A key port on Caddo Lake for traffic to New Orleans from the 1830s to the 1860s, Swanson's Landing was founded by Peter Swanson (1789-1849), a civil engineer and planter. Cotton, pelts, and other products went out through the landing, and settlers' goods came in. In the 1850s it became the terminal of Southern Pacific, the first railroad in east Texas, built from the landing to Marshall. During the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, the road was rerouted to haul troops between Marshall and western Louisiana. Later the port declined. On Feb. 11, 1869, the steamer "Mittie Stephens" burned near Swanson's Landing, with the loss of 69 lives.