A History of the M.E.&T. Railway in East Texas
Eleanor R. (Wells) Briggs
In the 1880’s much of Central East Texas was little more than a wilderness, with no transportation except by wagon and much of that by ox teams. It was sparsely settled and vast areas of virgin timber growing on fertile land.
The little community in which my father lived and went to school was called Grady. It was the forerunner of Harleton, Texas. Mail was delivered twice a week by horseback. Supplies had to be hauled by wagon from Jefferson, Marshall, or Longview, a distance of fourteen to sixteen miles.
It was this trade territory that Marshall was seeking to secure when it started projects for railroads in this area. None were successful until 1882.
A transcontinental railroad was the dreams of settlers, politicians, and businessmen alike, and Marshall had succeeded in being on the route of a transcontinental railroad from the Red River to El Paso. That road was the Texas and Pacific, incorporated in 1871.
On March 16, 1882, a charter was filed in Austin, Texas for a narrow gauge railroad to Mt. Pleasant, Texas. It was entitled the Northwestern Railway Company. Capital stock was $660,000. Officers were W.W. Heartsill, President; C. Henrick, Vice President; Ll. W. Lloyd, Treasurer; P.E. Coleman, Joseph Lake, T.J. Whaley, A.R. Starr, and R.S. Kelly.
On March 29, 1882, the road was incorporated as the Marshall and Northwestern. They undertook to build some of the road into northwest Harrison County by subscription. Each party would verbally agree or in writing to give a certain sum per mile to the company and its successor to enable them to build the road. The company issued bonds or stock in equal amounts to sums paid, payments being so many dollars for each mile of roadway built. Over 6,000 people subscribed. $25,000 was raised in money and $15,000 was pledged. The railroad refused. Grading would begin when $50,000 had been subscribed.
Some of the right-of-way was deeded by the owners of the lands through which the railroad proposed to build. The City Council of Marshall granted the Marshall and Northwestern right-of-way through such streets of the city as the company designated for construction of the roads.
On June 27, 1882, a preliminary survey was started from Marshall to Pittsburg and Mt. Pleasant. The secretary of the railroad said grading would begin if people stood up to their agreements. Dirt was broken on the Marshall and Northwestern, August 23, 1882. Grading began approximately 6,000 feet west of the passenger station of the Texas and Pacific Railway in Marshall, Texas and 100 feet north of the operated line of that railway. It continued towards Little Cypress Creek, including a spur and side track.
There were many changes in the life of the Marshall and Northwestern. Soon after it was incorporated, the name was changed to the Marshall, Jefferson and Northwestern. During this time, they acquired the right-of-way and built the grade.
Even though the road was surveyed to Pittsburg to Mt. Pleasant, the road was graded to about one mile northwest of Montvale Springs. It stopped there for lack of funds.
Nothing was done to the railbed during the next two years. In January, 1884, a civil engineer, Mr. H.D.W. Smith, inspected the entire grading. He was assisted by Ll. W. Lloyd as rodman and Joseph Hendricks and William Burnett as chain men. They used engineers level, taking rod readings at every station, determining elevations and ratio of grade.
They gave particular attention to the condition of the road bed. It had deteriorated. Water had washed the earth down into the cuts from slopes and there was damage by livestock and teams along and across it.
It was determined that such changes are to be expected on an unused roadway after a lapse of a year or two from its completion.
The railroad did not come up to standards set by other railroads in the area. They used tree stumps and pine tops to fill in the embankment when dirt was called for. This was prohibited in all grading because it makes a defective roadbed. Ditches in the cuts were not deep enough to stand after a heavy rain,
The name of the railroad changed again, this time to the original corporate name, the Marshall and Northwestern. Rails were laid on the first ten miles. The old-time railroad men said they ironed the first ten miles of that the iron was put on the.
It passed through an area where a fortune in virgin timber was waiting to be exploited. The road was built across Little Cypress Creek by Dan Heyns Sawmill and Country Store.
After the first ten miles had been completed, the name changed again to the Marshall, Paris and Northwestern. Abou twenty-five miles were graded south from Paris and the railroad obtained the right-of-way for almost the entire line. Five additional miles were completed to the Lancaster Brothers’ Lumber Company and one mile beyond Montvale Springs. It operated to Marshall, depending on Lancaster Brothers for revenue.
After building fifteen miles from Marshall to Montvale Springs and grading twenty-five miles south from Paris to the Hopkins County line, the railroad was sold to the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway Company. It was part of a plan to build into Texas from Ft. Smith, Arkansas through what was then Indian territory. The sale was never consummated and the property reverted to the original interests, the Marshall and Northwestern.
Another revision of the charter was made and signed by J.S. Hogg, Attorney General of the State of Texas. The road was incorporated as the Paris, Marshall and Sabine Pass.
Throughout this period of name changes, the road was never sold. Change of names was affected by amendments to the original charter of the Marshall and Northwestern Railway Company.
Historians tell us that the P.M.& S.P. did no construction; they did not even lay track on the twenty-five miles already graded. It would seem to be a period of inactivity, but much was happening.
On February 9, 1891, J.W. Harle was appointed Receiver of the Paris, Marshall and Sabine Pass Railway Company and all its property. He took an oath and gave a bond in the amount of $25,000. He took charge of the railroad and operated it as it existed at that time.
James W. “Jim” Harle and his brother Robert H. “Bob” Harle obtained a charter for a tram road and extended it three and one-half miles from Montvale Springs in a more westerly direction than the original survey. The tram-road was referred to as, “Harles’ Road.”
They selected a site for a sawmill and built a big bandsaw, a depot and a large two story commissary and office building with a dance hall and lodge on the second floor. When Harles’ Hope Lumber Company had been finished and about four miles of tram road built into the Eagle Creek community, the mill was completely destroyed by fire. This in its own right was a fortune that had gone up in smoke. The loss was so great that the process could not be repeated.
Vast amounts of timber and in some cases, the land along with it had already been purchased. They concentrated on trying to salvage what they could by building a smaller mill with one-third the capacity of the one that burned.
Harles’ store had a newer and fuller stock of merchandise than those of the smaller communities. So much of the trade went there, the smaller communities began to fade away. The post office was moved to Harles’ store and given the name of the men who had founded the town.
The railroad brought prosperity to Harleton. Soon merchants had to double their establishments to take care of the increase in business. By the late 1890’s, Harle had cut out all available timber and closed down the mill. Most mill hands moved away. The commissary went out of business. The railroad was in bad shape.
The Paris, Marshall and Sabine Pass Railway Company was sold to George W. Parrott of Atlanta, Georgia, under foreclosure. He, in turn, sold it to E. Key and Associates of Marshall, Texas on October 12, 1892.
