Railroad, Oil, and Cattle
Railroad service was ready to begin, but the steam locomotive, which was being shipped by river boat, had not arrived. So three oxen pulled the cars from Caddo Lake to Marshall, TX. That was the first railroad transportation used by the Marshall Railroad Depot.
For years the trains from Marshall, TX only ran to Longview, TX and Shreveport, LA. The people of Harrison County offered to loan money, and the City of Marshall donated land so that the Texas and Pacific Railway company would move to Marshall. T&P President George Jay Gould agreed and moved the T&P workshops and general offices for Texas to Marshall. The Marshall Railroad Company was allowed to build a railroad from Marshall all the way to the Pacific Coast (California). This is when the Marshall Railroad Company changed its name to the Texas & Pacific Railway Company.
The shops were built up and down these tracks. The shops built the equipment needed to run the Texas & Pacific Railroads. Marshall's population grew a lot because people came to Marshall from all over the world, and even whole families, to work for the Texas & Pacific Railway Company.
John J. Lancaster took leadership of the company.
At the time, the largest oil field in the world was located in Kilgore, TX.
The tunnel was built so people could safely get to the T&P Railway Depot that was built between two railroad tracks.
After World War II ended, the Texas & Pacific Railway Company stopped using steam locomotives and started using diesel engines, traveling by airplane became popular, and Interstate highways were built making it easy to travel by car.
Although the transportation of people stopped, the Railroad Depot still transported goods.
Years later the company's name was changed to the Union Pacific Railway Company. From 1976 on, is when the railroads expanded through out Texas.
Spindletop field is founded
It spewed more than 100 ft.
17.5 million barrels of oil were produced in 1902, and it was sold for 3 cents a barrel
Biggest oil field of all in Texas
It restored order and stability
After 1850, cattle drives went to the California gold fields because they could get better prices in San Francisco than in Texas ($5 to $10 a head in Texas vs. 20 times that in California). By 1859, the price of cattle in California had slumped, and so most of the drives to the West coast had ended.
During the Civil War, cattle ranching became almost non-existent until 1866 when ranching and trailing began to boom.
From then on, Ft. Worth became a major shipping point for livestock.
Simpson buys the Union Stockyards Company for over $130,000