Prescott and Eastern Railroad Co. - Signed by Frank M. Murphy - 1900's-20's dated Prescott, Arizona Railway Stock Certificate - Part of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
Inv# RS4565 Stock
Stock printed by Goes. Signed by Frank M. Murphy. The Prescott and Eastern Railroad (P&E) was a non-operating subsidiary of the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway (SFP&P) in Arizona. The 26.4 mile (42.5 km) common carrier railroad was built to serve the mines in the region. The railroad built from a connection with the SFP&P at Entro and extended south to Poland Junction and terminated at Mayer. At Poland Junction and Mayer the P&E connected with the Bradshaw Mountain Railroad, also a non-operating subsidiary of the SFP&P. After various mergers the P&E was merged into the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The line was later abandoned by the Santa Fe Railway. The railroad was incorporated on September 14, 1897. It commenced grading from the SFP&P connection at Entro (northeast of Prescott) on March 10, 1898. On September 30, 1898, the 26.4 mile (42.5 km) line was completed. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescott_and_Eastern_Railroad
Frank Murphy was a visionary who thrived on doing the impossible. A few years earlier, he’d built a railroad from Ash Fork to Phoenix, linking the capital city with the main line of the Santa Fe Railroad in northern Arizona that marked the closing of the frontier period in Arizona history. The Santa Fe Prescott and Phoenix Railroad line was better known as the Peavine. My father was an engineer on the Peavine for some 30 years. It had so many twists and turns south of Ash Fork that an early rider declared, “This ain’t a railroad line; this is a pea vine.” And the name stuck.
Crown King, sitting high atop the Bradshaw Mountains, was a boisterous town in its heyday as a mining town. During the 1890s, 17 men were killed here, mostly in arguments over women and card games. In 1888, the Crowned King Mining Company was organized and shipped their first bullion, a 146-pound gold bar worth $46,720. Soon, the town had 500 residents with stores, hotels, sawmills, a church, a school, and a burro express to Prescott. The town’s rich payroll also supported the saloons, gambling dens, and bordellos that sprung up nearby.
The Crowned King produced $1.5 million during the 1890s and thousands of other mines dotted the area, but the shipment of ore and mining-supplies transportation created enormous problems. That’s when Murphy approached the financial backers of the Prescott and Eastern Railroad about the idea of building branch lines into the rugged Bradshaw Mountains. Their response was favorable, and Murphy incorporated the Bradshaw Mountain Railway. The line would have two branches. One would go eight miles up Big Bug Creek to the Poland Mine—that’s just south of the town of Humboldt on State Route 69. The other line began at the end of the Prescott and Eastern Railroad terminus at Mayer up to Crown King in the pine-covered slopes of the Bradshaws, 3,000 feet above Turkey Creek in the valley below. The 28-mile road from Mayer to Crown King would be difficult to build but would run through some of the most breathtaking scenery in Arizona. It was 13 miles to the top, and the grade was so steep that they needed a dozen tight switchbacks. For every two miles of track, it took seven miles of track to cover it. Read more at https://northvalleymagazine.com/frank-murphys-impossible-railroad/
A stock certificate is issued by businesses, usually companies. A stock is part of the permanent finance of a business. Normally, they are never repaid, and the investor can recover his/her money only by selling to another investor. Most stocks, or also called shares, earn dividends, at the business's discretion, depending on how well it has traded. A stockholder or shareholder is a part-owner of the business that issued the stock certificates.
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