Riding the Red River Rails
Ferry Magic
Early transportation attempts in the Red River mirrored those in the more
"settled" areas of the North and South, namely - ferries. Lots and lots of
ferry crossings dotted the rivers, with operators charging up to $1 per person.
Some ferry operators, like Benjamin Colbert, whose ferry shunted
travelers,stage coaches, and cattle drivers from Texas to Indian Territory just
north of Denison, were instrumental in the development of the region. Colbert
operated one of the earliest hotels in Indian Territory, and those who stayed at
his inn didn't have to pay to cross the Red River. The existence of Colbert's
ferry also brought about businesses catering to the area north and south of
the river, like the saloon on the Texas side, that sold whiskey to the people in
Indian Territory, as liquor sales were illegal over there.

(Which is strange... when I was a kid, I'd accompany my uncle from Bonham
across the river to Oklahoma, where he'd buy his beer, because it had become
illegal in certain Texas counties to sell liquor!)

With better engineering methods and higher traffic volumes, toll bridges
eventually replaced the ferry crossings. Many of the ferries were also
supplanted by the railroads.

Early Rails
The first railroad to link any city along the Red River was built just prior to
the Civil War: the Texas and Pacific Railroad reached from Shreveport,
Louisiana to Marshall, Texas. Of course, the Civil War then occurred, and
building of tracks halted for the duration of the war - at least in the South.

That wasn't really supposed to be so, however. Railroad charters in Texas,
Arkansas, and Louisiana had already been proposed and accepted, and maps
were published of the Red River Valley with the imagined railroad tracks
already visible. But politics had a different agenda. In the 1850s, the United
States Congress was contemplating where to place the transcontinental
railroad. Stephen A. Douglas, a senator from Illinois, proposed the rail to go
from Omaha, Nebraska, to San Francisco, California. Jefferson Davis, at the
time the Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce, preferred the rail to reach
from Houston, Texas to Los Angeles, California. James Gadsden, the
ambassador to Mexico, actually bought a large swath of land from Mexico to
facilitate the building of a southern, transcontinental railroad.

Both North and South wanted to expand west as far as possible. The South
wanted to extend slavery, and with a transcontinental railroad in its region, it
could do so. The North wanted to expand its industrial power base, and it
could do that with a transcontinental railroad. Both regions also wanted to
eliminate the Indian threat - "depredations" by Indians was one of the reasons
Texans cited in their Declaration of Secession - and building a
transcontinental railroad could do that, too.

History tells what happened to these plans. After the South ceded from the
Union, they didn't have any more say in Congress, leaving expansion of the
railroads in predominantly Republican hands. Guess where the
transcontinental railroad was built?

The Railroad Cometh
After the Civil War, railroad building recommenced. The Texas & Pacific would
eventually reach Dallas from the east in 1873. A year earlier, the Houston &
Texas Central Railroad had come to Dallas from the south. Suddenly, Dallas
went from a small village to a railroad hub.

But the real event that turned the Red River Valley into a major railroading
center was the arrival of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, or KATY.
Headquartered in Sedalia, Missouri, the KATY entered in a race, sponsored by
the Federal government, with two other railroads: whichever railroad reached
Indian Territory first, that company would obtain exclusive rights to build a line
to Texas, AND would receive generous land grants as well. The KATY won. It
then built its line right alongside the Texas (or Shawnee) Trail, which parallels
today's US 69, and entered Denison in 1872. The KATY then met up with the
Houston & Central Texas tracks in Sherman, Texas, in 1873, creating the first
major north/south line in the central plains, linking Galveston, Texas, to St.
Louis, Missouri, and points beyond.

The entry of the railroads was not always seen as a boon, however. The
federal land give-a-ways for the KATY was mirrored in other deals in both
Texas and Indian Territory, where upwards to 20 million acres were eventually
granted to railroad companies. Many farmers would rebel against these
corporate land grabs, which became the beginnings of the Farmer's Alliance
Movement (the Populist Party) and the Agrarian Socialists. Coincidentally, the
KATY never received its land grant, as the Cherokees, whose lands were
going to be given away without their permission, successfully fought this theft
in court.

A Boom on Rails
The arrival of the railroads changed many aspects of life in the Red River
Valley. Cities would fight each other to obtain right-of-ways by raising money
for bonds that would finance depot construction and taps. Taps were privately
built tracks that connected to the main lines, thus enticing the railroads to
route their trains to the cities that funded the tracks.

Cities became quite wealthy, too, with an influx of new goods, new immigrants,
and new technologies. Telegraph lines were erected next to the tracks,
allowing for an instant communication revolution. Joseph McCoy, founder of
the Chisholm Trail, financed and promoted the use of refrigerated cars, thus
supplanting the cattle drives he had helped to create. People could move
farther away and still have access to larger markets. New jobs opened up with
the establishment of a major machine shop in Cleburne, Texas, and in the coal
mines of McAlester, Indian Territory and Thurber, Texas.

Change, of course, always has a downside. Many towns, like Boggy Depot,
Doaksville, Dexter, and Spanish Fort, died when the railroad bypassed them.
The citizens of Indian Territory who belonged to the tribal nations had to fight
against government-sponsored land grabs and against white settlers who
ignored tribal sovereignty (the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and
Creek nations had lost much autonomy, anyway, when they were forced to
agree to the 1866 Treaties, which effectively dismantled their nations). In the
western portions of the Red River Valley, the Southern Plains tribes witnessed
the destruction of their ways as the railroad brought speculators, armies, and
opportunistic settlers.

Politically, the railroad was viewed with suspicion. While not profitable in
the least, the railroads maintained Jim Crow laws. One of the first challenges
to segregation occurred on a train in Missouri, when Ida B. Wells insisted on
sitting in the comfortable, non-smoking car reserved for whites. Tossed out of
the train, she eventually lost her lawsuit against the railroad and became an
outspoken critic of lynching and racism.

The Texas Constitution of 1876 (what historians call the Reconstruction
Constitution)called for all railroads that wanted to do business in Texas to be
chartered and headquartered in Texas so that Texans could assert more
control.

Some of the earliest unions in Texas and Indian Territory were formed by
railroad employees and workers in ancillary industries, such as the United
Coal Miners Union. These unions would help to write the Oklahoma
Constitution of 1907.

End of the Line
Railroads were never local concerns - they were always corporate entities
whose sole mission was to make money for their shareholders. For some
reason, however misplaced, people (including me) become pretty nostalgic
about them. Maybe it's because of the sense of adventure and freedom the
rails represent, even if that idea is actually faulty. There was hardly any
freedom or adventure for many groups of people, including tenant farmers
and traditional Plains Indians.

Though the rail hasn't gone away, it has lost some of its steam. Amtrak is the
only long distance passenger train in the United States, and in the Red River
Valley, only a handful of freight operators still use the tracks. In fact, many
rail beds have been converted to hiking and biking trails, or have been sold
for scrap.

Apparently, trains are actually making a comeback. Transporting freight by rail
is much more economical than by truck, and can be quicker, too. Passenger
traffic is up due to high gas prices and environmental concerns.

While the Red River Valley has seen its railroad heyday long gone, the train is
still important, both historically and economically. The tracks have left an
indelible print on the landscape.
A historic look at the impact of the railroads along the Red River
Red River Railroads
Following is a short list of the railroads
that passed through the Red River
Valley.

Houston & Texas Central
The H&TC was based out of Houston and
came to Dallas in 1872, then met up with
the Missouri-Kansas-Texas tracks in
Sherman in 1873. The H&TC was the first
to replace coal with oil fuel; it was the first
to offer Pullman service; and it was the
first company whose employees
attempted unionization. Most of the H&TC
tracks have been torn up or are now used
by Union Pacific.

Missouri-Kansas-Texas
As the first rail line in Indian Territory, the
KATY was instrumental in the
industrial development of what would
eventually become Oklahoma. The KATY  
laid tracks all the way to Galveston. Criss-
crossing the southwest, it also offered
streamliner service through the
Bluebonnet Special and the Katy Flyer.
The KATY was eventually taken over by
MoPac.

Texas & Pacific
One of the earliest railroads in Texas, the
T&P eventually hooked up with the
Southern Pacific in Sierra Blanca, Texas,
making it the first east-west line in the
Southwest. The T&P merged with MoPac
in 1976.

Missouri Pacific
The MoPac was owned by Jay Gould, a
railroad "robber baron" who would
eventually own controlling interest in the
KATY and the T&P. MoPac didn't
really build its own tracks in the Red River
Valley, preferring to buy up
trackage that was already there.
Eventually, MoPac owned over 3,000
miles of track in Texas. Today, MoPac
tracks are part of the Union Pacific
System.

Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific
Coming through Oklahoma Territory, the
Rock Island Railroad would supplant the
Chisholm Trail when its tracks came
through in the 1890s. The company
concentrated on short runs, and would
later merge with the KATY.

Burlington Rock Island
In Texas, the Rock Island bought up local
lines that were in receivership. It
operated the first streamliner, the Sam
Houston Zephyr, between Houston and
Austin, and the Texas Zephyr traveled
between Dallas and Denver. Always
struggling, the railroad eventually merged
with Burlington Northern.

Cotton Belt Route
Evidence of the Cotton Belt Route, which
was actually the St. Louis
Southwestern Railway, exists all over
north Texas. Its purpose was to ferry
cotton to market, but it also had a number
of passenger routes as well. The
Southern Pacific took over the route in
1992, which then
went on to merge with the Santa Fe and
eventually, Burlington Northern.

St. Louis-San Francisco
Known to most as simply the "Frisco," this
was a short line rail company that
concentrated in Missouri, Oklahoma, and
north Texas. The Frisco merged with
Burlington Northern in 1980.

Aitchiston, Topeka, and Santa Fe
The Santa Fe, originally based out of
Kansas, arrived in Texas from New Mexico
and continued to expand. Cleburne,
Texas became its main repair hub. In the
1950s, the Santa Fe built the last
passenger depot of the old era in Denton.
Today, the Santa Fe is still going strong
after the 1997 merger with Burlington
Northern. In North Texas, the Santa Fe
ran as the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe
Railroad.

Southern Pacific
Now owned by the Union Pacific, the
Southern Pacific was a prominent railroad
in the Red River valley that acquired
several smaller railroads over its years of
existence, including the Texas & New
Orleans line, which was one of the oldest
railroad companies in Texas and
Louisiana.
The 1909 KATY truss bridge near
Colbert, Oklahoma.
Telegraph poles line the former Houston &
Central Texas tracks in Van Alstyne, Texas.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe depot
is still in use in Corsicana, Texas.
Lone pillar of a toll bridge between
Oklahoma and Texas.
Dexter, Texas died when the railroad
bypassed it.
A Cotton Belt Route bridge in Omaha, Texas.
Abandoned KATY depot on US 69 in Oklahoma.
A Word About Gauges
In the early days of rail, the British gauge (the
distance between the rails) was 5' 6". At first, all
American railroads were built using this gauge
because Americans railroads used British equipment.
Soon, northern railroads converted to standard
gauge, which is 4' 8.5". In the South, however, the
British gauge continued in use, and a 5' gauge was
introduced as well. Southern railroads had to rebuild
their tracks to be linked to the north. In Texas, the
Houston &Texas Central and the Texas & Pacific had
to accommodate the new track standard.

Many believe narrow gauge to have been used only in
isolated areas in the United States, but Texas and
Louisiana actually had a considerable number of
narrow gauge lines. Narrow gauge was used to haul
freight between towns, or to ferry timber or coal in
mining areas.

Another interesting part of rail history concerns
underground tracks. In Dallas, the Santa Fe
connected to its three main buildings with an
underground railroad that used fire-less steam
locomotives. Some of the underground tracks are still
visible in the basements of downtown Dallas
apartment buildings.
Traveling down the tracks in Fort Worth
Check out the Traveling History portion of the Red
River Rails to experience the thrills
of train travel on your own!