Hell Either Way Taken .. A neat bit of history… The Houston East and West Texas Railway played a big part in the timber and logging industry of this area. Construction of the narrow gauge (3ft wide) railway began in 1876 with the initial purpose of creating a passage from Houston to Texarkana but was eventually expanded into East Texas and into Louisiana crossing the Sabine River.
By April 1877 twenty miles had been completed. by the fall of 1878 seventy one miles had been completed. The passage was laid through Lufkin and Nacogdoches which was only 138 miles from Houston. The remaining 53 miles to the Sabine River were built in 1885 and in 1886 the bridge was completed and the first train crossed between Texas and Louisiana. The state boundary line connected the 191 mile railway with the Houston Railway company and combined made a line through Houston to Shreveport.
The company’s initials (HEWT) were said to stand for Hell Either Way Taken. Passage of the rail line through four communities in Shelby County generated a popular Tex Ritter folk song, “Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo and Blair”.