Scarce History of Trinity & Brazos Valley Railway - Boll Weevil Line

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AUTHOR: J. L. Allhands.

TITLE: Boll Weevil: Recollections of the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railway

PUBLICATION DATA: 1946. Anson Jones Press; Houston..

Allhands' history isn't just a history of the road he worked for. It's also a history of all the towns it served (Cleburne, Mexia, Hubbard, Teague, Hillsboro etc. on down to Houston.) Weevils were ravaging the cotton crops of East Texas right about the time people realized that the little railroad didn't have a nickname. Though it tried to push "The Valley Road" as a nickname, most folks called it the Boll Weevil. By 1930, it had been reorganized as the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad and had 300 miles of track in Texas. Its Sam Houston Zaphyr - the first streamlined passenger train in Texas - was inaugurated in 1936 and plied between Houston and Fort Worth. Remnants of the TBV lines still exist today.

Condition report:

Silver cloth covers. Spine ends and corners are rubbed through to boards. Previous owner taped a 1959 newspaper article into the book, opposite the half-title page, about the Rusk Transportation Co., a small line built to run between Rusk and Jacksonville, 1874-1879. A few underlining in the final appendix of the book, otherwise text is clean. 279 pages + 48 pages of appendices. Deckled edges. Binding secure.

Why It Matters:

It's fantastic local and business history, and it's rare. There's one copy of the standard first edition for sale at present, and just one recent auction record for this silver cloth limited edition. Though this copy isn't numbered, I believe 300 copies of the special silver cloth edition were printed. This is the only copy we've ever handled.