b'PRESCOTT & CONGRESS PEAVINE CONNECTIONBy Rose Mary Goodson Reprinted from The TravelerT HERE WAS A TIME, in the 1890s, when the destinies of Prescott and Congress were cast in iron. Today, many residents of Prescott hardly know where Congress is, nor do they have any idea of the role Congress had in the rapid development of Prescott. There were two principal players in the fierce competition to bring a railroad through central Yavapai County in the late 1880s and the 1890s. One was Thomas Bullock. The other was Frank Murphy. Frank MurphyBullock, who headed up a group originally referred toPacific had not been paid for the rails, etc. it loanedgovernor until Irwin, reportedly delayed by family as the New York Syndicate, had the head start in thisBullock during construction of the P&AC. Four yearsillness, arrived.competition. Bullock started his Prescott & Arizonalater, the Santa Fe and a group of investors began Central (P&AC) Line, often dubbed the Bullock Line,work on the Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix Railroad,Nathan had arrived in Arizona Territory in 1883 and in the spring of 1885. Work commenced at Prescottwhich would link with the cross-country Santa Fehad worked closely with his brother Frank in the Junction, now called Seligman, at the Atlantic &line at Ashfork. That event doomed the Bullock line,Congress Mine development and other promotions. Pacific tracks across Northern Arizona. The workwhich lingered on until it died in 1893. Irwin was to be the last carpetbagger governor of went rapidly, too rapidly some say. Soon the tracksthe Arizona Territory. Irwin resigned in 1892 and were pushing their way through Big Chino ValleyFRANK MURPHY AND THE SFP&P President Harrison appointed Nathan Murphy toward Prescott. Tracks were laid with barely enoughFrank M. Murphy came to Prescott in 1877 andas the territorial governor. It was the first time an grading to permit the roadbed to be leveled andimmediately started on the road to success. HeArizona Territory resident had been appointed. The tamped. There was a rush to get the track laid. tied in with Diamond Jo Reynolds, who owned theappointment of Nathan to the governorship as well Congress Mine. Murphy operated the Congressas the successes Frank was having in expanding the Yavapai County had floated some $300,000 worthMine and promoted several other important minesCongress Mine and his other mining and business of bonds to help finance the line and the contractaround Prescott. interest, did not hinder Franks efforts to build the required that the railroad be built and in operationSFP&P.to Prescott by December 31, 1886. The Atlantic &Murphy and Reynolds were instrumental in founding Pacific helped the Bullock group considerably withthe Yavapai Development Company. The companysA BOOM TOWN PROJECTthe construction. It loaned tools, pick and shovel men,purpose was to sell mines, build hotels, constructThe SFP&P tracks started south from Ashfork in teams with scrapers, rails, and flatcars to the P&AC tolight plants, and build irrigation ditches throughoutJanuary of 1892. By March, some 400 men were speed up the work. As December 31st commenced atthe county. The Yavapai Development Co. proved anblasting and grading out a rail bed south. Eighty teams midnight, the last half mile of track into Prescott wasexcellent forum for Murphy. It served him well inof horses were scattered out over four miles of the being laid, by torchlight. The track reached downtownputting together support for his plan for a railroadgrade at one time. As spring arrived, the crew grew to Prescott by mid-afternoon. from the Santa Fe at Ashfork to Prescott, then to600 men. Two thousand ties were laid on every mile of Congress, Wickenburg, and Phoenix. grade behind the grading teams. Ahead of the graders, Bullocks line had an immediate impact on Prescott andtrestles were being built with piles of top-grade Oregon on Jerome. Copper matte could now be hauled acrossMurphy envisioned and sold his SFP&P line conceptpine and stringers of California Redwood. By fall, the Mingus Mountain to Jerome Junction in the Chinoas a railroad far more substantial and professionalfirst 18 miles of the track had been completed. Frank Valley by wagon and loaded onto the Bullock line forthan the Bullock line. When Diamond Jo ReynoldsMurphy and several of the lines officers rode over the shipment to Seligman and the cross-country Atlantic &died of pneumonia in his home at the Congressnew track. One commented the line reminded him of Pacific. Prescott saw new foods arrive, along with NewMine in 1891, Murphy was determined to carrya pea vine clinging to a garden pole, the way the line York and San Franciscos fashions and goods and famedout Reynolds plans for a rail line to serve the minewound through the mountains and clung to canyon entertainers come from East and West.and for expanding the mine from a 20-stamp millwalls. From then on, the SFP&P was dubbed the to a 40-stamp operation. Murphys plans for aPeavine Line.Bullocks line was to be short-lived, partly because thebetter railroad to serve Yavapai Co. and its growing hasty construction caused continuous and expensivemining and ranching interests found favor with theThe spring of 1893 saw the Peavine reach Prescott rebuilding. Bad planning also played a part. Thereterritorial legislature. amid great excitement. This was no Bullock line. was no turnaround at Prescott, so the engines came inPassenger coaches were available and tickets were running forward, and then headed back to Seligman inOn March 16, 1891, territorial Governor John N.sold for excited citizens to Ashfork for $3. From reverse, backing up all the way. Service was sporadic. AtIrwin signed a bill pushed by Frank Murphy and histhere, they could take a stage to the Grand Canyon. Bangharts station in Chino Valley, crews often delayedbrother, Nathan Oakes Murphy, and gave a liberalThe first tickets were sold out of a boxcar, as the first the train until they finished their poker game. The linestax exemption to those who constructed railroadsPrescott depot had yet to be built. Murphys push now equipment was on the light side. Two locomotives, thein Arizona Territory. Frank, Nathan, and Governorwas to get the rail on to Congress to link his mine largest only 28 tons, a second-hand passenger car, andIrwin all were influential in the Republican Partyto the Santa Fe. The fact the officers and primary four box cars made up the rolling stock. with many contacts in the East. President Harrisonstockholders of the Peavine were also key investors had appointed Irwin as the territorial governor inand officers of the Congress Gold Mining Co. helped In 1888, the Santa Fe, which now owned the WesternOctober 1890, but Irwin did not make his way to theMurphy push to get the line built to the Congress Division of the Atlantic & Pacific foreclosed on theterritory to take office until January 1891. TerritorialMine without delay.financially troubled Bullock group. The Atlantic &Secretary Nathan Oakes Murphy served as acting 54 September 2023'