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The railroad of Bullfrog Goldfield Railroad Company, hereinafter called the carrier, is a single-track standard-gauge steam railroad lying just inside and about midway of the southwestern State line of Nevada. The main line extends from Beatty 78.95 miles in a general north-northwesterly direction to Goldfield. A branch line, 5.83 miles long, runs westward from Beatty to Rhyolite. The total road mileage owned is thus 84.78 miles. Yard tracks and sidings to an aggregate of 7.70 miles bring the total owned mileage to 92.48 miles. The carrier owns no terminal facilities, as such, but uses station and yard facilities at Beatty belonging to the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company.
Corporate history.—The carrier was incorporated September 1, 1905, under the general laws of Nevada by interests connected with the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad Company, to provide an outlet from the mining section near Beatty to the northward over the lines of the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad Company and the Central Pacific Railway Company. The decline of the mining resources soon led, in 1908, to a joint operating arrangement with the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad Company under a holding company incorporated in Delaware as the Tonopah & Tidewater Company. The failure of this arrangement to bring about the desired financial improvement led to a reorganization in June, 1914, whereby the parallel line of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company was eliminated and the carrier passed under the control of the latter company, with which it has since been operated as a continuous road, but as a distinct corporation. The [?]
The carrier was incorporated September 1, 1905, under the general laws of Nevada, for a period of 50 years, by interests connected with the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad Company and apparently connected with the Tonopah Mining Company. The purpose was to build a line from the southern terminus of the line of the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad Company, at Goldfield, southward to the mining field in which Beatty and Rhyolite were the principal camps, thereby giving an outlet to this mining territory over the line of the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad Company to the Central Pacific Railway Company at Tonopah in competition with the lines of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company and the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Company, both of which had connections southward.
Mining, the basic industry in this region, suffered a severe decline soon after the carrier was completed. The traffic scarcity which ensued, coupled with the competition of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company's line, which paralleled the carrier's line to Goldfield and also had a southern connection, induced the carrier to unite with the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Company, which had a southern connection in competition with the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company, in a traffic arrangement in which the principal feature was the operation of both roads as one system. The joint-operating plan became effective January 1, 1908. To insure to each an equitable participation in the advantages which it was hoped would accrue from this plan, a holding company, named Tonopah and Tidewater Company and hereinafter designated as the holding company, was incorporated in Delaware and exchanged its own capital stock, share for share, for all of the capital stock, except directors' qualifying shares, of the two railroads.
However, owing to the constant shrinkage in traffic, this arrangement did not yield the anticipated results. Both companies continued to operate at a deficit, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Company making advances to the carrier to assist it in meeting its charges and, in turn, being assisted by the interests behind it. The carrier finally became so involved that it could not pay its debts. To avert foreclosure, a reorganization agreement was concluded June 26, 1914, between the carrier, a committee representing its security holders, and the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company, whereby parallel portions of the lines of both the carrier and the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company were abandoned, changes were made in the capitalization of the carrier, and traffic arrangements were agreed upon. When this plan became effective, July 20, 1914, the joint agreement with the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Company was canceled and the holding company dissolved.
The carrier is controlled by the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company through the ownership of 51 per cent of its outstanding capital stock, acquired in the reorganization settlement of 1914. The two railroads have since been operated as a single road, although as distinct corporations, between Goldfield, Nev., and Las Vegas, Nev.
Funds for construction were furnished by the construction company, called Amargosa Construction Company, which, in turn, appears to have been supplied by a syndicate, called the Bullfrog syndicate, in existence at the time of construction. It seems that the Bullfrog syndicate controlled the Amargosa Construction Company, but the records obtainable do not disclose that the officers or directors of the carrier had any interest in the Bullfrog syndicate or the Amargosa Construction Company.
The original railroad of the carrier was constructed as follows:
Construction was by the Amargosa Construction Company under contracts dated March 20, 1906, and December 27, 1907. The mileage above shown is that appearing in the records of the carrier. Construction commenced in the early part of 1906, and the line was completed, equipped, and opened for operation in May, 1907, from which date the Amargosa Construction Company operated the road until January 1, 1908. In accordance with the reorganization agreement of June 26, 1914, the carrier conveyed to the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company the line from Rhyolite (Bullfrog mine) to Beatty 7.79 miles, and from Bonne Clare to Goldfield 36.65 miles, total 44.44 miles. It acquired from the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company its line from Beatty to Rhyolite (Tramps mine) 5.83 miles, and from Bonnie Clare to Goldfield 42.12 miles, total 47.95 miles. These transfers changed the carrier's mileage so that, at June 30, 1915, the line owned comprised, according to surveys by our engineers: