bad one, over good roads and
through beautiful pine and cedar for
ests, it is not the trip that the busy man
or the invalid or the general tourist
would care to make. But with railroad
it is not optimistic to predict that thou
sands will go where heretofore hundreds
only have gone.
Almost anywhere along the canyons
| edge hotels could be built on sites that
| Switzerland could never command
Think of sitting on hotel porch, sur
rounded by all the luXuries of life, watch
ing the moon rise; the black abyss below
| lighting up, peak by peak, till at last
the rays rest and sparkle on the silvery
thread of the river. l have seen this, but
1 was not on a hotel porch. was seated
on roll of blankets, and the reflections
suitable to the scene were tempered by
thoughts of an almost empty grub"
| packard the party many miles from
source of supply.
THE RESTLESS SANTA FE
| But there are other railroads being
| builded in the southwest, though none. of
! them have the scenic glories that will
attend the Santa Fe and Grand Canyon.
| Perhaps to the mercantile men of Los
| Angeles will come more welcome the
| tidings that the Santa Fe will without
doubt put its Globe road through at
once. The force of surveyors that has
| been working west from the Silver City
line has made a distance OF 15O miles
with permanent survey, having
| reached the neighborhood of Geronimo,
| or Fort Thomas, on the northern side of
| the Gila river, seventy miles from Globe
From Phoenix the Santa Fe, Prescott
and Phoenix will be extended to meet
the Silver City line at Globe.
Up in northern Arizona the Santa Fe
is practically making town. 1t is at
Seligman, once called Prescott Junction,
where the now defunct Prescott and Ar
iona Central road had its junction with
the Atlantic and Pacific Since the rise
of the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix
line, with it's highly superior service.
there has been practically as much of
Seligman as there has been of the aban-
doned road. Now, however, under the
general scheme, of heightened divisions