The Sulphur Springs Railway was a

shortline railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

in Oklahoma branching off the trackage of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (Frisco), intended to bring tourists to what was then the federal government's Sulphur Springs Reservation, which would later become a national park. The railroad was completed about 1903, and the trackage was purchased by the Frisco in 1907.

History

The strong-smelling mineral spring water in an area of

Murray County, Oklahoma Murray County is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,488. This is a 6.9 percent increase from 12,623 at the 2000 census. The county seat is Sulphur. The county was ...

was believed by various Native American people to have healing power. When developers descended on the area, the

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classif ...

and Choctaw appealed to the federal government to preserve access for everyone. The government purchased 640 acres in 1902, later expanding its holdings to 858 acres. The initial name for the site was the Sulphur Springs Reservation, which in 1906 Congress would re-designate as the Platt National Park. The park would later become, and remains, the

Chickasaw National Recreation Area Chickasaw National Recreation Area is a national recreation area in the foothills of the Arbuckle Mountains in south-central Oklahoma near Sulphur in Murray County. It includes the former Platt National Park and Arbuckle Recreation Area. Part of ...

. While the park was only in the planning stages, the issue of access was raised, and the Secretary of the Interior granted authority on October 11, 1900 to the nascent Sulphur Springs Railway to locate and survey a line from Hickory, Oklahoma via Sulphur, Oklahoma-- this being the town in the immediate area of the park-- to

Davis, Oklahoma Davis is a city in Garvin and Murray counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 2,683 at the 2010 census. History Davis is named after Samuel H. Davis, who moved to Washita in what was then Indian Territory in 1887. At the tim ...

. Plans were submitted on February 18, 1901, but only the portion from Hickory to Sulphur was approved. The Sulphur Springs Railway Company was officially incorporated in April of 1902, with plans to run the track from a point at Scullin Station south of Hickory on the

Sapulpa, Oklahoma Sapulpa is a city in Creek and Tulsa counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 20,544 at the 2010 United States census, compared to 19,166 at the 2000 census. The population as of 2022 is 22,205. As of 2019, the estimated popula ...

-to- Denison, Texas line of the Frisco, on to Sulphur. That line, about 9 miles in length, was started in the Fall of 1902 and was completed in the late Spring of 1903. The line was sold to the Frisco on July 18, 1907. In its later years, the trackage was used to haul generating equipment, livestock feed, and fuel to the Sulphur area. The line was removed in the 1970’s. This railroad is not to be confused with the Mandeville and Sulphur Springs Railroad, which became the

New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad The New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad was a Class I railroad in Louisiana and Mississippi in the United States. The railroad operated of road from its completion in 1883 until it was absorbed by the Alabama Great Southern Railroad subsid ...

and operated in Louisiana and Mississippi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulphur Springs Railway Oklahoma railroads Defunct Oklahoma railroads