University of Oklahoma Libraries
Western History
Collections
Back to Railroad
Collections Directory
Back to
Transportation Collections Directory
Box 1 Manuscripts and Related Materials
1. The Short Line Midland Valley A Class I
Railroad, by John Lefeber Des Champs, typewritten manuscript, n.d. Section
headings include:
"Genesis"
"How The Midland Valley Helped Build Eastern
Oklahoma"
"Profitability - Corporate Good and the Public
Good"
"Decline"
"Charles Edward Ingersoll: Banker, Railroad Builder, Chief Executive,
and Director"
"About the Forebears of Charles Edward
Ingersoll"
"As A.W. Lefeber Remembered the Midland
Valley"
"As Bob Lomax Remembers MV-KO&G-OCAA"
"Muskogee and the Midland Valley"
"The Midland Valley, Tulsa, and Oil"
"The Midland Valley in the Osage"
"Culture and Economics of Early-Day Employees"
"As Lefeber Des Champs Remembers the Midland
Valley"
"The Work of the Brakeman and the Conductor"
"As Jim Wilkinson Remembers the Midland
Valley"
"As E.A. Izell Remembers the Midland Valley"
"Conductor Jack O'Neil"
"Conductor Frank Pigg on the Midland Valley"
"As Clint Milam Remembers the Midland Valley"
"The Work of the Switch Crew"
"As Fred Burgess Remembers the Midland Valley"
"Bob Skinner Remembers the Midland Valley"
2. The Short Line Midland Valley A Class I
Railroad by John Lefeber Des Champs, typewritten manuscript, n.d. Section
headings, continued:
"The Work of the Fireman"
"As W.E. Collins Remembers the Midland Valley"
"The Work of the Engineer"
"Ballad of Casey Jones"
"Jim Brown"
"As J.W. 'Johnny' De Schamps remembers the Midland
Valley"
"O.B. Gray, His Wife Peggy, and the Bransons"
"Bob Howard on the Midland Valley as Remembered by
His Son Gene"
"As Paul Kapp, Jr. Remembers His Father"
"Hugh Rooney"
"Schuyler Stubbs and His Son Walter"
"Carl White"
"Sam White"
"John Wimer"
"The Work of the Dispatcher"
"As Ivan Kendall Remembers the Midland Valley"
"The Work of the Agent - Operator"
"As Bonnie Oakley Remembers the Midland
Valley"
"As Raymond Dowd Remembers MV-KO&G-OCAA"
"Rip Track - Back Shop - Car Shop"
"John Hinds Remembers the Midland Valley"
"Section Gangs and Bridge Gangs"
"As Bill Corn Remembers the Midland Valley"
"As Bill Longley Remembers the Midland Valley"
"The Call Boy"
"Accidents"
"Derailments Wholesale"
"Wreck Just East of Grainola"
"A Wreck that Didn't Happen"
"O.B. Gray-Oslee Skinner Head-on Collision at
Bokoshe"
"Scheduled Train Service"
"Uniquely Railroad Humor"
"Railroad Language Explained"
"Serendipity"
3. Midland
Valley by J. L. Des Champs, 1990. Includes
"Author's Foreword," index by sections, and Des Champs' proposal to
publishers. 15 pages.
4. "Muskogee and the Midland
Valley" by John Lefeber Des Champs. n.d.Typewritten manuscript, 7 pages.
5. "The Railroads in Osage
County" by John Lefeber Des Champs.
n.d. Typewritten manuscript and copy, 4 pages.
6. "John William DeSchamps and John
Lefeber DeSchamps" by John Lefeber Des Champs. n.d.Typewritten manuscript and copy, 2 pages.
7. Remembrances
of A. W. Lefeber, 1957.
"Midland
Valley Railroad Company A.W. Lefeber's Kind Remembrances of 51 Years
(1903-1954) of Association with Mr. Charles Edward Ingersoll and Family
(Without Access to the Railroad's Records and from Memory, except as
Quoted)." 76 pages, typed manuscript
(2 copies). Also includes note cards and
other notes.
8. Remembrances
of A. W. Lefeber, 1914, 1988.
A.W. Lefeber "remembrances" which are not in the final "Remembrances." 27 pages. Also letter from Lefeber to Hugh Rooney.
9. Notebook
of A. W. Lefeber, 1905-1912.
Copies of pages from A.W. Lefeber's notebook showing construction and rolling stock information; operating expenses (1905-07); coal traffic (1905-07); freight information (1905-07); and station information (1912).
10. Correspondence
of J. J. Pitts, 1980-1984.
Includes "The Doodlebug Era Arrives" (20 pages), correspondence, news clippings, copies of photos, etc. pertaining to Pitts' considerable contribution to the Midland Valley "book" project.
Box 2 Manuscripts
and Related Materials
1. Correspondence,
1978-1992.
Correspondence concerning the Midland Valley project between J. L. Des Champs and Ivan Kendall, Robert H. Lomax, J. R. Dowd, Arrell M. Gibson, Jared Roberts, C. Jared Ingersoll, W.E. Collins, E. H. Howard, and Betty Kolb.
2-3. Manuscript,
handwritten, 1979.
Includes
sections of handwritten, Midland Valley manuscript by John Lefeber Des Champs;
Treve Wimer notes; Midland Valley Railroad Company seniority rosters; story and
notes from Tulsa Democrat, Oct.-Nov.
1904; and transcripts of Bob Skinner tape, Carl White tape and Jim Brown tape.
4. Notes,
handwritten. Notebooks and note cards.
n.d.
5. Photograph
Log, 1982.
Log
includes the following categories of information: from, subject, large negative in hand. size, large print in hand.
size, 35mm negative group and number, proof, remarks, and commercial lab.
6. Printed
Materials.
Midland Valley Railroad Co. Rules,
Regulations and Rates of Pay for Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, 1920.
Midland Valley Railroad Co. Rules,
Regulations and Rates of Pay for Trainmen and Yardmen, 1920.
Midland Valley Railroad Co., Kansas,
Oklahoma and Gulf Railway Co., Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railway Co. Rules of the
Transportation Department, 1931.
Oklahoma
Corporation Commission state railroad map, 1969.
Oklahoma
Industrial Development Department state railroad map, 1976.
Oklahoma
Department of Transportation state railroad map, 1989.
Railroads of Oklahoma June 6, 1870-July 1,
1974, State of Oklahoma Department of Highways, 1974.
Excerpts
from "Official Guide to Railways" pertaining to MV Railroad Co. KOG Railway Co., and OCAA Railway Co., 1940
and 1958.
Excerpts
from Oklahoma Corporation Commission Report, 1908.
Box 3 Research Materials
1. Central
Oklahoma Railfan Club, Ltd. 1980, 1982.
Copies
of photos of Midland Valley Railroad locomotives from 1982 calendar. Also copies of The Dispatcher, newsletter of the Central Oklahoma Railfan Club,
Ltd..
2. "Description
of Locomotives K.O.G. Railway System" (copy). n.d.
Includes
diagrammatic sketch of locomotives and detailed information such as weight of
engine, dimensions of heating surface tubes, size of cylinders, driving wheels,
etc. Also "Statement of
Locomotives" with the following information: engine number and size, boiler pressure, weight on driver, weight
of engine, water gallons, coal tone, driving center, builder and number, year
and cost.
3. Magazine
articles, 1979, 1982, 1994.
"Answering
the Call," Trains, Nov. 1994;
"Wichita-Busy Prairie Crossroads," Locomotive Quarterly, Fall 1979; Model Railroader, Apr. 1982.
4. Midland
Valley Railroad - Hours of Services Act, 1978.
Includes
letter from John Sytsma, President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
to J. L. Des Champs re. the Midland Valley Railroad and the Hours of Service
Act. Also contains copy of Public Law
91-169, copy of the Medals of Honor Act and the Hours of Service Act, court
decision on Stoker Order - no. 5741 - ATS&F Railway Co. v. U.S.A, and
statement of E.L. McCulloch in hearing on S. 1938 to amend the Hours of Service
Act.
5. Midland
Valley/Choctaw (historical), various dates.
Photocopies
of magazine, journal and newspaper articles, pages from books, and other
printed materials. Subjects covered
include histories of ATS&F Railway Co., KATY Railroad, Santa Fe Railroad,
Choctaw-Oklahoma-Gulf Railway, Midland Valley Railroad, etc.
6. Moody's,
1925, 1930, 1945, 1965, 1967.
Statistics
relating to the Midland Valley Railroad printed in Moody's Analyses of Investments, Moody's Manual of Investments, and Moody's Transportation Manual.
7. Midland
Valley Railroad Co., timetables (copies), 1909, 1913, 1915, 1925, 1930, 1944,
1953, 1955, 1962, 1965.
Includes
arrival and departure times at various stations, names of officials - yard
masters and dispatchers, and include maps of lines and connections. Also includes timetables for Kansas,
Oklahoma & Gulf RY. Co., Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Ry. Co., and Missouri
Pacific Railroad Co.
8. Newspaper
clippings, various dates.
Subjects
covered include train wrecks, and the history of the Midland Valley Railroad,
and fireman James A. Brown
9. Pawhuska/Osage
Profiles, 1977-1978.
Includes
excerpts from "Osage Oil" by Bill Burchard in Chronicles of Oklahoma, Osage Agency map and drawing of Council
House, assorted correspondence pertaining to Des Champs manuscripts - "The
Railroads in Osage County" and "John William DeSchamps and John
Lefeber DeSchamps," and biography of John Lefeber Des Champs in Who's Who in the South and Southwest.
10. Photographs
(copies), various dates.
Copies
of photographs from several repositories including Missouri Pacific Historical
Society, Olin Research Center, KATY Railroad Historical Society, Southern
Methodist University Library, etc. The
photographs depict railroad locomotives and cars, and other railroad
structures.
11. Seniority
Rosters, 1910-1980.
Copies
of Midland Valley Railroad Co. seniority rosters which give names of employees,
seniority dates, titles of positions, and sometimes rates of pay.
12. U.S./Oklahoma
Agency Publications. ICC Docket -
Oklahoma Corporation Commission. 1908-1978.
Copies
of Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Valuation Docket No. 675 - Midland
Valley Railroad Co. et al. ICC
Reports. Oklahoma Corporation
Commission Reports. Notes and some
correspondence.
Back to Railroad
Collections Directory
Back to
Transportation Collections Directory