The Baldwin City Council on Tuesday approved a $345,000 agreement with the Midland Railway Historical Association that provides the city with a trail easement along the railroad from Baldwin City to Ottawa.
Baldwin City Administrator Glenn Rodden said the easement would allow the installation of a 15-foot-wide trail along the Midland Railway line that would link to the Prairie Spirit Trail State Park in Ottawa. The 51-mile crushed limestone Prairie Spirit Trail connects Ottawa to Iola. The Midland Railway and the Prairie Spirit Trail were part of the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Fort Gibson Railroad built in the 1860s from Leavenworth south to the Oklahoma line. In exchange for the easement, the city agrees to pay Midland $172,500 on the signing of the agreement and another $172,500 when the easements are filed with the registers of deeds in Douglas and Franklin counties.
(Read more: LJWorld.com / Lawrence, Kansas)