Oklahoma Central Railroad (1914–1942)
railway line in the United States of America
The Oklahoma Central Railroad, (OCR) earlier the Oklahoma Central Railway, was a railroad operating in the U.S. state of Oklahoma from 1907 to 1917. It was formed by Dorset Carter of Purcell, Indian Territory, and other business interests. The corporation started life on September 20, 1904 as the Canadian Valley and Western Railway Company. It changed its name to the Oklahoma Central Railway Company on September 27, 1905. Construction was started in Lehigh, Oklahoma, in 1906 and was completed to Chickasha, Oklahoma, in 1908. The route was primarily constructed to transport coal from the mines at Lehigh to Purcell in order to service steam locomotives on the Santa Fe, which maintained a division point at that location.
The OCR trackage consisted of 127 miles (204 km) from Lehigh to Chickasha that included the stations of Lehigh, Ada, Vanoss, Stratford, Byars, Rosedale, Purcell, Washington, Cole, Blanchard, Middelberg, Tabler, and Chickasha. In addition, a 3 miles (4.8 km) branch extended from a point west of Lehigh into additional coal mines in Coal County.
The primary sources of revenue included transport of passengers and express, coal, cotton and cotton by-products, livestock, and building materials. After 1908 trains were operated as mixed trains.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Oklahoma Central Railroad (1914–1942)” is railway line in the United States of America. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Oklahoma, Central and Railroad, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “railway line in the United States of America” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 26, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q3313335. The first chronological checks are 1907, 1917, 1904 and 1905.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Oklahoma Central Railroad (1914–1942)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Oklahoma Central Railroad (1914–1942) primary sources, Oklahoma Central Railroad (1914–1942) archive and Oklahoma research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Oklahoma Central Railroad (1914–1942)”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Oklahoma Central Railroad (1914–1942)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.