b'PRESCOTT TO CONGRESS LINK Water was the problem. A small spigot in front of the What did not help him was the summer heat at thecompany store at Mill Town was the main supply. lower elevations of Yavapai County. ConstructionWater wagons were fashioned out of whiskey kegs slowed during the summer of 1894 when the linewith wheels mounted on them and they were pulled from Prescott reached those lower elevations.uphill empty to the spigot, filled, and pushed downhill Laborers and mules found the heat overwhelming infull to serve families and businesses.Sharlot Hall Museumthe rugged, snake-infested terrain. MURPHY BUILDS MORE LINES By Rose Mary Goodson Reprinted from The Traveler In August, several carloads of laborers fromToday, the building of the SFP&P would most likely California were brought in. By October 1894, somehave caused conflict of interest charges, investigations, 800 men were working at various locations on thecongressional hearings, and perhaps influence peddling line between Skull Valley and Congress. That samecharges of a criminal nature. But in the ArizonaThe Congress was so famous that President McKinley year, the Congress Gold Mining Co. was bought by aTerritory of the 1880s and 1890s, carving out a livingvisited it in 1901, riding the Peavine to get there. new group of investors. They were E.B. Gage, Frankfrom the wilderness was on everyones mind. WhateverThat year, Murphy expanded his vision. He and his Murphy, and N.K. and Wallace Fairbank. Gage wasit took to get that done was deemed a necessity. associates incorporated the Bradshaw Mountain elected president of this group. There were no losers in Frank Murphys push to getRailroad as part of the Prescott & Eastern to run off a rail line built through central Arizona Territorythe SFP&P at Prescott east and then south to serve The SFP&P tracks pushed past Congress andto link the territory, its mines, and its ranches withmines at Humbolt, Poland, in the Meyer area and the Wickenburg to arrive at Phoenix on March 14, 1895.the rest of the country. Certainly, Frank Murphy,Peck at Alexander, as well as Crown King.The line was officially open. A spur was built betweenwith his investment in mines from the Bradshaws to the Congress Mine and Congress Junction, someTombstone, needed the railroad to make his minesMurphy did much for Prescott, Congress, and Yavapai three miles to the south, in 1896 where the SFP&Pprosper. When mines prospered, miners had jobs,County. He was a major player and major contributor. mainline tracks ran. businesses made money, and the territory prospered. He built a park for Prescott, raised funds to rebuild the town after the 1900 fire, and was a major booster The Congress Mine was booming with its 40-stampPassenger service on the Peavine resulted in a chainand seller of Prescott and Yavapai County. His mill, its cyanide baths, a company town near the millof Eating Houses for the convenience of travelers.oratory and political skills aided greatly in bringing called Mill Town and another town below the miningSkull Valley had one, owned by Bashford-Burmeister,in Eastern money to finance pioneer Yavapai town called Lower Town. Congress Junction, yet ain which Frank Murphy also had a financial interest,Countys development. The Congress Mine made third town, began to build around the depot andbefore Prescott did. The Peavine added greatly to thehim a fortune, which he built into an even larger junction of the mine spur with the main line. Saloons,prosperity of the Congress Mine, Mill Town, Lowerone with his investments in other mines, railroads, gambling houses, boarding houses, Chinese, Mexican,Town, and Congress Junction. It made the Congressand other businesses. He returned much of his gains and American restaurants, meat markets, mercantile,the premier mine in the Arizona Territory in the 1890s,to the communities of the county in which he lived a tailor shop, churches, an adobe school, and even aand it remained so until the gold ran out in 1910.and worked. Frank Murphy may well have been the tennis court, an electric plant, and a telegraph lineleading businessman and single most important served the three-town community. benefactor of Yavapai County and Arizona Territory during his life here.PRIME RIBFRIDAY & SATURDAYArizonaRealCountry.com September 2023 55'