Mesa, Arizona in 1915

 

 

The Phoenix, Tempe & Mesa built a 7.3 mile extension of the Maricopa & Phoenix from Tempe to Mesa. This line opened on December 9, 1895, and the same day the PT&M was consolidated with the Maricopa & Phoenix to form the Maricopa & Phoenix & Salt River Valley Railroad.

This line entered Mesa (page 1) at the north end of the town on a franchise granted by the city council on June 17, 1895 to use Third Street.

The Phoenix & Eastern, owned by the Santa Fe and leased to the Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix, built their line to Mesa and began regular service on June 7, 1903.

The Southern Pacific and Santa Fe began negotiations to settle the railroad war then ongoing in the Gila River canyon east of Winkleman. On December 7, 1906, the first of two agreements between E.H. Harriman and Santa Fe president E.P. Ripley provided for the sale of Phoenix & Eastern securities to the Southern Pacific Company. The second agreement was for a new low-grade line to be built from Deming, New Mexico, to Mojave, California, via Phoenix. SP would build the line from Deming to Phoenix, and Santa Fe would build the line from Mojave to Phoenix, Each company would have trackage rights over the other to provide for a through route.

The second agreement provided for a Santa Fe entry into northern California through the jointly owned Northwestern Pacific. 

Southern Pacific paid $2,446,000 for the Phoenix & Eastern securities, and Epes Randolph announced the acquisition in Phoenix on April 18, 1907.