In 1888, the Montana copper magnate William Andrews Clark arrived in Arizona. A hundred years later, the magnetic David Louis Durbano landed in Clark’s same footsteps. Even though a century separated each arrival, the serial entrepreneurs came to the southwestern state for the same reason: Money.
The two men would only meet in history books, linked together over tracks through time by a vintage rail line. One would leave a manmade ruin, like the Colosseum; the other, a rail adventure to praise. This is the Verde Canyon Railroad story, captured in an illuminating new book.