Cochise review., 1901-01-05
A Triumph of Engineering Skill UnequaIled in America. Built by Phelps,
 Dodge < Co.
A New Road Soon to be in Operation in Graham County Which May be Extended to lordsburo, Separ or Deminv.

ara Stroeter & LuSk, marks an epocn in railroad building which is unequall- ed in America The road is only few miles in length but is constructed through such a rough and rugged coun- try as to require the highest engineer ing skill and the expenditure of a vast sun of money. For many years it was considsred an impossibility to construct . road to Morenci, but the vast volume Sf huainsss of the Detroit Copper com pAny, which was rapidly increased from year to year was sufficient to jus tity its management in seriously con. sidering the construction of the road. Alter e large number of preliminary surveys had been run it was found that q road could be constructed, but upon sharper curves and sleeper grades than is usual in railroad building. It was bold enterprise, but it has been carried to e successful termination, and in a few days the road will be in operation under 6 regular time card. It has been used for several years past by construc' ton trains, and it has been practically demonstrated that 1t can be operated without any serious difficulty. It is the ''corkscrew route of America, and is well worth 6 trip of thousand miles to see and enjoy. It must be seen to be fully appreciated, and even then one needs the figures of an engineer or con- tractor to realize what wonder of en- SinOeripg triumph it is. Some one long ago very correctly stated that "Necessity was the Mother of Inyen- tion," which is fully confirmed by the construction of this road. Were it not m absolute necessity to have railroad at Morenci it is safe to say that the boldest engineer never would have con- csived the idea of building a road under such appalling disadvantages. But it has been built. It is in operation and it is . success, and will ever remain as a monument to the intellect which con- ceived it, to engineers who laid out the plans, and to the contractors who so faithfully carried them out.
 The construction work was commence cd last February and will be practical ly completed by January lst. The en- Gineers found that they had an eleva- tion of some 1850 feet to overcome in a direct line of less than seven miles. They also had to cross divide between the San Francisco and Gila rivers very nearly $50 feet high. The elevation at the Gila river where the Morenci Southern joins the A. x N. M. is 3,655 feet; at the San Francisco river the ele- vation at the top of the bridge is s,7O0 feet; at Morenci the elevation is 5,060 feet, which would be steep climbing for an ordinary mountain wagon roak.
 The bridge at the Gila river has two short approaches and one span lS5 feet long. The deck of this bridge is l02 feet above the river bed. At the San Francisco river the bridge and ap proachss are longer but the elevation is about the same, 100 feet. Owl can. yon which is box canyon, is crossed by single girder 80 feet long, over 100 feet in the air. All of the piers and abuttments are of modern concrete construction, and these bridges all rest on concrete foundations. Altogether there are seven steel bridges on the line, constructed or erected by the Phoenix Bridge Co.
 There are three tunnels and i've complete, four of which are in the Mo- renci canyon in less than four miles distance. A gain in altitude of one hundred feet and six inches is made by the first loop, which will give the read. or sn idea of some of the difficulties which the engineers had to surmount in the construction of the road.
 Thousands of yards of masonry were made to hold the road bed in the can. yons and on the steep mountain sides. la some places these walls of masonry are from so to 76 feet in height, and along considerable portion of the dis. tanee the road bed is cut through the solid formation of the mountains.
 The construction is practically all through solid rock, most of 1t being of volcanic conglomerate or nal pals, al. though red sandstone, lime and quartz. its were found in places. No mineral wss developed. One small cave was