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Cane Belt Railroad
The Cane Belt Railroad was chartered in the U.S. state of Texas in 1898. Formed by a group of businessmen from Eagle Lake, the short-line railroad was intended to bring the area's sugarcane to market. In 1902 a disagreement between two of the railroad's chief promoters proved deadly. By 1904 the line was in operation from Sealy to Matagorda on the Gulf of Mexico. That year the company's stock was bought by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the line continued operations under lease to the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway starting in 1905. By the 1920s, the local sugarcane industry collapsed but the railroad was saved by the discovery of two nearby sulphur mines. In 1948, the Cane Belt was merged into the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. In the 1990s most of the original line was abandoned after the last sulphur mine closed. By 2013, only a small portion of the line south of Bay City was operating as part of the BNSF Railway.
==Founding==
A circle of Eagle Lake businessmen and farmers applied for and received a charter for the Cane Belt Railroad on March 10, 1898. The area was a major producer of sugarcane and the railroad was desired to ship sugar and other local crops to market. The men who signed the charter were president Captain William Dunovant, vice president William T. Eldridge, secretary treasurer Thomas Boulden, directors Perry Clark, Osburn Green, E. P. Newsome and John W. Thatcher, and board members Rudolph Greenbaum, Frank P. Herbert and William Jasper McGee. Operating capital was $15,000 and headquarters were located in Eagle Lake. The original charter stipulated that the railroad would run from Lakeside to Bonus where Dunovant owned a large sugarcane plantation. In Eagle Lake there were connections with the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway and the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway.
The new railroad immediately bought of existing track from Lakeside north to Eagle Lake from the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway. The line was completed to Bonus on November 11, 1898.〔 The original charter was amended on June 7, 1899 to extend the line northeast to Sealy where it would connect to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. The amendment also called for an extension of the line from Bonus south to "tidewater on the Gulf of Mexico" at Matagorda.〔 The company shareholders approved issuance of $1.2 million of bonds for of track. In 1900 the northeastern extension arrived at Sealy.〔 Construction crews on the southern extension reached Wharton on June 30, 1899.〔Osborn (1998), p. 308〕 A major servicing facility was established at Lane City in 1901. The town was named for Jonathan Lane, then president of the Cane Belt Railroad.〔 Cattleman Abel Head "Shanghai" Pierce offered a $20,000 bonus if the line reached Bay City by July 1, 1901. By a sustained effort, the railroad builders reached Bay City with more than six hours to spare. Pierce died in 1900 but his estate paid the bonus. The line eventually stretched from Sealy to Matagorda and the full line was in service by June 30, 1904.〔
What became known as the Bonus Loop was built to connect with the 9,000 acre farm owned by Eldridge to the west. Meanwhile, Dunovant had 27,000 acres in cultivation south of Eagle Lake. Most of this land was devoted to rice farming which was pioneered in the area by Dunovant. But in 1901, Dunovant harvested 2,000 acres of sugarcane while Eldridge harvested 1,000 acres.〔Osborn (1998), pp. 306-307〕 The main railroad line ran along present-day Farm to Market Road 102 between Eagle Lake and Wharton. The Bonus Loop left the main line at Bonus, approximating the path of Farm to Market Road 2614. Then it ran north along Anderson and Calhoun Roads before turning east to reconnect with the main line just south of Lakeside.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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