Muskogee Company

The history of the Muskogee Company begins with the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad, built in the 1890s by a group of Philadelphia businessmen headed by Charles Edward Ingersoll. The line ran from Hartford, Arkansas to McAlester, Oklahoma. It was constructed to serve the Arkansas coal fields in which the Philadelphians held extensive interests: the Sebastian County Coal & Mining Co., American Smokeless Coal Co., Mazzrad Coal & Mining Co., and Garland Coal & Mining Co.

In 1902 the Ingersoll group sold their line to a competitor and decided to start a new line – the Midland Valley Railroad – from Ft. Smith, Arkansas to Wichita, Kansas. The road was to travel northwest from Arkansas through Indian Territory (Oklahoma) via Muskogee, Tulsa, and a portion of the Osage Indian Nation, and was conceived with the idea of serving the coal market in Kansas and points beyond.

In order to finance the new line, the Philadelphians formed the Cherokee Construction Company, which issued notes and mortgages and quickly began work on the Midland Valley Railroad. As the Midland Valley became operable, it issued its own stocks and bonds. When the line reached Arkansas City, Kansas, additional companies – the Midland Construction Company and the Wichita & Midland Valley Railroad – were formed to complete the construction and operation of the line from Arkansas City to Wichita. These two additional companies were based in Wichita.

Although the Midland Valley Railroad was originally intended primarily to haul coal, the discovery and development of oil fields during the early 1900s, and the subsequent economic and population growth, led to expansion both in traffic and of the railroad itself. Growth was largely due to traffic in oil, but the line saw increases in passenger and freight traffic as well. The Glenn Pool Branch line was constructed to serve the Glenn Pool oilfield. An independent road, the Osage Railway, was built during the early 1920s to accommodate traffic from the oil fields located in the Osage Nation.

Several holding companies were also formed during the 1920s, and were primarily concerned with the Midland Valley’s affairs – the Foraker Company, Bird Creek Company, and the Muskogee Company. Another, the Southwestern Company, was formed in order to acquire the stocks and bonds of the Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad, a nearby road that had twice gone into receivership. In 1926, the Southwestern Company was able to take over the K.O. & G. and, after its recognition, was soon operating that railroad profitably. In 1929, the Muskogee Company acquired the Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railroad Company and its subsidiary line, the Oklahoma City- Shawnee Interurban Company. Thus, the Ingersoll interests came to own and operate four different lines with a total of 756 miles of track.

Through prudent management, the railroads survived the Great Depression and continued operating successfully thereafter. In 1953, however, the Osage Railroad was abandoned. In 1963, the Texas & Pacific, a subsidiary of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, acquired the Midland Valley; Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf; and the Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka railroads. The latter was sold to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe that same year, while the former two lines were consolidated with the Texas & Pacific.

From the guide to the Muskogee Company records [Part 1] Mss 0045., 1808-circa 1939, circa 1910-circa 1930, (DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University)