| History: | According to Gregg County records, Eli and B. Barnes bought pine timber and a right-of-way from Joseph Hall in Gregg County. They were soon reported in the records as "doing a general lumber business and particularly in Shingles, Pressed Flooring, Siding and Ceiling Business." In February, 1877, the brothers bought a Mogul locomotive, indicating they had a tram road. By the following year, Brad Barnes was involved with the Longview & Sabine Valley Railway Company; he mortgaged it along with ten miles of track to A. W. Morrison and G. B. Lipscomb.
The Barnes Brothers storehouse was located at Longview.
The Longview & Sabine Valley changed hands in 1886, when its railroad and property were deeded, on August 2, 1886, to the Galveston Sabine & St Louis Railway Company of Longview, which had been chartered earlier in December 1882. |