Arrival of the railroad in Mescal and Benson

Railroad Impacts on the San Pedro River Valley

"The railroad reached the area of current day Benson in the early summer of 1880 (Myrick, 1981, p. 57-61) As we shall see below and in a forthcoming second article about railroads, the arrival of the Southern Pacific at Benson had considerable impacts within the San Pedro River Valley. The Big Four realized that the Middle Crossing of the San Pedro River was a natural place for the establishment of a new town They had the Pacific Improvement Co.. a holding company created by them to manage their investments outside of their direct railroad holdings and private estates (Coman, 1942), plat a town there named after William B. Benson, a friend of Charles Crocker The town was located on high ground to avoid floods and the malaria prevalent along the river Sales of lots in the new town began on June 21, 1880, and regular railroad service to and from Benson started the next day Benson rapidly grew in population and within six months had four stores, several shops, a hotel and several saloons. The town rapidly became a transportation hub. Stagecoaches and freight wagons trundled between it and mining areas and population centers such as Tombstone. By 1884 the town was nearly recovered from the effects of a recent fire (Elliott. 1884, p. 242). Just east of it the Benson Smelting and Mining Company of San Francisco operated a smelter on the north side of the railroad. From March 1883 to January 1884 the smelter produced $725,000 in bullion Approximately half of the ore for the smelter came from Arizona, a quarter from Sonora, and another quarter from New Mexico The population of the town reached approximately 500 inhabitants in 1885 (TT, 1885).

The presence of the Southern Pacific and railroads that would be built within the valley facilitated the movement of cattle into and out of the San Pedro River Valley and helped promote the over stocking of the valley with livestock and the subsequent severe overgrazing of its grasslands (Sayre, 1999).

Before the founding of Benson and Tombstone, Tres Alamos had been the largest population center In the San Pedro River Valley The advent of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the development of profitable mines in the Tombstone and Bisbee areas made Tres Alamos a less profitable venue for general merchandise stores and stagecoach companies and led to the start of a decline in importance of the latter settlement The Hooker family had maintained in Tres Alamos the very well-regarded Tres Alamos House that supplied lodging and provided excellent food. Hooker realized that the need for travel lodging at Tres Alamos would soon decline and in early February 1879 announced that the facility was for sale or rent (AC, 1879a). Kinnear in early March 1879 dropped Tres Alamos from his stage route between Tucson and Tombstone (AC, 1879b)

The August 28, 1880 issue of The Arizona Citizen contained further news foreshadowing a decline in the importance of Tres Alamos relative to other settlements in the valley (AC, 1880a, 1880b) Mister Wilt had moved his stock of merchandise from Tres Alamos to Benson. The bridge at Tres Alamos and the road on both the east and west sides of it were in very bad shape. In September 1886, the federal government ordered the post office at Tres Alamos closed, with mail for that place to be sent to Benson (CC, 1886)

Railroads promoted the settlement of the San Pedro River Valley by advertising for and transporting new settlers into Arizona See for example the 1880 advertising circular (ATS, 1880) of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad."

excerpt from Railroads Part 1. The Arrival of the Railroads by Gerald R. Noonan - 2016.: https://scihistory.info/railroads-part-1.html