Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad

The Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad (JLC&E) was a short line railroad that operated in Mississippi and Craighead County of northeast Arkansas. This railroad received a charter from the State of Arkansas on April 7, 1897, and track construction between Jonesboro and Blytheville began soon thereafter.

Early history

The initial push to construct the JLC&E came from timber owners and land speculators in northeast Arkansas, all of whom saw the availability of railroad transportation as a necessary ingredient to harvesting timber. By the time the railroad was completed in the summer of 1901, several large sawmills were either in operation or being built along the tracks. In early 1911, the JLC&E was purchased by R.E. Lee Wilson, a prominent landowner who resided in Wilson, Arkansas.

The JLC&E railroad was purchased by the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway (Frisco) in 1924, and operated as a Frisco branch line into the 1970s. All of the former JLC&E tracks have been dismantled, except for a short segment between Blytheville and Armorel, Arkansas.

References

• Dew, Lee A. (1968), The JLC&E, History of an Arkansas Railroad, Arkansas State University Press, Jonesboro, Arkansas.