USA > Oklahoma > A standard history of Oklahoma; an authentic narrative of its development from the date of the first European exploration down to the present time, including accounts of the Indian tribes, both civilized and wild, of the cattle range, of the land openings and the achievements of the most recent period, Vol. II > Part 32
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Sec. 22. That the constitutional convention provided for herein shall, by ordinance irrevocable, accept the terms and conditions of this Act.
[Sec. 23-41 pertain to New Mexico and Arizona. ]
CHAPTER LXXII
RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION
The only railway construction work that was done in the two territories during the early part of this period was that of the Choc- taw Coal & Railway Company, the line of which had been projected and actual construction begun the last year of the preceding period. This company had been incorporated under the laws of Minnesota and by an act of Congress approved February 18, 1888. It was authorized to transfer its corporate existence and rights to the In- dian Territory. It was also granted the privilege of constructing, maintaining, and operating a line of railway from Fort Reno to a point on the boundary line of Arkansas in the present LeFlore County.
That part of the line extending from McAlester to Wister was built in 1889-90. In the spring of 1891 the work of constructing the line from Fort Reno to Oklahoma City was begun. The right of way and leases of the road were mortgaged for approximately $10,000 per mile. When the track had been laid from Reno to Yukon, the bondholders refused to furnish more funds. Messrs. Edwin D. Chaddick and E. C. Sears,1 the active promoters of the Choctaw Coal & Railway Company, asked for appointment of receivers. The court appointed Francis I. Gowan and Edwin D. Chaddick as receivers, the former representing the bondholders and the latter representing the promoters.
Finding that the section of road extending from Fort Reno to Yukon could only be operated at a loss, the receivers applied to the court to compel the line from Yukon to Oklahoma City to pay for the cost of such construction in receiver's certificates. This course was taken in order to preserve the property and was classed by the
1 E. C. Sears, who thus appears as one of the promoters of the Choctaw Road, was the same man who, as attorney for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, had announced, jointly with Col. E. C. Boudinot, the discovery of the fact that a large part of the unoccu- pied lands of the Indian Territory were really a part of the Federal public domain, and as such subject to homestead settlement, in 1879.
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court and the receivers under the guise of necessary repairs, thus giving the certificates so issued priority over the Philadelphia syn- dicate's mortgage. The line as originally surveyed in 1888 inter- sected that of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway site upon which Oklahoma City was afterward built. The right-of-way and reservation for depot and side tracks was 200 feet wide and upon April 22, 1889, the limits thereto were plainly marked by tin signs which were conspicuously posted. The settlers, however, paid no attention to these signs or the right-of-way thus claimed. When the road was built in 1891 a compromise between the conflicting claims of the railway company and those who had settled on the townsite was effected whereby the alley in the row of blocks be- tween First and Second streets was vacated, with forty feet off of the lots on either side, at a cost of $16,000, which sum was paid in city scrip, to be payable when validated by act of Congress. After- ward, the city raised the rate charged for saloon license and au- thorized the city treasurer to receive scrip in payment of the same, the ultimate redemption costing the city 75 cents on the dollar. In 1894 Francis I. Gowan, receiver, was made chairman of a reorganization committee. One of the first steps of this reorgan- ization committee was to secure the passage of an act of Congress (approved August 24, 1894) authorizing the reorganization of the company. Under the terms of this act, the incorporators were required to file a certificate with the secretary of the interior, speci- fying name, capitalization, date of organization and directors. It was given independent corporate powers in perpetuity in addition to those heretofore held by the Choctaw Coal & Railway Company. After the passage and the approval of this act the property of the Choctaw Coal & Railway Company was sold at foreclosure sale under final decrees rendered by the United States Court at South Mc Alester and the District Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, and was purchased by the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railway.
The new company at once began the work of construction and, during the years 1895-6-7, the road was extended from Oklahoma City to South McAlester, from Wister to Howe, and from Fort Reno to Weatherford.
In 1897 the Choctaw & Arkansas Railway Company, a sub- sidiary corporation of the Choctaw, Oklahoma Railway Company, was chartered to build a line from Howe, Indian Territory, to Memphis, Tennessee. Shortly afterward this company acquired by purchase the property of the Memphis & Little Rock Railway
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Company, which, at that time, was going through its seventh or eighth receivership.
The Memphis & Little Rock Road was one of the first railways built west of the Mississippi River, having been completed shortly before the outbreak of the Civil war. The chief difficulty of the Memphis & Little Rock Road from its inception was caused by its poor construction, the roadbed having been built mostly through bog and swamp. When the Choctaw Company acquired it, work was immediately commenced to remedy this defect by hauling in thousands of cars of sand, timber and rock and mixing with the bog until it was tempered to a satisfactorily supporting foundation-an engineering feat of a magnitude only a little less than the more recent construction of the Union Pacific cutoff across an arm of the Great Salt Lake, the whole work being finished within a year.
The new line between Howe and Little Rock was constructed. during the year 1898-99, thus giving Oklahoma direct railway con- nections with Memphis. (The Choctaw Line from Wister to a junction with the Kansas City Southern at Howe was built immedi- ately after the last mentioned road was completed to that place.)
THE STILWELL ROAD
The Kansas City Southern Railway commonly known at the time as the Stilwell Road was remarkable as having been built during the period of business depression between 1894-97. It en- tered the Cherokee country near the northeast corner of the present Adair County and traversed a southerly route across Sequoyah County and two-thirds across LeFlore County when it turned east- ward and re-entered the State of Arkansas. This line in Oklahoma is about 100 miles long and a branch was built from Spiro to Fort Smith.
THE EXTENSION OF THE FRISCO
During the early part of this period there was practically no railway construction in either territory except that of the line of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railway, which has already been related. For many years the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company had had the terminus of its mnost western line at Red Fork, between Tulsa and Sapulpa. The desirability for direct railway connection between Oklahoma and St. Louis was keenly recognized by the commercial interests. of the territory as well as
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those of the great metropolis of the Central Mississippi Valley, and the further southwestern extension of the line was frequently dis- cussed in Oklahoma. The panic of 1893, and the protracted period of financial depression which followed it, put a quietus on the talk of any railway construction in Oklahoma for several years.
In considering the possibility of further extension of this line of railway, the keen rivalry between Guthrie and Oklahoma City, which was first manifested in the matter of land office locations and in the attempt to remove the territorial capital again became mani- fest. At that time (1894-97) Guthrie was much more prosperous than Oklahoma City. The reasons for this were plain. Guthrie not only had the capital of the territory and the prestige which went with such position, but it was also the center of a considerable overland trade which reached up the valley of the Cimarron River more than half way to Kingfisher on the west and down the valley of the Cimarron and over into the Deep Fork country in Lincoln County clear to the Creek boundary on the east. Thus, from dis- tances varying from twenty to sixty-five miles, it had a wagon trade, especially in hogs, cotton and produce, for which cash prices were paid. Although prices were low, much of this money was spent with Guthrie merchants and, as already stated, business in that community was in a fairly prosperous condition in consequence. Oklahoma City was in those days known as "the cross roads town," because of the fact that two railway lines intersected within its limits. Naturally, a railway line extending from Shawnee on the east to Fort Reno on the west did not add anything to the commer- cial advantages of Oklahoma City. On the contrary, the construc- tion of this seventy-five mile railway line was a decided detriment to Oklahoma City in that it built up local markets for cotton, wheat and other farm products to the east and west, thus limiting Okla- homa City's wagon trade to a radius of a few miles. The business depression in Oklahoma City during the years 1893-97 was there- fore very pronounced. Scores of houses were tenantless and rental rates on residence property scarcely equalled the taxes assessed against the same. Yet, in spite of the existence of such discourag- ing conditions, the indomitable spirit which distinguished Okla- homa City's leadership in the struggle for the location of the capital in the first Territorial Legislative Assembly, still survived. This unconquerable spirit, though seemingly dormant for several years, was revived, organized and concentrated in an endeavor to secure an extension of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway from Red
. Fork to Oklahoma City. A company known as the St. Louis &
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Oklahoma Railway was chartered, its directors consisting princi- pally of Oklahoma City business men. A bill was introduced in the Fifty-third Congress and passed both houses granting it the right-of-way across the Creek country to the Lincoln County line (Oklahoma). President Cleveland vetoed the bill because of some question in his mind whether the rights of the Creek Indians had been properly protected. Undaunted by this rebuff, the promoters of the proposed railway line had the bill reintroduced in the Fifty- fourth Congress where it again passed both branches.
Charles G. Jones, who was chief promoter of the line, did not propose to take any chances in the way of a possible executive veto this time. Principal Chief Pleasant Porter, of the Creek Nation, and a delegation of his fellow tribesmen, all of whom were promi- nent among their people, were in Washington at the time of the passage of the act and gave it their unqualified endorsement in writing. Mr. Jones was very anxious that the bill should receive the approval of the President. Finally, in his solicitude, he went to the White House and called upon the President's private secre- tary. When the latter inquired as to his mission, Mr. Jones said he wanted some information as to the fate of the bill granting right-of-way across the Creek Nation to the Oklahoma boundary for the railroad he proposed to build. Raising his hand in a gesture to command silence Secretary Thurber said :
"Sh -! Don't say a word. His Excellency is just preparing to leave for a duck hunt down on the Chesapeake Bay. If you will keep quiet and not bother him about it before he starts, its limit will expire before his return and it will become a law without the President's signature."
With the joy of achievement in his heart Mr. Jones tip-toed out of the White House, wishing that the Goddess of the Hunt might give the President a long run of luck, and so the bill became a law without executive approval.
Having thus paved the way for the construction of the proposed extension, so far as legal complications were concerned, Mr. Jones and his associates had then to enter into final negotiations with the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company, to operate or buy it when completed. Up to this time the people of Guthrie had not taken Oklahoma City's aspiration as a prospective railroad center very seriously. On the contrary, they were inclined to believe that the railroad company would extend its line from Red Fork in the due course of time without coaxing on the part of local interests. Moreover, they expected it to follow the line originally surveyed by
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the St. Louis & San Francisco Company's predecessor, the Atlantic & Pacific Railway Company, which would have brought it right up the valley of the Cimarron to a point at or near Guthrie. It is not improbable that a measure of overconfidence, due in part to her political prestige and in part to an apparent commercial supremacy for the time being, tended to delay action until its weaker rival had the situation so well in hand as to give it the decided advan- tage. Be that as it may, however, when Guthrie fully awoke to the gravity of the situation its leading citizens and business men imme- diately organized, raised a bonus subscription, and prepared to make an aggressive fight to secure an extension of the railroad from Red Fork. The sequel proved, however, that they were too late. The work already done by the Oklahoma City promoters, together with the congressional grant of a right-of-way across the interven- ing part of the Creek Nation gave it a decided advantage and the extension was built from Red Fork to Oklahoma City during the years 1897-98.
Among the associates of Mr. Jones in the promotion and build- ing of the line from Red Fork to Oklahoma City was Henry Over- holser, who was his chief backer and advisor.2 Jones and Overholser
2 Henry Overholser was born, April 20, 1846, on a farm near Dayton, Ohio, where his childhood and youth were spent. In his young manhood he spent several years in Indiana, after which he settled at Ashland, Wisconsin, where he engaged in business. He came to Oklahoma City when the country was first opened to settle- ment, bringing several car loads of building material with which a number of small frame business structures were erected. From the first he was recognized as a leader in the affairs of the new com- munity, where his keen, shrewd business judgment often helped to tide over times of trouble and perplexity. One day in July, 1893, two of the four banks in Oklahoma City closed their doors and a heavy run soon started on a third bank. Mr. Overholser was one of the bondsmen of the territorial treasurer. He hurried to Guthrie and demanded every dollar in the treasury for deposit in the dis- tressed bank. The treasurer had only $5,000, which was on deposit in the Guthrie banks. It was drawn out in silver and gold coins and placed in sacks. Other coin sacks were filled with iron washers. When Mr. Overholser returned to Oklahoma City he was accom- panied by four or five men, each carrying two heavy sacks. The first of the sacks to reach the paying teller's window were opened and the yellow and white coins rolled out in plain sight, with the result that the line of anxious depositors melted away almost in- stantly. When he was elected a member of the Board of County Commissioners of Oklahoma County in 1894, county warrants were being sold at 40 cents on the dollar. As the result of his vigorous
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were the complements of each other. The latter was a shrewd, keen, farsighted business man and possessed of superior intellectual qualifications. Jones,3 on the other hand, while possessed of con- sideral business ability was a man of very little education and some- times lacked in the element of tact. He, however, made up for some of his deficiencies by a genial disposition which made him a "good mixer" and a hail fellow well met among all classes of peo- ple. Mr. Overholser on the other hand was inclined to be reserved and did not possess the ability of making friends easily. In the course of their negotiations with the railroad company at St. Louis, therefore, Mr. Overholser kept in the background and did the head work while Mr. Jones was put to the front and personally appeared as the promoter.
When it came to raising the bonus, Oklahoma City had no ready money to put into the enterprise, but her people did liave considerable surplus real property for which there was neither rental demand or market value, and a large part of the bonus dona- tions consisted of city lots. Mr. Jones was a tireless worker. Back- ward and forward, from Oklahoma City to Creek boundary, he drove in a buggy, personally calling upon every farmer who owned land or held a homestead along the proposed railway line, appeal- ing for the donation of right-of-way on deeded land or relinquish- ment of same on land which was still held on homestead entry and, with few exceptions, such appeals were granted with little if no reluctance. Nor were his appeals limited to the farmers whose land was crossed by the line of the proposed right-of-way. Those living in the vicinity on either side upon whose land there still remained
insistence and management they were soon selling at par. During his last years Mr. Overholser was president of the State Fair Asso- ciation, to the affairs of which he devoted much time and personal attention, thus insuring the success of the enterprise. He died at Oklahoma City, August 25, 1915.
3 Charles G. Jones was a native of Cumberland County, Illinois, born in 1856, and was reared upon a farm with very limited educa- tional opportunities in his youth. He located in Oklahoma City less than a year after the opening and engaged in the milling business. He was elected a member of the lower House of the First Terri- torial Legislative Assembly in 1890, in which he took a conspicuous part. He also served as a member of the Fifth and Sixth Legisla- tive assemblies and in the First and Second State legislatures. In 1910 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the republican nomina- tion for governor. In addition to his activity in political affairs, he was one of the leading railroad promoters of Oklahoma. His death occurred at Oklahoma City in March, 1911.
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some forest growth were asked to cut railroad ties, a dozen or two at least, and deliver same on the right-of-way as an encouragement for the building of the proposed railroad and many of them who were weary of hauling hogs, cotton and other farm products over bad roads for distances of from twenty to fifty miles to a market on the railway were more than glad to do so.
The construction of the Frisco Railway to Oklahoma City was followed immediately by the location of several wholesale mercan- tile establishments at that place and the noticeable shift of certain business interests from Guthrie to Oklahoma City which began at that time was destined to continue until the scale of business pros- perity first balanced and then inclined in favor of the former un- lucky "cross roads town." Indeed, it is barely possible that, had Oklahoma City succeeded in securing the territorial capital when she strove for it in 1890, the Frisco might have laid its tracks into Guthrie in 1898, for strength is sometimes born of seeming adver- sity-it certainly was in the case of Oklahoma City.
In 1889 and 1900 the Santa Fe Railway Company built a branch from Guthrie to Pawnee by the way of Ripley and Stillwater. About the same time the Santa Fe and Rock Island together built the line from Kingfisher to Seward, the Rock Island built a branch from Chickasha to Mangum and another from Enid to Billings. The Hutchinson Southern (now the Santa Fe) was built to Black- well, and the St. Louis & San Francisco built a line from the state boundary, near Arkansas City, to Enid.
Immediately after the presidential election of 1900 began the period of greatest activity in railroad building in the history of Oklahoma. During the ensuing four years the Frisco built a line from Sapulpa southward to the Red River, another from Oklahoma City southwestward to the Red River in old Greer County and one from Enid southwestward and south to the Red River in Comanche (now Tillman) County. The Rock Island also entered upon an extensive building program, building the line from Enid through Watonga, Geary, Anadarko, and Lawton to Waurika; its El Paso line was built diagonally across Beaver (the present Texas) County, besides several branches of less importance. The Missouri, Kansas & Texas built its lines from Coffeyville, Kansas, to Oklahoma City and Guthrie and from Oklahoma City to Coalgate. The Choctaw Northern, a subsidiary corporation of the Choctaw Road, built a line from Geary northward toward the Kansas line.
The Santa Fe Company built its line from Newkirk to Pauls Valley. This company also built several branches of less length
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and importance. Other lines projected during this period were the Midland Valley and the Fort Smith & Western, also the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient which was projected by Arthur E. Stilwell, the Kansas City railway promoter who had lost control of the road which he had built from Kansas City to Port Arthur. The Frisco also built its line from Ardmore eastward down the valley of the Red River to DeQueen, Arkansas. Numerous independent lines projected during this period were never built.
Some of the competing railway companies had agreements as to where and what each should build. Thus the Santa Fe and the Rock Island planned to avoid unnecessary duplication. On the other hand, the Rock Island and the Choctaw and its auxiliary, the Choctaw Northern, were bitter rivals and for a time it looked as if there would be considerable paralleling done. It was ended, how- ever, by the Rock Island purchasing the entire Choctaw Railways system, in the spring of 1902.
RAILROAD DISCRIMINATION AGAINST GOVERNMENT TOWNSITES
When the Cherokee Strip was thrown open to settlement, the Government reserved the townsites of the proposed county seats from homestead entry, as had been done in the case of the Iowa, Sac and Fox, Pottawatomie-Shawnee and Cheyenne-Arapaho reservations. The sites thus selected for the county seats of County "L" and County "O" were located on the line of the Rock Island Railway. The managers of the railway had plans of their own in regard to this matter, however, having arranged to plat rival townsites within five miles of each of the Government townsites, and they refused to locate sidetracks or stations for the new county seat towns at Pond Creek and Enid. The people of these towns were patient for a time but, as the railway management manifested no signs of relenting or acting reasonable in regard to the matter, they finally resorted to violent means in order to compel some action on the part of the railroad authorities or the Government for the relief of such an intolerable condition. A culvert near Enid was so weakened by parties unknown that a freight train was derailed and another train was thrown from the track at Pond Creek by loosening the rails from the ties. Congress was at last aroused to action and a law was enacted for the purpose of compelling the railway company to build and maintain passenger and freight stations on the Government townsites.
CHAPTER LXXIII
THE DAWES COMMISSION AND THE CURTIS ACT
The commission to treat with Cherokees and.other Indian tribes for their relinquishment of surplus lands west of the 96th Meridian, in order that the same might be thrown open for settlement under the homestead laws, continued its work throughout the Harrison administration. It being apparent that a commission with a wider scope of authority would soon be needed if negotiations were to be continued for the settlement of the affairs of the five civilized tribes, provision was made for the appointment of such a com- mission under the next administration. Henry L. Dawes, former United States Senator from Massachusetts, Meridith H. Kidd, of Indiana, and Archibald S. MeKennon of Arkansas were appointed by President Cleveland November 1, 1893, as members of the commission to treat with the Indians of the civilized tribes with a view to securing agreement to take allotments of land in severalty and to give up the privilege of maintaining Indian Tribal Govern- ments. This commission which became known as the Dawes Com- mission was destined to play an important part in the history of the state from that time until the end of the territorial period.
The work of the Dawes Commission became more complex as the scope of its authority was extended from time to time by Congress. When it became known that the lands of the civilized tribes were to be divided and allotted there were hundreds of claimants who came forward with the assertion of Indian descent and demanded a right to share in the distribution of tribal lands and moneys. These claims all had to be investigated. They abounded in genealogical intricacies and many of them were with- out any foundation in fact, yet the commission and its employes had to give serious consideration to each until it was proven to be either genuine or spurious.
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