The first bridge to conquer Hell Canyon was a railroad cut-off that took the entirety of 1901 to complete. The new route would shorten the trip by only three miles, but more significantly, it would bypass “about 34 bridges and some very steep grades,” the Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner described. The project was under consideration for over two years, "but [was] deferred for various reasons, but there is no doubt now, but the work will be done and that at once.”
By the middle of January, contracts were being awarded “for the steel for the monster bridge across Hell Canyon, which will be one of the largest structures of [this] kind in Arizona. It will be 150 feet high at the highest point, and will be 650 feet in length,” the paper described. The new road bed would bypass the steep grade over the mountain via Rock Butte. The new line started several miles north of Rock Butte and would follow the valley, skirting around the foothills, and will intersect the present line at a point about three or four miles south of the Cedar Glade station.
The newspaper reported that the project brought many contractors to town to make bids on different aspects of the undertaking, listing six that were considered prominent.
The Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix railroad was required to file a map showing the proposed cut-off at the land office “which [had] to be forwarded to Washington for approval,” the paper explained. It was expected that work would commence at the start of February. The contract for the grading was awarded to JW Thurber, of Flagstaff. He was required to start work within ten days.
In preparation, Thurber immediately started organizing camps at both ends of the new roadbed, with the idea of working toward the bridge simultaneously. “It will take the greater part of the summer to complete the work,” the paper surmised.
But the plan was quickly adjusted. Thurber initially hired about 100 teams to work only on the southern leg of grading. It was decided to make this leg the priority because it could then be used to transport the steel and another material “for the big bridge over Hell Canyon… Work on the structure [would] be pushed forward while grading is going on at the [northern] end,” the paper reported.
However, teams of working livestock were desperately needed to get the project completed as quickly as possible. “NC Webster has gone down to Mexico to bring some of his stock up to work on the cut off grade,” the paper noted.
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| An ad requesting more help for the project. |
By mid-May, the five miles of the southern leg had rails in place and was ready for use, and over three miles of grading had been completed on the north. Also at this time, the paper reported that “work of excavating the foundation of the Hell Canyon bridge [was] about completed and work has commenced on the concrete foundation,” which would take about a month to complete.
In June, it was hoped the entire cutoff would be completed by September 1. In July, Thurber predicted it would be done October 1—most all of his work on the grading was completed by then.
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At the beginning of October, “all that remain[ed] to be done, [was] a few days’ work dressing up the grade.” Still, work on the bridge had not yet begun despite 26 carloads of material ready at the site. “The steel for the bridge was manufactured by a Leavenworth, Kansas steel company, who also [had] the contract for putting it in place. Work was to commence on it the first of the month, but the workmen [had] not shown up yet.” It was thought that the work could be completed in roughly four to six weeks. This too was optimistic.
The bridge builders arrived about a week late. At that point there was nothing else left to be done on the cutoff. It would take the Kansas crew nearly three months to complete the massive bridge.
Only one injury was reported during all the construction. Beck Detwiler had his foot crushed and departed to Phoenix "to nurse it."
Finally, it was December 28, 1901 when “a special train with two carloads of invited guests of the railroad company went out to Hell Canyon…to see the big bridge which [was just] completed,” the Journal-Miner conveyed.
The real test came that same day when “a double header freight train consisting of 50 cars was pulled in from Ash Fork…over the cut off and the new Hell Canyon bridge. Over the old line this would have taken four engines and two, if not three crews,” the paper told.
With the cutoff complete, much time, effort and money was saved.
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SOURCES:
Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner:
1/9/1901, Pg. 1, Col. 3.
1/16/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 7.
1/23/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 6.
1/30/1901, Pg. 4, Col. 1.
2/20/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 2.
2/27/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 5-6.
5/15/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 2.
5/15/1901, Pg. 4, Col. 3.
9/4/1901, Pg. 2, Col. 9.
6/26/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 2.
7/10/1901, Pg. 4, Col. 1.
10/2/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 1.
10/9/1901, Pg. 3, Col. 1.
11/20/1901, Pg. 3_C5.
1/1/1902, Pg. 3, Col. 3, and Pg. 4, Col. 1.
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