MarketEl Paso and Southwestern Railroad
Company Profile

El Paso and Southwestern Railroad

The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad began in 1888 as the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad, a short line serving copper mines in southern Arizona. Over the next few decades, it grew into a 1200-mile system that stretched from Tucumcari, New Mexico, southward to El Paso, Texas, and westward to Tucson, Arizona, with several branch lines, including one to Nacozari, Mexico. The railroad was bought by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1924 and fully merged into its parent company in 1955. The EP&SW was a major link in the transcontinental route of the Golden State Limited.

Founding
James Douglas was a former professor of chemistry working for William E. Dodge Jr. and Daniel Willis James, majority co-owners of the trading firm Phelps, Dodge and Co. Phelps Dodge was interested in entering the copper mining industry, and hired Douglas to make an inspection of mining claims in the Southwestern United States. Douglas suggested that the two men invest in the Detroit Copper Mining Company of Arizona, which owned a copper mining claim in Morenci, Arizona Territory, as well as purchase the Atlanta claim, adjoining the Copper Queen Mine, in Bisbee, Arizona Territory. In 1881, Phelps Dodge followed both recommendations, taking an interest in the Detroit Copper Mining Company, and purchasing a controlling interest in the Atlanta mine. After the Copper Queen and Atlanta mines both struck the Atlanta ore body in 1884, Phelps Dodge merged with the Copper Queen, to avoid litigation sparked by the "law of the apex". The company merged its various mining interests into the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company in 1885, and installed Douglas as president and part-owner. With production in the Bisbee area expanding, Douglas formed the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad in 1888. The railroad ran on a short spur of track from Bisbee to Fairbank, Arizona, where it met the mainline of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's New Mexico and Arizona Railroad. Shortly thereafter and unhappy with AT&SF rates, the line was extended to Benson, Arizona, to connect with the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1900, Copper Queen Consolidated built a new smelter at the newly built town of Douglas, Arizona (named for James Douglas), to which the railroad was extended again. The line was renamed the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad on June 25, 1901, to reflect its larger scope (even though it did not yet extend to El Paso, Texas). After the deaths of Dodge in 1903 and James in 1907, the various Phelps Dodge railroads, mining companies, real estate firms, as well as other subsidiaries and divisions were all merged into Phelps Dodge and Company. In 1915, Phelps Dodge and Company went public as Phelps-Dodge. ==Expansion==
Expansion
Nacozari Railroad James and Dodge had acquired the Moctezuma Copper Company in the state of Sonora in Mexico, and in 1902 the El Paso and Southwestern line was extended south from Douglas to the Mexican town of Nacozari de García. The Nacozari Railroad, owned by Moctezuma Copper Co. and used to transport ore to the Moctezuma smelter at Nacozari, was incorporated into the El Paso and Southwestern. Morenci Southern Railroad Phelps Dodge continued to expand, and purchased other mines surrounding their Detroit Copper Company mine near Morenci, Arizona. An eventual subsidiary of the El Paso and Southwestern—the Morenci Southern—was incorporated on June 6, 1902, and its roadbed connected the Morenci mines to the Arizona and New Mexico Railway (a subsidiary of the Arizona Copper Co., Ltd) at Guthrie, Arizona. El Paso and Northeastern Railway In 1903, the terminus of the El Paso and Southwestern was extended from Douglas to El Paso by building new track as well as purchasing track from the El Paso and Northeastern Railway, adding over of roadway to the line, also extending its reach to Tucumcari, New Mexico. ==Demise==
Demise
The worldwide collapse of copper prices after World War I severely affected not only the railroad's financial fortunes but those of the mining companies it served. In 1924, the Southern Pacific leased the entire El Paso and Southwest Railroad from Phelps Dodge, In 1929, the ICC authorized abandonment of the Deming Branch. In November 1937, the railroad purchased the outstanding interest in the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad. Southern Pacific sold the line from Benson to Douglas to Kyle Railroads as the San Pedro & Southwestern Railway in 1992. ==Route and notable buildings==
Route and notable buildings
Route near El Paso, Texas, circa 1968 Highways follow most of the route of the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad. Beginning in Tucson, Arizona, Arizona State Route 80 (formerly U.S. Route 80) largely parallels the railroad grade south to Douglas. State Route 80 then follows the old tracks northeast to Rodeo, New Mexico. The tracks diverge from the highway here, and largely follow Gas Line Road until it intersects with New Mexico State Road 9 near Animas, New Mexico. State Road 9 runs next to or on top of the old railroad grade until it reaches El Paso, Texas. The Arizona & New Mexico spur of the railroad may be traced by following U.S. Route 70 west from Lordsburg to its Junction with U.S. Route 191, then north to Morenci, Arizona. The Mexican spur may be followed by beginning in Douglas, crossing the international border into Mexico, and following Mexican Federal Highway 14 to Nacozari de García. The New Mexico & Northeastern parallels or is underneath U.S. Route 54 from El Paso to Santa Rosa. The line then follows Interstate 40 into Tucumcari NM and a connection to Chicago through the Rock Island. The Dawson line can be followed on U.S. 54 to Logan NM, then on NM 39 to Abbott. 39 ends and the tracks continue northwesterly at U.S. Route 412. By turning left onto 412, the driver follows that route into Springer NM to join I-25 N. to Maxwell. Take New Mexico State Road 505 (which intersects Interstate 25 at Maxwell, New Mexico) to Colfax, New Mexico. The Dawson Road travels the remainder of the spur from Colfax to the ghost town of Dawson. As of 1905, the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad had a route that connected from Dawson through Roy, Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Vaughn, Carrizozo, Tularosa and Alamogordo, New Mexico to El Paso, Texas and Douglas, Arizona, with spurs to Deming and Lordsburg. that later all became part of the Southern Pacific. Historic buildings National Several El Paso and Southwestern buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. Among these are: • El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Depot at 419 W. Congress Street in Tucson, Arizona (built 1912–1913) • El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Passenger Depot-Douglas (also known as the Southern Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot) at 14th Street and H Avenue in Douglas, Arizona; • El Paso and Southwestern Railroad YMCA (also known as the Douglas YMCA) at 1000 Pan American Avenue in Douglas; and the Columbus, NM Museum at the intersection of NM State Routes 9 & 11. Texas In 2006, the El Paso and Southwestern Freight Depot in El Paso, Texas, built in 1903 and designed by Daniel Burnham, was placed on Preservation Texas's Most Endangered Places list. File:Tucson-El Paso and South Western Railroad Depot-1912-1.JPG|Exterior File:Tucson-El Paso and South Western Railroad Depot-1912-2.JPG|Interior ==Preserved and surviving locomotives==
Preserved and surviving locomotives
El Paso & Southwestern Railroad No. 1 locomotive is preserved at El Paso, Texas. Southern Pacific 3420, a Baldwin 2-8-0 light consolidation, oil burning, former EP&SW engine, is stored at the Phelps Dodge copper refinery in El Paso, Texas. ==See also==
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