Does anyone know anything about a railroad from Dewey to Stoddard, AZ?

Question

I have an old map that shows such a line, but haven't been

able to locate the line on either Topozone or on the Yahoo

aereal maps.

Answer 1

The railroad shown on your map is probably the old Prescott & Eastern Railroad (P & E) which ran from near Prescott to the mining town of Meyer (near Stoddard) with stops at a number of small mining and ranching towns along the way.  It was started in 1897 by Frank Murphy, a well known AZ business man who was big in mining and railroads.  The route was later extended all the way up to Crown King in the Bradshaw Mountains as the Bradshaw Mountain Railway Co.

Mining activity in the area - and rail traffic along with it - declined after World War One and the company discontinued service to Meyer in the 1950s.  Today the tracks and most of the railroad buildings are long gone, but you can still see portions of the grade and rock cuts along the highway and there is still a large railroad tunnel left from the spur line up to the mining camp of Poland.  Much of the area is now being developed into housing.