Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: February 16, 1937
Name: John Sullivan
Post Office:  Muskogee, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: 1855
Place of Birth: Massachusetts
Father:
Place of Birth:
Information on father:
Mother:
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Jas S. Buchanan
Western History Collection, University of Oklahoma
LDS Microfische  6016953
John Sullivan Interview
Page 342 to 345 

I was born in the state of Massachusetts in the year of 1855.  My father was Irish and mother Danish. I came West and arrived in Muskogee Indian Territory in 1871, where I secured employment with the M. K. & T. Ry, in the construction of the road South of Muskogee. I was only sixteen years of age at that time, and I was assigned to the first job I ever had on a railroad, going along with a bucket full of track spikes and dropping them by each tie where the spike drivers could get them for spiking the rails in the tracking laying gang. I remained with the Katy until the road was completed across the Red River into Texas.

The Katy was completed and operating into Muskogee in December 1871. They had established a material yard and supply headquarters here for the construction of the road on south. The depot at Muskogee had just been completed, it was a frame one-story building that stood just north of where the Court Street viaduct now stands, and was on the west side of the track, as the present station is, and there was three or four small frame business houses across the three tracks that were there then, and they were facing the railroad. There was also a frame one-story house that stood about where the Katy freight house now stands that was a boarding house and fed the railroad men. There were no streets laid out them, and as far as being a town there was not hardly enough to call it a town at the time. There was no town really noticeable other than the Katy construction camp and material yard.

I quit the Kay just after the road was completed across Red River in December 1872, and accepted a position with the I. & G. N. Ry at Palestine, Texas as track foreman and later as roadmaster and was with that job several years, and leaving that road I went to the Southern Pacific Railroad in the position as roadmaster.  From that job I went to the cotton belt (St. L. & S. W.) and accepted a contract rebuilding the road as it was a narrow gauge track between Texarkana and Brownsburrow, Texas, and was converted into a standard gauge at that time.  On completion of that job I went to the Missouri Pacific and was engaged in the most remarkable piece of railroad re-construction on record.

At that time the Missouri Pacific was a six foot gauge track, which was an experiment and proved very impracticable and they wanted to convert it into a standard gauge track of 4 ft, 8-1/2 inches. This job was done in two fours and forty minutes.  It was accomplished by distributing gangs of men all along the track from St. Louis to Texarkana and at a designated time the work was started of moving one rail in from the wide gauge to the standard equipment went into service and the schedule of no trains effected.

In the early 90’s I returned to the Katy where I started in as a spike boy and accepted a position as work train foreman and later as roadmaster for about four years and then I went to Old Mexico where I engaged in the railroad construction contracting business. My first contract was in the construction of the Mexican National Railroad and after the completion of the job in that country I returned to Oklahoma and located at Norman and invest in property in and around Norman. While at Norman I accepted a contract of constructing a new railroad that was to be built from Port O’Connor, Calhoun County, Texas, to connect with the Katy at Smithville, Texas. This promotion proved to be a failure as it was started just prior the 1907 panic, the money market of this country seemed to freeze over and I made two trips to London, England trying to raise money to complete my contract but all efforts failed and the project fell through with $208,000 of my money tied up in it. I sold all of my construction equipment and property to raise money to meet my obligations and save my credit, which I did and when everything was cleaned up, so was I. I didn’t have a dollar in the world, and as far as by financial situation was concerned I was exactly even where I started, as spike boy on the Katy.

As I was down to the bottom and had to start all over again, I secured a position with the Galveston, Harisburg and Houston as roadmaster and remained on this job two years. Leaving there I went to Monterrey, Mexico and got back into the construction business. I took a contract building a railroad known as the Monterey and Gulf which runs between Monterey and Tampeco.  On completion of that job I had begun to get back on my feet again and I accepted a contract in Guatemala building the Guatemala Northern Railroad. It was while on that job that I made the acquaintance of William KENFICK.  He was also in that country engaged in railroad construction and experienced some hard luck as there was a revolution started in the province where he was working and tied up the contract that he had and he, at that time had much of his money tied up in the work, and as a lucky break he secured a contract with the British Government in Jamaica on which he cleared about $750,000. That chance meeting of Wm. Kenfick in Guatemala grew into a life long friendship.  I never knew a better man or had a better friend. After we separated in Guatemala I never saw him until we both returned to this country and we met in Muskogee. I can add nothing to the history he made for himself as a railroad builder in Oklahoma for in that respect his name is perpetuated in Oklahoma History. My last position railroading was that of roadmaster on the Midland Valley in 1915 and 1916 preceding my retirement.

In 1876 I was married to Annie O’CONNOR in Del Rio, Texas. I lost her at Pryor, Oklahoma in 1905. She is buried at Shawnee. In 1908, I married my second wife in Muskogee, Annie DYER of Dyersburg, Tennessee. She died in Muskogee in 1918 and is buried in Freen Hill Cemetery. As I have seen Muskogee grow from a railroad construction camp and a small cow town to the city it is today and my investments are around Muskogee and it is where I started out in life when I first cam West in 1871, here is where I expect to spend my remaining days.

Transcribed by Donald L. Sullivan <donald.l.sullivan@lmco.com> 05-1999.