A Flooded Place from the Republic of Texas Era
I found this at SMU's Degoyler Library in the digital collections. It's a postcard that doesn't depict anything remotely scenic - instead, it's a photograph of the devastating 1908 flood's effect on the "Frisco Bridge - Warner [SIC] Junction - Red River Flood. May 26th '08."
The 1908 flood did not just occur on the Red River. Torrents of rain inundated Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, causing incredible damage to bridges, roads, farms, and cities. The flood most likely killed over 1,000 people, though there has never been an official accounting - or even an attempt at one. Many railroad bridges had to be replaced, and the city of Dallas even changed its infrastructure (Dealy Plaza, Belt Line, and more) in the aftermath .
I believe the postcard is referencing "Warren Junction," but I haven't done the research to figure out where that is. I know the site of old Warren's Trading Post at the cusp of Fannin County/ Grayson County, Texas, which is today's Ambrose, but I don't remember the Frisco having a bridge in that section.
Reader Jimmy Barlow explained that this water tank belonged to the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway (KATY). The Frisco tracks stood about 70 yards from the KATY tracks at old Warren, now known as Ambrose, Fannin County, Texas.
