<P> At the end of 1970, MKT operated 2623 miles of road and 3765 miles of track . </P> <P> The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway was incorporated in May 1870 in Junction City, Kansas . Ostensibly the original goal of the company was to build a supply railroad connecting the frontier military bases of Fort Riley, Fort Gibson and Fort Scott; and eventually Fort Worth; although its broader ambitions were to also connect to Chicago and New Orleans . Upon its incorporation the MK&T acquired the Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch (est. 1865) and its 182 miles (293 km) of track in Kansas . (Union Pacific Railway was, for a period of several years in the late 19th century, the official name of the unrelated Union Pacific Railroad, which later acquired MKT as part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad .) </P> <P> At the time of its 1870 incorporation, consolidations were also made with the Labette & Sedalia Railway Co. and the Neosho Valley & Holden Railway Co.; MK&T also acquired the Tebo & Nosho Railroad Co., the St. Louis & Santa Fe Railroad Co., and the Hannibal & Central Missouri Railroad Co . Combined with the UP Southern Branch, these small, newly built railroads formed the foundation on which the Katy would build . </P> <P> Congress had passed acts promising land grants to the first railroad to reach the Kansas border via the Neosho Valley . The Katy portion of the former UP Southern Branch, which had begun building from Fort Riley just north of Junction City, Kansas, was in a heated competition for the prize . On June 6, 1870, Katy workers laid the first rails across the Kansas border, winning the race . Congress' promised land grants were never made, as the courts overturned the grants because the land was in Indian Territory and was the property of the Indian tribes . </P>

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