Powell was a railroad station and settlement in Mohave County,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States from 1883 to 1890.

History

Powell was a station on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, at the point where the railroad began crossing the lower

Mohave Valley The Mohave Valley is a valley located mostly on the east shore of the south-flowing Colorado River in northwest Arizona. The valley extends into California's San Bernardino County; the northern side of the valley extends into extreme southeast ...

to the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

bridge at the station at

Eastbridge, Arizona Eastbridge was a railroad station on the east bank of the Colorado River in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. It was located at the site of the first bridge the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad built across that river, three miles southeast of ...

southeast of

Needles, California Needles is a city in San Bernardino County, California, in the Mojave Desert region of Southern California. Situated on the western banks of the Colorado River, Needles is located near the Californian border with Arizona and Nevada. The city is a ...

. It had a post office from October 11, 1883 until it was discontinued July 9, 1886, in favor of

Mohave City Mohave City (also spelled as Mojave City) is a ghost town in Mohave County, Arizona, Mohave County in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. Settled in the 1860s, in what was then the Arizona Territory, it was founded as a river landi ...

.US 66 Photo Gallery Needles and the Colorado River
from gbcnet.com accessed 11/1/2114. From 1903 to 1909 Mellen had its own post office.John and Lillian Theobald, ''Arizona Territory Post Offices & Postmasters'', The Arizona Historical Foundation, Phoenix, 1961. The bridge across the Colorado River constructed at Eastbridge station in 1883 was washed out or undermined by the spring flooding of the river in 1884, 1886 and 1888. Finally they changed the railroad route southward Beal to Mellen, where from 1889 to May 1890 they built the

Red Rock Bridge The Red Rock Bridge was a bridge across the Colorado River at Topock, Arizona, Topock, Arizona that carried the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. It was built in 1890, replacing a wooden bridge dating to 1883 that was repeatedly washed out during spri ...

, a cantilever bridge, on rock foundations, unlike the previous site. The section of track between where the line changed direction to the new bridge, to the station of Powell and the bridge and station at Eastbridge, was abandoned in 1890.Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852–1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978
/ref>

The site today

The site of Powell lies under the waters of Goose Lake in

Topock Marsh Havasu National Wildlife Refuge is a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California. It preserves habitat for desert bighorn sheep, the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher, and other animals. The refug ...

near where the remnant of the old rail bed descends into the waters of the marsh.

References

External links

Map of the 5th Operating Division of the Western Division, Atlantic & Pacific R.R., From Peach Springs to Needles. W.A. Drake, Acting Chief Engineer. Drawing No. J-2-902.
from davidrumsey.com accessed July 20, 2015. This map was one of a set of six hand-drawn maps made in 1882 on semi-transparent waxed linen with some color, illustrating the route Lewis Kingman surveyed from Albuquerque to Needles. It was intended to be printed but never was, due possibly to the problems at the bridge at Eastbridge, shown on this map, from 1884 to 1890.
Map of the 6th Operating Division of the Western Division, Atlantic & Pacific R.R., From Needles to Mojave. Saml. M. Rowe, Resident Engineer. Drawing No. J-2-902, 1882
from davidrumsey.com accessed July 20, 2015. This map was one of a set of six hand-drawn maps made in 1882 on semi-transparent waxed linen with some color, illustrating the route Lewis Kingman surveyed from Albuquerque to Needles. It was intended to be printed but never was, due possibly to the problems at the bridge and station at Eastbridge which was abandoned, shown on this map that shows the change of route south along the west bank to Beal, and to that new bridge at Mellen and the abandoned station Powell that can be seen partially erased on the map. {{Mohave County, Arizona Ghost towns in Arizona Former populated places in Mohave County, Arizona 1883 establishments in Arizona Territory Populated places established in 1883