This branch line of the Gulf, Texas & Western was first built south out of Jacksboro to Salesville in 1913. There, it connected with the Weatherford, Mineral Wells & Northwestern Railway, along which the GT&W continued to Mineral Wells (both passenger and freight service) and beyond to Weatherford (freight service only) via trackage rights.
The railroad was purchased by the Saint Louis-San Fransisco Railroad in 1930; local competition from trucks and other highway traffic ultimately forced abandonment of the line in 1939.