Munds Park and Howard Spring
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, cutting activities of the Arizona Lumber & Timber centered south of Flagstaff near Munds Park and Howard Spring. From the Rogers Lake line at Fort Tuthill, the Woody Ridge line was followed a mile south, then a new main line was built in a southerly direction. This main line continued through what is now Mountainaire (cut circa 1927). At a sink one mile south of Mountainaire, the line split into two forks. The west fork accessed Newman Park, Willard Spring, and Munds Park (areas cut between 1929 and 1931) and terminated just north of what is now Odell Lake. The east fork traveled through East Newman Park to Coyote Park and terminated at Howard Spring, cut circa 1929-1930. A spur eastward off this line accessed the west side of Coulter Ridge.
The Munds Park-Howard Spring operation witnessed the transition from spur logging to truck logging. Circa 1931-1932, some of the logs cut by the Gibson brothers, AL & T's contractor, were hauled to Newman Park by the Gibsons' trucks, then transported to Flagstaff by the AL & T/CAR train. The Gibsons continued to cut the area along the Mogollon Rim into the mid 1940s.
The Howard Spring branch of this line witnessed a rebirth in 1941 when it was leased by the Saginaw and Manistee. At that time, the branch was expanded in a southeasterly direction from Howard Spring past Horse, Bert Lee, and Long Parks to Allan Lake. Virtually no spurs came off this branch, as all logs were hauled to it by truck. (Forest Service Road 700 runs along the northern section of this line.) Then in 1953 the line and timbering along it were taken over by Southwest Lumber Mills (later called Southwest Forest Industries), which continued to operate the train until 1966. This line was the last logging railroad in the study area.