Grove, OK, Ft. Smith Subdivision, Bentonville Branch, MP 379.0

Grove, OK depot.

1914 Sanborn map.

 

I am interested in the track layout in Grove, Oklahoma.

I went to the Historical Society Of Delaware County located in Jay, OK, a few miles south of Grove and found a book with a photograph of the depot in Grove. But there was no information on track diagrams.

The railroad to Grove was a spur from Gravette, Arkansas and ended in Grove. There must have been facilities to turn the engine, either a wye or a turntable. I suppose they could have gone back to Gravette tender first but that does not seem likely. The line was eliminated in 1940 and there is very little evidence of it today.

I have the Sanborn maps for Grove but the track layout is incomplete. It does not show how the engine was turned.

Is there a repository in the Frisco Historical Society library with track layouts, Standard Identification Identification Codes (SLIC) or Car Location Identification Codes (CLIC) charts for all towns on the railroad?

If so, where is it located?

I am new to this group so I do not know where the historical society library is located.

Dave Steensland

 

Grove, OK had a home-made 60 foot steel turntable with a Kings manufacturing Company center pivot.

It was a manual "armstrong" variety.

 

Thanks Karl for the response.

I would like to find other information on the Frisco in Grove including track layout beyond what the Sanborn maps show.

What is your information source?

Dave Steensland

 

Frisco Form 859.

Official List of Officers, Stations, Agents, etc. of the St Louis-San Francisco Railway Co. and the Paris and Great Northern Railroad.

Number 18
May 1, 1926

 

As of September 12, 1918, the Grove depot was 20 feet by 60 feet with a four foot gable overhang roof.

It had two out houses, a 64 feet by 64 feet stockyard, a 16 feet by 32 feet section house dwelling, a tool house, a coal dock built in 1916, and a 60 foot span steel turntable built in 1902 that weighed 48,000 pounds. The turntable was built by the King Bridge Company.

I recall reading somewhere that the residents of Grove erected the depot in anticipation of the arrival of the Arkansas and Oklahoma (A&O) Railroad. The Frisco bought the A&O in November 1900. So I imagine the Frisco completed the track laying into Grove sometime after that date.

Source - National Archives, ICC Record Group 134, Engineering Field Notes of ICC Parties Surveying the Physical Property of Railroad, Box 848.

 

Thanks Tom & Karl.

 

ARC Document

May not work but I did a digital copy search on Arkansas maps and it shows the original depot lay out with turntable.

http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ShowFullRecordDigital?initpagemodel=on&mn=resultsDetailPageModel&goto=59&sort=&$searchId=5&$showFullDescriptionTabs.selectedPaneId=&$digiDetailPageModel.currentPage=0&$resultsPartitionPageModel.targetModel=true&$resultsSummaryPageModel.pageSize=10&$partitionIndex=0&$digiSummaryPageModel.targetModel=true&$submitId=2&$resultsDetailPageModel.search=true&$digiDetailPageModel.resultPageModel=true&$resultsDetailPageModel.currentPage=50&$showArchivalDescriptionsTabs.selectedPaneId=digital&$resultsDetailPageModel.pageSize=1&$resultsSummaryPageModel.targetModel=true&$sort=RELEVANCE_ASC&$resultsPartitionPageModel.search=true&$highlight=false&tab=init/showFullDescriptionTabs/digital&detail=digiViewModel/1

 

From the History of Grove, OK web search,

A faster mode of transportation was available when railroads were introduced. In 1900, J.M. Bayless of Cassville, Missouri built the Frisco Railroad, a forty-six mile long railroad that ran from Rogers, Arkansas to Grove, Oklahoma. The railroad made it easier for the locals to ship livestock and produce to distant markets.

Grove’s depot was located north of Mill creek on the corner of Main and Remsen Streets. The building of the railroad was considered one of the major advances in the community’s industry at that time.

However, as cars became more numerous in the area, the railroad suffered a decrease in business. As a result, in August 1940, the State Corporation Commission asked the St. Louis and San Francisco Railways to discontinue service to Grove.

I believe that Bayless was also involved with the Cassville and Exeter (C&E) Railroad. This branch line railroad was also known, for some time, as the Kansas City and Memphis. I have a pass from the line. It was also famous for its "Fruit Belt Route" logo.

The grade of the Arkansas and Oklahoma (A&O) is still very evident west of Rogers, AR past the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, appropriately enough named as the town of Highfill, Arkansas.

In some form of urban legend, the Bank of Grove was allegedly robbed by notorious 1930s era gunman, Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd.

Rancho Bob

 

The line to the Grove, IT area was built from Bentonville, AR by J. M. Bayless and W. R. Felker under the corporate tile Arkansas and Oklahoma (A&O).

The line that also incorporated the 5.25 mile Bentonville Railroad between Rogers, AR and Bentonville, AR.

The Kansas City and Memphis (KC&M) Railway operated in Northwest Arkansas, not Missouri. It was the project of W. R. Felker, the same banker who collaborated on the Arkansas, Oklahoma and Western (AO&W).

The "Fruit Belt Route" was first used by the AO&W that ran between Rogers, AR and Siloam Springs, AR. The Kansas City and Memphis operated from 1910 to 1918. It went into receivership in 1914 and was unable to reorganize on a profitable basis.

The Frisco bought the A&O in November 1900 and operated it as the Bentonville Branch. The Bentonville Branch traversed Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. The Interstate Commerce Commission authorized abandonment of the 41 miles west of Bentonville in the summer of 1940. The abandonment was effective September 9, 1940.

The Cassville and Exeter (C&E) Railway by a twist of fate retained the "Fruit Belt Route" logo. It was on an electric battery storage car it purchased from the Kansas City & Memphis Railway as the line was being sold off to satisfy creditors in late 1918.

The car was on the C&E property for a number of years before being relegated to an antique shop body on U.S. Highway 71 at Neosho, MO in the mid 1940s.

 

Please see the following link.

http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?291-Forms-amp-Documents posts #14 and #15

 

Thanks Karl.

That will teach me not to post stuff on too many bronchitis medications.

RBob

 

Was doing some research on the line some time ago and on the Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf (KO&G).

I always wondered why the line stopped in Grove, OK and did not go on up to Afton, OK or a connection near there with the other Frisco line. Pretty sure for some reason one of my family members remarked that there used to be a bridge near where Sailboat Bridge is now.

So looking on the maps I followed on a line west of the depot in Grove and around the cove by the bridge. I ran across where the KO&G used to cross northwest of that area on its way to Fairland, OK and could make out what appeared to be a wye where the Frisco and KO&G would have more than likely met.

Looking now on current maps I cannot find it again, but I know I saw it once or twice. A little confused about this but I have found similar lines and connections on the map and a few have actually panned out correctly.

Could it have been a connection with the KO&G or where the KO&G had a spur running towards Grove, OK?

It would be nice to find someone around that area that knew or remembered the two railroads in the area.

 

Frisco Chief Engineer, J. F. Hickley, toured the line, and in a letter dated October 17, 1900 reported back to Frisco President, B. F. Yoakum.

http://www.frisco.org/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=667&d=1129157702

The Frisco deemed the line to be a mere feeder, and a block against expansion into the Indian Territory (IT) by the Kansas City, Ft Scott and Memphis (KCFS&M), so it was never extended.

 

Well, that answers my question, thanks.

Must have been a connection or spur belonging to the KO&G.

Looking at your map there are a few of those lines noted that I had seen before on Terraserver.

Good stuff.

 

Hi! I went to high school in Grove, OK and grew up near Southwest City, MO.

Some of my earliest memories are of riding my bike on the dirt road over the old grade and finding spikes. I have seen pictures of the building of Sailboat Bridge and there is a boxcar on site. I have wondered if the SLSF or the KO&G built that spur.

Earlier today I was looking at a 1915 railroad map of Oklahoma. It showed the railroad continuing west of Grove, OK going through Bernice, OK and connecting to Afton, OK.

Any ideas or comments?

Was this something planned that never materialized or is the map just plain wrong?

http://okgenweb.org/okprojects/xref/map/ok-east.jpg

 

Here is my theory.

The Frisco abandoned their line in 1940. The Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf (KO&G) did not abandon their line through Bernice, OK until late 1962. So depending on when Sailboat Bridge was built, guessing between 1940 and 1963, there is a good chance the KO&G built a spur to the site and supplied materials for the project.

I know when you go north towards the turnpike after crossing the bridge you cross the old KO&G line near a junction that you can take west to Bernice. And a little ways after that you drive on the old KO&G roadbed for a while.

If you go straight toward the turnpike there used to be a sharp left curve and a trestle on the KO&G line as it juts north toward Fairland. There was also a line relocation at this area east of the highway near the trestle. Not sure if this was due to a washout or a grade reduction.

I do know that I have seen the wye on the KO&G line at the location where the line most likely would have traveled east southeast toward the bridge.

Just food for thought!

 

The lore around Bentonville, AR was that after reaching Grove, OK the A&O folks started talking about building on to connect to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas (MKT) Railroad.

This supposedly caused the Frisco to buy the A&O to keep the fruit business that was the line's main feature. Tom may have better information on that.

To change subject a bit, the map Karl posted shows a line through Tahlequah, OK as abandoned by the Frisco in 1942. I need some help on that area, as I have recently come into possession via my mother of a Resolution, or the draft of one by the Board of Directors of the Ft. Gibson, Tahlequah and Great Northern (FGT&GN) Railroad Company.

I have not been able to make a good scan yet or I would have posted it. W. R. Felker mentioned in Tom's post was the Treasurer. They were thanking S. W. Peel for introducing a bill for a right of way through Indian Territory through Congress. The stationary is from 1891.

Anyway, there may be more information about these lines still hiding out there.