The Enid–Pond Creek Railroad War occurred in
Oklahoma Territory
The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as th ...
between 1893 and 1894, and pitted the citizens of two United States designated county seats against the
Rock Island Railroad.
Background
In the late 1880s, the
Rock Island Railroad built a rail line into
Indian Territory, entering near
Caldwell, Kansas
Caldwell is a city in Sumner County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,025.
History
Near Caldwell is a precontact Plains Village period settlement called the Buresh site, which has yielded clues ...
, and following the
Chisholm Trail
The Chisholm Trail was a trail used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads. The trail was established by Black Beaver, a Lenape guide and rancher, and his friend Jesse Chisholm, a Cheroke ...
. Along the infrastructure, the company established railroad stations near a couple of the existing stage stations along the trail. The original stations, Round Pond, built at Pond Stage Stand on Round Pond Creek, and Skeleton Station (later known as Enid station), located in
North Enid, Oklahoma near the
Skeleton Ranch headquarters, would become involved in a controversy between the railroad, the new county seats, and the
Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
.
Controversy
The troubles began when the
United States Department of the Interior set about opening the
Cherokee Strip
The Cherokee Outlet, or Cherokee Strip, was located in what is now the state of Oklahoma in the United States. It was a 60-mile-wide (97 km) parcel of land south of the Oklahoma-Kansas border between 96 and 100°W. The Cherokee Outlet wa ...
(or Cherokee Outlet) to settlement. Hoping to lessen the problem of
county seat wars—a common event in newly settled areas of the
American Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
—the Department divided the strip into counties and assigned them county seats. They picked
Pond Creek in "L" County and
Enid in "O" County. Following the Interior Department's announcement of the official county seats, several citizens of the
Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation (Cherokee: ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ ''Tsalagihi Ayeli'' or ᏣᎳᎩᏰᎵ ''Tsalagiyehli''), also known as the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is the largest of three Cherokee federally recognized tribes in the United States. It ...
exercised their options to select their land allotments in the Outlet, and chose them at the two designated stores county seat town sites. Railroad officials were accused of conspiring with the
Native Americans to speculate on town development, so officials in the Interior Department moved the government approved towns to different but nearby locations.
A land run opened the Cherokee Outlet in 1893, and settlers, mainly from
Kansas, occupied all four town sites; railroad Pond Creek, government Pond Creek, railroad Enid (
North Enid), and government Enid (South Enid). The
Rock Island responded to the government's action by refusing to stop trains at the government towns. Citizens in the government towns at first applied political pressure to get the railroad to provide service, and the Oklahoma Territorial government and
United States House of Representatives backed them up. But the
United States Senate took the railroad's side and refused to act. Government officials then notified the Rock Island that they had to furnish mail service to the two government towns. Rock Island responded by installing a hook to pick up and deliver mail, without slowing their trains. When the mail pouches broke open, citizens accused the railroads of purposely strewing their mail along the tracks.
With the stalemate in Washington, D.C., and intransigence by the railroads, citizens of both government towns began direct actions. Enid passed an ordinance setting a speed limit on trains passing through town; the Rock Island ignored it. Citizens in both government towns began attempting to flag down trains, placed dummies on the tracks, and then left wagons and debris across the rails.
With no relief from Washington or the railroads, citizens began further actions. In June 1894, citizens of Pond Creek tore up about a hundred yards of track and wrecked a freight train. No one was killed, but by then citizens of both South Enid and Pond Creek were taking potshots at trains passing through. By July citizens were placing bombs on the tracks, and, in the most drastic action of all, unknown persons sawed partially through a number of supports on the trestle near Enid, wrecking an unscheduled freight train preceding the scheduled passenger train.
Men of the
United States Marshals Service and troops from
Fort Reno and
Fort Supply were sent in to restore order and patrol the railroad right-of-way, but violence continued.
[Chapman, "The Enid 'Railroad War'", 181: "On July 17, Madsen sent the following telegram to Brooks: Coming over on extra tonight with the Military, we passed over two bombs inside of the city limits of Round Pond, which had evidently been placed to explode as we passed. They exploded when we had passed about one hundred yards. ..."]
Finally the U.S. Senate decided to move and on August 8, 1894, President
Grover Cleveland signed an act (''28 Stat. 263'') requiring railroads "to establish and maintain passenger stations and freight depots at or within one-fourth of a mile of the boundary limits of all town sites established prior to August 8, 1894, in said Territories."
Aftermath
Railroad Pond Creek was renamed
Jefferson Jefferson may refer to:
Names
* Jefferson (surname)
* Jefferson (given name)
People
* Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States
* Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...
and relocated to higher ground; government
Pond Creek (often called Round Pond by the Rock Island) remained but the Grant County seat (formerly "L" County) was eventually moved to
Medford. Railroad Enid became
North Enid; government Enid, or South Enid, became simply
Enid, the county seat of Garfield County (formerly "O" County).
See also
*
Family feuds in the United States
Feuds in the United States deals with the phenomena of historic blood feuding in the United States. These feuds have been numerous and some became quite vicious. Often, a conflict which may have started out as a rivalry between two individuals ...
Notes
Bibliography
*Chapman, Berlin B. "The Enid 'Railroad War': An Archival Study". ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 43:2 Summer 1965 126.
*Lemon, G.E
"Pond Creek History". ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 22:4 Winter 1945 452-456. (accessed October 23, 2006).
*Milam, Joe B
. ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 10:1 March 1932 115-134. (accessed October 23, 2006).
*Stagner, Lloyd (editor)
"Historian Recalls Enid, OK. Railroad Wars" ''Great Plains Dispatcher'' 4:11 November 2005 3. (accessed October 23, 2006).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enid-Pond Creek Railroad War
Conflicts in 1893
Conflicts in 1894
American frontier
Oklahoma Territory
Garfield County, Oklahoma
Grant County, Oklahoma
Enid, Oklahoma
Railroad Wars
Civil wars in the United States