Private company

El Paso and Southwestern Railroad

Defunct American short-line railroad

The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad began in 1888 as the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad, a short line serving copper mines in southern Arizona. Over the next few decades, it grew into a 1200-mile system that stretched from Tucumcari, New Mexico, southward to El Paso, Texas, and westward to Tucson, Arizona, with several branch lines, including one to Nacozari, Mexico. The railroad was bought by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1924 and fully merged into its parent company in 1955.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

1901Founded1
  • Industryrail transport1
  • HeadquartersArizona1

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The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad began in 1888 as the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad, a short line serving copper mines in southern Arizona. Over the next few decades, it grew into a 1200-mile system that stretched from Tucumcari, New Mexico, southward to El Paso, Texas, and westward to Tucson, Arizona, with several branch lines, including one to Nacozari, Mexico. The railroad was bought by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1924 and fully merged into its parent company in 1955. The EP&SW was a major link in the transcontinental route of the Golden State Limited.2

The story

James Douglas was a former professor of chemistry working for William E. Dodge Jr. and Daniel Willis James, majority co-owners of the trading firm Phelps, Dodge and Co. Phelps Dodge was interested in entering the copper mining industry, and hired Douglas to make an inspection of mining claims in the Southwestern United States. Douglas suggested that the two men invest in the Detroit Copper Mining Company of Arizona, which owned a copper mining claim in Morenci, Arizona Territory, as well as purchase the Atlanta claim, adjoining the Copper Queen Mine, in Bisbee, Arizona Territory. In 1881, Phelps Dodge followed both recommendations, taking an interest in the Detroit Copper Mining Company, and purchasing a controlling interest in the Atlanta mine. After the Copper Queen and Atlanta mines both struck the Atlanta ore body in 1884, Phelps Dodge merged with the Copper Queen, to avoid litigation sparked by the "law of the apex". The company merged its various mining interests into the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company in 1885, and installed Douglas as president and part-owner.

With production in the Bisbee area expanding, Douglas formed the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad in 1888. The railroad ran on a short spur of track from Bisbee to Fairbank, Arizona, where it met the mainline of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's New Mexico and Arizona Railroad. Shortly thereafter and unhappy with AT&SF rates, the line was extended to Benson, Arizona, to connect with the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1900, Copper Queen Consolidated built a new smelter at the newly built town of Douglas, Arizona (named for James Douglas), to which the railroad was extended again. The line was renamed the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad on June 25, 1901, to reflect its larger scope (even though it did not yet extend to El Paso, Texas).

After the deaths of Dodge in 1903 and James in 1907, the various Phelps Dodge railroads, mining companies, real estate firms, as well as other subsidiaries and divisions were all merged into Phelps Dodge and Company. In 1915, Phelps Dodge and Company went public as Phelps-Dodge.

From Wikipedia’s article on El Paso and Southwestern Railroad, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway1
  2. Succeeded El Paso and Northeastern Railway1
  3. Succeeded by Southern Pacific Transportation Company1

Timeline

  1. 1961Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1901Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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