Arizona state miner., 1927-03-05
WRECK Of SANTA
FE BRIDGE BEING
TORN DOWN HERE
Remainder of Abandoned Santa Fe
Railroad Bridge Being Removed
After Standing Nearly 20 Years
Near River That Wrecked 1t.

Work of wrecking the remaining
sections of the old Santa Fe rail
road bridge over the Salt river at
Tempe, which for nearly 20 years
has stood as a mute and shattered
testimonial to the fury of that
stream during flood, is now under
way and is expected to be finished
by the last of March. Jack Con-
ley, foreman of the steel wrecking
gangs of the Southern Pacific, who
is in charge of tearing down the
remaining span of the old bridge,
said it would take until about that
time to complete the demolishing
process so adequately started by the
river in 1905.
The history of the Santa. Fe's
bridge over the Salt river was one
of almost continual disappointment
from the time it was first con-
structed. Built under great diff
culties, it withstood the raging
flood waters of the Salt river for
only about three years before the
pier in the middle of the river bed
and one Of the center spans gave
way and was washed down stream.
Temporarily Replaced
The pier was replaced by tempo
rary woodwork and the span re-
placed when the river subsided, but
the force of the stream tore both
out again two more times within
the next three years, and the bridge
was finally abandoned. Santa Fe
trains were routed over the South
ern Pacific bridge and the cid Santa
Fe bridge, with it's gap over the
middle of the stream, has stood for
lorn and neglected, gathering rust
and decay since 1908.
The Accommodation" train for
Phoenix had barely crept over the
last span when the bridge first went
out during high water in 1905, ac-
cording to Frank Zeller, one of the
few still ain Tempe who heard the
crash as the mighty mass of steel
toppled from it's foundations and
crashed into the river below.
The bridge went down just after
dark, and for a time it was feared
the train had been carried to the
bottom of the raging torrent. It
was not until it was reported safely
in Phoenix that residents here could
be sure of it's fate.
Mr.. Zeller and some of the other
boys about town were in the then
popular thirst emporium at the cor
ner of Third street and Mill avenue
when the bridge went down.
Thought Butte Fell
Someone had just bought drinks
for the crowd when we heard an
awful roar and felt the ground
tremble," Mr.. Zeller said. "Some
of the boys, whose imaginations
were perhaps stimulated, thought
the butte had fallen down."
Two more unsuccessful attempts
by the Santa Fe company to make
the bridge withstand the Salt river
floods discouraged further efforts.
1t was about this time that the
Santa Fe sold its track through
here to the Southern Pacific, and
further use for the wrecked bridge
was obviated.
Many Obstacles
The failure of the Santa Fe to
make it's bridge "stay put" over the
Salt river here was only one of the
failures met with by that company
during its struggle against the
Southern Pacific for transportation
mastery of the Great Southwest,
R. H. Alexander, city attorney, said
yesterday when the bridge was men
toned.
''The Santa Fe was at that time
planning to build on to Ell Paso,"
Mr. Alexander said. ''To do this
they wished to build railroad
through the canyon now designated
as the site of the Coolidge dam.
The residents of Arizona objected
to this plan of the railroad to thus
take possession of possible reser-
voir site and their objections were
sustained by the State and Govern
ment."
Cost of the bridge at the time of
its construction was approximately
$175,OOO, Mr.. Conley said. And he
added that cost Of a similar struc-
ture at the present time would be
! about twice that amount