Railroad Wars were business rivalries between railroad companies, which occurred frequently in American history. Although they were usually little more than legal disputes inside a courtroom, they sometimes turned into
armed conflict
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
s. There has been competition between railroad companies since the beginning of
railroading in the United States, but violent confrontations were most common in the final quarter of the 19th century, particularly in the
Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...
.
Wars
Placer County Railroad War
One of the first railroad wars in Old West history was the Placer County Railroad War in
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. In 1864, the
Sacramento Valley Railroad and the
Central Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail company chartered by U.S. Congress in 1862 to build a railroad eastwards from Sacramento, California, to complete most of the western part of the "First transcontinental railroad" in North Americ ...
began competing for the ownership of a road from
Ashland to a point just outside
Auburn Station, which was in the process of being abandoned by the Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Railroad. Because the Sacramento Valley company was in need of American-made rail for use in the
First transcontinental railroad
America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the exis ...
, the abandonment of the Sacramento, Placer and Nevada road gave them an opportunity to purchase new rail cheaply. To the contrary, the Central Pacific was interested in completing the road to Auburn.
In order to stop the destruction of the road by the Sacramento Valley company, Central Pacific convinced a local
Welshman named Griffith Griffith, who owned a
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...
along the road, to sue the former for threatening his business. Griffith was successful and on June 15, 1864, he received a court order to stop the destruction of the road. The Sacramento Valley company ignored the order though and on July 2 they began disassembling the road for use elsewhere.
In response, the
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...
of
Placer County assembled his deputies and arrested some railroad workers at Auburn Station. However, on July 9, the disassembling of the road was resumed so the deputies attempted to stop it again. But, before they were successful, the
Justice
In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...
of
Lincoln arrived and arrested the deputies for disturbing the peace. When he learned of this, the sheriff of Placer County ordered the Auburn Greys, a local
militia
A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...
, to pick up where his deputies had left off. During the following encounter, the militia opened fire on a crew of workers as they were removing the tracks. Others were arrested and put in jail. The road was safe for the time being, but, soon after, the
California Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...
got involved and sided with the Sacramento Valley Railroad. Now that the Sacramento Valley company had permission from the state to continue removing the road, the Central Pacific was forced to build their own line to Auburn, which was completed on May 13, 1865.
Colorado Railroad War
The Colorado Railroad War, also known as the Royal Gorge Railroad War, was fought in the late 1870s between the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996.
The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...
and the smaller
Denver and Rio Grande company. In 1878, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe was competing against the Denver and Rio Grande to put the first line through
Raton Pass
Ratón Pass is a 7,834 ft (2,388 m) elevation mountain pass on the Colorado–New Mexico border in the western United States. It is located on the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Trinidad, Colorado and Raton, N ...
. Both railroads had extended lines into
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...
,
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
and the pass was the only access to continue on to
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
. There was a great deal of legal maneuvering, and even threatened violence between rival gangs of railroad workers. To break the impasse, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe hired a number of local
gunfighter
Gunfighters, also called gunslingers () or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslin ...
s in February 1878. Faced with this threat, and running out of money, the Denver and Rio Grande was forced to cede the pass to its rivals. The initial dispute was over without a shot being fired. However, the next year a
silver strike in
Leadville
Leadville ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, Lak ...
brought the struggle back to life.
Now both railroads were competing to put track along the narrow
Royal Gorge. The Denver and Rio Grande had hired its own gunfighters so the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe decided to strengthen its forces. On March 20, 1879 the railroad hired
Bat Masterson
Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the late 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was bo ...
to put together a group of gunmen. Masterson's force included such famous fighters as
Doc Holliday
John Henry Holliday (August 14, 1851 – November 8, 1887), better known as Doc Holliday, was an American dentistry, dentist, gambling, gambler, and gunfighter who was a close friend and associate of Sheriff, lawman Wyatt Earp. Holliday is b ...
,
Ben Thompson,
Dave Rudabaugh and
Mysterious Dave Mather, as well as about seventy others. This impressive force had great success through early June 1879, but, on June 10, the state Fourth Judicial Circuit, with the later concurrence of the federal courts, ruled in favor of the Denver and Rio Grande, changing matters entirely. With the assistance of the sheriffs in the counties through which the railroads passed, the Denver and Rio Grande mounted an attack on its rival's forces. There was heavy fighting at the Santa Fe's garrisons in Colorado. The garrisons in
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
and
Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...
fell quickly. Masterson's headquarters in
Pueblo
Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...
held out the longest, but they eventually conceded defeat. Later, there were some bloodless skirmishes, but the war was essentially over with the Denver and Rio Grande in control of the Royal Gorge.
Enid-Pond Creek Railroad War
The
Enid-Pond Creek Railroad War was a dispute between the citizens of two
Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
counties and the
Rock Island Railroad
The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.
At ...
. In the late 1880s, the Rock Island Railroad built a line into the
Indian Territory
Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
, entering near
Caldwell,
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
and following the
Chisholm Trail
The Chisholm Trail ( ) was a stock trail and wagon route used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in southern Texas, across the Red River into Indian Territory, and northward to rail stops in Kansas. The trail cons ...
. At part of the infrastructure, the company established railroad stations near several of the existing
stagecoach
A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
stations along the trail. Two of the stations,
Pond Creek, built at Pond Stage Stand on Round Pond Creek, and
Enid, built at Skeleton Station near the Skeleton Ranch headquarters, would become involved in a controversy between the railroad and the
United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...
.
The problems began when the Department of the Interior set about opening the
Cherokee Outlet
The Cherokee Outlet, or Cherokee Strip, was located in what is now the state of Oklahoma in the United States. It was a parcel of land south of the Oklahoma–Kansas border between 96th meridian west, 96 and 100th meridian west, 100°W. The Che ...
to settlement. Hoping to lessen the problem of
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
wars, a common event in newly settled areas of the
Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...
, the Department of the Interior divided the Cherokee Outlet into counties and assigned them county seats. Pond Creek was chosen as the seat of
"L" County and Enid became the seat of
"O" County. Following the announcement of the official county seats, several
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...
citizens began claiming land allotments, choosing sites near Pond Creek and Enid. Subsequently, railroad officials were accused of conspiring with the Cherokee to speculate on town development. Accordingly, officials in the Department of the Interior moved the government approved towns to different locations nearby, effectively creating two new towns.
A
land run
A land run or land rush was an event in which previously restricted land of the United States was opened to homestead on a first-arrival basis. Lands were opened and sold first-come or by bid, or won by lottery, or by means other than a run. The ...
opened the Cherokee Outlet in 1893 and settlers, mostly from Kansas, occupied all four town sites; railroad Pond Creek, government Pond Creek, railroad Enid, or
North Enid, and government Enid, or South Enid. The Rock Island Railroad responded to the government's action by refusing to stop trains at the government towns. Initially, the citizens in both government towns protested to get the railroad to provide them service and the Oklahoma Territorial government and
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
supported them. However, the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
took the railroad's side and refused to act. Government officials then informed the Rock Island Railroad that they had to furnish mail service to the two government towns. The Rock Island company responded by installing a type of hook on their trains to pick up and deliver mail without having to slow down. When the mail pouches broke open, furious citizens claimed it was done intentionally. The people of Enid then passed an ordinance setting a speed limit for trains passing through the town, but the Rock Island Railroad ignored it.
Citizens in both government towns attempted to flag down trains or force them to stop by placing dummies on the tracks and leaving wagons and debris across the rails. When that failed, the citizens resorted to violence. In June 1894, the people of Pond Creek tore up about a hundred yards of railroad and wrecked a
freight train
A freight train, also called a goods train or cargo train, is a railway train that is used to carry cargo, as opposed to passengers. Freight trains are made up of one or more locomotives which provide propulsion, along with one or more railroad ...
. By July, citizens were shooting at passing trains and placing bombs on the railroad tracks. Later that month, a group of unknown assailants sawed partially through a number of wooden supports on the trestle near Enid, which led to the wrecking of another freight train.
To restore order, men of the
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the United States federal judi ...
and
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
troops from
Fort Reno and
Fort Supply were sent in to patrol the railroad right-of-way. Violence continued, though. Finally, the United States Senate decided to intervene and on August 8, 1894,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...
signed an act which required railroads "to establish and maintain passenger stations and freight depots at or within one-fourth of a mile of the boundary limits of all town sites established prior to August 8, 1894, in said Territories." Soon after, railroad Pond Creek was renamed
Jefferson and relocated to higher ground; government Pond Creek remained, but "L" County was eventually renamed Grant County and the seat was moved to
Medford. Railroad Enid became North Enid and government Enid, or South Enid, became the present-day Enid, the seat of Garfield County.
Deschutes Railroad War
The Deschutes Railroad War began in 1908 when two competing railroad companies, the Deschutes Railroad and the
Oregon Trunk Railway
The Oregon Trunk Line is a railway line in Oregon and Washington operated by the BNSF Railway. It is a remnant of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway, running from Wishram, Washington in the north to a connection with the Union Pacific at ...
, started racing to build a line from the mouth of the
Deschutes River
The Deschutes River ( ) in central Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The river provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many of the tributaries that descend from the drier, easte ...
across central
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
. The Deschutes Railroad, a
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
subsidiary, was owned by
Edward H. Harriman
Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive.
Early life
Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead (village), New York, Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harri ...
and the Oregon Trunk was owned by
James J. Hill
James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railway director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest ...
.
Harriman was the first to begin construction and, after surveying the area, he decided that the eastern side of the river would be the best route. Soon after, Hill began building his own line on the western side. Later on, however, in the Deschutes River Canyon, the two roads actually ran side-by-side or shared the same rails and terminals. Over the following years, there were multiple legal disputes to decide which company should have sole access to the canyon, but railroad workers went even further. Competing construction crews would often blow up the other side's supplies by igniting their black powder stores. They also dumped boulders onto camps below and engaged in small gunfights. Casualties remained light though and by 1912 the two railroads were operating on mostly separate lines, thus removing the cause for hostility.
See also
*
Erie Gauge War
*
Frog war
A frog war occurs when one private railway company attempts to cross the tracks of another, and this results in hostilities between the two railways. It is named after the frog, the piece of track that allows the two tracks to join or cross and ...
*
1903 Nevada railroad war
*
Sheep Wars
*
Coal Wars
The Coal Wars were a series of armed conflict, armed labor dispute, labor conflicts in the United States, roughly between 1890 and 1930. Although they occurred mainly in the Eastern United States, East, particularly in Appalachia, there was a si ...
References
{{Gunfights and feuds in the Old West
History of transportation in California
History of Colorado
New Mexico Territory
History of Oklahoma Territory
History of Oregon
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Feuds in the United States