Santa Fe Railway in Scurry County

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in 1909, Scurry County had itself a railroad, sure enough. One line.

The Roscoe, Snyder and Pacific. Now that sounds like it covers a lot of ground, and maybe it did, but what Scurry County didn't have was connections to the distant markets where the real money moved. Rail service was vital to economic growth in those days, and one line just wasn't getting the job done.

So local residents did what folks out on the Texas plains have always done when the situation calls for it. They looked around for somebody with vision, and some cash to back it up. They found their man in C.

W. Post, over in Garza County. Post put up fifty thousand dollars to attract the Santa Fe Railway, which at the time was already planning a route between Lubbock and Coleman.

Scurry County was sitting right there in the middle of that picture, and with fifty thousand dollars on the table, the Santa Fe took notice. By the end of 1911, the Santa Fe had completed its tracks all the way across Scurry County. And it didn't just lay iron and move on.

It erected depots for passenger and freight traffic in four towns: Dermott, Hermleigh, Pyron, and Snyder. Four towns, newly connected to the wider world. In the early years that followed, the Santa Fe contributed to the commercial and agricultural development of the county in ways that reached into nearly every corner of daily life.

And later on, when the oil industry came knocking, the Santa Fe hauled many tons of equipment to keep those operations running. Fifty thousand dollars, one well-placed bet, and a railroad that changed what Scurry County could become. Not bad for a county that started with just the one line.

What the marker says

In 1909, when rail service was vital to economic growth, Scurry County had one line (The Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific) but lacked connections to distant markets. Local residents backed C. W. Post of Garza County who gave $50,000 to attract the Santa Fe Railway, which was then planning a route between Lubbock and Coleman. By the end of 1911, the Santa Fe had completed its tracks across Scurry County and erected depots for passenger amd freight traffic in the towns of Dermott, Hermleigh, Pyron and Snyder. The Santa Fe contributed much to the commercial and agricultural development of the county in the early years, and hauled many tons of equipment for the oil industry in later years. (1976, 1999)