Area History & Heritage

STEAM & STEEL RAILS ~ How it all Began In March of 1880, 2,000 of Tucson' s inhabitants jubilantly welcomed the Iron Horse with a 38-gun salute. About April 15th the Southern Pacific Railroad Company was laying track through Cienega Creek. Vail' s Siding sat on the last flat stretch of land before the long upward grade leading east to Dragoon Summit. The track between Vail and the town of Pantano proved to be the most difficult stretch to construct and maintain across Arizona. The original track wound its way through the Cienega stream bed. S.P. survey engineers were not familiar with the relentless summer rains and violent flooding that often followed. Tracks washed out regularly, causing major delays, twice during the summer of 1880 alone. In 1887 the Southern Pacific Railroad relocated the tracks between Vail and Pantano to higher ground. Railroad Matters " In the Cienega a large number of China- men are engaged excavating, as they there encounter considerable elevation through which cuts have to be made, and the grade has to be raised a number of feet above the low, marshy ground".
Arizona Weekly Star, April 15, 1880

Vail, gets its name from Walter and Edward Vail, ranchers and businessmen who deeded right-of-way to the Southern Pacific. Like other railroad towns, it had train maintenance and freight structures, a section house that provided housing for S.P. employees, and even a pool hall. All were located between the tracks. By 1895 passenger tickets began to be sold at Vail, and in 1900 a passenger station was constructed on the north side of the east-bound track. The Helvetia Mining Company had a railroad spur constructed for loading ore into box cars. A thriving freight business generated by the mines from the Helvetia District created a flurry of activity at the Vail station between 1895 and about 1912.
J.J. Lamb