New Mexican Railway Company


The New Mexican Railway Company was incorporated in the Territorial Legislature of New Mexico on Feb 2, 1860, prior to the beginning of the American Civil War. Corporate members were Henry Connelly, Antonio J. Otero, who served as a justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court; Ambrosio Armijo ; José Felipe Chavez, Francisco Chavez; Spruce M. Baird, a judge sent by Texas during the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico to organize their claimed land east of the Rio Grande as the Santa Fe county of Texas; Francisco Perea, José Leandro Perea, who was the uncle of Francisco, Charles B. Clark, José Guadalupe Gallegos, Stephen Boice, William H. Moore, Ceran St. Vrain, Thomas C. de Baca, Merrill Ashurst, Duff Green, John Titus, David R. Porter, Oliver W. Barney, and Philip L. Fox. The Memorial of the New Mexican Railway Company, in Relation to the Pacific Railroad was introduced by in the United States Congress on May 21, 1860. It was an argument in favor of the southern route for a transcontinental railroad. Arguments over the central vs. southern route were a part of the complex of insoluble relations between states, dating back to James Gadsden's involvement in 1845. These arguments contributed to the outbreak of the American Civil War. The New Mexican Railway Company was formed in conjunction with the attempt to retain rights of in-state railroad construction oversight within the Territorial government. The act of incorporation stated that company rights and privileges would be forfeited if construction had not begun within a period of five years. Beginning in 1862, after the outbreak of Civil War, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad of California were granted lands and construction privileges for the First Transcontinental Railroad project under the Pacific Railway Acts. Construction of this Overland Route was begun in 1863 and completed in 1869. The southern route did not become a reality until 1883, when the Southern Pacific Railroad linked New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico with Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean.

''Memorial... in Relation to the Pacific Railroad''

The Memorial document is an attempt to persuade the U.S. Congress to authorize construction of the first Transcontinental Railroad via a southern route through New Mexico rather than the route that was eventually authorized by the Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 and 1864. Several arguments were made in favor of the southern route including preferable weather conditions for operations, shorter distances, lesser grades, proximity to the southern border for military action and for Mexican mineral resources, proximity to southern ports of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, and overall cost-benefit savings. Issues of slavery were also discussed in the document. In addition, in the case that the southern route was chosen, the document stressed the rights of the New Mexico Territorial Legislature to oversee and assign land and resources within their territory that would be involved in completion of such a project. The New Mexican Railway Company was incorporated for these purposes.
It is apparent that the act of incorporation was an attempt to keep the allocation of lands and construction resources for the railroad within NM Territory under the jurisdiction of the Territorial government. The act of incorporation stated that company rights and privileges would be forfeited if construction had not begun within a period of five years.