Apparently the first of April was a day for some major announcements from the KCS RR and the UP RR . Two different railroads and two potential major destinations for bulk unit train moves ( future)
UP RR and IFG Port Holdings, [in conjunction with Bobby Jindal ,Louisiana Gov.} announced that they were going to construct a $59 Million dollar facility in the Lake Charles, La area to handle bulk grains and dried distillers grain movements. UP serves the area from the former S PRR east-west line that also loops south, around the Lake Charles [ navigable by ocean going ships] .
KCS RR has announced that it will construct in a joint venture with the Savage Company ;a bulk oil terminal to receive unit trains of crude oil from the Bakken Formation ( North.Dakota/Montana/ Saskatchewan- Williston Basin.- Oil bearing rock formations) Unit trains of recovered crude will be transported to the Port Authur Terminal for shipment to area refiners or other locations, as directed. Expected to be completed in 2012 on KCSRR land already owned in Port Arthur,Tx.
Both projects would seem to indicate some new traffic patterns in the Gulf area. KCSR also serves the Lake Charles area as wel;l from a direct link south out of Shreveport,La.
FTA: "…Arthur adamantly stuck to his choice, gave no explanation, and the result was that the Kansas City Southern Railroad went to the Gulf of Mexico in a desolate saltwater swamp further up the east Texas coast. Early residents named the new city “Port Arthur” in honor of him.
When Galveston was subsequently destroyed a few weeks later by the Great Hurricane of September 8, 1900, Port Arthur’s piers and railroad facilities remained untouched…"
‘Foamers’ note: Sometimes it pays to listen to those voices in your head![:^)]
This story has a lot of problems- the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf (the KCS predecessor of Stillwell’s) reached Port Arthur and Beaumont in 1897 and drove the final spike in September of that year and began operations November 1, 1897, three years before the Galveston hurricane.
When the Galveston hurricane hit in 1900- Mr. Stillwell wasn’t even with the KCPG anymore (it wasn’t the KCS yet)- he had been forced out in 1899 after the railroad was put into receivership by creditors (namely John Warne Gates). The claim of the tracks being “within 50 miles of Galveston” is laughable as well- since Beaumont is 100 miles from Galveston and the original point the railroad was chartered to was always intended to be on the Sabine Pass near Beaumont- following here is a much better account of Mr. Stillwell’s life courtesy of the Handbook of Texas Online, which not surprisingly is quite different from that of the other website-
Nordique 72: wrote: "…This story has a lot of problems- the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf (the KCS predecessor of Stillwell’s) reached Port Arthur and Beaumont in 1897 and drove the final spike in September of that year and began operations November 1, 1897, three years before the Galveston hurricane.
When the Galveston hurricane hit in 1900- Mr. Stillwell wasn’t even with the KCPG anymore (it wasn’t the KCS yet)- he had been forced out in 1899 after the railroad was put into receivership by creditors (namely John Warne Gates). The claim of the tracks being “within 50 miles of Galveston” is laughable as well- since Beaumont is 100 miles from Galveston and the original point the railroad was chartered to was always intended to be on the Sabine Pass near Beaumont- following here is a much better account of Mr. Stillwell’s life courtesy of the Handbook of Texas Online, which not surprisingly is quite different from that of the other website-
The KCS had sent out a news release a while back about the start of this new service shipping the crude oil but hadn’t said where the trains would terminate- good to know the location now!.."
Thanks! Nordique72 for your post!
You got me to doing a little more digging into Arthur Edward Stillewell’s history.
The 'Voices" and Stillwell’s Friends and their spiritual advice seems to have documentation at several levels. The original website I had posted was essentially correct about his success and advice from his spirit guides. The dates were close and may have suffered some “editorial liscense” at their use(?)
The Great Storm was on September 8, 1900- not 1899. We just covered the Great Storm in the Texas History class I teach- there was no storm in 1899 that harmed Galveston. As a result of the 1900 hurricane, the town was wiped out after the storm surge of 15 feet rolled over the island. Due to this, the town and island itself were raised by 16 feet and a seawall built to prevent that from happening again. The comment in the second link you posted in regards to the 1900 hurricane being “barely a whimper” in Port Arthur is laughable- the size and scope of that storm’s outer rain bands would have pummled the Sabine Pass with the strength of at least a Category 1 storm according to the charts published on the hurricane.
The smaller hurricane of 1886 (thirteen years previous) hit the Sabine Pass and wiped out the original settlement of Aurora that now is occupied by the city of Port Arthur. What is still left unresolved though is the fact that the KCGP never intended on building to Galveston as the story claims, or that the dates are off by a wide margin. “Close enough” dates in this story do more to debunk it rather than prove it.
It doesn’t surprise me that “artistic license” was used in the history you had originally posted. Many of Stilwell’s works that describe his “spirits” were later written by himself after he had lost both his railroad ventures and his fortune in the early 1900s. Mr. Stilwell blamed his ruin on John Gates, so I’m not surprised by the mention of their contentous relationship. The internet is full of poor information and if you’d like a place to start looking for more good information about Mr.Stilwell I suggest going to the Texas State Historical Association and starting there.
Here’s a more down to earth reason as published by the TSHA as to why Mr. Stilwell changed his plans from the railroad ending at Port Arthur instead of Sabine Pass, TX-
But Stilwell changed his mind, evidently because he could not reach a
Again, Thanks, Nordique72. I appreciate the reference to the TSHA (Texas State Historical Assoc). As previously stated by me.I am getting a real look at Arthur E. Stillwell. My first was as a student at Pitt State in Pittsburg, Ks.
I think Arthur Stillwell might have been, as are some notables, very aware how history paints their contributions and lives; they are willing to go and help ‘enhance’ their historical image. Apparently, Stillwell was so inclined.