Item #3528 [Small Archive of Letters Written by F.A. Cabeen While Working for the Morenci Southern Railroad in Arizona Territory, to Ibbie Elliott in Ohio, With Interesting Observations on His Work and Life in Early Arizona]. Arizona Territory, F. A. Cabeen, Railroads.

[Small Archive of Letters Written by F.A. Cabeen While Working for the Morenci Southern Railroad in Arizona Territory, to Ibbie Elliott in Ohio, With Interesting Observations on His Work and Life in Early Arizona]

Morenci, A.T. 1901-1902. Three autograph letters, signed, totaling [17]pp., with original transmittal envelopes. Sheets of one letter separated along center horizontal fold and with one small piece of first leaf separated. Other letters with minor foxing and soiling. All with original mailing folds. Good. Item #3528

A small collection of three letters from F.A. Cabeen to Ibbie Elliott while he was working with the railroad in the Arizona Territory. All three of Cabeen's letters were written from Morenci, Arizona and sent to Elliott in New Concord, Ohio. Cabeen's first letter is the shortest of the three and is dated December 16, 1901. In this letter, Cabeen discusses his delay in writing, saying that he just came back from New Mexico where he had “taken a bath” because “water is so scarce in Arizona that we have to go over into New Mexico once a year to take a bath.” He goes on to tell her of his twelve-hour work days with the railroad and how Christmas will be spent working.

The second letter is dated May 14, 1902, and is easily the longest at ten pages. The gap in time between his previous letter and this one is explained by a story Cabeen tells of his time in prison for stealing a horse: “You see I was strolling out over the plains here one day and I found a bunch of fine horses that were not branded. I knew I would not get a chance to steal a horse again for a year, so I walked off with one but I had not gone far until I met the Sherriff and he placed me under arrest.” After this Cabeen discusses the railroad he’s working on in Graham County in amazing detail: “This R.R. would be worth more than all the mines if it was located close to a large city, where its attractions as our engineering zeal and scenic live [life] could be utilized for passenger traffic. It is called the Morenci Southern and has more twists and curves than any other R.R. in the world. This R.R. is eighteen miles long by rail and twelve the way the crow flies. There are five loops, not merely sharp curves, complete loops, four of these loops are carried across the canyon on trestles 100 feet above the ground, the fifth passes through a tunnel in doubling across the track lower down. It is only three feet wide the engines are very low because of the sharp curves, as one watches them climbing up the steep grades. They resemble crawling monsters belching forth fire and smoke.” Cabeen also tells Ibbie about the landscape, “everything is such a dead looking color here that the birds do not sing;” about writing to his “Mexican girl" (with the text of his letter to her in Spanish; describes "the meanest man on earth;" a trip in which he went bear hunting; and a dream he had in which Elliot played a part.

The final letter is dated July 20th 1902, in which Cabeen gives a rough summary and appraisal of life in Arizona writing, “young men, unsteady; girls, lively and in good demand; coffee, considerably mixed; wheat, a grain better than barley; eggs, quit but will probily open in a few days; whiskey, steadily going down; onions, strong and raising; bread stuffs, heavy; boots and shoes, those on the market soiled and steadily going up and down; hats and caps, not so high as last year; tobacco, very slow and has a downward fundway; money, close enough to get ahold of; feathers, light and going up; iron, firm; butter, growing stronger; opium, a drug on the market; advice, good but no demand."

Price: $1,750.00