NateDawg39
02-13-2006, 11:09 AM
I found this article in the Decatur paper, I found it very intersting.
1883 was milestone year for Decatur
By Charles Wilhite
Published Thursday, July 1, 2004
The year 1883 was great for Decatur. That was the year the railroad tracks were laid from Fort Worth to Decatur and was the beginning of the Fort Worth and Denver City railroad.
It was a great time of celebration. People from Decatur and Wise County could catch the morning train, do their shopping and business in Fort Worth and return that afternoon.
It was about this time that Dan Waggoner decided to build a mansion on a hill east of the railroad tracks. The mansion was completed in time for his daughter, Electra, to be married there. Waggoner was a man of great wealth, having bought land on both sides of the railroad from Decatur to Vernon.
Land prices ranged from 50 cents to $1 an acre. In the early days, he made a fortune in the cattle industry. Henrietta was named after one of his daughters and Electra after the other. Vernon was named after his son.
After making a fortune in cattle, a vast oil field was also found on Waggoner’s property. He built an oil refinery in Wichita Falls called the Three-D Refinery. At this time most of his business operations were in Wichita Falls and Vernon. Vernon remains the headquarters for the Waggoner ranching business.
The railroad was extended from Decatur to Denver City over several years. Later, Burlington Northern bought the railroad. Burlington Northern was eventually merged with Santa Fe, giving the firm more than 30,000 miles of track.
The only other railroad with that much track is the Union Pacific, which also has merged with several others including the Rock Island which runs through Bridgeport and the western part of Wise County.
The Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railway depends a lot on the coal industry for its revenue. The coal is mined in Colorado, Utah, Montana and Wyoming and brought to Texas and other states. Usually the coal trains include 118 railroad cars attached to three super electric diesels as they make their way to the southern markets of Austin, San Antonio and Houston.
The railroads have been a major part of Wise County’s economic growth.
Charles R. Wilhite
Decatur
1883 was milestone year for Decatur
By Charles Wilhite
Published Thursday, July 1, 2004
The year 1883 was great for Decatur. That was the year the railroad tracks were laid from Fort Worth to Decatur and was the beginning of the Fort Worth and Denver City railroad.
It was a great time of celebration. People from Decatur and Wise County could catch the morning train, do their shopping and business in Fort Worth and return that afternoon.
It was about this time that Dan Waggoner decided to build a mansion on a hill east of the railroad tracks. The mansion was completed in time for his daughter, Electra, to be married there. Waggoner was a man of great wealth, having bought land on both sides of the railroad from Decatur to Vernon.
Land prices ranged from 50 cents to $1 an acre. In the early days, he made a fortune in the cattle industry. Henrietta was named after one of his daughters and Electra after the other. Vernon was named after his son.
After making a fortune in cattle, a vast oil field was also found on Waggoner’s property. He built an oil refinery in Wichita Falls called the Three-D Refinery. At this time most of his business operations were in Wichita Falls and Vernon. Vernon remains the headquarters for the Waggoner ranching business.
The railroad was extended from Decatur to Denver City over several years. Later, Burlington Northern bought the railroad. Burlington Northern was eventually merged with Santa Fe, giving the firm more than 30,000 miles of track.
The only other railroad with that much track is the Union Pacific, which also has merged with several others including the Rock Island which runs through Bridgeport and the western part of Wise County.
The Burlington Northern/Santa Fe Railway depends a lot on the coal industry for its revenue. The coal is mined in Colorado, Utah, Montana and Wyoming and brought to Texas and other states. Usually the coal trains include 118 railroad cars attached to three super electric diesels as they make their way to the southern markets of Austin, San Antonio and Houston.
The railroads have been a major part of Wise County’s economic growth.
Charles R. Wilhite
Decatur