Information Sheet

 

 

R         Joplin Railroad Company.

87                    Ledger, 1877.

                                    One volume.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

This is a construction ledger of the Joplin Railroad Company, ca. January--April 1877.  This line, between Joplin, Missouri, and Girard, Kansas, was completed in 1877.  The St. Louis and San Francisco Railway Company purchased it in 1879.

 

The Joplin Railroad was incorporated in 1875 by miners and businessmen in Jasper County, Missouri, after eastern investors declined the opportunity to build the line.  Leonidas P. Cun­ning­ham, one of the earliest miners in the area, led the effort.  Construction began in 1876 and the rails reached Girard, Kansas, via Pittsburg, in 1877.  Although the completed line had only thirty-eight miles of track, it immediately became the object of attention of two much larger roads.  The Kan­sas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad sought the Joplin Railroad as a link to Springfield, Missouri, and thence to Memphis, Tennessee.  The St. Louis and San Francisco Railway (“Frisco”) wanted the Joplin line’s access into the mineral district of Missouri and Kan­sas, and also wanted to fore­stall any competition from the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf.  The Frisco first leased the line, and then purchased it in 1879 for $300,000.

 

 

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