Midland Valley Railroad

The Midland Valley Railroad was incorporated in Arkansas on June 4, 1903.  By May 1, 1906, the railroad had 292.7 miles of track open, extending from Silverdale KS to Hoye and Fidelity, AR.  In August 1907 a branch opened from Jenks to Glenn Pool OK, a distance of 6.3 miles.  The company had trackage rights over the Frisco between Maney Junction and Fort Smith, AR (15.93 mi) and over the Missouri Pacific between Silverdale and Arkansas City, KS (9.03 mi). On July 29, 1910, the Midland Valley leased the Wichita & Midland Valley Railroad, thus extending operations another 50.6 miles from Arkansas City to Wichita.

According to the 1908 Poor's Manual of Railroads, the Midland Valley at that time had 38 locomotives, 24 passenger cars, 1,260 coal cars, 402 boxcars, 80 flatcars and 2 refrigerator cars.  Coal, primarily from mines in Arkansas and far eastern Oklahoma, accounted for the vast majority of tonnage until coal production began falling in the 1920s.

The Midland Valley took its name from Midland, Arkansas, a coal mining town in Sebastian County, near the Oklahoma border.  Operating headquarters and shops for the Midland Valley were located in Muskogee, OK, while the general office was located in Philadelphia, PA.

In 1925, the Midland Valley acquired the Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railway. Both railroads were owned by the Muskogee Company, which purchased a third railroad, the Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railway in 1929. All three railroads were operated as more or less common property by the Muskogee Company, and generally known as the "Muskogee Roads" until sale of all railroads to Missouri Pacific  in 1964. The Midland Valley was briefly operated as a subsidiary, but later merged into the Texas & Pacific on April 1, 1967.

The Kansas Oklahoma & Gulf (KO&G)

The Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railway was originally chartered on March 28, 1910, as the Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway.  The line extended from Baxter KS through Wagoner OK to Red River, OK (301.5 miles).  A Texas subsidiary extended 9 miles from Red River to Denison, where connection was made with the Texas & Pacific.  The Missouri, Oklahoma & Gulf defaulted and was sold at foreclosure in July 1919, emerging as the KO&G.  The KO&G was itself ruled insolvent and placed in the hands of a receiver in June 1924 and subsequently purchased by the Muskogee Company, owner of the Midland Valley.

The KO&G owed much of its latter existence to its status as a bridge line between the Missouri Pacific  at Okay, Oklahoma and the Missouri Pacific-controlled Texas & Pacific at Denison, TX, This traffic was the main source of revenue for the KO&G and was the primary reason that the MP acquired it.

The KO&G was absorbed into MoPac shortly after the T&P's own absorbtion into the system in 1976.   Most of the KO&G on-line traffic was coal and quarry products, but they were also a major bridge-line between Kansas and the upper midwest in the MoPac scheme of things, competing with both the MK&T and the Frisco. MP continued to upgrade the line, but after Union Pacific acquired competing MKT, much of the KO&G was abandoned.

Midland Valley

Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf

Trackage Abandonment Dates

KO&G    1962   112.41 mi  Okay, OK to Military Junction, KS
KO&G    1965   26.20 mi   Durant, OK to Denison, TX
KO&G    1969   4.44 mi    Bromide Branch

MV            1965   3.34 mi    Excelsior, AR to Greenwood, AR
MV            1965   12.12 mi   Adamsville, KS to Silverdale, KS
MV            1968   20.90 mi   Excelsior, AR to Panama, OK
MV            1968   52.67 mi   Pawhuska, OK to Silverdale, KS
T&P(MV)    1969   40.20 mi   Adamsville, KS to Wichita, KS
T&P(MV)    1975   2.75 mi    at Tulsa, OK
MP(MV)      1979   12.98 mi   Pawhuska, OK to Barnsdall, OK

Track abandonments 1980 and later have not yet been listed.

Recommended Reading: 
 

• Midland Valley Rails for Coal, Cattle and Crude, Lloyd E. Stagner, South Platte Press, 1996
• A History of Texas Railroads, S. G. Reed, St. Clair Publishing, 1941

Internet Resources:

• Mike Condren's Midland Valley website
• T. Greuter's Muskogee Lines website