EL PASO AND NORTHEASTERN RAILROAD. The El Paso and Northeastern Railroad Company was chartered on June 5, 1896. It was to connect El Paso with a point on the boundary line between Texas and New Mexico twenty miles northeast of the city. According to an amendment to the original articles of incorporation the railroad had a capital stock of $300,000. Its principal place of business was El Paso, and its first board of directors comprised Charles B. Eddy and W. A. Hawkins of Eddy, New Mexico; J. C. Osgood of Denver, Colorado; and S. H. Buchanan, Charles F. Slack, C. C. Blodgett, and J. L. Bell of El Paso. On February 15, 1898, the railroad acquired the El Paso Northern Railway Company from Charles Eddy. Only slightly over four miles of this company was used; the balance of the El Paso Northern was abandoned and the material removed to be used elsewhere in the construction of the El Paso and Northeastern line. At the Texas-New Mexico border the company connected with the El Paso and Northeastern Railway Company, The two railroads formed a 164 mile route from El Paso to the coal fields near Capitan, New Mexico, which opened on January 1, 1899. All of the equipment was supplied by the El Paso and Northeastern Railway Company. Both the Texas and New Mexico companies were subsidiaries of the New Mexico Railway and Coal Company. In May 1905 Phelps, Dodge, and Company acquired the parent company, whereupon they dissolved that firm and established the El Paso and Northeastern Company to own and control the rail lines. The El Paso and Rock Island Railway Company opened a 128-mile line in February 1902 from Carrizozo to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. At Santa Rosa the line connected with a subsidiary of Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company, giving El Paso another outlet to the east. The El Paso and Rock Island was acquired by the El Paso and Northeastern Company in May 1905. A reorganization of the Phelps, Dodge interests in 1908 resulted in the formation of the El Paso Southwestern Company to acquire and lease the properties of the El Paso and Northeastern Company. The Southern Pacific Company acquired the El Paso Southwestern Company on October 31, 1924, and operated the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad Company under lease until November 18, 1937. On that date the company was dissolved and the assets acquired by the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Company of Texas.

Nancy Beck Young