In July of 1880 the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Co. started laying new track west, out of Albuquerque New Mexico with the plan to meet the Southern Pacific Railroad in Needles, California. By early 1882 they had reached Canyon Diablo about 7.2 miles west of this location. As they pushed the railroad west they needed stone to build the bridges that crossed the many washes & gullies that abound in this western country. All along the route the railroad would establish quarries to supply the necessary stone. As the railhead pushed further west and the distance to haul the stone became too great they would seek a new location close to the tracks and near the current railhead where more stone could be quarried for bridge construction. Huge amounts of stone blocks were needed for these bridges and the massive bridge just to the west at Canyon Diablo would require 10 fold the amount of small bridges. This new quarry was established near the railroad station location of Sunshine, Arizona to fill the needs of the Canyon Diablo bridge and for the hundreds of bridges being built further to the west.
This quarry was in use from probably early 1881 until around 1885. Many fine examples of the red sandstone block that was quarried here remain on site. Many workers labored here to excavate, shape & transprort this stone for the railroad's construction. There are undoubtably several graves nearby of workers that were killed in the dangerous job of removing this stone from the earth.
Please do not in any way deface or vandalize any part of this historic quarry. Help to maintain it for future visitors to see undefaced. Any spoilers included in logs or photos will be deleted. Please log DNFs & pertinent notes. These are very important to me in tracking the condition of the cache & maintaining it in a good condition for searchers.
If you are interested in more history of the wild west, check out cache "The Wild Wild West of Canyon Diablo" which is located about 5 miles to the west of this cache. The bloody town of Canyon Diablo put towns like Tombstone & Dodge City to shame in its level of lawlessness. There are lots of photos in the gallery of that cache as well to bring this old west location to life.
Have fun & be safe and remember to leave only footprints & take only photos as you visit these sites.
