The Kiowa, Chickasha and Fort Smith Railway (KC&FS) came about when 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) and 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) decided to build an interchange linking their systems at a point halfway between the towns of

Chickasha Chickasha is a city in and the county seat of Grady County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 16,036 at the 2010 census. Chickasha is home to the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. The city is named for and strongly connected ...

and

Pauls Valley Pauls Valley is a city in and the county seat of Garvin County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 5,992 at the 2020 census, a decline of 3.2 percent from the figure of 6,187 in 2010. It was settled by and named for Smith Paul, a North ...

in what is now the

State of Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. Toward that goal, the AT&SF incorporated The Kiowa, Chickasha and Fort Smith Railway Company in Kansas on July 13, 1899, which then built a line from Pauls Valley to what became the town of Lindsay, a distance of 24.2 miles, in the 1901-1903 timeframe. The line’s first operation was in December of 1903. The new railway, operated by another AT&SF affiliate, the

Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. From its starting point in Galveston, Texas, the railroad eventually extended northwestwards across the state to Sweetwater and northwards via ...

, joined the Rock Island line built about 1903 from Chickasha to Lindsay, 24.8 miles. The AT&SF trains from Pauls Valley turned around at Lindsay, and the Rock Island trains from Chickasha did the same. The town of Lindsay was established because of the impending railroad junction in January, 1902. And, the town of Beef Creek was relocated a mile north to be alongside the tracks. When that town’s post office relocated in September of 1902, it changed its name to Maysville. Following approval by act of Congress on March 11, 1904, the line was sold to another AT&SF affiliate, the

Eastern Oklahoma Railway The Eastern Oklahoma Railway was incorporated under the laws of Oklahoma Territory on July 24, 1899. The railroad constructed much of its own track. This included Guthrie junction (Eastern Oklahoma junction) to Cushing junction, 47.9 miles, in ...

, on March 14, 1904. In subsequent history, the Eastern Oklahoma Railway was sold to the AT&SF on June 20, 1907. Both the Rock Island and AT&SF portions of the line between Chickasha and Pauls Valley were abandoned in 1942.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiowa, Chickasha and Fort Smith Railway Oklahoma railroads Defunct Oklahoma railroads