Southern Pacific Line / Morgan Line (1834 - 1942),
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The Cromwell Line was taken over by the Southern Pacific Railroad Co in the late 1880s
but continued to operate under the Cromwell Line name and flag until 1902.
In 1899, The Cromwell Line (Southern Pacific) eventually sold the New Orleans, after over twenty-five years
as part of the Line's first-class steamships, to the Merchants and Miners' Transportation
Company for $60,000.
In 1900, The Cromwell Line (Southern Pacific) sold the Hudson, after over twenty-two years
as part of the Line's first-class steamships, to the Merchants and Miners' Transportation
Company for $90,000. Hudson was renamed Frederick in 1905.
In 1902, Southern Pacific officially took over the ships of the Cromwell Line.
The ships transferred to the Southern Pacific fleet were the Comus, the Knickerbocker,
the Louisiana and the Proteus.
At that time, all Southern Pacific properties were consolidated under the flag of the
former Morgan Line.
Morgan Steamship Co.,(Southern Pacific SS Co.) (1834 - 1942), New York
The "Morgan Line" was the trade name for a variety of shipping companies founded by
Charles Morgan, who first entered the shipping business by investing in shares of
cargoes in 1819.
By the 1830s, he no longer owned cargoes but specialized in owning
and managing the ships themselves. In 1834, he opened the first scheduled steam
service along the US east coast with a line connecting New York and Charleston.
By 1838 he had shifted his focus to the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, steaming among
New Orleans, Galveston, and Havana, eventually returning to the New York-to-Gulf
business after the American Civil War. In addition to shipping, Morgan owned major
interests in railroads in the South and essentially controlled all transportation,
including the port facilities, in the Houston-Galveston area.
In 1877, Morgan consolidated his diverse holdings into the Louisiana and Texas
Railroad and Steamship Company. For a short time after Morgan's death in 1878,
his company continued in operation, but in 1882 his heirs sold a controlling interest
to Collis P. Huntington of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Morgan Line thus became
a subsidiary of the newly formed holding company, the Southern Pacific Company,
but continued to do business under its own name and flag. Over time, however, it
increasingly became known as the Southern Pacific Steamship Company, its official
title. Early in World War II, Southern Pacific decided to leave the ocean shipping
business and, after more than 100 years in business, the Morgan Line passed from
the scene.
The first Morgan flag was white with a red M.
The second flag was a blue burgee with a white star bearing a red M.
![[morgan Line]](http://www.geocities.com/robin_at_the_beach/us~morgn.gif)
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SHIPS OF THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC STEAMSHIP LINE
| VESSEL |
BUILT |
HISTORY |
| New Orleans* |
1872 |
Built by Cromwell Steamship Line, sold to Merchant & Miners' in 1899. |
|
| Knickerbocker* |
1873 |
Built by Cromwell Steamship Line, officially listed Southern Pacific in 1902. |
|
Hudson* |
1874 |
Built by Cromwell Steamship Line, sold to Merchant & Miners' in 1900. |
|
| Louisiana* |
1879 |
Built by Cromwell Steamship Line, officially listed as Southern Pacific in 1902, sank at dock in New Orleans in 1905. |
|
| Creole* |
1896 |
Built by Cromwell (owned by Southern Pacific), sold to US Navy in 1898 to become the hospital ship USS Solace. |
|
| General Whitney* |
1896 |
Chartered by the Cromwell Line (owned by Southern Pacific) in 1899. |
|
| Proteus* |
1900 |
Built by Cromwell Steamship Line (owned by Southern Pacific), officially listed as Southern Pacific in 1902. Sank in 1918. |
|
| Comus* |
1900 |
Built for Cromwell Steamship Line, officially listed as Southern Pacific in 1902 |
|
|
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| Southern Pacific Steamship Hudson |
| (oil painting done by Antonio Jacobsen in 1896) |
Handbook of Texas Online: SOUTHERN PACIFIC SYSTEM... Orleans, Louisiana.
The Southern Pacific Steamship Company, "the Morgan Line," extended the company's operations to the East Coast. In ...
www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/ articles/view/SS/eqs35.html
SOUTHERN PACIFIC SYSTEM.
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company, commonly called the Southern Pacific, operates several
transcontinental railroad routes connecting the Pacific Coast with the gateway cities of Chicago, St. Louis,
Memphis, and New Orleans.
The company was originally chartered in California on December 2, 1865, as the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
Between that date and March 10, 1902, a total of seven Southern Pacific Railroad companies were chartered and
operated, the last of which was merged with the Southern Pacific Company on September 30, 1955.
The present company was chartered in Delaware on February 20, 1969, as a subsidiary of a new Southern Pacific
Company, which was also chartered on the same date. Although originally independent, by September 1868 the
Southern Pacific had come under the control of Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford,
and Charles Crocker.
The "Big Four," as they were known, also controlled the Central Pacific Railroad Company, which built the
western end of the original transcontinental railroad. In 1876 the Southern Pacific completed a line through
the San Joaquin Valley of California, connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The Act of Congress incorporating the Texas Pacific Railroad (later Texas and Pacific)
authorized the Southern Pacific to connect with that company at Fort Yuma, Arizona Territory. When
the Southern Pacific crossed the Colorado River to Yuma in September 1877, the Texas and Pacific was
still bogged down at Fort Worth. Seizing the opportunity, Huntington and his associates built east along
the Texas and Pacific survey and reached El Paso about May 19, 1881. Two existing Texas railroads,
the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway running between Houston and San Antonio and the
Texas and New Orleans Railroad from Houston to Orange, fit into Huntington's plans. Although Huntington
did not acquire an interest in either company until July 1, 1881, he and Thomas W. Peirceqv of the GH&SA
had reportedly been working together since 1878 on plans to construct a line between San Antonio and
El Paso. Thus, when the Southern Pacific forces reached El Paso they continued building eastward under
the GH&SA charter. Late in May 1881 the GH&SA resumed track laying westward from San Antonio. At this
time the revitalized Texas and Pacific under Jay Gouldqv was also building across West Texas toward
El Paso. Both companies were racing to occupy the best route through the mountains east of El Paso,
a race won by the GH&SA, which reached Sierra Blanca on November 25, 1881. The Texas and Pacific was
still ten miles to the east. The following day in New York Huntington and Gould signed an agreement
which, among other provisions, granted the Texas and Pacific trackage rights between Sierra Blanca
and El Paso. In turn the Texas and Pacific agreed not to build west of El Paso and relinquished its
survey across New Mexico and Arizona to the Southern Pacific. The two fronts of the GH&SA met in January
1883, and on the 12th Peirce drove a silver spike to signify the completion of the railroad. Huntington
had also acquired control of the Louisiana Western Railroad Company, and in early 1883 the Southern Pacific
controlled a southern transcontinental line from California to Vermillionville, Louisiana. By mid-1883
the "Big Four" and Peirce had bought Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad and Steamship Company
(see MORGAN, CHARLES), thus extending the railroad to New Orleans and completing the present Sunset
Route of the Southern Pacific. The Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific and the Houston and Texas Central
Railway companies were owned by the Morgan company and included in the sale to the Southern Pacific.
These two railroads along with the lines comprising the Sunset Route in Texas all had their roots in
the antebellum period and include the oldest components of the Southern Pacific system.
In 1840 work began on a railroad from Harrisburg to the Brazos River that was later chartered as the
Harrisburg Rail Road and Trading Company. Although this company subsequently failed, and its charter
lapsed, this was the first attempt to build a railroad over a route that later became a part of the S
outhern Pacific. The decade of the 1850s, however, saw the construction of five railroads that were
later acquired by the Southern Pacific. Work on the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway began
in 1851, and by late 1860 the line was open from Harrisburg to Alleyton. The BBB&C was not only the first
railroad to operate in Texas, but also the first component of the Southern Pacific to begin operating.
It is also generally considered to have been the second railroad west of the Mississippi River. By early
1861 the Houston and Texas Central (originally the Galveston and Red River Railway Company) was operating
between Houston and Millican, while the Texas and New Orleans (originally the Sabine and Galveston Bay
Railroad and Lumber Company) was completed between Houston and Orange. The Washington County Rail Road
between Hempstead and Brenham and the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad from Port Lavaca to Victoria
were also built during this period. Although all five suffered from a lack of capital, the companies
had constructed over 300 miles of track during the decade, and only the outbreak of the Civil Warqv h
alted further construction. In 1867 work resumed on the Houston and Texas Central. The company reached
Dallas on July 8, 1872, and, on March 15, 1873, Red River City, where connection was made with the Missouri,
Kansas and Texas Railway. This connection was the first between the rail system of Texas and the expanding
national network. The Houston and Texas Central acquired the Washington County in 1869 and extended the line
to Austin, where the last spike was driven on 2:30 P.M. on Christmas Day 1871. The Texas and New Orleans
became the western end of the first all-rail route to New Orleans when the connecting Louisiana Western
was completed on August 26, 1880. The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado was renamed the Galveston, Harrisburg
and San Antonio on July 27, 1870. Construction of the San Antonio extension began in 1873, and rails reached
the Alamo City on February 7, 1877. Work on the Mexican and Pacific extension between San Antonio and El Paso
was underway when the GH&SA passed into the control of the Southern Pacific in July 1881. The last of the
antebellum railroads, the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf, was combined with the Indianola Railroad Company
on April 22, 1871, to form the Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific.
The Cromwell Line was taken over by the Southern Pacific Railroad Co in the late 1880s
but continued to operate under the Cromwell Line name and flag until 1902. At that time,
all Southern Pacific properties were consolidated under the flag of the former Morgan Line.
The Southern Pacific system in Texas was expanded by the acquisition of a number of additional companies
as well as new construction. Among the larger railroads gathered into the system were the Houston, East
and West Texas Railway Company; the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway Company; and the Austin and
Northwestern Railroad Company. With the completion of the line into the Rio Grande valley in 1927 and the
purchase of the Texas Midland Railroad in 1928, the Southern Pacific system in Texas totaled 3,966 miles
serving all sections of the state except the Panhandleqv and South Plains. Subsequent line sales and abandonments
have reduced Southern Pacific's mileage in Texas to 2,484 at the end of 1987. Except for the period between 1885
and 1889 when the GH&SA and the T&NO were included in the Omnibus Lease to the Southern Pacific Company, the Texas
subsidiaries of the Southern Pacific were operated by their own organizations. By 1927 most of the smaller
companies had either been leased to or merged with the GH&SA, T&NO, or the H&TC. These three railroads, along
with the HE&WT, comprised virtually all of the Southern Pacific Lines in the state. On March 1, 1927, the major
Texas and Louisiana subsidiaries were leased to the T&NO, with which they were merged on June 30, 1934. The T&NO
continued to operate until November 1, 1961, when it was merged into the Southern Pacific Company. Historically,
the lines comprising the Southern Pacific ran from Ogden, Utah, to the San Francisco area and from Portland,
Oregon, through California, and across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana. The Southern
Pacific Steamship Company, "the Morgan Line," extended the company's operations to the East Coast. In July
1941 ship operations were discontinued, and they were not resumed after World War II.qv The Southern Pacific
also owned several railroads in Mexico, the longest of which was the Southern Pacific Railroad of Mexico, which
ran from Nogales on the Arizona-Sonora border to Guadalajara. This line was sold to the Mexican government in 1951.
In 1932 the Southern Pacific acquired control of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company and its subsidiaries.
Although the Cotton Belt, as this line was known, continued to be operated separately, the acquisition gave the
system access to the Memphis and St. Louis gateways. With the demise of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
Company in 1980, the St. Louis Southwestern acquired the Golden State Route between Santa Rosa, New Mexico, and
Kansas City as well as the Rock Island line between Kansas City and St. Louis. Subsequent purchase of a line
between St. Louis and Chicago and trackage rights from Kansas City to Chicago have expanded the system to the
rail center of Chicago.
During the early 1980s the rapid changes in the United States economy and mergers among other western railroad
companies made it increasingly difficult for the Southern Pacific Transportation Company and the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe Railway Company to compete as independent railroads. On December 23, 1983, the parent companies
merged to form the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation (now Santa Fe Pacific Corporation), and an application
was filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission to merge the two railroads. However, in July 1986 the ICC
refused to allow the merger and ordered the holding company to sell one of the carriers. This resulted in the
sale of the SPTC to Rio Grande Industries, parent company of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company,
on October 13, 1988. A new system consisting of the SPTC, Rio Grande, and Cotton Belt was thus formed. Initially
each company continued to operate under its own name, but in 1992 operations of the Rio Grande and Cotton Belt
were consolidated with those of the SPTC, and the system became known as the Southern Pacific Lines. On April 30,
1993, the name of Rio Grande Industries was changed to Southern Pacific Rail Corporation. From the days of the
Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado and the Galveston and Red River, the Southern Pacific system in Texas has been
centered in the Houston area. The new system continues to operate major terminals, shops, and a regional office in
Houston, only a few miles from where the first rail was laid, not only in Texas but also on what is now the
Southern Pacific. See also RAILROADS and ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND SANTA FE RAILWAY SYSTEM.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: James P. Baughman, Charles Morgan and the Development of Southern Transportation
(Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1968). Donald C. Everett, "San Antonio Welcomes the Sunset-1877," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 65 (July 1961). Donovan L. Hofsommer, The Southern Pacific, 1901-1985 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1986). Andrew Forest Muir, "Railroad Enterprise in Texas, 1836-1841," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 47 (April 1944).
George C. Werner
Copyright 2004 Bill Medford