Arizona republican., 1907-09-11
Story OF THE CUT OFF
FOR TWO GREAT LINES
"The Railroad Gazette's" Description
of the Phoenix Through Line.

The following from the Railroad Ca
zette for August, contains the follow
ing on the new transcontinental cut
off for the Santa Fe and the Southern
Pacific. There have been from time to
time, articles in the Republican and
other papers of the southwest descrip-
tive of parts OF this great enterprise
but it has never before been so eX-
] haustively described.
The author of 1t is Charles II. Fry,
one of the editors of the Gazette, and
son of Charles III. Fry, of &c East
Washington street, this city:
With the taking over last April of
the Phoenix & Eastern. n Santa Fe
branch line running from Phoenix,
Ariz.. east 100 miles to Winkleman on
the ella river, by the Southern Pacific,
and the election Of Epes Randolph.
president of various Southern Pacific
lines in Arizona, as its president, a
definite step was taken in the develop
ment of what will in all probability Ill
timateiy become transcontinental cut
off for both the Southern Pacific and
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.
I
velopment of a new and better trans
continental line through Arizona have
been in the making for at least two or
three years. The accompanying map
showsthe present location of the
Through lines of the two roads, and in
dicates. as nearly as il is possible to
do so at present. the extent of the new
cutoff line. The recently completed
Belen- TeXico cutoff Of the Santa Fe
is included i'm the map as well as its
eastern connection from TeXico north
ward toward Kansas City, and the pro-
posed connection southeast TO Brown
wood, Tex, and thence to Galveston.
The heavy lines on the map west of
Belen mark the known or the probable
| location of the new transcOntinental
cutoff Of the two roads. The Phoenix
& Eastern, as shown, runs from Phoe-
nix. Ariz.. southeast To Florence, where
IL meets the ella river and then fol-
lows up the river eastward to Winkel-
man. the present terminus. At San
Carlos, about "a miles up the ella river
0 beyond Winkelman, the ella Valley.
Globe & Northern line of the Southern
/ Pacific crosses the river. To the north
/ il runs TO Globe: to the south IL fol-
! lows up the river as far as Solomon
! formerly Solomonville) and then turns
south to connect with the Southern
! Pacific main line at Bowie.
I The route between Winkelman and
San Carlos was for .ears disputed by
the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe.
As nearly az can be ascertained, the
Santa Re surveyed the first route
Winkelman. This was an invasion of
Southern Pacific territory, as such a
line not only cut across the ella Valley,
Globe & Northern. but if extended less
than 100 miles further would reach the
Clifton mining district. now served
only by the Arizona & New Mexico.
which is the line owned By the Ari-
IONA Copper company, connecting the
mines with the Southern Pacific main
line at Lordsburg. y. NJ. The South
ern Pacific at once hurried a survey
ing party to the ella canyon and To-
Gated almost exactly the saWe line
that the Santa Fe had adopted from
Kelvin. ISL miles west OF Winkleman.
east TO san Carlos. The Southern Pa
cific map of this route was filed few
hours before the Santa Fe map. The
rights under these surveys were then
carried into the local courts, where
there were decisions and counter de-
cisions almost without number. Mean
while the Santa Fe built and put in OPP
Grafton its line from Florence east to
Winkelman. After Santa Fe trains
were already running over the track
on regular schedules a decision was
handed down by one of the local courts
awarding l7z miles of the right-of-
way from a point two miles west of
Kelvin east to Dudleyville. which is
two miles east of Winkelman, To the
company to use this track for COM
mercial purposes until the case was
finally settled. on appeal. the supreme
court of Arizona returned the track to
the Santa Fe, pending a further appeal
TO the United States supreme court, on
condition that the Santa Fe give a
bond to indemnify the Southern Pa
cific in case the Santa Fe lost the final
appeal. In order to strengthen its de-
mands for the contested right-of way
the Southern Pacific in the fall OF 1904
put a considerable force of men at work
grading the proposed route east of
Dudleyvile. In November of that year,
there We're about 500 men employed.
Before work was stopped. early inI
1905. grading was nearly finished from
Winkleman through the lower ella box
canyon, that is, for about 10 miles up
the river Meanwhile the Santa FeI