In 1907 Santa Fe and Southern Pacific jointly formed the Northwestern Pacific Railroad, which took over several short railroads and built new lines connecting them to form a route from San Francisco north to Eureka. the Coleman Cutoff, from Texico to Coleman, Texas, near Brownwood in 1912.the Belen Cutoff from the Pecos line at Texico to Isleta, south of Albuquerque, bypassing the grades of Raton Pass in 1907.a line from Ash Fork, Arizona, to Phoenix in 1901.Subsequent expansion of the Santa Fe encompassed: In 1897 the Santa Fe traded the Sonora Railway to Southern Pacific for the SP line between Barstow and Mojave, giving the Santa Fe its own line from Chicago to the Pacific - Santa Fe all the way. ![]() The Santa Fe still wanted to reach California on its own rails (it leased the Southern Pacific line from Needles through Barstow to Mojave), and the state of California eagerly courted the Santa Fe in order to break SP’s monopoly. In 1895 Santa Fe sold the Frisco and the Colorado Midland and wrote off the losses, but it retained control of the Atlantic & Pacific, and purchased it in 1898. The depression of 1893 had the same effect on the Santa Fe that it had on many other railroads: financial problems and subsequent reorganization. purchase of the Frisco and the Colorado Midland in 1890.lines from Kansas City to Chicago, from Kiowa, Kansas, to Amarillo, Texas, and from Pueblo to Denver (paralleling the Denver & Rio Grande) in 1888.control of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe (Galveston to Fort Worth) in 1886 and construction of a line between Wichita and Fort Worth in 1887.a line from Barstow, California, to San Diego in 1885 and to Los Angeles in 1887.Construction still hadn’t begun on the Tulsa-Albuquerque portion of the Atlantic & Pacific. Construction began at Albuquerque, and in 1883 the A&P reached Needles, California, and a connection with the SP. In 1879 the A&P struck a deal with the Santa Fe and the Frisco: Those railroads would jointly build and own the A&P west of Albuquerque. As an operating railroad, the A&P dropped out of sight briefly, but not as a charter and corporate structure. The A&P started construction in 1868, built southwest into what would become Oklahoma, and entered receivership. Louis-San Francisco Railway (the Frisco) wouldn’t reach Springfield for another four years, and the Southern Pacific did not build east from Mojave to the Colorado River until 1883. The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad was chartered in 1866 to build west from Springfield, Missouri, through Amarillo, Texas, and Albuquerque, to a junction with the Southern Pacific at the Colorado River. There it connected with the Sonora Railway, which Santa Fe interests had constructed north from the Mexican port of Guaymas. The Santa Fe then built southwest from Benson, Arizona, to Nogales, on the Mexican border. The Santa Fe reached Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1880 (because of geography the city of Santa Fe found itself at the end of a short branch from Lamy, New Mexico) and connected with the Southern Pacific at Deming, New Mexico, in 1881. At the same time the two railroads skirmished over occupancy of the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River west of Canon City, Colorado the Rio Grande won that battle. ![]() The Denver & Rio Grande was also aiming at Raton Pass, but Santa Fe crews arose early one morning in 1878 and were hard at work with picks and shovels when the Rio Grande crews showed up after breakfast. It chose that route instead of an easier route south across the plains from Dodge City because of Native American attacks and a lack of water on the southerly route and coal deposits near Trinidad, Colorado, and Raton, New Mexico. In 1878, the railroad resumed construction toward Santa Fe, building southwest from La Junta to Trinidad, Colorado, then south over Raton Pass. The railroad temporarily set aside its goal of Santa Fe - once the trading capital of the Spanish colony in that area - and continued building west, reaching Pueblo, Colorado, in 1876, just in time for the silver rush at Leadville, Colorado. Construction started in 1869 by the end of 1872 the railroad extended to the Kansas-Colorado border, opening much of Kansas to settlement and carrying wheat and cattle east to markets. ![]() “Santa Fe” was added to the corporate name in 1863. The Atchison & Topeka Railroad was chartered in 1859 to join the towns of its title and continue southwest toward Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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