DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the wreck of the Don Milo, standing in Lavaca County, Texas. Now, every great railroad story has two chapters — the celebration and the catastrophe. This one's got both, and only about three years separate them.
It starts with promise. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway Company — the S. A. and A.
P., as folks called it — was chartered by the state of Texas in 1884. The whole idea was to connect San Antonio with Aransas Bay, and on April 23, 1887, that rail line came rolling into Hallettsville. Five thousand people showed up for the party.
Five thousand. Around noon they watched the track complete itself over the Lavaca River, and that evening the first train pulled in. You can imagine the noise, the handshakes, the feeling that something big had arrived in this part of Texas.
Then came January 2, 1890. Heavy rains had been working on the Lavaca River, and that river had risen to within fifteen feet of the wooden bridge's rails. The engineer needed water — the steam-driven engine demanded it — and the water tank sat on the other side of that bridge.
So the engineer crossed the river to reach the tank. That part worked. Then he crossed back over to reattach the remaining cars.
That part worked too. But here is where the story turns. When the engineer prepared to cross the bridge a final time — the full train behind him, cargo loaded — he realized the trestle had been washed away by the surging water.
He was able to stop the train at the edge of the river. Got it right there to the brink. But the weight of the train's cargo was unforgiving, and the train plunged into the raging floodwaters below.
Now, part of that cargo happened to be liquor. And as a crowd of onlookers gathered at the site — as crowds will do when something spectacular goes wrong — well, the consumption of that liquor by spectators added to the confusion. The marker doesn't elaborate, and honestly, it doesn't need to.
The train that went into that river was engine number 54, the Don Milo. And the Don Milo took more than itself down into those floodwaters. The S.
A. and A. P. had already been dealing with financial difficulties before that day, and the wreck made everything worse. The lawsuits that followed forced the company to reorganize, and by 1892, the Southern Pacific Transportation Company had acquired the S.
A. and A. P. altogether. Three years of celebration, then one January morning on the Lavaca River changed everything.
The Don Milo hit the water, the lawyers got busy, and an era came to an end right there on that bridge.
What the marker says
The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway Company (S. A. & A. P.) was chartered by the state of Texas in 1884 to connect the city of San Antonio with Aransas Bay, and the rail line officially came to Hallettsville on April 23, 1887. A large celebration on that date brought 5,000 to town to witness the completion of the track over the Lavaca River around noon, and the evening arrival of the first train. The S. A. & A. P. Railway met financial ruin when a disastrous train wreck occurred on the wooden bridge over the Lavaca River on January 2, 1890. The river had risen to within fifteen feet of the bridge’s rails because of heavy rains. The engineer crossed the river in order to reach the water tank at the other side, because the water was necessary to power the trains steam-driven engine. The engineer then crossed back over the bridge to reattach the remaining cars. Upon preparing to cross the bridge with the entire train, the engineer realized that the trestle had been washed away by the surging water. Although the engineer was able to stop the train at the edge of the river, the weight of the train’s cargo caused it to plunge into the raging floodwaters below. The train carried liquor as part of its cargo, and the consumption of the liquor by spectators added to the confusion caused by the crowd of onlookers that soon appeared at the site. The wreck of the Don Milo, engine no. 54, caused additional problems for the S. A. & A. P., which had already been experiencing financial difficulties. The resulting lawsuits forced the company to reorganize, and the S. A. & A. P. was acquired by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in 1892. (2009)