by Ray Herbeck, Jr. Historian, Author and Western Heritage Foundation Board Member
On May 31, the Western Heritage Foundation will bring to life Prescott’s Impossible Switchback Railroad in a documentary double feature at the Elks Theatre. Based on the book of the same name, the first film profiles its thrilling story; the second, Riding the Impossible, uses flyovers and AI animation to let viewers experience a simulated ride on this legendary train.
Newspapers dubbed it “the Bradshaw Boondoggle,” but Prescott railroad/mining tycoon Frank Murphy proved them wrong. Against staggering odds, he gambled and won to reach the gold, silver and copper riches of his Crown King-area mines.
He built the Bradshaw Mountain Railroad, an engineering marvel better known as “the impossible switchback railroad.”
Many thought it ridiculous when Murphy proposed in 1900 to run a railway from Prescott to Crown King, the 6,000-foot summit of the Bradshaw Mountains. Yet it was completed in 1904 after a legendary engineering and construction effort, only to be abandoned by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1924 when the mines became unprofitable.
This effort required not only engineering genius, but tons of dynamite and the grit of 600 immigrant laborers to construct numerous road cuts, 31 wooden trestle bridges, a 142-foot-long tunnel and its most defining feature, 10 “switchbacks.”
These are inclined zigzags in the track with a switch at the ends to change train direction so it can move forward and backwards up a grade.
Murphy’s vision was to unite central and northern mines by rail, a cheaper and faster method of ore transport than mule and wagon at a time when Arizona Territory was still a “wild west” frontier.
To build the Bradshaw Mountain Railroad, he partnered with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, Murphy’s partners in two already successful lines: the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix in 1895, and the Prescott and Eastern in 1898.
Murphy insisted the new line be of standard gauge rather than the more affordable narrow-gauge track. He wanted to avoid the high costs of unloading and transferring freight between rail cars of different gauges.
His chief engineer, William A. Drake, proposed to his engineering team to consider using a switchback track layout, and the rest is history.
Authors/filmmakers Jeff Titchenal and Steve Titchenal will present both films starting at 3 p.m. Tickets are available online at the Elks Theatre website or at the door. All aboard!
