Can anyone provide any information about (or where to look for information for) the Leroy and Caney Valley Air Line Railroad. This was a now long ago abandoned rail line that supposedly started at Leroy, Kansas and ended at Peru, Kansas, passing through the towns of Fredonia and Lafontaine in Wilson County and Elk City in Montgomery County. The line between Fredonia and Peru was abaondoned in 1933. Between Fredonia and Roper, the juction point with the Missouri Pacific's (now Union Pacific)Coffeyville to Osawatomie line, it may have been continued to be operated by the MP into the merger with the UP, because I saw two UP diesel locomotives switching in Fredonia one time in the early 1990's. (In 1965 the MP pulled up its track between Fredonia and Roper and contiued to serve Fredonia via trackage rights on the Santa Fe branch line between Fredonia and Benedict, accessing the MP main line at Benedict.) Of primary interest is what the origional planned desitnation was for the Leroy and Caney Valley Air Line's southern end, and also, did this line actually start from Leroy, Kansas or was its actual northern starting point at the Roper junction on the Osawatomie to Coffeyville line. Research that I have been able to do so far indicates that the line from Paola (just north of Osawatomie) to Leroy was built in 1880, but construction southward from Leroy did not occur until about 1886. That research indicated that there was a line built all the way from Leroy to a location called Winton in 1886 and then in 1888 construction continued southward another few miles to Dearing, which is about four miles west of Coffeyville. I think that new line connected with an already established line operating westward out of Coffeyville. As for the Leroy and Caney Valley Air Line tracage being built toward Peru, that research shows construction on that line from Roper to Elk City in 1886 and from Elk City to Peru in 1887. If those years of construction are correct, then the Leroy and Caney Valley Air Line would have reached Peru before the other line reached Dearing, which is interesting because it would appear that Peru is a location out in the middle of nowhere, but Coffeyville was already a well established town that was being approached by two other railroads.

Also, I have never been able to determine what the name of the railroad was that built to Dearing. Was it also origionally part of the Leroy and Caney Valley Air Line Railroad Company or was it a different railroad company. I have been given the impression that at the time of the construction of the line southward toward the Dearing and Coffeyville area that the railroad building that line was not known as the Missouri Pacific.

Any help with information about the history of these lines will be very much appreciated. I'm gathering information for a newspaper article and a book.

Thanks much,

Hello, I know it’s 17 years later but I have been looking into this railroad line myself. I have been trying to find out as much as I can about this air line road that turned into the MoPac. The line from Elk city ran to Colfax then to Hale Kansas on to Peru. There is a picture of the Hale depot in the Chautauqua county Kansas history book. I have been looking for a photo of the Elk City MoPac depot for years any help would be much appreciated.

All I could find was a list of Kansas railroads that show it existed from 1885 to 1909, but few details. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kansas_railroads. Even Abandoned Railroads doesn't list it https://www.abandonedrails.com/kansas

I suggest two things: 1. Check local libraries in the towns along the line. The library in my small hometown had a hand-printed book on an area short line that existed from 1890 or so to the early 1940's but is little known these days, a person put the book together and self-published it. Someone may have done something similar with the line you are investigating, or perhaps the librarian knows something. Local pride sometimes furthers collective memory. 2. Create an entry about it on Abandoned Railroads, and then see if others have more information and post in the comments section.

Edit: I did find a few legal documents from the 1880s and 1890s, it looks like this line was owned by Jay Gould (robber baron owner of the Missouri Pacific, Kansas Pacific etc.) almost from the beginning, he was notorious for being in the railroad-building-funding business more so than the railroad-operating business, so it could very well have been part of a fraud, even if some track were built, seemingly from nowhere to nowhere. I would still check local libraries, there may still be hard feelings there if Jay Gould cheated local people out of construction money with wild claims (as apparently happened quite often with him):

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... /23607609/
https://books.google.com/books/about/Th ... EDcgAACAAJ
https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/re ... 1.0027.pdf
https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/leroy-c-v-l-901133062

Sanborn Fire insurance maps from about 1890 to about 1930 are available on-line at the Library of Congress. For a few places they go to about 1950. Do a search on their site for Sanborn map. They were done for many towns, including small ones, and show the buildings in town. The tracks in town, depots, etc., of railroads that existed when they were produced are shown. They won't help for spaces between towns as their purpose was to give insurance companies information for underwriting. They included water supplies, fire departments, type of construction, footprints of buildings, and sometimes their use. I know there is one for Coffeyville because I was prompted to look at one because I had a relative there in the 1890s.

You might also try an on-line newspaper data base. There are a couple of subscription sites, but here is one that has less coverage but is free to use. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/. There are also a few smaller, regional, free sites but they take some searching to find.

Thank you both very much, I will do some more digging for sure!