Dates: 1912-1926.

History:

Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railway

The Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railway was originally chartered as the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Texas Railroad Company on April 18, 1853. The railroad was intended to be a link, via a transfer boat, between Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, and Delta Point, Madison Parish, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Louisiana, and points west. The Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Texas Railroad Company went into receivership after the Civil War, and it was sold after foreclosure on December 1, 1879. The Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Texas Railroad Company was reorganized under the name of Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railroad on December 2, 1879. The Alabama, New Orleans, Texas, and Pacific Junction Railways Company, Limited, of London, England, bought the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railroad in 1881. The railroad continued to operate until March 30, 1901, when it was again sold after foreclosure. The Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railroad was bought by the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railway Company. The Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railway Company operated until 1926, when the Illinois Central Railroad, through the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, leased the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railway Company for 365 years. The Illinois Central Railroad began to abandon small sections of track controlled by the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad in 1935, and this continued until 1978. The Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, formed in 1972 by the merger of the Illinois Central and Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio railroads, continued to operate sections of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad until 1999. The Illinois Central Railroad merged with the Canadian National Railway in late 1999.

 

Scope and Content Note:

This collection consists of two account books and three cashbooks concerning general operations of the Vicksburg, Shreveport, and Pacific Railway for the years 1912 to 1926. The account books contain monthly entries detailing expenses such as employees salaries and hours worked, insurance, injuries to livestock on rights-of-way, and train parts and supplies. Also included is the mileage that each train traveled and the type and number of freight cars retired during a given month. The cashbooks contain monthly entries for cash receipts, and they are arranged by assigned station agents numbers.

 
Series Identification:

Series 1: Statements-of-Account. July 1912-June 1913. 1 bound volume.

Series 2: Statements-of-Account. July 1915-June 1916. 1 bound volume.

Series 3: Cashbook. January 1918-December 1923. 1 bound volume.

Series 4: Cashbook. March 1920-May 1926. 1 bound volume.

Series 5: Cashbook. November 1912-May 1918. 1 bound volume.