History of railroad logging in the Flagstaff Region

http://www.nps.gov/nr/publications/bulletins/brochure/

From the late 1880s to 1966, trains hauling loads of logs were a common sight in the forest surrounding Flagstaff. Surprisingly, most Flagstaff residents that I've spoken with have no idea of the role these timber railroads played in the history of the area. If one is observant, evidence of these rail lines can be clearly seen scattered throughout the forests surrounding Flagstaff. Many of the current Forest Service roads were largely built on the grades of the rail lines. Flagstaff is located in the largest continuous ponderosa pine forest in North America. This pine forest completely surrounds the city. It extends for roughly 30 miles south to the Mogollon Rim and then southeast into New Mexico.

In 1881 the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad began constructing a line passing through Flagstaff (Cline 1994). Small sawmills were constructed to provide the needed railroad ties. Edward Ayer soon realized an opportunity and established a large mill to not only supply the needed ties but also to address the increasing demand for lumber throughout the West. This mill was able to process 100,000 board feet of timber per day and employed upwards of 200 men (Stein 1993). Eventually, access to the expansive stand of timber near Flagstaff was needed. Beginning in 1887, the Arizona Mineral Belt Railroad was used to transport timber to the Ayer Lumber Company mill. Dennis (I've also seen it spelled "Denis") Riordan, a member of the influential Riordan family, bought out Ayers and formed the Arizona Lumber Company (Stein 1993). The line became known as the Central Arizona Railroad (Schuppert 1993). There were eventually three lumber companies that operated logging railroads in the Flagstaff area: the already mentioned Arizona Lumber Company, the Saginaw Lumber Company, and the Flagstaff Lumber Manufacturing Company. The Arizona Lumber company became the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company which purchased the Greenlaw Lumber Company. The Saginaw Lumber Company was later reorganized as the Saginaw and Manistee Lumber Company. This outfit logged much of the area west of Flagstaff and around Williams. In 1941 they took over the operations of the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company and began logging in the vicinity of Mormon Lake. They also logged the area east of Tusayan just south of Grand Canyon National Park. The Flagstaff Lumber  and Manufacturing Company, which in 1916 shortened its name to Flagstaff Lumber Company, ceased operations in 1928. Southwest Lumber Mills, later known as Southwest Forest Products, took over the Saginaw and Manistee operations and continued to operate the Allan Lake line until 1966 (Schuppert 1993, Stein 1993).

I've provided a much condensed history of Flagstaff logging railroads that is in no way meant to be comprehensive. There are other sources that present much more complete histories of each of the timber companies that operated in in the Flagstaff area. Stein (1993) provides a concise history of each company and the lines they operated as well as what drove each company to cease operations. This well written report was prepared for the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests where as the above mentioned lines are located. Management recommendations and the significance of the remains from these operations is discussed. To me, the most interesting aspect of the report are the numerous, though not entirely complete, maps of the main lines and spur lines associated with each of the operations.

Trennert (1967-68) provides a well written history of the Flagstaff Lumber Company and contains some wonderful photographs. A shorter version of this article is his 1965 article in Plateau. These are both a little difficult to locate. I located the former article in Cline Library at Northern Arizona University and the latter article in a used bookstore. Trennert (1970) gives an in-depth history of the Arizona Mineral Belt Railroad.

Schuppert (1993) provides histories of all the various Flagstaff railroad logging companies. It is well written and is full of great period photographs as well as present day photographs of the remains of railroad grades, ties, and other items that are associated with the rail lines. Unfortunately it does not contain any detailed maps of the lines but has a nice map inside both the front and back cover that shows the general locations of each of the mainlines. This book appears to now be out-of-print and prices of used copies on Amazon range from 90.00 to 160.00.