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 Texas : Features : Columns : "It's All Trew"

Area full of historical tidbits

by Delbert Trew
Delbert Trew

Perusing through countless magazines, newspapers and books, both old and new, turns up numerous interesting tidbits of history. These are tucked away in my inbox and when I find enough to fill an article I group them together. Here are some samples:

Seventy-five years ago on March 18, 1935, the first "shelter-belt" was planted on the Horace E. Curtis farm near Willow, Okla., in Greer County. For those who don't know, a shelter-belt is a group of rows of various types of trees, chosen for their hardiness, drought resistance and fast growth.

To help supply fruit for the sometimes desperate families trying to survive the Dust Bowl, various fruit trees including apricot, apple, pear and peach trees were planted. To help supply wooden posts for fencing and lumber, bois de arc and black locust trees were often added. Their primary purpose was to provide a shield against the prairie winds of the Dust Bowl.

Although controversial at first, the program provided jobs for the unemployed and promoted conservation in its earliest design overseen by the WPA and the CCC work forces. From 1935 to 1942 when the program halted, some 20 million trees had been planted on 5,000 Oklahoma farms alone. These shelter-belts eventually grew to 3,000 lineal miles of rows of trees that were not there before the Dust Bowl began. Oklahoma boasted they were the No. 1 shelter-belt state in the nation.

One of my recent articles told that today's Dalhart was known at one time as Twist when the first railroad was constructed through the area. This statement generated an e-mail from Gerald Hook of Russellville, Ark., who is my "resident railroad expert."

He sent an article from a 1929 railroad magazine that reported on Dec. 9, 1928, at 2:15 a.m. a northbound freight train moving at about 25 mph ran about one mile beyond Twist, a sidetrack where it was supposed to wait for a southbound passenger train to pass by. It seems the passenger trains always had right-of-way over freight trains. This created a terrible train wreck.

Since this was before diesel engines, the steam boiler of the passenger train was ripped loose and came to rest on top of the cars of the freight train. The glowing fire-box of the boiler set fire to a railcar containing gasoline and eventually 10 railcars burned.

Three railroad employees died in the crash and 45 other passengers were injured. Blame for the wreck was placed on the freight train crew. Seems no one noticed they had passed the sidetrack entrance at Twist. The conductor admitted he was "attending paperwork" and depended on the rear brakeman to keep watch on the train's progress.

Where was Twist exactly? According to an October 1940 copy of the Official Railway Guide, Twist was an unmanned station at milepost 388.5, some 4.8 miles south of today's
Dalhart on the old Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad. Thanks to Gerald for this information.


© Delbert Trew
"It's All Trew" June 22, 2010 Column
Delbert Trew is a freelance writer and retired rancher. He can be reached at 806-779-3164, by mail at Box A, Alanreed, TX 79002, or by e-mail at trewblue@centramedia.net. For books see DelbertTrew.com. His column appears weekly.

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