The Battle of Apache Pass

Dedicating Tucson Underpass

One of the most important Arizona construction projects of 1935 was the Stone Avenue underpass at Tucson, whose dedication took place in December. The following is the address delivered by Shelton G. Dowell, chairman of the Arizona Highway Commission, at dedication ceremonies: "It is with a feeling of pride that we of the Arizona Highway Commission have come to participate in the dedication of this great structure designed to preserve human lives and speed our commerce. We of the commission are indebted to the people of Tucson and the Southern Pacific Railroad for their wholehearted co-operation in transposing this underpass from pencil and paper to concrete and steel."

"Our program of grade-crossing elimination has resulted in the construction of 17 overpasses, 13 underpasses and 59 dangerous railroad crossings have been eliminated by relocation.

"The work of our highway engineers to build underpasses, widen highways and protect the curves can never hope to become the panacea for the alarming toll of highway accident deaths and injuries. The ultimate success of the safety program reposes in your hands and your heads. No fence is strong enough, no underpass is wide enough to curb the speed maniac or the man or woman who ignores the common rules of the highway."

"We have come a long way along that highway of progress which has led us from the pony express, the covered wagon and the rocky trails of early Arizona commerce. The great transcontinental highway which dips beneath this structure is the child of that first American highway-the Cumberland Road."

"On September 3, 1806, three commissioners appointed by President Jefferson to lay out the Cumberland Road met at Cumberland, Md., to begin their work. This was the first federal project for the improvement of internal transportation and communication. By 1818 U. S. mail coaches were running over the road to Wheeling, then in Virginia. Eventually this highway was built westward through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to St. Louis, Mo."

"It carried thousands of population and millions of wealth into the West;"

and more than any other material structure in the land, served to harmonize, if not save, the Union.

"In 1849 Tucson was an over-night stop for a four-horse stage which ran from Kent, Texas, to San Diego. This same route was later to become the Broadway of America, from Broadway in New York City to Broadway in San Diego.

"The Tombstone Epitaph' recently published a picture of an early advertisement entitled, 'The San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line'-Permit me to read you some excerpts from that advertisement which tells an eloquent story of those stage coach days so full of romance and thrills'Overland to the Pacific. This line which has been in successful operation since July, 1857, is ticketing passengers through to San Diego and also to all intermediate stations. Passenger and express matter forwarded in new coaches, drawn by six mules over the entire length of our line, excepting the Colorado River desert of 100 miles, which we cross on muleback. Passengers are guaranteed in their tickets to ride in coaches, excepting the 100 miles above stated ' "Passengers are ticketed to and from San Antonio and Fort Clark, Fort Hudson, Fort Lancaster, Fort Davis, Fort Bliss, El Paso, Fort Fillmore, LaMesilla, Tucson, Fort Yuma and San Diego.' "The coaches on our line leave semi-monthly and an armed escort travels through the Indian country for the protection of passengers. Passengers are provided with provisions along the route except where the coaches stop at public houses, where each passenger will pay for his fare.' "Fare from San Antonio to Tucson is $150. Fare from San Antonio to San Diego is $200.' "The march of the Mormon Battalion to the sea in 1846-47 is one of the picturesque features of Arizona history and one without parallel in American annals. To them belongs the creation through Arizona of the first wagon-road. It was assembled hastily and save for a few officers detailed from the regular army not a man had been a soldier. They were men of peace, for the most part, to whom strife was abhorrent. Their route was along the Santa Fe Trail, which then, in 1846, was in use mainly by buffalo hunters and western trading and trapping parties. Tucson was

a tiny, walled village there were no

In railroads there were no underpasses.

"The Battalion entered Arizona, as now known, not far from the present city of Douglas. There were fights with wild bulls in the San Pedro Valley; there was a bloodless victory in the taking of Tucson by General Cooke; there was travail in the passage of the desert to the Gila and a brief respite in the Pima village before the weary way was taken down the Gila to the Colorado, and thence across the sands of the Colorado desert, in California, to the shores of the western ocean.

"These hardy Mormon pioneers, unknowingly were making history for the nation's transportation system they were Arizona's first highway engineers.

"That is a fair picture of highway transportation in Arizona not so many years ago as time is reckoned. Today we reach San Diego by motor from Tucson in eight or ten hours; our trip is spoiled if we are asked to detour a quarter of a mile and we start looking for a new car if it uses a pint of oil during the journey.

"It is not necessary for me to elaborate on how far we have come and how far we are going in highway development; your daily experiences along modern highways tell you how far we have come. We are going as far as public opinion and public safety demands.

"Once upon a time the public was convinced that the coming of the iron horse, which superseded even the crudest roads, meant the end to the growing movement to build decent highways. Soon it became evident that the highway was absolutely indispensable as a feeder for the railroads. The highways played their modest: part in this connection, and probably would be there today if it had not been: for the invention of the automobile, "Historians have drawn a parallel between the development of the highway and the railroad. If that development in Tucson could have remained 'parallel'

there would have been no need for this

underpass.

"When it came to building the structure, we did not argue whether the highway was crossing the railroad, or the railroad was crossing the highway. A menace existed here six months ago. To-day that menace is erased.

"The Arizona Highway Department is happy to have played its part."

Arizona Highway Commission Notes

The Arizona State Highway Commission met in special session in their offices in the Highway Building at 9:00 a. m., December 28, 1935. Those present were: Chairman Dowell, Vice-Chairman Angle, Commissioners Addams, Barth and Seale, also the State Engineer and the Secre-tary. Assistant Attorney General A. I. Winsett was absent and Assistant At-torney General W. Francis Wilson acted in his place.

State Engineer O'Connell recommended, subject to the approval of the Bureau of Public Roads, that the contract on the Prescott-Jerome Highway, F. A. 96-C, A. E. F. 7909, be awarded to the low bidder, Pearson & Dickerson Contractors, Inc., in the amount of $141,-959.56. It was regularly moved by Commissioner Barth, seconded by Commissioner Angle and unanimously carried, that the recommendation of the State Engineer be accepted.

State Engineer O'Connell recommended subject to the approval of the Bureau of Public Roads that the contract on the Globe-Springerville Highway, F. A. P. 105-D, A. F. E. 6059, be awarded to H. J. Hagen on the alternate bid in the amount of $173,345.79, which is the low bid. It was regularly moved by Commissioner Addams, seconded by Commissioner Barth and unanimously carried, that the recommendation of the State Engineer be accepted.

It was regularly moved by Commissioner Addams, seconded by Commissioner Angle and unanimously carried, that resolution transferring funds in the amount of $32,582.88, be adopted.

The request of Mr. W. L. Sparkman, representing the Sherman Company, for permission to lay a pipe line on the highway right of way on Highway 80 between Phoenix and Tempe from 24th street 1320 feet east on the south side of the highway, was again considered. It was regularly moved by Commissioner Angle, seconded by Commissioner Seale, and unanimously carried, that the request be granted provided the pipe line is laid between the proposed sidewalk line and the fence line.

Commissioner Seale informed the Commission that he had just been advised by long distance telephone call of an accident on the Elks Theatre Hill in Prescott, hurting no one, but causing a great deal of property damage. The accident happened when a truck loaded with citrus had been unable to make the hill and had backed down and crashed into the bank. He stated the City of Prescott wished the Highway Commission to take some immediate action on the matter of designating an alternate truck route through Prescott. While it was brought out that the City of Prescott has every power to designate an alternate truck route through their City Limits, the Highway Commission signified their willingness to cooperate as much as possible on those highways leading into the City. After study and consideration, it was regularly moved by Commissioner Addams, seconded by Commissioner Seale and unanimously carried, that Mr.

A. C. Sieboth, Right of Way Engineer, contact the officials of the City of Prescott and of the County of Yavapai, and offer his services in the matter of determining whether or not a right of way can be obtained through the lots required in the changing of the highway. The Secretary presented communications from the Mohave County Chamber of Commerce, the Needles Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Earl Lee Kelly, director of Public Works of the State of California, concerning a proposed joint meeting of highway representatives of the States of California and Arizona to be held at Needles on January 6, 1936, for the purpose of consideration of a bridge across the Colorado River at Needles. Members of the Commission repeated their statements they want to finish Highways 66 and 89 before starting anything else, and it was regularly moved by Commissioner Addams, seconded by Commissioner Barth and unanimously carried that the State Engineer send an official who will be of corresponding rank to the official of the Department of Public Works of the State of California to represent the Arizona Highway Department at the proposed meeting Speaking on the construction of the Kingman-Boulder Dam Highway, State Engineer O'Connell stated the Arizona Highway Department had received some misinformation through no fault of the local office of the Bureau of Public Roads and he, himself, was under the impression that where Federal Lands Funds are involved, it made no difference who advertised the project, the Highway Department would receive credit for the number of men. He pointed out, however, that this is incorrect and if the Bureau of Public Roads construct the project, the state will not receive any credit whatsoever for the men employed. He further stated that a budget item is available and it will enable the state to take the job over from the Bureau of Public Roads, who had been asked not to award it as the state would advertise it, and this means that in order to see the contract through, it will be necessary to make transfers of funds from completed budget accounts or from projects that cannot be started this year. The Commission in accepting the State Engineer's remarks stated they would agree to the transfers necessary on projects of this kind provided that the same amount of funds will be placed back on the projects from which they were transferred. State Engineer O'Connell gave a brief resume of the following resolutions passed and adopted by the American Association of State Highway Officials at their Twenty-First Annual Convention, held in Miami, Fla., December 12, 1935:

The secretary read a resolution from the City Commission of the City of Phoenix, adopted November 20, 1935, in which they express sincere appreciation on behalf of the citizens of Phoenix for the underpass and street improvement on Seventeenth Avenue in the City of Phoenix.

A letter was read from Mr. Keogh Regan expressing appreciation for service rendered him November 25, 1935, by Mr. Carl E. Slater. The secretary was instructed to write Mr. Slater commending him for the aid given.

The secretary read a communication from Mr. Clarence H. Lee, of Palos Verdes Estates, California, complimenting the improvement made in highways in Arizona, especially upon the uniformity of the excellence of that portion of Route 80 from Bisbee west and of the other routes to Phoenix and Hope, and suggesting a way to improve the highway from Hope to Parker. The communication was ordered referred to the Engineering Department.

Mr. C. R. McDowell, Superintendent of the Arizona Highway Patrol, requested permission to erect a tent west of the Highway Building for the purpose of issuing Chauffer's Licenses, and was granted same.

In discussing the numerous accidents occurring on the highways, it was regularly moved by Commissioner Addams, seconded by Commissioner Barth, and unanimously carried, that the Superintendent of the Motor Vehicle Division and the Superintendent of the Arizona Highway Patrol be instructed to cite all commercial operators for investigation who have had accidents causing deaths, and determine whether or not their permits should be cancelled. It was regularly moved by Commissioner Addams, seconded by Commissioner Barth and Seale, and unanimously carried, that the Superintendent of the Motor Vehicle Division, in compliance with his request, be instructed to make arrests for failure to file an acci dent report with the Motor Vehicle Division covering the accident which recently occurred at a railroad crossing south of the One Palm Service Station at Tempe, Arizona, involving a truck of the G. F. D. Lines Incorporated in which accident three people were killed.

It was regularly moved, seconded, and carried, that the Commission adjourn at 12:00 Noon, December 28, 1935, to meet again at the call of the Chairman.