That's the short story on the railroads temporary demise.
While looking for something else, I found this in "Louisiana:
A Guide to the State", by the Louisiana's Writer's Project.
I was looking for "Natchitoches Railroad", yet another
project. This is part of an explanation of what lead up to
the Battle of Mansfield, a Civil War landmark battle.
Here's is the down and dirty of the RRRR's fate.
I was told that this is the RRRR's depot in LeCompte, La.
It now serves some civic function.
I suppose the railroad was rehabilitated after the CW
since he sold it in 1881. Or possibly it was only a property
sale? Possibly that information will just show up?
The information did just show up. Patrick Jacob sent this in.
Steve,
This comes from the ICC valuation records:
"On March 6, 1878, the roadbed of the Red River Railroad Company between Alexandria and Le Compte, La., about 16 miles, was purchased for a cash consideration of $5000, conditional upon this company utilizing the roadbed by laying iron upon it. On January 5, 1881, the property, rights, and franchises of the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Vicksburg Railroad Company were purchased."
I suspect - but don't have evidence to back it up - that they only used the roadbed from Alexandria to LaMourie and at LaMourie laid out a new roadbed to the east of the old.
This comes from the New York Times dated 12/11/1881:
"Shreveport, La., Dec. 11. The last rail on the New-Orleans Pacific Railway between Shreveport and Cheneyville was laid at 1-13 to-day. This gives an all-rail route hence to New-Orleans, by connecting with Morgan's Line at Cheneyville. Forty-two miles of the New-Orelans Pacific remain yet to be completed below Cheneyville."
This comes from a "Caddo Parish" history web site
http://www.caddohistory.com/railroads.html
"Trains also ran from Shreveport to New Orleans. In 1880 Jay Gould, the chairman of the board of Texas & Pacific, along with Thomas A. Scott, the president of the railroad, began negotiating to complete a railroad between Shreveport and New Orleans. On April 3, 1880 they made a proposal to E. B. Wheelock, the president of the New Orleans Pacific Railway, to complete the New Orleans Pacific line from the Texas-Louisiana border to New Orleans. The line then opened from Shreveport to Provencal on May 1, 1881 and to Cheneyville on May 1, 1882, and finally to New Orleans on September 12, 1882. The first train on the tracks was the Louisiana. This wood burning locomotive had a diamond-shaped smokestack and was painted bright red with brass inlays."
This comes from "Alexandria Burns" web site
http://www.libertychapelcemetery.org/files/a_burns.html
"Giles Smith also saw a man set fire to the car house of the Ralph Smith-Smith railroad nearby."
This comes from Railway Locomotives & Cars, Vol. 5:
"4. The Atchafalaya railroad is intended to connect Opelousas with the Mississippi and afterward to extend to the Sabine - the lst line being 30 miles and the whole 150. It will have a branch to Cheneyville and thence to Alexandria on the Red River. - The cost will be $500,000.
5. The Red River railroad is an adjunct of the latter for the purpose stated, for which a company has been incorporated with a capital of $500,000. The route has been surveyed and the line is under contract."
I'm not sure if this is one and the same and Ralph Smith-Smith's line - I think probably not and that it refers to the Opelousas to Chenneyville branch that ultimately ended up being part of the Southern Pacific.
This comes from Louisiana - A Guide to the State, page 242 concerning General Banks' damming of the Red River to escape the our boys:
"... Finally the idea of damming the Red River was conceived. Cotton gins, sugar houses, and other structures were demolished to provide materials; and rails, cross ties, bridge timbers, and rolling stock of the Red River Railroad were dismantled and dumped into the river. ..." Damn Yankees!
Then from page 665 concerning LeCompte:
"In the early days slaves poled clumsy barge loads of sugar up Bayou Boeuf, a stream winding lazily through the town. The sugar was then carried by the Ralph Smith-Smith Railroad, built in 1837, one of the earliest railroads in the South. It consisted of a string of small cars drawn by horses over wooden rails and connected Lecompete and Bayou Boeuf with Alexandria and the Red River."
I've got a feeling the railroad improved a bit from this description until it was destroyed during the War of Northern Agression.
See if you can locate these books:
Sugarcane, Cotton Fields, and High Water: Building the Louisiana Branch of the Texas and Pacific Railroad Nathaniel Means
Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association
Vol. 45, No. 4 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 445-461
(article consists of 17 pages)
Published by: Louisiana Historical Association
A Small Contribution: Louisiana's Short Rural Railroads in the Civil War
Lawrence E. Estaville, Jr.
Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association
Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter, 1977), pp. 87-103
(article consists of 17 pages)
Published by: Louisiana Historical Association
There should be some good information in them!
I've got to get back to my day job!
"On March 6, 1878, the roadbed of the Red River Railroad Company between Alexandria and Le Compte, La., about 16 miles, was purchased for a cash consideration of $5000, conditional upon this company utilizing the roadbed by laying iron upon it. On January 5, 1881, the property, rights, and franchises of the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Vicksburg Railroad Company were purchased."
I suspect - but don't have evidence to back it up - that they only used the roadbed from Alexandria to LaMourie and at LaMourie laid out a new roadbed to the east of the old.
This comes from the New York Times dated 12/11/1881:
"Shreveport, La., Dec. 11. The last rail on the New-Orleans Pacific Railway between Shreveport and Cheneyville was laid at 1-13 to-day. This gives an all-rail route hence to New-Orleans, by connecting with Morgan's Line at Cheneyville. Forty-two miles of the New-Orelans Pacific remain yet to be completed below Cheneyville."
This comes from a "Caddo Parish" history web site
http://www.caddohistory.com/railroads.html
"Trains also ran from Shreveport to New Orleans. In 1880 Jay Gould, the chairman of the board of Texas & Pacific, along with Thomas A. Scott, the president of the railroad, began negotiating to complete a railroad between Shreveport and New Orleans. On April 3, 1880 they made a proposal to E. B. Wheelock, the president of the New Orleans Pacific Railway, to complete the New Orleans Pacific line from the Texas-Louisiana border to New Orleans. The line then opened from Shreveport to Provencal on May 1, 1881 and to Cheneyville on May 1, 1882, and finally to New Orleans on September 12, 1882. The first train on the tracks was the Louisiana. This wood burning locomotive had a diamond-shaped smokestack and was painted bright red with brass inlays."
This comes from "Alexandria Burns" web site
http://www.libertychapelcemetery.org/files/a_burns.html
"Giles Smith also saw a man set fire to the car house of the Ralph Smith-Smith railroad nearby."
This comes from Railway Locomotives & Cars, Vol. 5:
"4. The Atchafalaya railroad is intended to connect Opelousas with the Mississippi and afterward to extend to the Sabine - the lst line being 30 miles and the whole 150. It will have a branch to Cheneyville and thence to Alexandria on the Red River. - The cost will be $500,000.
5. The Red River railroad is an adjunct of the latter for the purpose stated, for which a company has been incorporated with a capital of $500,000. The route has been surveyed and the line is under contract."
I'm not sure if this is one and the same and Ralph Smith-Smith's line - I think probably not and that it refers to the Opelousas to Chenneyville branch that ultimately ended up being part of the Southern Pacific.
This comes from Louisiana - A Guide to the State, page 242 concerning General Banks' damming of the Red River to escape the our boys:
"... Finally the idea of damming the Red River was conceived. Cotton gins, sugar houses, and other structures were demolished to provide materials; and rails, cross ties, bridge timbers, and rolling stock of the Red River Railroad were dismantled and dumped into the river. ..." Damn Yankees!
Then from page 665 concerning LeCompte:
"In the early days slaves poled clumsy barge loads of sugar up Bayou Boeuf, a stream winding lazily through the town. The sugar was then carried by the Ralph Smith-Smith Railroad, built in 1837, one of the earliest railroads in the South. It consisted of a string of small cars drawn by horses over wooden rails and connected Lecompete and Bayou Boeuf with Alexandria and the Red River."
I've got a feeling the railroad improved a bit from this description until it was destroyed during the War of Northern Agression.
See if you can locate these books:
Sugarcane, Cotton Fields, and High Water: Building the Louisiana Branch of the Texas and Pacific Railroad Nathaniel Means
Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association
Vol. 45, No. 4 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 445-461
(article consists of 17 pages)
Published by: Louisiana Historical Association
A Small Contribution: Louisiana's Short Rural Railroads in the Civil War
Lawrence E. Estaville, Jr.
Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association
Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter, 1977), pp. 87-103
(article consists of 17 pages)
Published by: Louisiana Historical Association
There should be some good information in them!
I've got to get back to my day job!