Jefferson & North-western Railway Company

For more than 50 years until its closure in 1941, the Jefferson & Northwestern Railroad provided Cass County communities with a link to the goods and services of the world. This railway was the creation of the owners of the Clark & Boice Lumber Company, who had built a large sawmill on the Big Cypress River at Jefferson in 1880. The mill was a very large operation during its time, capable of producing 100,000 boardfeet a day, and employing more than 200 workers.

The company purchased thousands of acres of oldgrowth timber southwest of Linden, and by 1891 constructed a crude railroad into this timber to transport the logs to the mill in Jefferson. Mobile logging camps were established at various points along the way. The camps moved as timber was depleted at one location and developed in the next. Housing was provided by the company in the form of converted wooden boxcars. Each family lived in two cars, one car containing a kitchen and the other for sleeping quarters. Supplies that couldn’t be transported on the daily train to the camp could be purchased in Jefferson at the company’s “commissary” store. The store accepted both cash and tokens.

One long-time Clark & Boice camp is known to have existed west of the Carterville community. This was known as Boon Camp for its proximity to the Boon family land. The residents received mail at the camp post office and the children attended the Flat Creek School. In 1920, some residents of the camp were Dee Cotter, saw filer; Monte Faulkner, teamster; Ennis Johnson, teamster; Will Lee, sawyer; Homer Milner, locomotive engineer; Clyde Rains, sealer; John J. Rains, woods foreman; Tom J. Rains, team boss; Randall Sims, teamster; Ben Tatum, steam loader; Earnest Williams, blacksmith; Guy “Doc” Lock, oxen team contractor; Walter McCalpin, woods crew; and John Hixson, locomotive engineer and steam loader.

Clark & Boice railroad outgrew its status as merely a log hauler, expanding its service to the many sawmills, gins, and other customers along its route. The railroad was formally chartered as the Jefferson & Northwestern in 1899 but did not reach Linden until 1911. The arrival of the first train was celebrated with brass bands, speeches, and a large crowd awaiting the first glimpse of coal smoke from the new railroad service.

Some of the Linden depot workers were Mamie Deffie, O.S. Jones, Claude C. McGarity and H.C. Sheppard. The most well-remembered is longtime depot agent Ernest “Shorty” Wommack, so nicknamed because of his 6-foot 5-inch frame. He had worked with his father, J.C. Wommack, who was the J & NW agent at Marietta. Ernest hired on with the J & NW in 1923 and was still an agent when the last train pulled away from Linden in 1941.

Some of the businesses served at Linden included the Williams & George cotton gin, Louis Stone’s feed warehouse, and the Eller family’s Magnolia Oil agency. The large Linden Lumber Company also shipped lumber over the J & NW. The mill was built by the Surratt family in the late 1920’s and operated at various times by Wes Morse of Kildare, and in later years, by Ralph Gilbert of Linden.

After reaching Linden, the J & NW began improving and extending its rails northwestward through Cass County, reaching Marietta in 1926, and Naples in 1933. Timetables of the twenties and thirties listed stops in order from Jefferson: Jefferson, North Jefferson (site of Clark & Boice Mill), Grubbs, Torrans, Pruett, Lanier, Givens, and Linden. Lanier was a junction where the railroad branched off to the northwest through the communities of Cloninger, Luanna, Wrays, Carterville, Doss (Flat Creek), Nickleberry, Marietta, and Naples, for a total of 50 miles.

Passengers could board anywhere along the line when they could get the train to stop by “flagging” it down. Surviving ticket stubs show that the J & NW printed tickets for even the remotest flag stops. In the 1920’s, a ticket to Linden cost 60 cents, while to go the 32 miles to Marietta cost $1.05.

During the 1920’s, school children from Linden needed a way to travel to Jefferson to complete their senior year of high school and graduate. To get the job done, the J & NW built a homemade railroad “school bus” by building a coach body on top of a Wichita highway truck, replacing the automobile wheels with railroad wheels. The cabin had benches, windows and a potbellied stove for warmth. The final product resembled a trolley car and was quickly christened the nickname for which the whole railroad would affectionately be known — “The Dinky.” Dinky drivers were Jesse Dodd and Henry Rains.

During prosperous times, the J & NW ran a special 4th of July “ice train” for the benefit of celebrants wishing to honor the old tradition of making homemade ice cream for Independence Day. Clark & Boice used its shops to build double-lined ice boxes insulated with sawdust from the mill. The ice boxes were then loaded with 50 to 75 pound of ice each, and placed on the train. The train stopped at every flag stop, and if no one was there to meet it, the engineer, who had lost his hand in a July 4 fireworks accident and gained the nickname “Nubby” - blew his whistle so that no one would miss getting ice for their holiday treat.

By the mid-1920’s, Clark & Boice had exhausted its timber, and the last log was moved to Jefferson mill in 1928 and within months, the mill operation was dismantled. The Jefferson & Northwestern, being a separate company, was able to continue serving the remainder lumber and cotton traffic, but the big crash of 1929 signaled hard times ahead.

The improved road system in the county had taken nearly all the railroad’s business as people and businesses turned to automobiles. Roads and highways in the 1920’s and ‘30’s were far-improved over the muddy ruts of the early 1900’s and automobiles were simply cheaper and more convenient for the residents and shippers along the route. In 1933, the railroad abandoned and removed 29 miles of track from the end of the line at Naples all the way back to Lanier, leaving only the 17 miles between Linden and Jefferson.

Hope returned briefly in 1936 when oil was discovered on the railroad’s right of way, and there was some talk of major iron ore development along the route. However, the iron was not developed and there wasn’t enough oil production to return prosperity back to the J & NW. Trips to Linden were cut back from once a day to just several times a week, and finally, only when the call came to pick up a freight car.

On a sunny April day in 1941, the train steamed into town and backed into the Linden depot for the last time. Three crewmen, A.D. Cooksie, Prue Freeman and Jesse Jenkins ran the final train trip. Longtime Linden depot agent Ernest Wommack gave the official order for the train to return to Jefferson and the cars eased away from the depot building, never to return. In contrast to the huge crowds that greeted the first train in 1911, only one or two curious spectators were on hand to witness this event. One such onlooker was a teenaged Orville Bobbitt, who still resides in Linden today. According to Bobbin, the engineer pulled the whistle cord for one long blast that lasted 10 minutes. The crew was saying goodbye.

The East Texas Bureau newspaper carried the following item on April 13, 1941:

“When the wheezy old locomotive that plies between Jefferson and Linden grinds to a final stop within the next few weeks, it will mark the passing of the Jefferson & North-Western Railroad. Permission already has been granted by the Interstate Commerce Commission to discontinue the line. The permit becomes effective on April 24.

Buses and motor freight lines now get most of the business and the Jefferson & Northwestern has been operating at a deficit for the last 15 years. Officials clung to the hope that the prospective development of the iron ore industry in this area might afford a new source of revenue, but facing continued losses, recently voted in favor of abandonment.”

The locomotive and iron rails were sold to a scrap dealer and eventually turned over to the War effort, while the remaining buildings were torn down. The old grade can still be seen along some sections, especially U.S. 59 between Linden and Jefferson.

Though it existed for only a brief time, the Jefferson & Northwestern did much to open up and bring prosperity to Cass County, and leaving us with some interesting tale and folklore along the way. The “Dinky” will not be soon forgotten.

After 1870, the population of Northeast Texas began to increase, and introduction of the railroad was to contribute to post war recovery. Twenty-three miles of railroad were in operation in Bowie County in 1870, and in 1872 the Jefferson Branch of the Texas and Pacific Railroad went through eastern portions of Cass County and continued into Marion County with these new towns springing up - Kildare, Atlanta, and Lanark.