The Clinton and Oklahoma Western Railroad was a railway in

southwestern Oklahoma Southwest Oklahoma is a geographical name for the southwest portion of the state of Oklahoma, typically considered to be south of the Canadian River, extending eastward from the Texas border to a line roughly from Weatherford, to Anadarko, to ...

and the

Texas Panhandle The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...

, with a mainline eventually running from

Clinton, Oklahoma Clinton is a city in Custer County, Oklahoma, Custer and Washita County, Oklahoma, Washita counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 9,033 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. History The community began in 1899 when ...

Pampa, Texas Pampa (from the Quechua: ''pampa'', meaning "plain") is a city in Gray County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,867 as of the 2020 census. Pampa is the county seat of Gray County and is the principal city of the Pampa micropolitan ...

, about 139 miles. The predecessor company was incorporated in 1908, and the railroad was merged out of existence in 1948.

History

An entity called the Clinton and Oklahoma Western Railway Company was chartered November 10, 1908 for the stated purpose of constructing a railroad from

Guymon, Oklahoma Guymon ( ) is a city and county seat of Texas County, in the panhandle of Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 12,965, an increase of 13.3% from 11,442 in 2010, and represents more than half of the population o ...

, which is northwest of Clinton in the

Oklahoma Panhandle The Oklahoma Panhandle (formerly called No Man's Land, the Public Land Strip, the Neutral Strip, or Cimarron Territory) is a salient in the extreme northwestern region of the U.S. state of Oklahoma, consisting of Cimarron County, Texas Count ...

, as well as building southeast from Clinton to the coal-mining town of Lehigh in

southeastern Oklahoma Choctaw Country is the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation's official tourism designation for Southeastern Oklahoma. The name was previously Kiamichi Country until changed in honor of the Choctaw Nation headquartered there. The current ...

. The railroad did build northwest from Clinton, but stopped at

Strong City, Oklahoma Strong City is a town in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 47 at the 2010 census. History The town of Strong City was formally established June 25, 1912. It was named for Clint Strong, a railroad official and entr ...

in Roger Mills County in August of 1912. The townspeople of

Cheyenne, Oklahoma Cheyenne is a town in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 801 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Roger Mills County. History Cheyenne is the location of the Battle of Washita River (also called Battle of the ...

, the Roger Mills County seat, were concerned about being bypassed by the railroad, and promptly chartered their own railway, the Cheyenne Short Line Railroad, on December 2, 1912, to run up the

Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the states of Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geography The ...

valley to connect with the larger railway at Strong City. That short line, after completion and a later reorganization as The Cheyenne Railroad Company, was leased to the Clinton and Oklahoma Western in 1917. On April 9, 1920, the Clinton and Oklahoma Western ''Railroad'' Company was organized, purchasing the rights of both the Clinton and Oklahoma Western ''Railway'' Company and The Cheyenne Railroad Company. The railroad’s plans changed. The railway was eventually extended west to the Oklahoma/Texas state line, and a sister company, the Clinton-Oklahoma-Western Railroad Company of Texas, was chartered on July 30, 1927 to build the line from the border through Hemphill County, Texas, to the town of

Pampa The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...

in Gray County, Texas. Before completion, however, both the Clinton and Oklahoma Western Railroad Company and its Texas affiliate were acquired by the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison, Kansas, Atchison and Top ...

in June of 1928. The line was completed into Pampa in 1929, giving the railroad a mainline of about 84 miles of track from Clinton to the Oklahoma/Texas border, and about 55 miles from the border to Pampa. An 11 mile branch from the town of Heaton, Texas to Coltexo, an oil camp three miles northeast of

Lefors, Texas Lefors ( ) is a town in Gray County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Pampa, Texas micropolitan statistical area. Its population was 420 at the 2020 census. History The area around modern Lefors was near the heart of Comancheria and a com ...

, was added in 1931. The Santa Fe leased the railway to its Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway affiliate in 1931. That entity operated the line until taking it by merger on December 31, 1948. At least some of this trackage has since been abandoned, including the original Clinton-to-Strong City route which was abandoned around 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton and Oklahoma Western Railroad Defunct Texas railroads Defunct Oklahoma railroads