Oklahoma Central Railway Company

Product Details

Historical Context

Financing for the Oklahoma Central Railway was largely provided by investors on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, through a bond issue backed by veteran financial writer Frederik Van Oss. Dorset Carter, who was a prominent lawyer, banker, and developer in Purcell, Indian Territories, approached Van Oss through a group of Chicago banking acquaintances and secured an initial issue of $852,000.

Construction of the line began in late 1905 at Lehigh by the Canadian Valley Construction Company, which was also owned by Carter unbeknownst to the Dutch financiers. Preliminary cost estimates were quickly shown to be inadequate due to unexpected quantities of hard rock to be removed. The line was constructed with a maximum gradient of 2% and to Class I standards, despite being a short line.

Suspecting that a finance scam may have been underfoot, Van Oss sent a representative, Gerrit Middelberg, to Purcell to monitor the construction of the road and operations of the company. Middelberg's colorful letters belie a distaste for the living conditions and cuisine of the frontier, and a deep suspicion of Mr. Carter. In one letter he declares, "it is now apparent that the forces behind the railway and the construction company are one and the same." Van Oss refused to send additional funds, and construction crews camped a few miles west of Blanchard while waiting for additional rails to arrive. The community that developed from this camp was named Middelberg, in an apparent attempt to curry favor with the hard-lined Dutch overseer.

In addition to the dummy construction company that was "building" the line, the OCR also involved itself in forced real estate developments. Rather than constructing its road through existing townships, the OCR routed two or three miles away from the community. Management would then negotiate with local farmers to purchase land (using bond notes supplied by the Dutch) and then plot a new town around the railroad. The communities were given the option of purchasing the new lots (for cash) or attempting to survive without rail service. This practice was well documented by the Chickasaw News in 1906, a newspaper from McGee, Indian Territories, which was relocated by this process three miles to the south and is now called Stratford. This also may have occurred at Blanchard and Stonewall.

The OCR went into receivership in June 1908 and Asa E. Ramsey was appointed as receiver. Trains were reduced to mixed service (passenger and freight on the same train), and cost-cutting measures were introduced. Unfortunately, the coal-burning steam locomotives of the Santa Fe had primarily switched to fuel oil, and the coal traffic from Lehigh became less profitable. A coal miner's strike in 1911 ended the mines and the OCR lost a major component of its revenue stream.

The assets of the Oklahoma Central Railway Company, along with its two affiliates - the Ada Terminal Railway Company and the Chickasha Terminal Railway Company - were formed into a reorganized company called the Oklahoma Central Railroad Company, created as of July 31, 1914. That entity was controlled by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe), through ownership of a majority of its capital stock, from August 1, 1914. The tracks of the new Oklahoma Central were also leased to and operated by the Santa Fe, with a purchase option. The line was merged into the Santa Fe in 1942.

Tracks from Lehigh to Ada and Purcell to Byars were removed in 1934, and Purcell-Chickasha in 1941. The segment from Byars to Ada was operated as a branch until 1971. Chickasha to Cole trackage was removed in 1956, and Cole to Purcell was abandoned in 1964.

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