A color postcard of the EP & SW engine No. 1 at the Museum of the University of Texas. The back caption reads: “El Paso and Southwestern Engine No. 1 E.P. & S.W. No.1 bears this builder's inscription: "Breese, Kneeland & Co., No 73, Jersey City 1857." The Classic American Type 4-4-0 locomotive was built for the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railway Co. and served in that area until 1889 when it became the No. 1 engine on the Phelps Dodge line known as the Arizona and Southwestern Railroad Co. and later as the E. P. & S. W. This railway was the extended into El Paso in 1903, the year No. 1 was retired from regular service. In 1924 the Southern Pacific Co. acquired the line and in 1960 gave the engine to the El Paso Centennial. Museum of the University of Texas at El Paso.” The postcard is unused and was published by Henry McGrew Printing, INC. Kansas City, MO. Monika Olbrisch Collection.

The expansion of the railways was pivotal to Bisbee’s development. For new arrivals into town the train provided a far faster, smoother mode of transport as compared to horse or mule drawn stagecoaches. It accelerated the flow of ore outgoing ore and incoming flow of people and product into town. The Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company built their own railway that laid thirty-six miles to reach the town of Fairbank. The Arizona and Southeastern Railroad Company incorporated on May 24th, 1888 and Ben Williams served as its president. The main line was laid out by El Paso & Southwestern that laid 1,100 miles of train tracks. The train depot in front of the Phelps Dodge Mercantile Warehouse was the gateway for new visitors to Bisbee. In the area were the train depot once stood are three flag poles bearing the American, Arizonan and Mexican flags.

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