Overview | |
---|---|
Locale | Oklahoma |
Dates of operation | 1899–1904 |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
Length | 24.2 mi (38.9 km) |
The Kiowa, Chickasha and Fort Smith Railway (KC&FS) came about when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (Rock Island) decided to build an interchange linking their systems at a point halfway between the towns of Chickasha and Pauls Valley in what is now the State of Oklahoma. [1] Toward that goal, the AT&SF incorporated The Kiowa, Chickasha and Fort Smith Railway Company in Kansas on July 13, 1899, which then built a line from Pauls Valley to what became the town of Lindsay, a distance of 24.2 miles, in the 1901-1903 timeframe. [2] The line’s first operation was in December of 1903. [2]
The new railway, operated by another AT&SF affiliate, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, joined the Rock Island line built about 1903 from Chickasha to Lindsay, 24.8 miles. [2] [3] The AT&SF trains from Pauls Valley turned around at Lindsay, and the Rock Island trains from Chickasha did the same. [4]
The town of Lindsay was established because of the impending railroad junction in January, 1902. [1] And, the town of Beef Creek was relocated a mile north to be alongside the tracks. [5] When that town’s post office relocated in September of 1902, it changed its name to Maysville. [5]
Following approval by act of Congress on March 11, 1904, [6] the line was sold to another AT&SF affiliate, the Eastern Oklahoma Railway, on March 14, 1904. [2] In subsequent history, the Eastern Oklahoma Railway was sold to the AT&SF on June 20, 1907. [2] Both the Rock Island and AT&SF portions of the line between Chickasha and Pauls Valley were abandoned in 1942. [7] [3]
Grady County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 52,431. Its county seat is Chickasha. It was named for Henry W. Grady, an editor of the Atlanta Constitution and southern orator.
Lindsay is a city in Garvin County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,840 at the 2010 census. It once promoted itself as "The Broomcorn Capital of the World" but no longer uses that slogan, as broomcorn is no longer raised in the area.
Maysville is a town in Garvin and McClain counties, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,232 at the 2010 census, down from 1,313 in 2000.
Pauls Valley is a city in and the county seat of Garvin County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 5,992 at the 2020 census, a decline of 3.2 percent from the figure of 6,187 in 2010. It was settled by and named for Smith Paul, a North Carolina native who married a Chickasaw woman and became a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation before the Civil War. The town economy is largely based on agriculture and oil production.
Minco is a city in Grady County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,632 at the 2010 census.
Verden is a town in western Grady County, Oklahoma, United States. It abuts the Caddo County line, and is probably best known as the site of the 1865 Camp Napoleon Council. The population was 530 at the 2010 census, a decline from 659 in 2000.
Mountain View is a town in Kiowa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 795 at the 2010 census, a decline of 9.7 percent from 880 in 2000.
Rock Island 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 646 at the 2010 census, a decline of 8.9 percent from the figure of 709 recorded in 2000.
The Midland Valley Railroad (MV) was incorporated on June 4, 1903 for the purpose of building a line from Hope, Arkansas, through Muskogee and Tulsa, Oklahoma to Wichita, Kansas. It was backed by C. Jared Ingersoll, a Philadelphia industrialist who owned coal mining properties in Indian Territory. The railroad took its name from Midland, Arkansas, a coal mining town in western Arkansas, which was served by the railroad. The Midland Valley gained access to Fort Smith, Arkansas via trackage rights over the Frisco from Rock Island, Oklahoma.
The Fort Smith and Western Railway was a railroad that operated in the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Central Railroad, (OCR) earlier the Oklahoma Central Railway, was a railroad operating in the U.S. state of Oklahoma from 1907 to 1917. It was formed by Dorset Carter of Purcell, Indian Territory, and other business interests. The corporation started life on September 20, 1904 as the Canadian Valley and Western Railway Company. It changed its name to the Oklahoma Central Railway Company on September 27, 1905. Construction was started in Lehigh, Oklahoma, in 1906 and was completed to Chickasha, Oklahoma, in 1908. The route was primarily constructed to transport coal from the mines at Lehigh to Purcell in order to service steam locomotives on the Santa Fe, which maintained a division point at that location.
The Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad (OKT) was a railroad operating in its namesake states in the 1980s.
The Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway (P&SF) is a now-defunct railroad company that was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF), operating primarily in the Texas Panhandle.
The Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad (DE&G) was built as a short line railroad operating in Kansas, and Oklahoma. Incorporated in Oklahoma as the Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad Company, March 31, 1902, by the five Frantz Brothers.
The Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway, chartered under the laws of Texas on June 1, 1885, was part of a plan conceived by Buckley Burton Paddock and other Fort Worth civic leaders to create a transcontinental route linking New York, Fort Worth, and the Pacific port of Topolobampo, which they believed would stimulate the growth and development of southwest Texas in general, and the economy of Fort Worth in particular.
The Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway of Texas came into existence on October 7, 1902, originally chartered to build a railroad from Johnson County to the Beaumont area near the Gulf coast. It took its name from the Trinity and Brazos rivers. It was commonly known as the “Boll Weevil," though it referred to itself as the "Valley Road."
The Ada Terminal Railway, an affiliate of the Oklahoma Central Railway, constructed a spur off the Oklahoma Central into Ada, Oklahoma in 1909, with about 1.93 miles of track. Its assets were assigned July 31, 1914 to become part of the Oklahoma Central Railroad.
The Chickasha Terminal Railway (CTR), an affiliate of the Oklahoma Central Railway, constructed track off the Oklahoma Central into Chickasha, Oklahoma in 1910, with about 3.44 miles of rails. Its assets were assigned July 31, 1914 to become part of the Oklahoma Central Railroad.
The Eastern Oklahoma Railway was incorporated under the laws of Oklahoma Territory on July 24, 1899. The railroad constructed much of its own track. This included Guthrie junction to Cushing junction, 47.9 miles, in the 1900-1902 timeframe; Ripley to Esau Junction, 40.4 miles, also in the 1900-1902 timeframe; Newkirk to Pauls Valley, 182.5 miles, in the 1900-1904 timeframe; and, Davis to Sulphur, 9.3 miles, in 1906.
The genesis of the Guthrie and Western Railway (G&WR) may be said to have occurred January 9, 1900, at a public meeting in the city of Guthrie, Oklahoma. At least one recollection of the evening involved the crowd being told that, while the town was already served by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF), it was not served by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad ; and, if the town could raise $15,000, the Rock Island would-- perhaps under another name-- build a line from a connection with its track near Kingfisher into the city of Guthrie. What actually happened was that funding was raised for the G&WR, an affiliate of the AT&SF. Incorporated in Oklahoma Territory on that same date, the railroad during 1900 built from a point on the main line of the AT&SF at or between the stations of Seward and Guthrie, to the Rock Island’s line at or near Kingfisher, 10.6 miles.