DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passing it along. Now, if you want to talk about a railroad that had to fight just about everything the country could throw at it before it ever laid a single rail across the Texas Panhandle — money panics, land grant repeals, and a frontier that hadn't exactly rolled out the welcome mat — well, pull up a camp chair, because this one earns it. The Fort Worth and Denver City Railway.
First railroad through the Texas Panhandle. And brother, that title didn't come easy. It started with ambition, the way most big Texas things do.
Fort Worth citizens organized the line, and the Texas Legislature gave it a charter on May 26, 1873. May twenty-sixth. The ink was barely dry on that charter when the money panic of 1873 hit the country like a north wind in January.
The actual building stopped before it started. Dreams, shelved. But here's where the story turns.
They brought in General G. M. Dodge — a civil engineer who had already built several major lines — and in 1881, grading finally began.
Started at Hodge, near Fort Worth. You could almost hear the Panhandle exhale. Then, just to keep things interesting, the Texas Land Grant Act was repealed in 1882.
The public land incentive, gone. And yet — private capital kept pushing those rails northwestward. At intervals, sure.
Slowly, sure. But they kept going. Along the way, the crews building grade and laying tracks set up camps.
And some of those camps had a funny habit of becoming towns. Amarillo, for one. Amarillo began as one of those crew camps, back in 1887.
Worth remembering next time you're rolling through. Now, every good railroad story needs a finish line, and this one has a memorable one. On March 14, 1888 — March fourteenth — connection was made with the rails of the Denver, Texas and Fort Worth Railroad at a place called Union Park, near Folsom, New Mexico.
That railroad later became the Colorado and Southern. And with that handshake of iron and steel at Union Park, the through route to Denver was complete. Fifteen years after that charter was signed into existence, this railroad finally threaded together the old buffalo and Indian frontier, the open-range cattle empire, and two great cities.
The story didn't end there, of course. In 1908, the Fort Worth and Denver City became part of the Burlington System. And in 1951, the name was changed to the Fort Worth and Denver Railway Company.
Different name, same iron spine. What kept it going through all of it — the panic, the repeal, the years of fits and starts? The marker puts it plainly: men with unlimited faith in the destiny of the Texas Panhandle.
And the Panhandle, for its part, backed them up — cattle, grain, petroleum, manufacturing, the whole sprawling economy of it. Some railroads just move freight. This one moved a frontier into the future.
What the marker says
Pioneered transportation in the old buffalo and Indian frontier and the open-range cattle empire. Organized by Fort Worth citizens. Although chartered by the Texas Legislature on May 26, 1873, the actual building was delayed by the money panic of 1873. Under General G.M. Dodge, civil engineer who had built several major lines, grading began in 1881 at Hodge, near Fort Worth. Despite the 1882 repeal of the Texas Land Grant Act, private capital was able to push rails northwestward at intervals. Numerous towns, including Amarillo (in 1887) began as camps of the crews building grade and laying the tracks. On March 14, 1888, connection was made with rails of the Denver, Texas and Fort Worth Railroad (now Colorado and Southern) at Union Park, near Folsom, N. Mex. This completed the through route to Denver. In 1908 the Fort Worth and Denver City became a part of the Burlington System; in 1951 the name was changed to Fort Worth and Denver Railway Company. Ever since its beginning, this railroad has been backed by men with unlimited faith in the destiny of the Texas Panhandle. It has advanced the economy based on cattle, grain, petroleum, and manufacturing. (1966)