The first stretch of road was built with few difficulties or complications. It was commenced in 1869, and, after numerous delays, it reached the western border of the state of Kansas on December 28 of the same year; from this point it went on more leisurely, first west and then southwest, to Albuquerque.[401] These early miles were paid for from the proceeds of both stocks and bonds. From Albuquerque a variety of routes presented themselves. The Southern Pacific had by that time built to El Paso, and it was feasible to extend the Atchison to that point and to rely on a traffic agreement for the handling of the western business. Or, building to Deming near El Paso, Atchison might have extended its line down the river valleys in the northwestern part of Mexico to Guaymas on the Gulf of California. Or, Atchison might have built directly west from Albuquerque. All three of these routes were considered, and all three were eventually carried out.[402] The connection with the Southern Pacific was not a very difficult one to make, and the Atchison reached Deming in March, 1881. By the traffic agreement then concluded the Atchison secured the use of the Southern Pacific tracks from Deming to Benson, Arizona, and arranged to build south into Mexico from this point; while the Southern Pacific was allotted 51 per cent of the through rate on traffic passing over Southern Pacific lines.[403] This formed the second through route from the East, and in September, 1881, it took one-quarter as much business as the Central Pacific. It was also the first of Atchison’s projected routes to be completed. The line to Guaymas was added by purchase. Instead of building, Atchison exchanged its stock for the stock of the already existing Sonora Railroad in the proportion of one to two, and guaranteed the interest on the Sonora first mortgage 7 per cent bonds.[404] This made up for the lack of an independent line to the coast further north. The total of Sonora stock was $5,400,000, requiring $2,700,000 Atchison stock in exchange. The total first mortgage 7 per cent bond issue was $4,050,000. With the railroad came a subsidy of $2,608,200 (American gold), equal to $11,270 (Mexican) per mile. This subsidy kept cropping up in Atchison finance for some time, and was finally adjusted in 1896 by the transfer to the company of $1,159,800 in 3 per cent bonds of the Mexican Interior Consolidated Debt.