First Railroad

[W. Gray]

What was the name of the first railroad in Elk County?

[Diane Amberg]

How about the Southern Kansas Railroad?

[W. Gray]

The Southern Kansas RR went through Oak Valley, Longton, Elk Falls, Moline, and Grenola. As far as I can determine, that road was previously the Kansas City, Leavenworth & Southern and prior to that the Elk Valley & Western, although that might have been a paper railroad.

This ought to make redcliffsw happy.

The first railroad in Elk County was actually a paper railroad: the Elk & Chautauqua RR.

The Elk & Chautauqua was formed to build track from south of Severy at the Greenwood County line to Howard. The paper road oversaw sales of $40,000 in bonds voted by the citizens of Elk County to buy the right of way and lay the track. Without these bonds, Howard would have stood a good chance of never getting a railroad.

Once the track laying was finished, the right of way and track was leased to the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe RR. The lease receipts went towards bond interest and retiring the bond principal. Santa Fe became the outright owner around 1899.

The road entered Howard at Oak Street heading southwest after crossing Paw Paw Creek. At Walnut and Illinois the road became double track before curving and heading south at Adams Street. At Jefferson and Cherry began triple track that tapered to single track at an engine house located just before the stockyard. That stockyard was still there when I was a kid but had seen much better days. It was in the area north of the cemetery and north of the road that today heads to the hog farm.

A few years after terminating at Howard, the track was extended to Moline.

The intent was to extend the road from Moline to Sedan but it never happened.

The track and right of way was abandoned in the 1970s. Santa Fe had wanted to abandon much earlier but I have heard that Howard had a representative on the Kansas abandonment board and he voted against the action for many years. After his death or retirement, the road was abandoned.

[Diane Amberg]

Very interesting.Thanks.