Swastika Coal Train owned by the St. Louis, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific Company.
The St. Louis, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific Company was incorporated in New Mexico on June 26, 1905. Henry and Hugo Koehler of St. Louis, Missouri, organized the Northern New Mexico Coal Mining and Coking Company.
Earlier that year, the company bought out the Raton Coal & Coke Company, which the Maxwell Land Grant Company and the Santa Fe Railway owned, each having a half-interest. The sale gave the buyers title to 212,000 acres of land and coal rights to 350,000 additional acres. It was called one of the most important coal and railway developments in New Mexico.
Blossburg Mercantile Company at Gardiner, New Mexico.
It bought or formed several subsidiary companies almost immediately after the company was established. One was the Swastika Fuel Company in Raton, which mined coal and other minerals, acquired mine lands, and conducted mercantile business. It also took over the Blossburg Mercantile Company, founded in 1895, to buy and sell goods, merchandise, and land. This resulted in a complete lack of competition for goods in all coal camps.
The company’s holdings eventually encompassed an 800-square-mile area of northern New Mexico; it owned several mines and established “company towns.” Coal was produced at Koehler, Van Houten, Blossburg, Brilliant, Swastika, Gardiner, and Sugarite. Coking plants were operated in Gardiner and Koehler.
At one point, the company was the largest coal producer in the state, employing an average of 497 miners daily. The coal was marketed in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
The company opened the St. Louis, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific Railway Company in 1907 to assure competitive rail service for their coal and coke traffic. This rail line ran 120 miles, traversing the company’s holdings and linking to Raton, Cimarron, and Des Moines. It also connected with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Colorado and Southern, and the El Paso and Southwestern lines, transporting coal and agricultural products and timber of the area.
St. Louis. Rocky Mountain & Pacific Railroad.
Hugo and Harry Koehler, Jan Van Houten, manager of the coal company, and Charles and Frank Springer, previously active in the Maxwell Land Grant Company’s affairs, were active investors in the railroad.
Under the Swastika brand, the company’s coal was sold at retail, and the railroad was known as the Swastika Route. However, over time, the owners decided that the combination of the railroad and coal businesses was too much to handle, and the railroad was losing money.
The railroad was sold to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe on August 1, 1913. On March 10, 1915, the name was changed to the Rocky Mountain and Santa Fe Railway Company.
In the meantime, the St. Louis Rocky Mountain & Pacific Company remained in the coal and other business. It remained a significant force in the coal development of Colfax County until 1955 when it discontinued business.
In 1955, the entire coal company’s interests were sold to the Kaiser Steel Corporation. Much of the land today is incorporated into the 923-square-mile Vermejo Park Ranch.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated March 2025.
Sugarite, New Mexico, during its busy coal mining days.
Also See:
Coal Mining Towns of the Vermejo Park Ranch
Railroad Companies in American History
Sources:
U.S. Depart of the Interior, Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year 1907, Volume 2, 1907.
Myrick, David F., New Mexico’s Railroads: A Historical Survey, University of New Mexico Press, 1990.