Water Rails & Oil - Historic Mid & South Jefferson County

KANSAS CITY
SOUTHERN
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Above: Kansas City Southern and Big
Arthur Crane at Port of Port Arthur.
Below: Kansas City Southern on
the Swope Park Bridge in Kansas
City, Missouri.
The railroad known today as Kansas City
Southern (KCS) was founded in 1887 by Arthur
E. Stilwell, a forward-thinking entrepreneur,
who went against conventional nineteenthcentury
wisdom to build a north-south railroad
as others looked east-west. His goal was to move
agricultural products for export from Kansas
City, Missouri, to a port on the Gulf of Mexico
and on to European destinations.
Overcoming a host of financial crises,
Stilwell’s original dream became a reality when
in 1897, the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf
Railroad Company (KCP&G) was completed.
His original plan called for the railroad to
terminate at the Port of Galveston, but his vision
of a cataclysmic event befalling Galveston led
him to rethink his route. What seemed
improbable proved prescient as Galveston was
largely destroyed by the hurricane of 1900. In
the end, KCP&G ran south from Kansas City
through Shreveport, Louisiana, and terminated
at Port Arthur, Texas, the Gulf port city named
for Stilwell.
Later, Stilwell attempted to extend his
railroad through Mexico with the goal of
reaching the Pacific Ocean port city of
Topolabampo. This project failed due to
insurmountable construction and financial
hurdles. But his dream never died. Today KCS’
rail system fulfills Stilwell’s dream of reaching
Mexico’s Pacific Coast. The combination of The
Kansas City Southern Railway Company, which
operates over 3,200 track miles in the United
States and Kansas City Southern de México, S.
A. de C.V., which operates over 2,800 miles in
Mexico, forms a railroad network with primary
lanes stretching from Kansas City to Mexico
City and the port of Lázaro Cárdenas on the
Pacific Ocean. KCS also has the most efficient
rail corridor between Dallas, Texas, and
Meridian, Mississippi, over what is called the
Meridian Speedway.
KCS is also a joint venture partner in Panama
Canal Railway Company (PCRC), providing
transshipment service from the Atlantic to the
Pacific oceans on a 47.6-mile railway that runs
parallel to the Panama Canal. The world’s first
transcontinental railroad, PCRC, has been
modernized and serves as an important
intermodal link for world commerce,
complementing the existing transportation
infrastructure provided by the Canal. PCRC also
operates passenger trains for commuters and
cruise ship visitors between Panama City and
the Atlantic Ocean port of Colon.
The modern-day KCS has maintained the
spirit, vision, tenacity and ingenuity that
characterized its founder, Arthur Stilwell. With
its unique rail franchise, KCS is rapidly
transitioning into a vital component in
international transportation logistics. But the
one thing that will never change is the
company’s close identification with the city of
Port Arthur.
84 ✦ WATER, RAILS & OIL