Product Details

 $50 to $75

Historical Context

The Chicago & Ohio River Railroad was originally chartered in 1869 as the Danville, Olney & Ohio River Railroad.

The line was constructed as a narrow-gauge line from Kansas to West Liberty between 1878-1881. In 1881, the line was changed to standard gauge and was eventually completed in 1883, from Sidell to Olney - a distance of 86 miles. The same year it went into the hands of a receiver, was sold under foreclosure, in February of 1886, and reorganized, in May of the following year, as the Chicago & Ohio River Railroad.

The line was consolidated with the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway in 1893, and used as the Chicago Division of that line. The PD&E then went bankrupt, and the line was resold in 1898 to the Indiana, Decatur and Western Railway, a predecessor of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Western Railroad - which was acquired by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1927.

The line was also known by a number of names, including the:

• Old Dody
• Dog River
• Crab Oyster

George H. Culp of Montezuma, Indiana, wrote a poem, entitled "The Old Road Passes", which describes the "Old Dog River line."

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