Santa Fe Railway in Scurry County
Snyder, Scurry County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1909, when rail service was vital to economic growth, Scurry County had one line (The Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific) but lacked connections to distant markets. Local residents backed C. W. Post of Garza County who gave $50,000 to attract the Santa Fe Railway, which was then planning a route between Lubbock and Coleman. By the end of 1911, the Santa Fe had completed its tracks across Scurry County and erected depots for passenger amd freight traffic in the towns of Dermott, Hermleigh, Pyron and Snyder. The Santa Fe contributed much to the commercial and agricultural development of the county in the early years, and hauled many tons of equipment for the oil industry in later years. (1976, 1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1909 Scurry County had only a short local line and no link to distant markets, a serious handicap in an age when the railroad determined a town's fortunes. Local boosters and cereal magnate C. W. Post put up money to lure the Santa Fe Railway, which was mapping a route between Lubbock and Coleman. By the end of 1911 its tracks crossed the county with depots at Dermott, Hermleigh, Pyron, and Snyder, tying the region into national commerce and, decades later, hauling equipment for its booming oilfields.
Why it matters
The coming of the Santa Fe shows how a single rail connection could decide whether a West Texas county grew or withered in the early twentieth century.
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Related people
- · C. W. Post
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
City of Snyder
Snyder, TX
Snyder began in 1878 as "Hide Town," a rough camp of tents and dugouts where buffalo hunters traded on Deep Creek, taking its lasting name from trader W.H. "Pete" Snyder. The railroad's arrival in 1908 knit it into the wider economy, but it was the 1948 discovery of the vast Canyon Reef oil field that transformed the quiet county seat into an overnight boom town, tripling its population in a single year.
Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific Railroad Company
Snyder, TX
Backed by an Abilene banker and his family and steered to success by owner H. O. Wooten, this short-line railroad began daily runs from Roscoe to Snyder in 1908 and reached Fluvanna the next year. Its steam engines burned tons of coal on each round trip until oil and then diesel took over, and it hauled the equipment that fed Scurry County's oil booms. Over time the little line became a busy connection for transcontinental freight.
Old Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific Railroad Engine No. 5
Snyder, TX
This Baldwin locomotive honors the Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific, the short-line railroad that steamed into Snyder in 1908 and helped turn a dusty West Texas settlement into a thriving town. Built in Philadelphia in 1920 as a coal burner and later converted to oil, the engine was retired to a city park in 1956. It stands as a monument to the age when a spur of track meant survival and growth for the plains.
Sites of Texas & Pacific Railway Depots
Colorado City, TX
Rail service reached Colorado City on April 16, 1881, when a Texas & Pacific supply train arrived to build the town's first depot, and cattle pens soon rose on donated land nearby. The railroad and stockyards made the town the great shipping and supply hub for the vast ranching country of West Texas and eastern New Mexico — sending out cattle, hides, wool, salt, and buffalo bones — until passenger service finally ended in 1967.