Kingston and Choctaw Valley Railroad

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Kingston and Choctaw Valley Railroad
Overview
Headquarters Kansas City, Missouri
Locale Oklahoma
Dates of operation1898–1901
Technical
Length12 mi (19 km)

The Kingston and Choctaw Valley Railroad (K&CV) was a short-lived industrial railway serving the lumber industry in the later days of Indian Territory, in what is now Le Flore County in the State of Oklahoma. Twelve miles in length, it ran from Thomasville to rail connections at Howe.

History

Besides having coal, the land that would become Le Flore County upon Oklahoma statehood was covered with forests, leading to a prosperous early lumber industry. [1] The town of Howe developed as a transportation center, with the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad (bought in 1900 by the Kansas City Southern Railway) building through in 1895–1896, and the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad (later leased to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway) arriving in 1898. [2]

In 1897 the Long-Bell Lumber Company purchased property at Thomasville, Indian Territory, on the flanks of the Winding Stair Mountains, Wilton Mountain, and other peaks in the Ouachita Mountains. [3] [4] The company created a subsidiary called the King-Ryder Lumber Company, [3] and King-Rider proceeded to build a lumber mill at Thomasville. [4] As part of the overall effort, the company constructed the Kingston and Choctaw Valley Railroad within the year period following June 30, 1898. [4] [5] This was not unusual for a Long-Bell operation, as it built at least three other railroads—the Alexandria, Woodworth & Beaumont Ry, the Shreveport, Alden Bridge & Camden Ry, and later the Louisiana & Pacific Railway-- all headquartered in Kansas City. [3] [6] Nor was it unusual for the industry; for example, Dierks Forests, through its subsidiaries the Texas, Oklahoma and Eastern Railroad and the De Queen and Eastern Railroad, operated 91 miles of track through Arkansas and Oklahoma. [7] [8]

The K&CV started just south of Thomasville, passed through that location, and proceeded north though the ephemeral settlements at Perry, Houston and Nail, then passed over the Poteau River to Petros, Oklahoma, also known as Petross Mill, where Dierks Forests had sited a wood planing operation. [4] [9] From there, the line continued north though Heavener to terminate at Howe. [4] This gave the line a total length of about 12 miles. [5]

King-Ryder ceased milling at Thomasville about 1901, relocating instead to Bon Ami, Louisiana. [4] [3] The rail line was abandoned around this time. [10] Thomasville was later reborn as Stapp, Oklahoma, with a post office opening in 1918. It hosted a Buschow Lumber Company sawmill. An eventual casualty of its own “cut and move on” policy, the Buschow mill closed in 1932, and the post office followed in 1944. Nothing is now left of the old town.

Related Research Articles

Le Flore County, Oklahoma County in Oklahoma, United States

Le Flore County is a county along the eastern border of the U.S state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 50,384. Its county seat is Poteau. The county name honors a Choctaw family named LeFlore, which is part of the Fort Smith metropolitan area. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma is the federal district court with jurisdiction in Le Flore County.

Heavener, Oklahoma City in Oklahoma, United States

Heavener is a city in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,414 at the 2010 census, an increase of 6.7 percent from 3,201 at the 2000 census. Heavener is notable for the Heavener Runestone just outside the city limits.

Howe, Oklahoma Town in Oklahoma, United States

Howe is a town in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 802 at the 2010 census, a gain of 15.1 percent over the figure of 697 recorded in 2000. The town was once noted for producing coal and coke, but today is chiefly supported by agriculture.

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Robert A. Long American lumber baron and real estate developer

Robert Alexander Long was an American lumber baron, developer, investor, newspaper owner, and philanthropist. He lived most of his life in Kansas City, Missouri and founded Longview, Washington and Longville, Louisiana.

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In 1887, Robert A. Long and Victor Bell formed the Long-Bell Lumber Company in Columbus, Kansas. The Long-Bell Lumber Company branched out using balanced vertical integration to control all aspects of lumber from the sawmills to the retail lumber yard. As the company expanded it moved further south and eventually had holdings in Arkansas, Oklahoma Indian Territory, and Louisiana, before heading west to Washington.

Petros is an unincorporated community in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located approximately two miles south of Heavener, Oklahoma and one mile north of the Poteau River.

Stapp is an unincorporated community in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located approximately eight miles south of Heavener on US Route 59.

Richard H. Keith (1842–1905), also known as R.H. Smith, was a coal and lumber businessman. He arrived in Kansas City, Missouri in 1871 with forty dollars and started a small coal yard. From that beginning evolved an empire spanning several states, that included coal, timber, sawmills, railroads, and even the building of towns.

Dierks Forests, Inc., known until 1954 as the Dierks Lumber and Coal Company and originally known as Choctaw Lumber Co., was a timber harvesting and processing company primarily in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Starting with a purchase of forest in 1903 in the Indian Territory, near Valliant, the company became known for its concept of the “traveling timber town”, in which the houses, the school, the church, and other buildings for the workers and their families were moved periodically to stay close to the advancing logging site. The company eventually owned 1.75 million acres of timberland, and was one of the largest family-owned landholding entities in the United States before it was sold to the Weyerhaeuser Company in 1969.

Bon Ami is a ghost town that was located in what is currently Beauregard Parish, approximately 2 miles south of Deridder, Louisiana, United States. The site of the town itself is located at coordinates 30°48'12.03"N 93°17'40.08"W, and is abandoned. United States Geological Survey maps from 1947 show the location of the town, where the Kansas City Southern and the Louisiana & Pacific railways are parallel.

The Arkansas Southern Railroad Company was a small carrier with track in Arkansas and Louisiana. It was incorporated in 1892 and merged out of existence in 1905.

The Texas and Oklahoma Railroad (TXOR), created in 1991, ran between Oklahoma and Texas on rail purchased from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF). Much of the trackage has since been sold or abandoned; however, the railway continues to exist as a shortline carrier operating between Sweetwater, Texas and Maryneal, Texas.

References

  1. ↑ "Le Flore County". Larry O’Dell, Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Howe". Larry O’Dell, Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "The King-Ryder Lumber Company and the Louisiana & Pacific Railway at Bonami, Louisiana in 1902". American Lumberman Magazine (accessed on the Texas Transportation Archive). Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Kingston & Choctaw Valley Railroad Company (King-Ryder Lumber Company's tram at Thomasville, Oklahoma)". Cram's Atlas of the World, Ancient and Modern (accessed on the Texas Transportation Archive). Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Statistics of Railways in the United States, Twelfth Annual Report on the Statistics of Railways in the United States for the Year Ending June 30, 1899, p.238". Interstate Commerce Commission. 1901. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  6. ↑ "The Official Railway Equipment Register, June 1901, p. 153 (accessed on Google Books)". 1901. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  7. ↑ "De Queen & Eastern Railroad". American-Rails.com. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  8. ↑ "De Queen & Eastern Railroad Company DQE #200". Union Pacific. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Forestry". William G. Ross, Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Predecessor Railroad List, p.76" (PDF). SurveyorConnect.com. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
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