Re: A long history of towns vs.railraods...

Here is a little dispute that was unfolding during the summer of 1894 at Round Pond, Oklahoma. These are transcribed from the Railroad Gazette monthly listing of train accidents. Note that the first item states the location of Round Pond, OK, and the second states Pound Pond, O.T. Would that be Oklahoma Territory? I cannot find either Round Pond or Pound Pond listed as towns in Oklahoma today, nor in a list of OK ghost towns. In any case, I assume that the locations in the following two incidents are the same town:



July 1894

6th, on Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, at Round Pond, Ok., a freight train was derailed at a point where rails had been taken up by citizens to punish the railroad for not complying with an ordinance limiting speed to 8 miles an hour through the town. The engine and 5 cars were derailed and several animals killed. The train was flagged, but, according to the reports, the enginemen had orders not to heed danger signals at that point. One report states that the citizens tried to stop a previous train by placing a house upon the track, but that the train crashed through the building and knocked it to pieces.

August 1894

13th, on Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, near Pound Pond, O.T., a freight train of 113 cars was wrecked by the explosion of dynamite under a bridge which it was crossing. Three trainmen were killed and several injured. The wrecking was the work of residents who were incensed at the refusal of the railroad company to stop its trains at their town.