The Kansas Central Railway Company was incorporated under the law of the State of Kansas on June 1, 1871, to build a railroad and telegraph line from Leavenworth to the western Kansas boundary. It was constructed and opened for operation to Holton, Ks. in 1872, a distance of 55.3 miles, and on to Onaga in December of 1877, a distance of 27 miles. In 1881, the track reached Clay Center and in 1882, it was completed to the Miltonvale terminal. It was built as a narrow gauge railroad because the owner thought the issue would pass easier if the cost per mile was less. Hard times and strikes were common and on April 15, 1879, all of the property, rights, and franchises of this company were sold under foreclosure by P. G. Lowe, Sheriff of Leavenworth County, to C. K. Garrrison and L. T. Smith. They immediately transferred all of the property to the Kansas Central Railroad Company. In 1890, this railroad converted to standard gauge rails. The Kansas Central Railroad was sold under foreclosure proceedings to the Leavenworth, Kansas and Western Railway Company on September 24, 1897. On May 25, 1908, it was again sold, this time to the Union Pacific Railroad Company. In March 1935, the U. P. disbanded the L. K. & W. from Knox, a station near Leavenworth, to Clay Center. Work began immediately to move all property and the railroad land was returned to original farms. This story was told about the railroad: In 1875, there was talk and rumor that the Kansas Central Railway Company was going to build west from Holton, and some surveying has been done. There was a rumor that the town of Onaga would be located in Vienna Township on the northwest quarter of Section 11, Township 7, Range 11. A man by the name of George Cottrell owned the southeast quarter on Section 3, and the southwest quarter on Section 4, all in Township 7 South, Range 11. He felt that in all probability, Vienna Township would make a bond issue to aid in the construction of this railroad, so he proceeded to have Sections 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 taken out of Vienna Township and put in Mill Creek Township. In other words, he moved the south line of Mill Creek Township, on mile south, and this is the reason Mill Creek Township is today 6 by 7 and Vienna Township 5 by 6 miles in size. the irony of fate was evidently with Mr. Cottrell, for when the road was built, it never entered Vienna Township, but went through Mill Creek Township; Mill Creek Township mad a bond issue. In the spring of 1877, construction was started westward from Holton on the railroad. They reached Onaga on December 2, 1877. Since Mill Creek Township had made a bond issue giving the Railroad Company a limited time in which to build a railroad into the town, and since the time was about up - in fact only one day remained - the company had to get a train into Onaga on December 2 or lose the bonds. for that reason, when they got the bridge in so they could get across French Creek, and the right- of-way not having been graded, they laid ties on the ground lengthwise with the track, crossed them with other ties, spiked the rails down, and got the train into Onaga. It arrived about four o'clock on the afternoon of December 2, 1877. It stopped just east of the drainage ditch, about a half block east of main street, in the city of Onaga. That night, a blizzard roared in from the northwest. The temperature dropped below zero. The construction train stood there where it first stopped until the next April, before the company was able to get it started back toward Holton. Many families used the trains as clocks. They always knew it was time to go to bed at night when the passenger train whistled as it came into town about 9 o'clock at night. The following is an account of the L. K. & W. as written by Lois G. Ladner. The year 1911 was a good one for Onaga when the L. K. & W. made this town the division point between Leavenworth and Miltonvale for their train system. The roundhouse was built at this time. It was a wood structure; there were three stalls that turned by hand. There was one passenger train a day leaving Miltonvale at 4 a.m., arriving at Onaga at 6 a.m. and Leavenworth at 10 a.m. That evening a passenger train left Leavenworth at 5 p.m. arrived at Onaga at 9 p.m. and on to Miltonvale where it stayed the remainder of the night and was ready to come back this way the next morning, every day of the week except Sunday. The roundhouse was used to turn around the freight engines. there was a freight train that left here each day and went to Leavenworth. The next day it came back. there was also a freight train that ran out of here to Miltonvale one day and back the next. Some of the families that moved here at this time were Matt Olson and his brother Martin and family. Robert Urban, fireman; John Jackson, who worked at the roundhouse; and John Phillips, conductor, all from Leavenworth; Elmer Peterson, Garrison, a fireman; Jim Lake and a Mr. Johnson, passenger conductors; Geen Baron and Milton Colin, who worked at the roundhouse, are others I remember. Leo Weaver, Mr. Floberg, and Adna Swickard were some of the men that I remember who worked with my father, Conductor John A. Phillips. |