The engine "Ottawa" of the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston railroad crossing the pontoon bridge over the Kansas River with materials to build the line south towards Ottawa
The Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson (also called the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Kansas) railroad received its charter on Feb. 12, 1858, authorizing the construction of a road from Leavenworth to the southern boundary, and from Lawrence to Emporia. Several years were spent in efforts to secure land grants and subsidies to aid in building the road. By the act of Congress, approved March 3, 1863, the state was given alternate sections for a distance of 10 miles on either side of a road from Leavenworth toward Galveston Bay, and the legislature of Kansas on Feb. 9, 1864, turned over this grant to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson Company. In 1867 Douglas County voted bonds for $300,000 and Franklin County for $200,000 for the construction of the road. Work was commenced at Lawrence soon after these bonds were authorized, and on Jan. 1, 1868, the road was completed to Ottawa. In 1871 it was finished to Coffeyville. The line is now a part of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe system. The original stock of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson Company was $2,000,000, and among the incorporators were H. J. Adams, R. B. Mitchell, G. W. Deitzler and John Speer.
Compiled and edited by Kathy Weiser for www.legendsofkansas.com/railroads5.html. Original text from Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume I; edited by Frank W. Blackmar, A.M. Ph. D.; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
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