The genesis of the Guthrie and Western Railway (G&WR) may be said to have occurred January 9, 1900, at a public meeting in the city of
Guthrie, Oklahoma. At least one recollection of the evening involved the crowd being told that, while the town was already served 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 ...
(AT&SF), it was not served by the
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.
At the end ...
(Rock Island); and, if the town could raise $15,000, the Rock Island would-- perhaps under another name-- build a line from a connection with its track near
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
into the city of Guthrie.
What actually happened was that funding was raised for the G&WR, an affiliate of the AT&SF. Incorporated in Oklahoma Territory on that same date, the railroad during 1900 built from a point on the main line of the AT&SF at or between the stations of
Seward and Guthrie, to the Rock Island’s line at or near Kingfisher (specifically,
Cashion, Oklahoma
Cashion is a town in Kingfisher and Logan counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The Logan County portion of Cashion is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town population was 802 at the 2010 census, up from 643 in 200 ...
, east-southeast of Kingfisher), 10.6 miles.
[ A wholly-owned subsidiary of the AT&SF, the railroad was sold June 16, 1902 to another AT&SF affiliate, the Eastern Oklahoma Railway.][ In subsequent history, the Eastern Oklahoma Railway was sold to the AT&SF on June 20, 1907.][ The line was abandoned in 1934.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guthrie and Western Railway
Oklahoma railroads
Defunct Oklahoma railroads