The line from Pueblo to Las Animas was first built under the name of the Pueblo & Salt Lake Railroad Company. The Chief Engineer was W.R. Morley. The Contractors were W.A. Orman & Company and Moore and Carlisle. These two firms did all the grading, Pueblo to West Las Animas. After the above line was graded-Orman & Company also took twelve miles east of West Las Animas, under A.A. Robinson, for the Santa Fe Company. The Pueblo & Arkansas Railroad Company (Santa Fe) bought out the Pueblo & Salt Lake Railroad Roadbed and laid their track into Pueblo, arriving in Pueblo with the track February 29th, 1876. Wm. Newall and Charles Boyd were two of the Division Engineers, Pueblo to west Las Animas, also others.
In 1873 the Union Pacific Railroad started building a line from Kit Carson, Colorado, towards Las Animas, Colorado. Line called the Kansas Pacific. The road reached Las Animas in October 1873, crossing the Arkansas River about one and one-half miles east of Las Animas on a pile bridge, probably the first road to extend as far south and west. The Arkansas Valley Branch of the Kansas pacific Railroad was extended to la Junta in 1875. Trains were operated into Las Animas about two years, and from Las Animas to La Junta about six months. The Kansas Pacific from Kit Carson to Las Animas and the Arkansas Valley Branch of the Kansas Pacific into La Junta was taken up in 1876, and line abandoned. When the Kansas Pacific started to build to Las Animas from Kit Carson it was their plan to build from Las Animas to Trinidad in New Mexico, surveys having been made as far south as Trinidad. The Santa Fe railroad built into Las Animas in 1875. The S.F. and Arkansas Valley Branch of the U.P. both built towards La Junta at the same time. The two lines run practically parallel between Las Animas and La Junta. Roads cross one another once.
A portion of page 96 transcribed in altered form for the web by Larry Green