This
4 October 2014 hike would be our first of the 2014/2015 season and we
had decided to start the season with a hike in the Pine Grove Quiet
Area. From I-17 at Flagstaff we turned onto Lake Mary Road and
continued for about 17 miles to the Pine Grove Campground turnoff.
We turned right as though going to the campground, crossed Walnut
Creek and then, almost immediately, turned left into a parking area.
We
were now in the quiet area where no motorized traffic is allowed
between 15 August and 1 January. Donning our packs we headed south,
finding ourselves following a section of the Arizona Trail.
Strangely,
no “You Are Here” marker appeared on the map (right). But, for those who
might be interested, we were just below the loop in the trail at
Flagstaff. One branch runs directly through the city, the other
loops to the east and bypasses it.
Almost
immediately we found ourselves following along the course of a raised
ridge of earth, a man-made berm or dike, running along the ridge. One
of our hikers had previously hiked in the area with a Forest
Service-sponsored group and was told by the group leader that it was
the remains of an old railroad track intended to be part of the
proposed Arizona Mineral Belt Railroad (AMBRR), which was intended to
connect Globe and Flagstaff. The promoters, partially backed by the
Atlantic and Pacific (A&P) Railroad, began working on a tunnel at
the Mogollon Rim in 1883. However, the A&P withdrew its support
the very next year. Work on the tunnel was stopped and the promoters
moved to Flagstaff and started building south. By 1887 AMBRR trains
were running between Flagstaff and a station about ten miles south of
Mormon Lake.1
The
raised ridge we were following was barely wide enough on top to hold
even a narrow-gauge railroad. It was suggested that it might once
have been wider but had eroded away since the 1880s, when it
supposedly was erected. However, the sides appeared much too smooth
for that to have been the case. Additionally, there was no evidence
that the builders had used stone or gravel to form a solid foundation
for a roadbed. This would surely have been done if it really were
part of the AMBRR. It is possible that it was a spur railroad built
to haul logs from Anderson Mesa just across Walnut Canyon. That sort
of route would only have needed to last until the timber was
harvested and could have been built to less exacting standards. A
section of the raised formation is shown in the photograph below.
 |
| Raised ridge of earth that reportedly was part of the AMBRR |
The
trail followed the ridge for awhile, running southwest, and then
turned west, actually slight northwest for a distance, away from the
man-made formation we had been following, before again turning south.
Just before the trail turned to the south, we came upon a herd of
eight antelope. As usual by the time I had readied my camera, they
were gone.
After
turning south we found that we were now following closely along the
remains of another old railroad track (right).
This was the remains of the FLM (Flagstaff Lumber Manufacturing)
Company Railroad which was built onto the grade of the AMBRR.2
I have no date for when the FLM Railroad became operational, but the
company opened its mill in Flagstaff on 30 November 1910.3
The
AMBRR had been purchased at sheriff's auction by the Riordan
brothers, owners of Arizona Lumber and Timber Company. They sold
part of the railroad and renamed the rest the Central Arizona
Railroad. I have no information as to how the Central Arizona
Railroad passed from Arizona Lumber and Timber to Flagstaff Lumber
Manufacturing, just the comment in a United States Forest
Service/National Forest Service Interpretive Partnership handout4
stating that it was “over a decade” after the Riordan brothers
acquired the old AMBRR.
Through
a series of acquisitions over the years all of the companies
mentioned above seem to have wound up in the hands of Southwest
Forest Industries. The old abandoned tracks in the area are all
listed under that name on a map titled Railroads of Arizona (2002)
available at the Arizona Railway Museum. The map which includes
abandoned lines and historical surveys is also available online.5
One thing that I found interesting is that the survey for the AMBRR
would it have had it running to Phoenix rather than Globe. Perhaps
the idea was to go first to Phoenix and then extend it to Globe
later.
As
we continued south on the Arizona Trail along the old FLM roadbed we
found that the track we were now following converged with the
previous man-made ridge where that ridge ended at the crest of the
gently-sloping ridge west of Walnut Creek. The trail continued to
closely follow the course of the old railroad track and we started to
see pieces of ancient cross-ties (left),
some with spikes still affixed.
Along
the way we saw another herd of antelope, this time at least twelve in
number. We think that the earlier sighting had been of a part of the
same herd. A little later we saw them again, but I still was unable
to take a decent photograph.
We
next came upon two hunters sitting dejected and empty-handed
alongside the trail and stopped to chat for a few minutes. They had
parked and started their hike at the southern end of the Quiet Area
where the Arizona crosses the West Weimer Springs Road (Forest Road
132). They told us there was a sign posted there that provided
information about the old railroad.
Meanwhile
the old road bed was itself becoming ever more well defined. The
below photograph shows where a bridge once crossed a stream.
 |
The bed of the FLM Railroad and the AMBRR before it
|
Shortly
after passing the area shown above we came to the sign that the
hunters had described to us and just beyond that the edge of the
quiet area at Forest Road 132. We stopped to read the sign which
basically just told us that, in addition to being a logging railroad,
the FLM carried as many as 300 passengers per day during weekdays.
We also learned from the sign that the railroad ceased operation
almost 90 years ago, in 1927 to be more precise.
We
found a nice spot near the sign and stopped for lunch before starting
back. I had laid out a route that would take us east along FR 132
for a short distance to intersect with County Road 90, a paved road
with a nice wide shoulder, which we would follow for about 0.5 miles
before turning off onto an old dirt road that was now closed (see
right) to motor vehicles at the entry to the quiet
area.
The
road did, however, show signs of rather extensive motor vehicle use
during the season such is allowed.
 |
| Quiet area closed to motor vehicles |
We
were now on Forest Road 90E, but we only followed it for about a mile
before turning onto another, fainter old road that followed north
along Walnut Creek. The hiking was easy and we stopped often to
admire isolated flowers found along the way. Some of these are shown
on the following page.
Here
are some of the flowers we saw during the hike.
 |
| Asters |
 |
| A single Indian paintbrush |
 |
| Woodhouse phlox |
 |
| Fetid goosefoot |
We
continued along an old road that closely followed the presently dry
course of Walnut Creek. As we drew near to the bridge that carries
traffic across the creek to Pine Grove Campground the road became
very indistinct and some of the party just left it and hiked directly
through the forest to where we were parked. Others of us, being of
an obstinate cast of mind, continued along the faint path of the old
road, climbed out of the wash at the bridge and followed the
campground road back to the parking area.
Not
until we arrived back at the parking area did I remember that we had
not yet posed for a group photograph during this hike.
 |
Left
to right: Frank Lombardo, Kwi Johnson, Loren Pritzel, Lila Wright,
Anita Jackson, Daisy Williams, Gordon Bice and Jim Manning –
photograph
by the author
|
As
shown in red on the attached map (next page),
the total hike distance was 8.5 miles, the maximum
elevation was 7200 feet and the elevation difference along the trail
was negligible.
2
Arizona Mineral Belt Railroad, Published by the USFS/NPS
Interpretive Partnership
3http://steam.wesbarris.com/consolidation/?page=flm
4
Arizona Mineral Belt Railroad, Published by the USFS/NPS
Interpretive Partnership
5http://www.azrymuseum.org/Information/Arizona_Railroad_Map_2002.pdf
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