WELLS NEWS 'N VIEWS
BY ROY LENARD WHITE
When I was growing up in the 1940s there were two or three big sawmills operating close to Wells and several 'jake-leg' mills. Consequently, I was born in and spent my early years in a sawmill row house. The sawmill mules had been driven to and from the mule barn at Wells and the mill through this lane, when they were used around the mill yard.

There was a never-ending supply of rocks on the railroad bed and boys always had need for a few rocks. We jealously guarded our territory. To discourage younger siblings from coming into the lane, we would imply that it was a dangerous place to be. When the train came by, we would pretend that the suction from the passing train was very strong. As the locomotive steam engine got even with us, we would holler and hold the trees with one arm while sticking the other arm and a free leg out toward the train, pretending they were being sucked toward the train.

The onlookers, with frightened expressions, would run for the safety of the house. My sister, Judy, said recently that she had always wanted to go to the lane and feel the suction that we were feeling. Dorothy, being older, made them go in the house. If mother, or our older sister, Joyce, didn't stop her, Dorothy would try to make them crawl under the bed just to be extra safe.

Aunt Ettie Dickson from Dialville came to Wells on a train, which she called a 'jitney,' to visit with mother. She stayed several days and when she got her visit out, she was going to ride the jitney back home. She talked mother into letting Billy and me go and stay with her and Uncle Frank for a week. On the day we left, mother packed our clothes in a large brown paper bag and rolled down the top. The train came from Lufkin and pulled to a stop on the siding near the depot building, spotting the jitney coaches adjacent to the depot.

We climbed the steps and entered the jitney coach. As the train left the station, we watched a man walk down the aisle to the end of the coach. He stopped at a water dispenser and got a drink. There was a long metal cylinder, which contained individual drinking cups, attached to the wall. He reached under the cylinder and pulled out a small cone-shaped paper cup. Holding it under a spigot, he pushed a button and filled it. After drinking, he threw the cup into a trash bin.

After seeing this, Billy and I both got very thirsty. When the train was rolling along fairly smoothly, Aunt Ettie let us go to the water cooler and sample the drinking water. She understood that it was important for boys, whose whole life evolved around the mill line, to experience such things as a jitney ride with all its amenities.

The mill line and railroad are now gone. The only trace is a long ridge through Wells where the railroad bed had been. My brothers, sisters and I were lucky. We had a railroad in our backyard, with a locomotive steam engine passing twice a day pulling the rail cars from hither to yon.

Yet, all is not lost though. If you hurry, you can still get aboard. Cherokee County has one of two train stations where a ride on a steam locomotive train can be experienced. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Texas State Railroad State Park operates stations at Rusk and Palestine.

That said, the city of Wells is contributing to railroad history. They have recovered the original depot building that serviced Wells for years. Through the efforts of former mayor Jerry Ellerbee, the Wells Development Corporation acquired the depot and moved it to a site in close proximity to its original location.

According to current Wells mayor, James Maddox, the Wells Development Corporation has plans to build a pavilion near the depot for use by its citizens.

Unfortunately, in communities small or large, the masses sit back and ignore or criticize while the few build. Whether your community is Wells or the world, whether you are rich or poor, giving back to your community is far more rewarding than taking.