Rogue Columnist

Wartime on the Santa Fe

In March 1943, the photographer Jack Delano made a remarkable journey across northern Arizona on the main line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. He was working for the federal Office of War Information, documenting the massive work railroads were doing bringing troops and war materiel to both the European and Pacific theaters. In the process, he gave us images of small-town Arizona stretched along the railroad and U.S. Route 66. For example, above is downtown Flagstaff seen from the old depot looking across "the Mother Road." Flag's population was about 5,000.

Between 1941 and 1944, American railroads carried 83% of the increase in all traffic, along with 91% of all military freight and 98% of military personnel. Pullman put its thousands of sleepers into the effort and built thousands more troop sleepers and kitchen cars. The Santa Fe through northern Arizona, a critical route to the West Coast, saw a 175% spike in freight traffic. More than 1,000 cars a day went through the Albuquerque division headquarters of Winslow, with its 33-track yard and massive roundhouse and shops, along with passenger and troop trains.

The Southern Pacific through southern Arizona, including wartime Phoenix, saw similar challenges. But it didn't have a Jack Delano to document it.

This gallery comes from the Library of Congress. Click on a photo to see a larger image.

Passing a freight train carrying M-3 Lee tanks from the Arsenal of Democracy.

Superstition Vistas

In 1977, when I was working on the ambulance as an EMT-paramedic, I was temporarily exiled from the city and worked for Aids Ambulance (the former Mesa Ambulance Service). This involved rotating to stations in Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, and Apache Junction. At the latter, two 24-hour units were maintained and the crews could expect major trauma calls, even lake rescues, in largely empty country. We proclaimed ourselves the Junction Medics. Superstition Mountain loomed to the east, not unlike the late 1940s photo above.

In those days, we left behind Mesa around Gilbert Road and were enveloped by massive citrus groves. This continued for about 12 miles, broken only by an occasional trailer park. Not much was out here. AJ's population was closing in on 9,000.

We christened Rossmoor Leisure World, a pioneering gated property, "Seizure World" because of the nature of calls from its elderly retired population. Williams Air Force Base sat miles to the south, down two-lane roads crossing farmland. Completion of the freeway was years away, so Main Street in the Maricopa County part of our territory wasn't even named or part of Mesa. It was four-lane U.S. 60, primevally dark at night, no curbs or sidewalks, lethal to pedestrians. Otherwise, it was empty desert all the way to the iconic mountain.

I couldn't imagine it would be anything else.

Fast forward to the 2000s. Mesa had ballooned from 63,000 in 1970 to nearly 400,000, grown all the way to the Pinal County line. The little suburbs I served had grown supersized and merged together into a sprawling conglomeration called the East Valley. The groves and farms were gone. Superstition's slopes were profaned by subdivisions. And all that empty desert was the most coveted piece of land in central Arizona. The boosters called it Superstition Vistas.

The finish line

Carl Muecke illustration

Joe Biden appears to have a commanding lead in the polls. This gives me little comfort. Hillary Clinton held what appeared to be a similar unstoppable advantage four years ago. And although she won the popular vote by 3 million votes, Donald Trump topped the Electoral College.

As I've written before, about 80,000 votes in three Midwestern states gave us this nightmare. It could happen again. And if it does, I don't think the Democrats will simply fold their tents. Both sides are lawyered up and this election might not be settled immediately, barring a Biden landslide.

Trump may refuse to concede or leave. Who knows the mischief he and the Republicans have planned. The lies, vote suppression, and Kremlin interference of 2016 will be on steroids this time. No wonder the Atlantic's Barton Gellman wrote an article entitled "The Election That Could Break America."

My day job, along with writing an article on Arizona's role in the election for CNN Politics, have me slammed today. So I'll leave it for you. Please discuss in the comments section.