Choctaw and Chickasaw Railroad Construction and Land Development Documents, Oklahoma, 1902-1920

Choctaw Chickasaw Railroad

Manuscript & Autographs

Choctaw and Chickasaw railroad land and mineral acquisition archive documenting the movement of tribal property into corporate railroad control through right of way compensation, land company administration, and federally supervised purchases. The papers connect the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad Company and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company with the Choctaw Land Company, the Rock Island Coal Mining Company, and the United States Indian Service. Recorded transactions include $558.50 in compensation to the Choctaw Nation for 11.17 miles of right of way and a $526,073.50 purchase of coal deposits from the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations.

Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad Company; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company; United States Indian Service. Railroad land and mineral acquisition records. Chicago, Little Rock, Muskogee, and El Reno, 1902 to 1920. Twenty one documents comprising one construction voucher, three corporate letters, seven temporary receipts and tract cards, six official Indian Service receipts, and three corporat e payment orders.

[1] Undated Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad construction voucher, on a form printed July 24, 1898, made to Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Secretary of the Interior, recording $558.50 as compensation to the Choctaw Nation for 11.17 miles of right of way from Howe, Indian Territory, to the Arkansas boundary under the Act of February 18, 1888.

[2] C. H. Warren to R. A. Jackson, September 3, 1902, asking Jackson to revise the officers of a land company organized in Arkansas and naming Holden as secretary and treasurer, Jilson as vice president, and Crosby as president.

[3] C. H. Warren to R. A. Jackson, September 23, 1902, approving the corporation provided its powers are broad enough to permit “leasing and mortgaging, as well as to buy and sell.”

[4] J. W. McLoud to R. A. Jackson, October 9, 1902, two sheets, discussing proposed minutes for the Choctaw Land Company, deeds from the Choctaw & Memphis Railroad Company to J. Parke Hood, property already sold, and the filing of articles of incorporation and a certificate of organization with the Arkansas secretary of state.

[5] Seven temporary receipts and tract cards, 1918 and 1919, issued by the Office of the Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes: nos. 180, 183, 185, 191, 192, and 197 itemize McAlester and Howe Poteau District tracts by number, acreage, price per acre, total purchase price, improvements, and amount paid; a cashier’s temporary receipt dated November 25, 1919, acknowledges $14,817.46 from the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway as the second installment on surface lands purchased in the Choctaw Nation.

[6] Six United States Indian Service official receipts, 1918 to 1920: no. 14803 records $12,500.03 from the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad Company as a twenty percent deposit on surface and improvements in the McAlester and Howe Poteau districts; no. 15938 records $105,214.70 for identified coal tracts; no. 16400 acknowledges $2,985.80 from the Rock Island Coal Mining Company for reserved lands; nos. 40325 and 40326 acknowledge payments of $2,650.60 for town lots and $109,057.60 for coal deposits; and no. 63004 records $82,854.51 as a partial payment for coal and asphalt deposits.

[7] Three Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway corporate payment orders, November and December 1919, calculating second installments on $62,085.20 in surface lands, $12,810 in town lots, and $526,073.50 in coal deposits purchased from the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, with five percent interest, overpayment adjustments, and advanced royalty credits.

The construction voucher records the railroad’s initial statutory passage through Choctaw territory, while the 1902 letters show corporate attorneys defining the Choctaw Land Company’s authority over deeds, sales, leases, and mortgages. The later papers document the federal machinery used to transfer surface property and mineral deposits: tract numbers, acreage, prices, initial deposits, annual installments, five percent interest, overpayments, and royalty credits pass between railroad accounting offices and the Superintendent for the Five Civilized Tribes. The coal payment orders closely follow the visible terms of the 1918 sale, including a twenty percent purchase installment and interest on deferred payments. Expected folds and handling wear; several receipts and tract cards have edge tears or small losses; the construction voucher is separated along horizontal folds with additional marginal loss. Overall fair to good condition. A transaction level record of railroad access to Choctaw land and the subsequent corporate purchase of surface property, town lots, coal, and asphalt associated with the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations.

Item #23862

Price: $780.00