San Diego and Arizona Railway: The Impossible Railroad

Surveyors called the San Diego and Arizona Railway (SD&A) The Impossible Railroad because of its jagged, mountainous, and brutal desert route. The financier and driving force behind building this binational 148-mile rail connection to the east from San Diego, California, was businessman John D. Spreckels. Because of his perseverance, the jinxed 1907—1919 construction overcame a series of disasters, including the Mexican Revolution, a prolonged lawsuit, floods, World War I, labor shortages, ...