CONDITIONS AS THEY EXISTED JANUARY 1, 1873

When the track of the Atchison Topeka And Santa Fe Railroad had reached Colorado Line on December 28, 1872 and by that performance narrowly bagged a 3,000,000-acre land-grant, the company issued a map of its "System" extending all the way from Atchison to Sargent at Colorado line which literally screamed: "Where do we go front here?" Well, the panic of 1873 soon supplied the answer. It said: "We wont go". Before settling down to several years of rest enough courage and cash was raised to build to Granada in the Spring and Summer of 1873. That was done to induce the Santa Fe trade to use the Santa Fe to that point, thus avoiding a bad crossing of the Arkansas River and the longer route to Kit Canon on the Kansas Pacific for the teamsters. There a definite halt was made.

Colorado State Line and Granada wore noted for the absence of agricultural, commercial and industrial activity in the Spring of 1873. Also, the winter of 1872-73 had been noted for its chilly blasts from the northwest in their sweep across the barren treeless plains of eastern Colorado. There was neither fire wood nor coal in the vicinity. There was indeed, a makeshift fuel supplied by the buffaloes, but while that filled a real want temporarily it was not exactly what was needed for the company's locomotives for the domestic or industrial uses of the population farther east. There was no commercial market for this makeshift and it provided no tonnage for the Santa Fe. All in all, the outlook was most discouraging. Of course, the if Santa Fe were the sole and definite goal, then the road should have turned sharply towards Southwest, even before reaching Colorado line. A. A. Robinson a quite young engineer, who built the line from Topeka to Atchison in the spring of 1872, was sent to Ft. Dodge to make a survey to the western boundary of Kansas in the valley of the Dry Cimarron the direction of Santa Fe, His survey was completed on June 10th 1872. Before Robinson had made his report, the company had already decided to build west to State Line following the Arkansas River. This was not a hasty decision. It was imperative that there be no delays if the Land Grant were to be saved.

In October and November of that year he was ordered to make a reconnaissance from Aubrey (Coolidge) southwestward along the old Aubrey road to the dry Cimarron. He examined the Cimarron Canyon to its head next Spring and returned via the Cimarron Pass and Two Butte Creek to the present site of Granada.

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In the spring of 1873 there was a dicker between the owner of the Maxwell Land Grant and the Santa Fe to build a line into that vast body of land in present Colfax County New Mexico. This plan came very near to realization. Robinson was instructed to make a reconnaissance towards Cimarron, New Mexico, the headquarters of the Grant. Following this he located a line for 60 miles southwestwardly to the Cimarron Canyon via Cimarron Pass which is just east of the Raton Mountains. Lewis Kingman also made surveys for the Maxwell land Grant to connect with the Kansas Pacific Railroad avoiding the Raton Mountains by running his line farther towards the east.

In the latter part of 1873, Robinson examined a route along Rule Creek which empties into the Arkansas near present-day Caddoa with the view of a connection with his Two Butte location. He also ran a line form Las Animas along the Purgatory to Trinidad and from there he examined the northern base of the Raton Mountains towards the east to Cimarron Pass which is a gap, or depression, dividing the Raton Mountains form the Mesa de Maya. Still later, but still in1873, he examined the Trinchera and Monca La Burna Passes, all crossing the Raton Mountains between Trinidad and Cimarron Pass.

In 1874 Robinson examined Raton pass, a line along Chicken Creek, Dillon Canyon and the Purgatory to its source. He found that Raton Creek and Long's Canyon were the only ones worth of surveying for a railroad from Trinidad to the plains on the south.

In the spring of 1875 Robinson examined Cimarron Canyon to the west of the town of Cimarron and across the Spanish Range via Taos Pass to Taos and from there along the Rio Grande to Socorro, returning via the Glorieta Pas and Las Vegas.

In 1877, Robinson surveyed the Raton Pass and, with Morley, examined the route along Long's Canyon which the latter had surveyed for the Maxwell Land Grant and Railway Company in 1871. Robinson had access to Morley's notes for this and other routes surveyed by Morley for the Land Grant people. We thus see that all of the Santa Fe engineers: Robinson, Morley and Kingman had a pretty good understanding of the topography around Raton Pass, northwestern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado and southwestern Kansas. The decision to cross by Raton Pass was reached with eyes wide open.

Page 43 & 44 transcribe in altered form for the net by Larry Green

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