The Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railway (“K&AV”) was owner of 170.64 miles of single track, standard gauge steam railroad line, consisting of a 164.63 mile mainline from a junction near
Van Buren, Arkansas
Van Buren ( ) is the second-largest city in the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area and the county seat of Crawford County, Arkansas, United States. The city is located directly northeast of Fort Smith at the Interst ...
Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's southeastern region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,826. Coffeyville is the most popul ...
The K&AV was incorporated under the General Laws of Arkansas on November 27, 1885. It proposed to build a railroad from the western terminus of the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad trackage near Van Buren, Arkansas, through what was then
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...
. Congressional approval for such an effort was received in 1886. Construction was performed under contract by the
Missouri Pacific Railway
The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...
, and that company both advanced the funds and received the stock of the K&AV. In 1888, the railroad built the Arkansas trackage along with 78.2 miles in Oklahoma through Vian and
Fort Gibson
Fort Gibson is a historic military site next to the modern city of Fort Gibson, in Muskogee County Oklahoma. It guarded the American frontier in Indian Territory from 1824 to 1888. When it was constructed, the fort was farther west than any ot ...
to Wagoner. The road was operated from its first day by Iron Mountain. In 1889 the railroad constructed another 79.2 miles from Wagoner through Inola,
Claremore
Claremore is a city and the county seat of Rogers County in Green Country or northeastern Oklahoma, United States. The population was 19,580 at the 2020 census, a 5.4 percent increase over the figure of 18,581 recorded in 2010.Oologah and Lenapah to the Kansas state line south of Coffeyville. A separate company called the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railroad, controlled by Iron Mountain (also a Missouri Pacific affiliate), built 2.41 miles of trackage in Kansas. This completed the K&AV line to Coffeyville, Kansas, giving the finished road a 164.63 mile single-track mainline. The year 1890 saw construction of a branch line from a point variously known as Cherokee Junction or Greenwood Junction in Oklahoma back to Fort Smith, Arkansas, a total of 6.01 miles, thus giving the K&AV 170.64 total miles of road, including the Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railroad trackage in Kansas which was sold to the K&AV that same year.
The K&AV property was leased on January 1, 1890 to the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railway, which in turn leased it to Iron Mountain. That continued until September 1, 1909, when the property was sold outright to Iron Mountain. Subsequently, Iron Mountain was sold at foreclosure in February of 1917, and combined with the Missouri Pacific Railway Company (of 1909) to form the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company on May 12, 1917. The Missouri Pacific itself was merged into the giant
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
in 1997, and the old route continues to exist as part of the Union Pacific rail network.