Prince McKenzie – Railroads Along the Southern Route

Description

Prince McKenzie is the Executive Director of the Railroad & Transportation Museum of El Paso. He is descended from a pioneer family that has been involved in the history of the Southwest and Northern Mexico since 1881.

He received a BA in History from the University of Texas at El Paso and an ROTC Commission in the Military Intelligence Corps. After graduate studies in Art History and Photography (UTEP & Sam Houston State), he contributed to the development of the new El Paso Museum of Archaeology.

He managed a forensic photography business, exhibited in fine art shows, and taught field archaeology methods. As a Collections Manager and Art Museum Curator, he installed exhibits in all the City Museums. After retirement in 2001, he became a co-founder of the Railroad Museum, an officer of the Streetcar Preservation Society, and the Southwest Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society.

In 2017 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the El Paso Archaeological Society for his work in historic preservation and archaeology. He serves on the El Paso County Historic Commission and regularly sets up displays of Military History and Railroad History at National Historic Sites around the Southwest.

After gold was discovered in California, initial Congressional plans for the First Transcontinental Railroad intended for it to follow the most Southern Trail across Texas and the Gasden Purchase of Arizona and  New Mexico Territory.  When a more northern route was selected, the Southern Pacific built east from Southern California toward Texas with several thousand Chinese workers. It illegally crossed into Arizona Territory and later illegally into Texas.

Meanwhile, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, started in Kansas, headed for Colorado and Santa Fe with an objective to reach California. Competition and land disputes led to blockades and the potential for shootouts by the gunmen of both sides. All the railroad construction crews needed the constant support of the Army against the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache. Until the Indian Wars ended in the 1890s, every railroad man had to provide his own gun.

After the railroads linked up, they all converged on El Paso and it became the greatest rail hub of the southwest. The transcontinental links allowed the Southwest to begin real economic and industrial development.