Charles Simmons

A few years ago there was talk of Congress funding a $400M bridge in Alaska between two lightly populated locations. It was derisively christened the "Bridge to Nowhere", to be located between Ketchikan and Gravina Island. Every time I heard a news story about that bridge, I was reminded of one of the first articles I co-wrote/edited when I was the editor of Clearance Card, the quarterly journal of the Southwest Railroad Historical Society. It was about a land promoter, Charles Simmons, founding a new town in South Texas called Simmons City (promoters are required to have a big ego). Transportation options were limited in those days, so he figured he'd better start a railroad as well. It was simply an efficient means of bringing potential buyers to the willing seller, you understand. Otherwise, he had no use for a railroad. I like people who don't forget that they also need to solve the ancillary problems that impact the success of their main endeavor. Depending on your gauge, Simmons was somewhat successful in his initial endeavor, but ultimately the town dried up and disappeared. The only lasting remnant is the church, built in 1908, that still stands...as shown in these images.

Church in Simmons City, Texas [28 24 21N, 98 16 45W]

So why does the "Bridge to Nowhere" remind me of this story? Well...there was a mystery associated with the construction of Simmons' railroad because old aviation maps (and modern satellite photos) showed his railroad extending well south of its "known" southern terminus in Christine, Texas. Texas Railroad Commission records said that it never went south of Christine, but maps and photos show that it continued much further south and then...it just ended. Frankly, it looked like a Railroad to Nowhere.