Across the Tracks in Tacna/Wellton

I walked 5.28 miles around my neighborhood today.  I have a sore hip and a blistered foot from yesterday's walk by the beach.  Apparently, walking on concrete with sand on it is more difficult than walking on a smooth surface.  But, enough complaining.  I signed up for this cruise and I'm going to enjoy it.

I spotted this flower in a neighbor's yard on my trip back from the grocery store.  I think it's a bromeliad, specifically an "aechmea fasciata," but I might be wrong.  Did you know that some bromeliads are edible?  In fact, I bet you've eaten one, because the most common bromeliad is the pineapple.  And who grows the most pineapples?  If you said "Hawaii," well, you would be wrong.  About 60 percent of the world's fresh pineapple exports come from Costa Rica, the Ivory Coast, and the Philippines...and you and I would both say, "I did not know that!"  Well now you and I both know.

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5.28 miles from where we left off yesterday in Arizona, on the mapped path to Washington D.C., the path comes to some railroad tracks.  The late 19th and early 20th centuries in Wellton and the surrounding areas are tied to the Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) railroad.  Founded in 1865 by a group of businessmen in San Francisco, the Southern Pacific was created as a rail line from San Francisco to San Diego. By 1883, the line extended all the way to New Orleans.  The best history I can find of the railroad in this area is on the  Elton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District website. (see below)

The Southern Pacific line was built easterly from Los Angeles, and reached the bank of the Colorado River opposite Yuma on April 29, 1877. After completion of a bridge over the Colorado, the first train entered Yuma on September 30 of that year.

After some delay, surveying and grading resumed, and the first rails were laid eastward from Yuma on November 18, 1878, requiring a workforce of 1300 men. Normal progress was one mile of track per day. This was slowed somewhat by rock excavation required in going around “Cape Horn”, a name given to the north end of the Gila Mountains near the present heading of the Wellton-Mohawk Canal.  (There is a fascinating history of the canal, well, and drainage system in this area.)

It is likely that surveying and grading crews came through the present site of Wellton (Railroad Mile 37 east of Yuma) in December, 1878, but not likely that rails reached the site of the town until some time in January, 1879. Elton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District website.

(1879 was also the year when Tombstone, Arizona, was founded.)  Tombstone is a historic western city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory  (This is in SE Arizona). It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. The town prospered from about 1877 to 1890, during which time the town's mines produced US$40 to $85 million in silver bullion, the largest productive silver district in Arizona. Its population grew from 100 to around 14,000 in less than seven years. It is best known as the site of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and now draws most of its revenue from tourism. (Wikipedia)

The original alignment of the railroad was in and along the valley of the Gila River from the old mining community of Dome, at the north end of the Gila Mountains, (on the old Butterfield Stage route) to the present site of Wellton. The flood of 1891 washed out several miles of this alignment, after which the railroad was moved to higher ground along the mountains and mesa, approximately in its present location. (Elton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District)

There was considerable difficulty with locomotive boiler scaling, caused by brackish water obtained from the shallow wells along the railroad right-of-way. In an attempt to get good water, several deep wells were drilled at one particular site. This location became known as “Well Town”, hence “Wellton”. A post office was established at Wellton on August 4, 1904.  (Elton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District)