Historic Maps Route of the Flint Hills Nature Trail
History of the Line.
Railroads were much more local in nature as they expanded across America in the mid-nineteenth century. A railroad might only connect a few small towns. In Osage County and that surrounding area of Kansas, coal was king. Remnants of coal mines and their spoil piles can be seen along the Flint Hills Nature Trail just west of Osage City. Thus a railroad was built to move coal much more economically and profitably than by wagons. The Flint Hills Nature Trail between Council Grove and Ottawa is on the railway originally built as the Council Grove, Osage City, and Ottawa Railroad. It became part of the Missouri-Pacific Railroad years later as it bought and consolidated small railroads into larger more profitable lines.