Early 20th Century

Year	Notable Events
1900	Santa Fe finishes construction on a 71 mile route from Stockholm to Richmond, California, on the San Francisco Bay and opens the route.
1901	The famous cross and circle logo of the Santa Fe Railroad is used for the first time. Construction starts on a second line and tunnel crossing Raton Pass from Colorado into New Mexico, but longer and with an easier grade. Santa Fe purchases the Peavine.
1902	Survey work begins on the future line from Texico, Texas, to Belen, New Mexico, that is to provide an easier way for heavy loads to get to New Mexico without having to navigate the steep grades of the Raton Pass. The Santa Fe mechanical department works with Baldwin Locomotive Works to design a larger locomotive that can carry more freight.
1903	Construction begins on the Texico-Belen line, called the Belen Cutoff, but is halted due to a shortage of money. The Arizona & California Railway ("A&C") is chartered by Santa Fe to provide a shortcut from Phoenix to California without having to take the Peavine north to Ash Fork. The Santa Fe-Baldwin venture results in a new design, dubbed the "Santa Fe" type steam locomotive; Santa Fe purchases 332 "Santa Fe" types with the 2-10-2 wheel configuration over the next 25 years. A special Los Angeles-Chicago run breaks a record at 52 hours.
1904	Santa Fe acquires a route from Richmond into Oakland on the east side of the San Francisco Bay.
1905	Union Pacific Railroad ("UP") begins using the Cajon Pass line. Work on the second Raton line is completed, while construction of the tunnel continues. Work on the Belen Cutoff resumes. Union Oil Company and Santa Fe jointly develop an oil-burning locomotive; all Santa Fe steam locomotives are subsequently converted to burn oil except for those on the Kansas City-Chicago route. The "Coyote Special" makes its record breaking run from Los Angeles to Chicago in just under 45 hours.
1907	The first train travels to New Mexico via the Belen Cutoff. The A&C completes a line from Phoenix to the California border at Parker, Arizona. The Pecos Valley & Northern Texas Railroad begins work on a line from Canyon, just south of Amarillo, to Lubbock so that freight from Texas can head west to California without having to first enter Oklahoma.
1908	Construction on the second Raton tunnel is completed and opened for traffic. The Belen Cutoff is formally opened for traffic; almost all freight is routed along the new line, but passenger service continues to use Raton Pass. The bridge over the Colorado River at Parker is completed, thus allowing the A&C entry into California.
1909	The Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient Railway ("KCM&O") finishes construction of a line from southwest of Wichita, Kansas, through Oklahoma and into Texas with the idea of connecting to a Gulf of California port in Mexico. At the same time, KCM&O is funding the construction of a line from the port at Topolobampo, Mexico, east to the Sierra Madres.
1910	The A&C line connects in with the Rio Grande main line at Cadiz, California. Construction is completed on the Canyon-Lubbock line, which ties in with a 200-mile long line east from Lubbock to Coleman.
1911	The Coleman Cutoff opens for traffic in December, 1911.
1912	A second line over Cajon Pass is constructed with less steep grades than the original line. Work begins on the Lubbock-Belen Cutoff connection. KCM&O enters receivership due to poor profits.
1913	KCM&O reaches Alpine, Texas, and then stops due to a lack of revenue combined with doubt over the viability of a Mexican segment of rail thanks to the revolution in that country.
1914	World War I breaks out in Europe. A new California Southern Railroad Company ("CS") is created to construct a shortcut route to San Diego that avoids Cajon Pass. The line from Lubbock to the Belen Cutoff is completed and opened for traffic.
1916	The CS finishes a 49-mile line from Rice to Blythe and pushes southward.
1917	The United States actively enters World War I. President Woodrow Wilson nationalizes the U.S. railroads under the Federal Possession and Control Act and the United States Railroad Administration ("USRA") is created to operate and reimburse railroads for the use of their equipment and track.
1918	Due to increasing losses to railroad companies and repeated complaints from railroad owners, the USRA increases the reimbursement rate to the railroads, but not enough to make a difference. World War I ends.
1920	Edward P. Ripley, president of Santa Fe, dies of a heart attack and is replaced by William Benson Storey. President Woodrow Wilson returns control of the railroads to the individual companies after the USRA loses staggering amounts of money, increases labor costs, and unionizes the entire railroad labor force.
1921	A 7-mile stretch south of Blythe is completed by the CS and the terminus is named Ripley in honor of the former president; this is as far as this line will ever run. Locomotive shops in Albuquerque begin modernization.
1923	Modernization of Albuquerque shops is completed.
1924	San Bernardino locomotive shops begin modernization. A cutoff between Ellinor, Kansas, and El Dorado, Kansas, is completed that shortens routes into Texas and finishes what is now the modern freight route between Chicago and Los Angeles.
1927	Modernization of San Bernardino shops is completed. A new bridge is constructed over the Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa.
1928	Locomotive shops in Clemente, Texas, begin modernization. KCM&O is purchased by Santa Fe for $14 million. The Clinton & Oklahoma Western ("COW") is purchased by Santa Fe, giving the company a new line from Clinton, Oklahoma, and Pampa, Texas.
1929	The stock market crashes on October, 24, 1929, thereafter called "Black Thursday," and sends the Unites States spiraling into a catastrophic economic depression that does not end until the economic boom due to World War II. The KCM&O lines are integrated into the Santa Fe system and Santa Fe sells off the Mexican portion of the old KCM&O line.