March 24, 2014
The blog post that almost didn't get written!
This blog post was about the history of Railroading in the Shawnee, Oklahoma area, and one of the prominent parts of it was to be the history of the A-OK Railroad that now has it's western routes based here in the Shawnee, area. And so, just as I was into it, and suffered a bit of writers block, I saved it and went elsewhere ..... including Facebook where, low and behold, a fellow bicycle rider in this area published a history of the A-OK railroad on Facebook. I was a bit unhappy about it ..... and I went back and wiped everything that I had written. After thinking about it for a while however, I realized that my blog post wasn't going to be about that particular railroad, but more of the impact of railroading in general to the history of this area. So, I decided to give it another try.
First off, lets go on back when there were no paved roads, and everything was dirt, and a few gravelled roads. Bicycles were more common than motorcars, and horses, or mules and wagons ruled the day.
Of course, you will just have to pretend it's on a dirt road. The gentleman driving this fine team of mules is training for a cross-Oklahoma mule trail ride, much like our bicycling freewheel ride.
So then ...... it's off the main roads, and on to gravel for a while on our historical tour.
Some was more dirt than gravel.
And some roads looked pretty good.
And then I came across the North Canadian River. This must have been a formidable obstacle for early travellers in this area. Certainly for the early railroads as this river floods violently in the Spring rainy season, making it difficult at best to maintain wooden trestle type railroad bridges.
There is still some historical farm implements scattered about also, like this old dump rake being used as a gate.
From there, I followed gravel roads and pavement back into Shawnee where we will begin our historical part of the tour. The old Santa Fe Depot here in Shawnee dates back to the 1890's and is now preserved as a museum and historical monument.
Believe me, it took a bit of concentration and effort to convince the bike to stand there and wait for me to take this picture. There is no kickstand on this bike, and the wind was blowing. Below is a shot of the front of the Depot with my trusty steed standing in front.
From there, it was downtown through Shawnee on Main Street, where I found this building ..... and from the description of their services above the doorway, it seemed to fit right in with the historical theme. One can almost imaging fur trappers bringing in their pelts and hides for barter. Probably not a pawn shop at that time either. It always amazes me that I can ride my bicycle right down through a two lane Main drag in the middle of the day, but there really is no problem.
Main Street, looking west.
The Rock Island Railroad had extensive services here as Shawnee was a major yard and maintenance facility. Today, this is how the old Rock Island shops look. This is now a grain and feed storage building.
But ..... back in 1911 it had an altogether different look, the look of a busy railroad service and maintenance facility.
The Rock Island was a busy place, and was one of Shawnee's largest employers at the time. The "Rock" also gathered up some of the smaller railroads in this area at the time, one of which was the fledgling Oklahoma and Arkansas Railroad which had rights of way and rails throughout the eastern Oklahoma coal fields, through places like Coalgate, McAlester, Krebs, and Wilburton. Today, the tracks between Shawnee and McAlester are abandoned, but the railroad still has plans of reconnecting .....darn ..... there goes another rail-trail down the tubes. As one might imagine, a railroad with that much influence and payroll would spawn cottage industries. One of the more famous, and one that is still operating today is Roundhouse Industries, makers of some of the toughest overalls made. They also made them in sizes to fit everybody, all the way up to an 80 inch waist size! A welcome industry indeed with all the workers in the rail yards needing just that type of clothing. Today, Roundhouse still makes overalls, still to the same overall quality and specifications, and while their location is no longer on Main street, they are still a part of the Shawnee economy. This picture is of their building on Main. From the looks of the cars, I'd say sometime in the Twenties. Shawnee's Main street is not nearly that busy today.
Another business that is still operating even though they had some rough times is the A-OK Railroad. Shawnee is the Maintenance and dispatch yard for the western Oklahoma region. Wilburton, Oklahoma services the eastern regions and Arkansas. Today, they are primarily a sand hauler for the oil field industry, as well as a grain hauler for our local Shawnee Mills. One of their engines was in the yard today and being serviced ...... note the pile of oil filters on the ground next to it. Twenty-four filters and 12 fifty-five gallon barrels of oil it takes for an oil change. They change filters regularly, but not oil, just top it off with a barrel or two.
After talking to the workers maintaining the engine if I could take my camera inside, they said "sure, climb on up", even though the engine was sitting there running at the time. So .... I did. Not too often one gets to see the inside of an operating railroad locomotive.
And a close up of the control block.
A railroad without a crane would be amiss. This is called a "Little Burro", and they were using it just a bit ago while they are rebuilding the trestle over the North Canadian River just east of town.
And, on the way home, the urge to stop and take a selfie was irresistable, especially under the shade of a convenient cedar.
A fun thirty mile ride, over pavement, gravel, dirt and history.
