The company received several extensions to complete the road during and after the American Civil War.
[2] The company went bankrupt in 1871 having constructed only a small part of the road from McMinnville to Sparta.
Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway (NC&StL) purchased the assets.
[1] In 1884, NC&StL finished the 26-mile (42 km) segment to Sparta to reach the coal mines at Bon Air, Tennessee.
[3] The track is operated today by the Caney Fork & Western Railroad (CFWR).