Research: Tram & Railroad Database

Code:	209
Corporate Name:	Eastern Texas (Mexican, Gulf, & Henderson) (Henderson & Burkettville)
Folk Name:
Incorporated:
Ownership:	Name change to the Mexican, Henderson, & Gulf
Years of Operation:
Track Type:	Standard Gauge Wooden Rails
Track Length:
Locations Served:	To run from Henderson to Burkettville. Then from the Gulf to Henderson. Then from the tidewater of either the Trinity, the Sabine, or the Neches to the Red River
Counties of Operation:
Line Connections:
Track Information:	Tram Road Logging / Industrial Common Carrier Logging Camp
Equipment:
History:	The Henderson & Burkettville Railroad was chartered February 10, 1852. Influential in the chartering process were early Rusk and Henderson pioneers: Jesse Walling, Julian Devereaux, James W. Flanagan, and General James Smith. The charter was amended in 1853 to permit the tracks to veer westward through Nacogodoches and Mt Enterprise. Only a few tracks were actually laid. Reed identifies this company as the Henderson & Burkville Railroad, which was succeeded by the Mexican Henderson & Gulf and then the Eastern Texas Railroad. The road, chartered in 1852, was to connect the Sabine River in Newton County with Henderson in Rusk County. This would permit the export of cotton and lumber from the interior to a water route running down to Sabine Pass. The charter was amended to build a route directly to Rusk from between Galveston Bay and Sabine Lake, which would avoid the requirements of shipping export on flatbottom boats down the Sabine. The road would be routed through Nacogdoches and Mt. Enterprise. Another charter change came in 1856, with a new route, this time from the tidewater of either the Sabine, the Neches, or the Trinity, and the route would be extended to the Red River, thus opening the entire interior of East Texas. The name was also changed to the Mexican, Gulf, & Henderson (See entry). The name change came with another new route, this time from the tidewater of either the Sabine, the Neches, or the Trinity, and the route would be extended to the Red River, thus opening the entire interior of East Texas. Work began at Pine Island Bayou, about eight miles north of Beaumont, but work was quickly suspended in 1857 after only a few miles were cleared and graded. A new name and a new charter came in 1858. The Eastern Texas Railroad was to deposit a $50,000 bond with the state treasurer, pay the contractors for the work done at Pine Island, and run the route from Sabine Pass to Henderson. Upon the completion of twenty-five miles, the deposit would be returned. About thirty miles were, in fact, completed from Sabine Pass to Beaumont, and trains were running by 1861. The Civil War interfered, and the railroad decayed. Some of its tracks were used by Dick Dowling to build fortifications at Sabine Pass against the Union Navy.