Atlantic & Pacific RR Co. Route Map & Land Grant Filing Maps

The A&PRRCo., Western Division, built the railroad across northern New Mexico and Arizona Territories, beginning twelve & seven tenths track miles (12.7) south of Albuquerque from A&P Junction (now Isleta, NM), then more or less following along the 35th parallel westward, connecting with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Needles, California. Construction began April 1880 and crossed the Colorado River 8 August 1883.

The A&P Land Grant Filing Maps in this posting consists of twenty (20) individual maps, depicting twenty-two (22) sections of twenty-five miles each, consistent with the 27 July 1866 Congressional ACT, which authorized the construction of the new Trans-continental Railroad. In addition, there is one (1) map showing this New Transcontinental Route and its connections.

Fortunately, some A&P records survive today in various Archives: the National Archives Records Administration and Library of Congress Archives, Washington D.C.; the Arizona State Railroad Museum Archives, Williams, AZ; the Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum, Temple, Texas; the Kansas State Railroad Museum, Topeka, KS. No doubt there are other repositories yet to be discovered holding A&P records; if the reader knows of any such holdings, please notify the ASRMF.

The Arizona State Railroad Museum Foundation, located in Williams, Arizona, is caretaker of this A.T.&S.F.Ry.Co. Collection, which now contains an estimated 60,000 documents and records from the Santa Fe Railway's former Albuquerque Division. The former Albuquerque Division was, and remains so today, an important portion of the BNSF main line between Chicago and the west coast.

The Arizona State Railroad Museum Foundation is incorporated under the laws of the State of Arizona and is designated as a non-profit under IRS Code 501(C)(3). Accordingly, donations may be tax deductible.

Both the Arizona Memory Project, sponsor of this website, and the Arizona State Railroad Museum are Arizona Centennial 2012 Legacy Projects.

Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Co. (A&PRRCo.) - Time Lines and a Little History:

1850s:

The route of the Western Division Atlantic & Pacific RR Co. between Albuquerque, NMT and the Colorado River oft times compares very closely with the routes surveyed and used by Captain Lorenzo Sitgreaves (1852); Francois X. Aubrey (1853); Lieutenant Amiel Weeks Whipple (1853 - 1854); and Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1858).

1860s:

27 July 1866 Congressional Act:

The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Co. (A&PRR) began when the of the United State Congress authorized the construction of a third trans-continental railroad from Springfield, Missouri, across Indian Territory and the Rio Grande River, then westward more or less along the thirty-fifth (35th) parallel, to the Colorado River, and . . . to the Pacific Coast. Included in this Act was the issuing of Land Grants, alternating sections of government  owned lands,  along  the  Rights-of-Way  of  the  constructed track center-line. Thus, the requirement for the Land Grant Filing Maps submission to the U.S. Government as featured in this posting.

In the U. S., land surveying under the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), a section of land is an area normally one square mile, containing 640 acres, with 36 sections making up one survey Township on a rectangular grid. The PLSS was created by the Land Ordinance of 1785 to survey land ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris in 1773, following the end of the American Revolution.

1870s:

The A&PRR Co. purchased the South Pacific Railroad in Missouri, and began westward construction from Franklin (now Pacific), Missouri, located just west of St. Louis, and completed the line to Springfield. Rail construction continued southwesterly from Springfield to Vinita, Indian Territory (IT), giving the A&PRR approximately 350 miles of track west of St. Louis. The A&P also leased an additional 495 miles of track from St. Louis to Kansas City, giving the road a total of 845 miles of track in Missouri on which to operate.

As a result of financial difficulties and the 1873 panic, the A&PRR Co. defaulted on bond payments and filed for Bankruptcy. In 1876, bondholders purchased the railroad assets, including the most important and valuable asset - the existing Land Grants, and the original charter authorized land grants in New Mexico and Arizona Territories. As a further step the bondholders reorganized the A&P and incorporated it as the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway (SLSF or FRISCO). The FRISCO was in part, if not totally, financed by the New York investment banking firm of J. & W. Seligman & Company.

Because of Cherokee and other Nations objections, the A&PRR line westward across Indian Territory from Vinita, Indian Territory, thru the Texas panhandle and on to the Rio Grande River, was not built as intended; this section of the A&PRR was known as the Central Division.

The new owners of the SL&SF /FRISCO ultimately extended the Central Division track from Vinita to Tulsa (1882), to Red Fork (1885), and to Sapulpa (1886). The SL&SF /FRISCO also constructed a direct line into St. Louis in 1883, ending its dependence on the Missouri Pacific for access to St. Louis.

1879 - The Tripartite Agreement

Some months prior to the Santa Fe reaching Albuquerque, NMT, the Santa Fe, the Frisco and the A&PRRCo. agreed to jointly fund and build the road west from Albuquerque, forming the Western Division of the A&PRR; thus the Tripartite Agreement was born. The initial agreement of 14 November 1979, as amended 6 December 1879, was finalized and signed 31 January 1880. The A&PRR west of Albuquerque, became officially known as the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, Western Division.

1880s:

The Santa Fe, via its subsidiary the New Mexico & Southern Pacific Railroad Company (NM&SP), crossed from Colorado into New Mexico Territory at Raton Pass (7 December 1878) and reached Albuquerque, NMT on 10 April 1880, and continued to build track southward through Belen to San Marcial, NMT.

A new Santa Fe affiliate or subsidiary, the Rio Grande, Mexico & Pacific Railroad, was formed to continue rail construction south of San Marcial toward El Paso, Texas, and a connection with the Southern Pacific at Deming, NMT on 6 March 1881.

The A&PRR built its own rail yard in Albuquerque, then shared the NM&SP main line 12.7 track miles south to A&P Junction via trackage rights.

Westward construction of the A&PRR, Western Division, started immediately from A&P Junction, NMT, today’s Isleta. The A&PRR reached Winslow, AT, on 3 December 1881; Williams, AT, on 1 September 1882; ultimately crossing the Colorado River just south of Needles, California on 10 August 1883 (first train to cross the river on the new timber trestle), and connected with the Southern Pacific RR on the west bank of the River.

1890s:

Indian Territory became Oklahoma Territory 2 May 1890, and was granted Statehood 16 November 1907.

After numerous bankruptcy filings and associated settlements in the1890s, the A.T.&S.F. Railroad Co. became the A.T.&S.F. Railway Co., and acquired full ownership of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, Western Division.

As a result of one of these settlements the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, Western Division, was sold to the newly created AT&SF subsidiary Santa Fe Pacific Railroad on June 1897, ending the A&P's existence in December 1897. The SFPRR operated until 1902 when it was absorbed into the parent Santa Fe Company.

Ultimately, what was the A&PRRCo., Western Division and the SFPRR, became the Santa Fe Railway's Albuquerque Division, with approximately 1,085 miles of track across northern New Mexico and Arizona.

A&P Land Grant Filing Maps:

The Land Grant Filing Maps (LGFM), twenty-two (22) filing sections of twenty-five (25) miles each, drawn as twenty (20) maps, included with this posting are first generation images scanned from the original, four (4) color ink-on-linen drawings, on file with the National Archives (NARA). All maps are drawn at scale of 1 inch = 2000 feet, beginning at Albuquerque, NMT and ending on the west bank of the Colorado River, just south of Needles, Calif. The first map shows filing Sections 1 and 2; the second map shows filing Sections 3 and 4. Thereafter, the maps show one (1) each filing Section of twenty-five (25) miles. All maps are print-ready and may be ordered through the ASRMF website.

The A&P Land Grant Filing Maps included in this posting are a subset of the A.T.&S.F.Ry.Co. Collection under  the  stewardship  of the ASRMF. This Collection contains some 60,000 separate documents (engineering drawings, specifications, field survey notes, correspondence, various records and manuals, traffic data, etc.).

A&P ROUTE Map Title: Map showing the New Transcontinental Route of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad and its connections.

This ROUTE Map (15" high by 34" wide) covers the southwestern United States, from Chicago to the Pacific Coast. This ink on linen map, shows the New Transcontinental Route of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Co. and Chicago & Pacific Railroad, with connections, from Chicago to San Francisco.  The map bears the inscription “Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1883 by G.W. & C.B. Colton & Co. in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.”  The map also bears a Copyright Date stamp “Jun 30 1883", and includes the hand-written copyright registration number 12027-02.

The map shows the A&P Route from Seneca, IT, with it’s branch from Van Buren, Arkansas, to Needles, California, highlighted with a red-shaded band representing the Land Grant areas across IT, the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and Arizona Territories, to Needles.  The map, “scale . . . statute miles 60 to one inch”, also annotates the Atlantic & Pacific Central and Western Divisions. East of Seneca to St. Louis the line is shown as the St. Louis & San Francisco (Railway).

The original of this map resides with the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/98688587/.