Arizona republican., 1909-10-28
An Alluring Prospect.

The possibility of railroad from Phoenix to the Gulf of California is sufficient to stir the dullest imagi- nation. And if-as there is reason to hope-this possibility shall grow into a probability, local enthusiasm for the project will have no bounds.
 The possibilities are found in the following facts. From Red Rock, a station on the Southern Pacific some forty miles west of Tucson, the Im- perial Copper company operates a railroad, some twenty miles long, to Silver Bell, where the company has developed and is operating one of the great copper mines of the world On the railroad. between Red Rock and Silver Bell. is the smelter town of Sasco, where the ores from the Silver Bell mines are reduced. Sasco will shortly be second only to Douglas in smelting capacity. Using, as it does, large quantities of coke, mining tim bers, and so on, and shipping out large quantities. of copper, the Impe- rial Copper company is naturally de- sirous of the shortest possible connec- ton with the seaboard. Within 200 miles of Silver Bell, on the California Gulf coast, in Mexico. there are natu- ral harbors, either of which could be converted into a great seaport From Silver Bell to the coast the construc- ton of railway would be easy-the country is a comparatively level des- gulf to Red Rock would give not only the Silver Bell country the benefit of this short haul. but would be of immense benefit to ther mines in the territory. Thus the commercial as- poets of such a project are very in- teresting to the Imperial Copper com pany.
 The Imperial Copper company is owned by Mir. Frank M. Murphy and his associates. MT. Murphy is the railroad builder of Arizona. He is president of the sundry branch lines of the Santa Fe in this territory. all of these lines having been constructed by him or on his advice. He is en- thusiastic in his faith in the future of Arizona, and especially in his be- lief in the future of Phoenix and the Salt River valley. Should the pro- posed gulf railway be constructed. a logical part of the project would be the construction of line to cover the gap between Phoenix and Red Rock, a distance of less than one hundred miles. That MT. Murphy would advocate such line. as part
 Another natural sequence would be the extension of the Fl Paso & South western railway to connect with the gulf line-bringing the Fl Paso & Southwestern into Phoenix, in other words.
 It is easy to believe, as Mir. Mur- phy stated, that if no unforeseen ob- stacles are encountered. the project of a railway to the gulf may take tangible form in the very near future.
 It would be difficult, indeed, to overestimate the importance of such line to the Salt River valley. The Panama canal will be in operation within six year-posibly sooner. With the canal in operation, and with the railroad proposed, Phoenix would be within 300 miles of a seaport from which all the markets of the world would be reached. And apart from the benefits which will be gained from the canal. the building of such a railroad would revolutionize the1 freight rate situation in Arizona. High rates could no longer prevail | on account of the long haul between | this section and the Pacific coast.