After the S. B. & L. had been finished and put in operation, Tom Reade
had remained with the railroad for several months, still serving as
chief engineer, with Harry Hazelton as his trusted and dependable
assistant.
Now, at last, they had been lured away from the S. B. & L. by the offer
of a new chance to overcome difficulties of the sort that all fighting
engineers love to encounter. The Arizona, Gulf & New Mexico Railroad--
more commonly known as the A., G. & N. M.--while laying its tracks in an
attempt at record-beating, had come afoul of the problem of the
quicksand, as already outlined. Three different sets of engineers had
attempted the feat of filling up the quicksand, only to abandon it.
There was little doubt that the Colthwaite Construction Company, a
contracting firm with years of successful experience, could have,
"stopped" the quicksand, but this Chicago firm wanted far more money for
the job than the railroad people felt they could afford to spend.
So, in a moment of doubt, and harassed by troubles, one of the directors
of the A.
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