Swanson's Landing
Jonesville, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Site 16 mi. NE; Historic Railroad Bed Here) A key port on Caddo Lake for traffic to New Orleans, 1830s-1860s. Founded by Peter Swanson (1789-1849), a civil engineer and planter. Cotton, pelts and other products went out and settlers' goods came in at this landing. 1850s terminal of Southern Pacific (first railroad in East Texas), built to Marshall from the landing. During Civil War, 1861-65, road was rerouted to haul troops between Marshall and western Louisiana. Later, port declined. Steamer "Mittie Stephens" on Feb. 11, 1869, burned near Swanson's Landing with loss of 69 lives.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded by civil engineer and planter Peter Swanson, Swanson's Landing was a bustling Caddo Lake port from the 1830s to the 1860s, shipping cotton and pelts toward New Orleans and receiving settlers' goods in return. In the 1850s it anchored the first railroad in East Texas, a line built to Marshall and rerouted during the Civil War to move Confederate troops toward Louisiana. The port's story darkened in 1869 when the steamer Mittie Stephens burned nearby with the loss of 69 lives.
Why it matters
The landing shows how inland water and rail routes knit frontier Texas into national and Gulf commerce, and how those same arteries served the Confederate war effort.
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Related people
- · Peter Swanson
Related events
- · Burning of the steamer Mittie Stephens, 1869
Themes & tags
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