The Race to Indian Territory: Three Railroads, Their Struggle, and Their Ultimate Fates

As railroads crossed 1860s Kansas, laws were passed that would allow only one railroad to lay track across Indian Territory south to Texas. Three railroads, the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf; the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston; and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, raced to be first and to become a national line. The Race to Indian Territory recounts the story from early Kansas history. It tells of those important and interesting men involved in the race and the towns the tracks came to. It separates fact from legend, and reveals the race's surprising outcome.