Overview
History
Series I - Deeds
Series II - Contracts for Right-of-Way
Series III - Receipts and Agreements

Access and Use:

Preferred citation: The Records of the Ohio and Kentucky Railroad Company, Berea College Special Collections & Archives, Berea, Ky.

Overview of the Collection

Materials include hand-written and signed deeds, right-of-way contracts, receipts and agreements from the counties through which the Ohio and Kentucky operated. Documents from Breathitt, Wolfe, and Morgan counties are present, dated between 1899 and 1901.

Related Archives

Norfolk and Western Railway Records, SAA 63

History

The Ohio and Kentucky Railway was created and owned by the Kentucky Block Cannel Coal Company, a corporation that had leased about 5400 acres of cannel coal land adjacent to Caney, in Morgan County, Kentucky. (Cannel coal is “a bituminous coal containing much volatile matter that burns brightly,” Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1976.) Construction of the railroad began in 1899 at the Ohio and Kentucky Junction, one mile west of Jackson in Breathitt County, and continued 26 miles to Cannel City in Morgan County. This section was completed in 1901. Both freight and passenger runs were made, as well as so-called “mixed” trains. The Ohio and Kentucky expanded their line to Caney and the Licking River, beginning the extension in 1910 and completing it in 1911, for a total length of 40 miles. With the decline of cannel coal and timber resources, as well as the advent of passable roads in Breathitt and Wolfe Counties, the Ohio and Kentucky slowly reduced operations until 1933, when the line was scrapped.

1 Manuscript Box

This series includes deeds of conveyance of property (usually for purposes of right-of-way) transacted by the Ohio and Kentucky while laying the original Ohio and Kentucky Junction-Cannel City line. Arranged chronologically and alphabetically.

Box 1

1. Deeds, 1899
2. Deeds, 1899
3. Deeds, 1899
4. Deeds, 1900-01

This series includes initial contracts for 60 ft. right-of-way strips through Morgan, Breathitt, and Wolfe Counties. These documents also include qualifying terms enjoined on the railroad in return for the right-of-way.

Box 1, continued

5. Contracts for Right-of-Way, 1899
6. Contracts for Right-of-Way, 1900

This series consists of receipts for payment of damages or indemnities involving the Ohio and Kentucky and various landowners. Agreements reveal terms settled in contracts for right-of-way. Also included is a surety agreement involving the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The connection of this document with the Ohio and Kentucky is unknown.

Box 1, continued

7. Receipts and Agreements, 1899
8. Receipts and Agreements, 1900
9. Surety Agreement for Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 1899

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