The Hearne and Brazos Valley Railroad 

During the year of 1890, there was plenty of Negro labor in the Brazos bottom and with very large acreage under cultivation heavy crops were produced.  The cotton and plantation supplies had to be dragged over frequently impassable roads which presented another serious problem and situation to the cotton planters.

On the occasion of this farm crisis, the merchants and planters of Hearne were seeing eye to eye, and with the best from each group the condition was overcome.  In 1891 the Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad was built from Hearne through the Brazos Bottom to Stone City in Brazos County.  This railroad was about 16 miles in length.  The group of merchants headed by H. B. Easterwood, R. A. Allen and John Sailors paid cash for their stock which created a fund for the purchase of rails, ties and bridge materials.  The planters paid for their stock with right of way grants and grading with their mule teal-ns and labor.

To avoid the expense of constructing a bridge over Little Brazos River, a deal was made with the International & Great Northern Railroad Company for the use of their bridge and tracks over Little Brazos River as well as for the use of their freight cars.  This was good business for the International & Great Northern Railroad Company as this railroad received tonnage from the Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad.  The Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad purchased and owned outright one engine, "The T. C. Westbrook," one passenger coach and one caboose.  This short line railroad was jokingly referred to as the "Nigger Pacific." On Saturday mornings when the train from the Bottom would bring in the plantation hands to trade in Hearne, practically the entire passenger list was Negroes.

A dispatcher's office was constructed where the Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad connected with the International & Great Northern Railroad near Little Brazos River.  The conductor of the H. & B. V. Railroad was required to be a dispatcher so that he could clear the I. & G. N. Railroad when a H. & B. V. train was on the I. & G. N. bridge and tracks.  The right of way for the Hearne & Brazos Vallev Railroad was located on Brown Street where this street enters Hearne.

The Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad was a success from the very start and being locally owned was operated on the accommodation basis, stopping at every turn row, transacting all kinds of business, bringing out pay roll money and ice to those along the line.  An old story tells about the time the H. & B. V. Railroad's daily train was speeding along the line when the engineer noticed a horse back rider coming toward the train at break-neck speed wildly waving his hands to attract the attention of the train crew.  The engineer thinking that some emergency existed in which the rider wished to advise him brought the train to an abrupt stop.  When the rider approached the engine he handed the engineer a letter to some mail order house asking the engineer if he would mail the letter for him since he was going in to Hearne any way.  The engineer, although quite a bit put out, took the letter and mailed it for the rider.

From the first day that the H. & B. V. Railroad operated, a white face was a pass on the trains of this line, but this had to cease when the Railroad Commission by accident found out there was a Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad.

"Captain Jack" (J.  W. Mathews) served as the first conductor on the "Jack" and W. D. "Baldy" Terry was the first engineer.  Frank Foster and Aron "Bud" Frisby were the colored brakemen who served this railroad.  Captain Titus C. Westbrook was the first president of the Hearne & Brazos Valley Railroad Company.  This railroad served its purpose well for about 10 years and did much to develop the lower Brazos Bottom in and around Steele's Store in Brazos County.  Fortunately for the owners, the Houston & Texas Central Railroad Company took a fancy to this little railroad and bought it at a very fancy price.  The sale of this railroad to the H. & T. C. Railroad Company took place about 1900, and soon after this transaction, the H. & B. V. Railroad roundhouse located between the present city hall site and the South Texas Cotton Oil Mill, burned and the company's lone engine was badly damaged.  The big rain of 1899 badly damaged the road bed of the H. & B. V. Railroad and after the purchase of the railroad by the H. & T. C. Railroad Company this line was rebuilt and today is known as the Dalsa connecting Dallas and San Antonio over the Southern Pacific Lines.