The Railroad Builders: Building Along the Santa Fe Trail by: John Moody Date: 08/31/04
The Santa Fe Route, or the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
Railroad, which has in modern times developed into one of the
largest and most profitable railroad systems in this country, was
projected long before the idea of a transcontinental line to the
Pacific coast had taken full possession of men's minds. As early
as 1858 a plan was worked out for the construction of a line of
about forty miles within the State of
Kansas to connect what were
then the obscure and unimportant townships of Atchison and
Topeka. At that time not a mile of railroad had been built in
Kansas or in any Territory west of that State, except on the
Pacific coast, to which there had been an enormous immigration
occasioned by the wonderful discovery of gold.
The outbreak of the Civil War delayed the undertaking of the
Atchison-Topeka line, and nothing more was done until 1868. In
that year new interests took control of the enterprise and
acquired rights for its extension through southwestern Kansas in
the direction of Santa Fe, the capital of the Territory of New
Mexico. The company, which had originally been the Atchison and
Topeka, now changed its name to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
and obtained from the Government a very valuable land grant of
6400 acres for every mile
constructed, the only condition being
that within ten years the line should be completed from Atchison
to the western border of Kansas. The plan involved the building
of only 470 miles of road, which when finished would assure the
company nearly three million acres of land within the State of
Kansas.
A decade would seem to be ample time for the construction of this
comparatively short railroad, particularly with the inducement of
so extraordinary a land grant. Not only the Union Pacific but the
Central Pacific and Kansas Pacific--all built within this
decade--had to accomplish far more construction in order to
secure their respective grants, and yet they had their complete
lines in operation years before the Santa Fe had fifty miles of track in
actual commission. The reason for this delay was of course a
financial one. The other roads had
all received government aid in
cash or securities in addition to land grants. But the Atchison
line was, from the start, thrown on its own resources in raising
capital, and it was not until late in 1869--nearly a year after
the opening of the Union Pacific to the coast--that any
construction work whatever was done. In that year the section
from Topeka to Burlingame, consisting of about twenty-eight
miles, was opened for traffic, and a year later the extension to
Emporia was finished, thus making a total of sixty-one miles
under operation.
The terms of the land grant provided that the entire line across
Kansas should be completed by June, 1873. When by 1872 only
sixty-one miles of track had been built, the company still had
over four hundred miles to go within ten months if it expected to
obtain the land grant. But so energetically did the
owners of the
property work from that time on that within seven months they had
reached the eastern boundary of Colorado and had thus saved the
grant.
But like most of the Western railroads built in those early days
the Santa Fe property was, in a sense, ahead of its time. The
rapidity with which it shot across the State of Kansas in 1872
was equaled only by the promptness with which it fell into
financial straits. No sooner had its complete line been opened
for traffic than the panic of 1873 occurred; the company became
embarrassed by a large floating debt; and a compromise had to be
made with the bondholders whereby a postponement of a year's
interest was arranged.
No attempts were made to extend the Santa Fe during the long
period of depression following the panic of 1873. The road ended
in 1872 at the Colorado state line, and
during the next few years
the only building of importance was a western spur to connect
with the Denver and Rio Grande at Pueblo, thereby giving an
outlet to the growing city of Denver and the rapidly developing
mining regions of Colorado. About 1880, construction was resumed
in a leisurely way, down the valley of the Rio Grande into New
Mexico and in the direction of Albuquerque. In this extension, as
in later building, the line of the old Arizona trail was usually
followed. One writer has declared that "the original builders of
the Atchison followed the line of the Arizona trail so
religiously that if the trail skirted a ten-foot stream for a
quarter of a mile to strike a shallow spot for fording, the
railroad builders did likewise, instead of bridging the stream
where they struck it, and where the trail ran up a tree or hid in
a hollow rock
to avoid the wolves or savages, the railroad did
the same!"
The traveler of a generation ago over this particular section of
the Santa Fe lines might have felt that there was some truth in
this criticism; but the Atchison has long since cut out these
idiosyncrasies of early construction, and the main line in this
section of New Mexico is now noted for alignment and absence of
curves and grades.
The builders of the Santa Fe lines in the early days no doubt
planned ultimately to penetrate to the Pacific coast, knowing
that the real opportunity for the road lay in that direction. The
Southwest was yet but sparsely settled; and no railroad which had
as its objective the plains or alkali deserts of Arizona or New
Mexico could thrive--at least it could not for decades to come.
And yet in the early eighties the real objective of the Atchison
system had not been determined. Having passed its original
objective point, Santa Fe, the road had reached Albuquerque, but
it could not afford to stop there. Through traffic it must have
or die. New Mexico, with its thin population and its total lack
of development, could not supply traffic in sufficient amount
even to "feed the engines."
To extend somewhere, then, was an imperative necessity. But
whither? Several routes were under consideration. The Southern
Pacific lines had worked eastward to El Paso on the Mexican
border, several hundred miles due south from Albuquerque, and it
looked feasible to extend the Atchison to that point and arrange
a traffic agreement with the Southern Pacific, or to build an
extension through New Mexico to Deming and then westward along
the river valleys and down into Mexico to Guaymas on the Gulf of
California. It was possible, in the third place, to build
directly west from Albuquerque through Arizona and Southern
California to the coast. Ultimately all of these plans were
carried out.
The first extension of the Santa Fe was to Deming, New Mexico,
where in March, 1881, its tracks met those of the Southern
Pacific, and by agreement the company secured the use of the
Southern Pacific to Benson, Arizona. From the first this new
through route to the Pacific began to pay handsomely. Later on
the line into Guaymas, Mexico, was added by the purchase of the
Sonora Railway. Soon afterward the Santa Fe secured from the St.
Louis and San Francisco Railway a half interest in the charter of
the Atlantic and Pacific, a company which planned to build
through to the coast. Meanwhile the St. Louis and San Francisco
had been acquired by the Gould and
Huntington interests, which,
as the owners of the Texas and Pacific and the Southern Pacific
systems, naturally opposed the plans of the Santa Fe. The matter
was compromised by the agreement of the Santa Fe to build no
farther west than the Colorado River, where the Santa Fe was to
be met by an extension of the Southern Pacific line from Mojave,
California.
This arrangement proved unprofitable to the Santa Fe, for the
Southern Pacific naturally diverted traffic to El Paso and Ogden,
A new arrangement was accordingly made in 1884, involving the
purchase, by the Atlantic and Pacific, of the Southern Pacific
division between Needles and Mojave, the obtaining of trackage
rights between Mojave and San Francisco, and the use of the
Southern Pacific terminals at San Francisco. To assure a
connection with the coast in Southern California, the Santa
Fe
built a line to Colton, acquired the California Southern Railway
from Colton to San Diego, and effected an entrance to Los Angeles
by leasing the Southern Pacific tracks from Colton.
The Santa Fe had now reached the Pacific coast over its own
lines, but it was handicapped by poor connections with the East.
Its next move therefore was eastward to Chicago, where it
acquired the Chicago and St. Louis Railroad between Chicago and
Streator, Illinois, and then constructed lines between the latter
point and the Missouri River. During the same year the company
opened branches southward to the Gulf of Mexico, until by May,
1888, the entire system comprised 7100 miles.
This rapid expansion of the property, combined with extravagance
in management and a reckless policy in the payment of dividends,
brought the company into financial difficulties
within a year
after the completion of the system. Unprofitable branches had
been built, and these had become an immediate burden to the main
system. It is the same story that has been told of most of the
large railroads of those days. Strenuous efforts were made to
save the property from a receivership, and a committee was
appointed in September, 1889, to devise ways and means of reform
and reorganization.
The new management of the Santa Fe was a rational one and
substantially reduced the obligations of the road. Had its spirit
been maintained, a second failure and reorganization a few years
later would not have been necessary. New interests, however, came
into the property, and, though it was hoped that they would
support a conservative policy, the former program of expansion
was resumed until in 1890 the St. Louis and San Francisco system
was merged with the Santa Fe on a very extravagant basis. Within
a year it was clear that the St. Louis and San Francisco would
prove more of a liability than an asset. During the same time the
less important purchase of the Colorado Midland Railway also
turned out to be a poor investment.
The next four years were marked by more bad financial management
which culminated in the failure of the reorganized company. In
1892 an exchange of income bonds for fixed interest-bearing bonds
so increased the fixed charges of the company that, as a result
of the panic of 1893 and its ensuing depression, the great Santa
Fe system suddenly found itself in the hands of a receiver. The
president, John W. Reinhart, had persistently asserted throughout
1893 that the company was financially sound; but an examination
of its books subsequently made in the interest
of the security
holders disclosed gross irregularities, dishonest management, and
manipulation of the accounts.
During the year 1894 the property was operated under the
protection of the courts, and early in 1895 a new and
comprehensive scheme of reorganization was carried out. This
latest plan involved dropping the St. Louis and San Francisco
system, the Colorado Midland, and all other unprofitable
branches; it wiped out the floating debt; it supplied millions of
new capital; and it enabled the succeeding management at once to
build up and improve the property.
At the head of the new company was placed Edward P. Ripley--a
railroad manager of great executive ability and a practical,
broad-minded business man of the modern type, who has ever since
remained president of the road. The history of the Santa Fe since
1895 has been closely
identified with Ripley's business career,
and its record during these two decades has been an enviable one.
Steady progress from year to year in volume of business, in
general development of the system, in improvement of its rights
of way, terminals, and equipment, has characterized its history
through periods of depression as well as times of prosperity. Its
resources have grown to vast totals; its credit equals that of
the best of American railroads; its stocks and bonds are prime
investments; and each year it pours millions of dollars of
profits into the hands of its stockholders. Source: This is chapter 8 of the book, The Railroad Builders, A Chronicle Of The Welding Of The States
By John Moody, New Haven: Yale University Press Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Co.
London: Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press. Originally
Published 1919. You can obtain an e-text copy of this book at the Project Gutenberg E-text Archive web site. |
