USA > Texas > A history of central and western Texas > Part 23
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ary 9, 1841) as the Harrisburg Railroad & Trading Company. Some grading was actually done, but as the work depended on local capital, it being impossible to secure outside capital as long as the existence of the republic was threatened, the undertaking failed.
Harrisburg offered its unsold lots as a bonus for the railroad, and General Sidney Sherman and associates finally arranged with eastern capital and secured the charter of 1850 under which the first successful railroad enterprise of Texas was begun.
Under the supervision of General Sherman, construction commenced at Harrisburg in 1851. In 1852 the first engine was brought to Texas and placed on the track, its weight being about one-tenth that of a modern locomotive. The first passenger coaches had been used as street cars in the east, and had only four wheels to each car. In August, 1853, the road was completed twenty miles, to Stafford's Point, in Brazoria county, where a barbecue celebrated the event. In 1854 the road reached what is now Sugarland, and by December, 1855, the track terminated on the east bank of the Brazos opposite Richmond. The bridge over the river here was a temporary wooden structure, with center spans that, for allowing the passage of boats, were carried to one side on flat-boats. By the fall of 1859 the terminus was at Eagle Lake, and a year later at Alleyton, on the east side of the Colorado, about two miles from Co- lumbus.
The gauge adopted for this road was four feet eight and a half inches. At that time there was no uniformity of gauge among American railways, and consequently little interchange of rolling stock. A carload of freight could not be switched from one road to another, unless the gauges happened to be the same. Eventually, when the majority of roads adopted what is known as the "standard gange," the width was the same as that originally determined upon by the B. B., B. & C. Another fact of interest about this pioneer Texas road was that no practicable telegraph was used in connection with operation of trains until 1868, more than twenty years after the invention was first put to use.
The total receipts of this road, eighty miles in length, for the year ending April 30, 1860, were $132,477. Twenty percent of this was from passengers, 35 percent from merchandise, and 33 percent from cotton. Cotton was then the largest single commodity, and at that time the road tapped the richest cotton region of Texas.
The second railroad to be commenced in this decade was the Houston & Texas Central. The original charter of this road is the oldest in Texas,
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that is, was the first of many similar charters that was fulfilled by actual railroad construction. The Galveston & Red River Railroad was char- tered by act of March 11, 1848 (two years before the incorporation of the B. B., B. & C. Ry.). In 1850 an extension of time for beginning con- struction was granted. Two years later the legislature gave another ex- tension, and at the same time legalized the commencement of the road at Houston instead of Galveston. Another amendment (January, 1856) allowed the company until July 31, 1856, to complete the first twenty-five miles. The concession by which the company was permitted to begin building at Houston instead of Galveston was one of the causes that made the former city the railroad center of South Texas. September 1, 1856, another amendment to the charter permitted a change of the original name to "Houston & Texas Central Railway Company."
Some construction work on this line was begun at Houston in 1853, but only two miles was constructed in the next two years. The first locomotive was placed on this short track January 22, 1856. The first 25-mile section, to Cypress, was completed July 27, 1856, and ten miles further, to Hockley, May 11, 1857. The original gauge of this road was five feet six inches. The iron T-rails weighed 54 pounds to the yard. In 1857 the equipment consisted of two locomotives (rather larger than the first one of the B. B., B. & C. Ry.), three passenger cars, ten box cars, ten platform cars. In 1858 construction was continued to Hemp- stead, and in January, 1860, cars began taking freight to Courtney and Navasota, and in March of the same year to Millican, eighty miles from Houston.
The energy with which Houston originated railroad enterprises which were actually carried out, and also turned to the advantage of the city railroads which originated elsewhere, was the conspicuous feature of this decade of railroad construction in Texas. Other Texas cities have since become great railroad centers, but Houston was first in the field and for half a century has enjoyed the commercial supremacy founded by the enterprising citizens of the fifties.
As soon as General Sherman and his associates had completed the Harrisburg road to Richmond, Houston citizens undertook the building of a tap line, over which a large share of the commerce of the Brazos valley might be diverted to the Bayou City. The Houston Tap Railroad was chartered January 26, 1856. For the construction of the road the city was authorized to levy a tax on property of one percent, and a license tax was also voted unanimously. The construction of the seven miles
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of the road, to Pierce Junction, was begun in March, 1856, and was com- pleted at a cost of $120,000, a schedule of trains being put in operation October Ist. One locomotive was used, while the "passenger coach" was not unloaded at the dock for several weeks after the road began opera- tion. The schedule announced that cars left Houston daily except Tues- days and Thursdays at 8 a. m., returning in time for the mail steamer to Galveston. According to a report in the Telegraph, "the cars run, all things considered, with very little jar."
September 1, 1856, a charter was granted for the Houston Tap & Brazoria Railway Company. Nominally this was a separate corporation, but the object was really an extension of the Houston Tap beyond the Harrisburg road into the rich plantation district of Brazoria county. A company was organized under the charter in July, 1857, the first president being J. D. Waters. The seven miles of the Houston Tap was purchased, and construction work was commenced toward Columbia on the Brazos. An official report, dated August, 1859, stated that thirty-five miles from Houston was in operation, and the line was finished to Columbia by the end of the year. It was planned to continue the road into Matagorda and Wharton counties, and some grading was done west of the Brazos. The war proved a permanent interruption, and the terminus still remains where it was fifty years ago.
This road was constructed by the enterprise of Houston merchants and the planters along the line. It was formerly called the "sugar road" from the fact that a chief object of its construction was the transporta- tion of sugar from Brazoria and adjoining counties to Houston. The crushing blow to the plantation industry given by the war, and the sub- sequent decline of sugar growing in the "sugar bowl" district, account for the long period of adversity endured by this road.
The Texas & New Orleans Railroad was chartered under the name of the Sabine & Galveston Bay Railroad & Lumber Company, September 1, 1856 (the name being changed to the one in present use, December 24, 1859). By the charter, construction had to begin within one year. The following item from the Houston Telegraph of September 2, 1857, relates how the charter was saved from forfeit: "Some twenty-five or thirty of our leading citizens repaired to the point where the line strikes the eastern boundary of our city, about two miles from the bayou, and. armed with spades and pickaxes, under the direction of the engineer. formally broke ground on this great enterprise. First in the work was
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
the treasurer of the company, Dr. I. S. Roberts, and after him followed all who were present."
Col. A. M. Gentry of Houston was president of the company, and the principal offices were located at Houston. The road was planned from Houston through Liberty and Beaumont to Madison (now Orange) on the Sabine, there to connect with a road chartered by Louisiana to extend to Berwick's Bay, then the western terminus of the New Orleans & Opelousas Railroad-making a trunk line connecting the Texas rail- roads centering at Houston with the eastern lines at New Orleans.
The gauge of this road was five and one-half feet, so that when this line was consolidated with the Southern Pacific system it became neces- sary to reduce the width to the standard gauge. The work of construc- tion began in earnest in the spring of 1858, when the line was partially graded between Houston and Liberty. In 1859 work progressed at other points, and in August, 1860, one of the contractors reported track laid from Orange to Liberty, a distance of sixty-six miles. The company owned a steamer for transporting rails, machinery and other supplies for the Texas division, and until the opening of the Louisiana division it was planned to use a steamer from Sabine bay to New Orleans. By the be- ginning of 1861 the Texas division was ready for operation.
The Eastern Texas Railroad also belongs in this period. A charter was granted in 1852 to the Henderson & Burkville Railroad. Permission was afterwards given to begin construction on the coast, and in 1856 the name was changed to the Mexican Gulf & Henderson Railroad. The fol- lowing year some clearing was done a few miles north of Beaumont, but in 1858 the plans were surrendered to a new corporation, the Eastern Texas Railroad Company. During the next two years about thirty miles were graded northward from Sabine Pass, and during 1860 twenty-five miles were equipped with rolling stock.
The first railroad connecting Galveston island with the interior of Texas was the Galveston, Houston & Henderson. It was designed as an air line from Galveston to Henderson, and was chartered February 7, 1853. Several extensions of time were granted for the completion of the first forty miles. In December, 1855, fourteen schooner loads of timber for construction, brought from Florida and rafted from Galveston to Virginia Point, were swept away by a storm and very little recovered. This was one of many difficulties in the progress of the road. Grading began at Virginia Point in 1856. At Clear creek, where the first large embankment was required, a gang of negroes furnished from a Brazos Vol. I-16
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
plantation carried the dirt in pans borne on their heads to make the fill. In March, 1857, track-laying began at Virginia Point. The editor of the Texas Almanac, writing at the close of 1858, said: "We learn that the forty miles required by law to be completed by the first of November were finally finished and ready for the locomotive on October 23, and that the two and one-half miles more to reach Main street in Houston will be completed in a few days."
A steam ferry was to operate between Virginia Point and Galveston until the completion of the bridge and track on the island. In 1857 Gal- veston, by an almost unanimous vote, authorized the expenditure of $100,- 000 for the construction of a bridge over the bay. The city was to pay for the bridge, one-half in bonds and one-half in cash, and the railroad company was to pay interest on bonds and the principal at maturity, when the ownership of the bridge would pass to the railroad company. Con- struction of the bridge began in the latter part of 1858 and was finished in 1859. Until the road was completed to Houston in 1858 all hauling over the tracks was done by ox or horse traction. The "Perseverance" and the "Brazos" were the first locomotives, and in 1859 trains began running from Galveston to Houston.
The Galveston bridge was destroyed by storm, October 3, 1867. It was reconstructed and opened June 25, 1868. At that time the rail- road property was in receivership, and the reorganized G., H. & H. R. R. Co., to which it was sold in 1871, was said to be dominated by Jay Gould. In 1883 the G., H. & H. was leased for ninety-nine years to the I. & G. N. as its Galveston outlet, but in 1895 the lease was surrendered and the road leased, on equal terms, to the I. & G. N. and the M., K. & T. for forty years.
The Washington County Railroad was a short line built before the war, and owed its origin to the enterprise of the citizens of Washington county, who, when the H. & T. C. was extended up the east side of the Brazos, undertook the construction of a branch from Hempstead as an outlet for the crops of their county. The charter was granted February 2, 1856, the road to run from any point on the H. & T. C. to Brenham, county seat of Washington county, and construction to begin before July 1, 1858.
The first officers of the company were: J. D. Giddings, president ; A. G. Compton, secretary-treasurer, and C. A. Haskins, engineer and superintendent. The secretary's report, September, 1860, stated that the first section of eleven and one-half miles to near Chappel Hill was finished
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
in May, 1859, and trains were operated from Hempstead to the Brazos river beginning February 22, 1860. The total income for transporta- tion during 1860 was about $2,500. The road was opened to Brenham (twenty-five miles) October 1, 1860.
The San Antonio & Mexican Gulf Railroad Company was chartered September 5, 1850, to build a line from some point on the gulf between Corpus Christi and Galveston to San Antonio. Extensions of time were necessary, as construction did not begin at Port Lavaca until 1856. The state engineer's report on the road in 1858 stated that the five miles nec- essary to prevent forfeiture of the charter were completed and in run- ning order previous to January 31, 1858. The engineer said: "The remarkable fact may be stated that this five miles of road, terminating in the open prairie, at a point remote from any settlement or public high- way, has not only been of vast service to the people of western Texas, but has actually overpaid running expenses. I not only learn this from the officers and agents of the company, but witnessed myself the immense business it was doing; the noise and bustle; the hundreds of wagons and teams and teamsters drawn to its present terminus or station in the prairie." The original gauge of this road was five and one-half feet. The first officers and directors of the road were composed of residents along the proposed route, most of them from San Antonio. W. J. Clarke, the president, and S. A. Maverick, the treasurer, were from San Antonio, and William J. Keen, secretary, was a Lavaca resident. After the grad- ing was completed nearly to Victoria, operations were suspended until I. A. Paschal of San Antonio procured additional capital from Europe. The road was open for traffic to Victoria (twenty-eight miles) in April, 1861.
January 21, 1858, the Indianola Railroad Company was chartered to construct a road from Indianola on Powderhorn bayou to a connec- tion with the S. A. & M. G. not more than five miles from Lavaca. A few miles were graded, but in 1860 the road was absorbed by the S. A. & M. G.
Another transportation enterprise had its beginning at Aransas Pass. By act of February 14, 1852, the legislature chartered the Aransas Road Company, the ostensible object being to construct a causeway and turn- pike from the Aransas Pass across the peninsula to the mainland, and thence to Goliad, a supplemental act allowing the company to improve navigation over the bar and construct a drawbridge. Another amend- ment (February 16, 1858) gave the right to substitute a railroad for
ยท
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
turnpike, and to build the line to the Rio Grande. The plan was to build a Texas railroad to connect with a coordinate enterprise in Mexico, giving a trunk line to the Pacific at Mazatlan. Internal troubles in Mexico and the subsequent Civil war in the United States were the patent causes of failure. Realization of the plan might have given a very different direction to the railroad and economic development between the Pacific coast and the Mississippi valley. In August, 1859, the work of grading across the shallows and peninsula to the mainland was begun. After most of the levee had been thrown up, the work was suspended, until the revised plan of a railroad from this point was put into effect twenty-five years later.
One other Texas railroad had its beginning before the war. The Texas & Pacific, as it is now known, was the result of consolidation of two original enterprises-the Memphis, El Paso & Pacific, and the South- ern Pacific. October 1, 1859, the former of these had thirty-five miles of track graded and the latter had completed twenty-seven and one-half miles in Texas. What was known as the Southern Pacific had its road in operation between Marshall, Texas, and Shreveport, Louisiana, by the beginning of the war. The other line was planned to extend from Tex- arkana toward El Paso. A branch line for construction purposes was begun at Jefferson, and five miles completed before the war.
The total length of railways in operation in Texas at the beginning of the Civil war was 492 miles .* The city of Houston was the original starting point or a terminus of four-fifths of this mileage.
THE CIVIL WAR DECADE
The Civil war not only decreased traffic and operation of railroads, but, as a war measure, some of the track laid at so great expense was destroyed. In December, 1863, by order of General Magruder, the S. A. & M. G. Railroad from Port Lavaca to Victoria was destroyed, the rails having been torn up, the ties and some of the cars burned, and the engines rendered unfit for service. At the close of the war the federal authorities rebuilt this line. The T. & N. O. was partially dismantled by the Confederates in 1865, and operation of trains was suspended for a numher of years. The Eastern Texas Railroad was also destroyed, most of the rails having been torn up and used by the Confederates in con-
* "Railroad Transportation in Texas," Charles S. Potts.
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
structing the fort at Sabine Pass. That demolition closed the history of the enterprise.
The limited facilities of passenger service over the few Texas roads in operation in 1864 are shown by the schedule of trains published in the Texas Almanac for 1865:
H. & T. C .- Trains leave Houston every day, except Sunday, at 10 a. m., and reach Hempstead, 50 miles, at 2 p. m., connecting with the Washington County Railroad and tri-weekly stages from Brenham to Austin. Leave Hempstead at 2 p. m. and reach Navasota, 20 miles, at 4 p. m., where the cars connect with tri-weekly stages to Shreveport. Leave Navasota at 4 p. m. and reach Millican at 5 p. m., where cars con- nect with tri-weekly stages to Waco and Dallas. Returning leave Milli- can at 7 a. m., Navasota at 8 a. m., Hempstead at 10 a. m. and reach Houston at 2 p. m.
Washington County R. R .- Trains leave Brenham every day at 6 a. m. and reach Hempstead, 25 miles, at 9 a. m. Returning, leave Hemp- stead at 2 p. m. and reach Brenham at 4 p. m.
B., B., B. & C. R. R .- Trains leave Harrisburg for Alleyton Mon- days, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 a. m. Returning, leave Alleyton Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 8 a. m., making connections at Houston Junction with the H. T. & B. R. R. from Houston and Co- lumbia.
H. T. & B. R. R .- Trains run three times a week between Houston and Columbia, 50 miles.
G. H. & H. R. R .- Trains leave Galveston Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 a. m .; arrive at Houston at 1 :30 p. m. Return alternate days.
T. & N. O. R. R .- Trains leave Houston Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7 a. m. and arrive at Beaumont at 4 p. m .; return alternate days.
Besides the disorganization and financial difficulties of the different railway companies, the physical condition of the roads continued at a low ebb until Texas was readmitted to the Union in 1870. The H. & T. C. was the first road to resume progressive construction. Beginning at the old terminus at Millican in 1866, this road was extended to Bryan in 1867, to Calvert in 1868, and by 1870 to Groesbeck, 170 miles from Houston. The old Washington County Railroad was purchased by the H. & T. C. in 1867, and its line was rapidly extended from Brenham to Austin, being completed fifty miles, to Ledbetter, in 1870.
The T. & N. O., which was a bankrupt property, had for several years ceased operations altogether, but by 1870 operated trains from Houston to West Liberty, a distance of thirty-five miles. The Columbus
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
Tap Railway Company, which had been incorporated in February, 1860, to construct a railroad and bridge to connect Columbus with the then terminus of the B. B. B. & C. road at Alleyton, completed this short line in 1868. No other work was done on the Harrisburg road during this decade. By 1870 the old Southern Pacific was extended beyond Mar- shall to Hallville, while a hundred miles of the M. E. P. & P. had been completed west from Texarkana. The above comprises all the note- worthy additions to Texas railroads up to 1870. No construction had begun under new charters, and the H. & T. C. was the only road that thoroughly recovered from the effects of war and made important addi- tions to its mileage.
FROM 1870 TO 1880.
About 2,500 miles of railroad were built in Texas during this decade. The progress of the old roads will first be noticed.
The main line of the H. & T. C. was extended to Corsicana (210
. miles from Houston) in 1871, to Mckinney in 1872, and to the northern terminus at Denison by January 1, 1873. The Austin branch from Hemp- stead was completed to the capital by 1872.
The Waco Tap Railroad was incorporated November 5, 1866, but no construction was done. August 6, 1870, the name was changed to Waco & Northwestern. The road began at Bremond on the main line of the H. & T. C., and reached Marlin in 1871, and was completed to Waco September 18, 1872. Though under a separate charter, this line was built by the H. & T. C. interests, and by act of May 24, 1873, the latter company was authorized to acquire the property and franchises.
During this decade, by consolidation and new construction, important links were formed in the present "Sunset Route." By the act of July 27, 1870, the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad was char- tered to succeed the B. B. B. & C., and to acquire the corporate rights of the Columbus Tap, and extend the road west to San Antonio and thence to the Rio Grande. The title "Sunset Route" was soon after applied to this road, a name that has since become the popular and official designation of the entire Southern Pacific system. Thomas W. Pierce became the president and principal owner of the road, and by his own wealth and energy, with the liberal subsidies voted by the counties along the route, constructed what has become acknowledged as one of the best railroad properties in the country.
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HISTORY OF CENTRAL AND WESTERN TEXAS.
From Columbus the G. H. & S. A. was extended to Schulenburg in 1873, to Luling in 1874 and Kingsbury in 1875, and in September, 1876, reached the Guadalupe at Marion. February 19, 1877, the formal opening of the road to San Antonio was celebrated by an excursion train, carrying many notable citizens to the Alamo city.
In 1877 the general offices of this road were removed from Harris- burg to Houston, thus depriving that pioneer seat of railroad enterprise of its last important honors as a transportation center. Houston had connection with the main line over the old Houston Tap, but a new branch was now built to Stella and opened in 1880.
The S. A. & M. G. (from Port Lavaca to Victoria) and the Indianola Railroad (partly destroyed during the war, but later rebuilt for a few miles) were consolidated under the new charter granted to the Gulf, Western Texas & Pacific Railway, August 4, 1870. Under this name the road was extended and opened for traffic to Cuero, May 31, 1874.
The T. & N. O. Railroad was not reopened for traffic over the entire distance from Houston to Orange until August 1, 1876.
The Houston Tap & Brazoria Railroad was discontinued after the war and, except over the Tap between Houston and the Harrisburg road, no trains were operated for some years. In February, 1871, the property was sold to the Houston & Great Northern, and after being improved was again operated, and has since been a constituent part of the I. & G. N. system.
The Houston & Great Northern Railroad was chartered October 22 1866. The principal offices were located at Houston, and the president of the road during its early period of building was Galusha A. Grow. By 1871 fifty miles were in operation, from Houston to Willis in Mont- gomery county; it was extended to Trinity (eighty-eight miles) in January, 1872; and to Palestine (152 miles) in November, 1872. In 1873 the Huntsville branch and the Houston Tap & Brazoria were both absorbed by the H. & G. N.
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