The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953 Page: 497
641 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Origins of the Texas and Pacific Railway 497
ern terminus of the road, to Dallas, a distance of 123 miles, on Thurs-
day last. The line run by him crosses Lake Fork near its mouth, the
Sabine at Crockett's Bluff, touches the northeast corner of Smith
County, passes by Jordan's Saline, Van Zandt County, thence to Cedar
Grove, Kaufman County and thence to Dallas. The Major, who gave
us these notes in person, reports the fall of the country along the
entire route highly favorable to railroad building-very light grading
being required. The route is abundantly supplied with timber for
cross-ties and all along the route up to Cedar Grove, are inexhausti-
ble deposits of brown sand-stone, sufficiently hard to support any kind
.of masonry.21
The proposed plans, however, were not carried out by the
old Southern Pacific, but by the Texas and Pacific, which early
in the following year of 1872 bought and absorbed the older
company.
Previous mention has been made of the Memphis, El Paso,
and Pacific Railroad, which was another Texas and Pacific parent.
This road was the forerunner of the Northern or, as it was
sometimes called, the Transcontinental Division of the Texas
and Pacific. The original company proposed to build from a
point opposite Fulton, Arkansas, westward along the southern
bank of the Red River, down to El Paso, and on to the Pacific
Ocean. Construction was to begin in 1857, but plans were upset
with the interruption of means of communication when freshets
in the Red River caused an accumulation of driftwood, locally
called the "great raft." A line to Jefferson was then projected,
and about five miles were completed before the Civil War put
an end to construction. Later, as has been pointed out, the
Memphis, El Paso, and Pacific was acquired by the Southern
Transcontinental Railroad Company, which in turn became a
part of the Texas and Pacific.
Thus the first chapter in the story of the Texas and Pacific is
written in the history of these early roads. It is undoubtedly true
that those who were interested in these projects, undertaken in
East Texas and West Louisiana, foresaw the possibility of creating
a major railroad of the Southwest with hope of its becoming
transcontinental in scope.
21lDallas Herald, June io, 1871.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953, periodical, 1953; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101145/m1/595/?rotate=270: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.