The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1907-04-20
DIGGING. IT. OLD gstil~.



has feon EainK on fog sssne gin5e 90
the bfink IT the TfiHliy river A.
t.4ss@FtY TAn .ufA in h#na ~ iHst
II umeArthtag = large quap'i'Y Il
railroad material. iaEiadiHg falss-
flah plates. spikes ois shlsh hss
loas ssen hidden from 'hv sight ~
msn
II Was about Is YfaYp age that
Col A " ocafr3. fsHoas railroad
builder If those aaYs and the uan
who constructed The Texas sud Ns~
Orleans and the TranRsunilbuutel
branch % III. Texas and parBftS rail
road 'irs, told NJ Tom Pierce Ntehs
oils Of this eity Of toe existence Of ih"
railroad iron
According 60 Col, Geafry th. rail-
gaad material had been part hased
IN England before the @ar and had
never been paid fer II having ht4en
contracted for ibe construction OF
u miles OF the Rcd River and Trim
It's Valley railroad Planters along
the proposed route bad agreed 20
construct the line with slave labor
and capitalists Of Houston aud Gal
weston were To furnish the material
Something like 2aoe tons ui Welsh
iron rails. aud other material, arrts
ed by boats from Europe and was
unlnaded near where The Texas and
New Orleans railroad bridge nov
crosses the Trinity river. The break
ing out ot the war interrupted rail-
road building. and gradually the
heavy material was buried beneath
the sand and silk washed down by
the river All records of the matter
which once existed in Houston and
Galveston, have long since been des-
troyed
II took Mr. Nichols Is years 10
act ON the information given him
by Col. Gentry 4 few months ago
he decided To undertake the recovery
of this vast subterranean storehouse
of material Soon he discovered that
the undertaking was larger one
than he had at first estimated, and
he associated with him Messrs. w
H. Bailey and Hugh Hamilton. The
dredge Lizzie. owned by Judge John
G. Tod. was secured and the work of
excayating begun.
A few days ago quantity of rails
was unearthed There was about 90
tons taken out. Then it was that Mr..
Nichols discovered that he had not
come in contact with the real object
of his search, and that the rails were
those which General Magruder had
taken from Sabine Pass in 1860 for
the purpose of erecting fort on the |
Trinity as a precaution against the
encroachments of federal gunboats. |
These rails, like the others, had
been buried by deposits made by the
river.
1t will be necessary to excavate q
distance into the river bank of
about 1925 feet before the larger
railroad depository is uncovered The
work is now going forward very
rapidly. and it is expected that
another month or so will see the
placing of about $500 tons of rail
road material on the market The
rails which are 2 feet / inch long,
weigh So pounds to the yard, and
are worth about $40 ton. Those al
ready taken out are declared to be
in as good condition as when they
were unloaded on the river bank A
years ago.
At The prices quoted the gentle
men who have backed the enterprise
with their money bid fair to realize
a handsome profit. and will probably
receive close to 100000 for the
output.
The rails taken by General Ma
gruder from Sabine Pass We're the
property at that time of the Sabine
Lumber company railroad. Hous-
ton Chronicle.