This short railroad began as the Carolina, Glen Anna & Pee Dee Railroad, which had been a poorly-built mining and logging line. It terminated in Thomasville and then extended a few miles south. In 1906, the High Point City Council authorized $100,000 to extend this short line from Thomasville to High Point, with plans to connect with the Seaboard Air Line Railway to the south and also to connect with the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway to the northeast in Winston-Salem.

At the completion of the Winston-Salem Southbound Railway in 1910, a more realistic competitive system could be built by extending the Carolina, Glen Anna & Pee Dee Railroad south through Denton to a different connection with the Winston-Salem Southbound Railroad at High Rock. This line would provide competition with the Southern Railway with a connection to the Norfolk & Western Railroad at Winston-Salem and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad at Wadesboro.

By the time that the city of High Point issued the first bond to buy stock in the proposed line on August 25, 1913, the Carolina, Glen Anna & Pee Dee River Railroad had become the Carolina & Yadkin River Railroad. With its new name, the line was completed on June 1, 1914. [this paragraph not completely accurate]

Unfortunately, the new Carolina & Yadkin River Railroad had few industries along its line. The company struggled for the next seven years, like so many other small railroads of the times. It was forced into bankruptcy and all assets put up for sale on May 7, 1923. The citizens of High Point and Thomasville purchased the road for $125,000. A charter was issued for the High Point, Thomasville & Denton Railroad on May 11, 1923.

From the Fourteenth Annual Report of the North Carolina Corporation Commission, dated December 31, 1912, with a Compilation of Railroad Returns for the Year Ending June 30, 1912:

President ........................................... Bird S. Coler ............................................. 43 Cedar St., NY
Superintendent .................................. W.E. Price ................................................. High Point, NC
Secretary .......................................... L.H. Hole ................................................... 43 Cedar St., NY
Treasurer .......................................... C.B. Hole ................................................... 43 Cedar St., NY
Traffic Manager ................................ W.E. Price .................................................. High Point, NC

Property Operated - Thomasville, NC to Denton, NC ............................................ 21.6 miles

Capital Stock ......................................................................................................... $40,000.00
Cost of Road ......................................................................................................... $56,018.35
Cost of Equipment ................................................................................................. $16,983. 88

Number of Employees ............................................................................................ 34

Towns on Route:

High Point

Thomasville

Light

Gordontown (1915)

Cid

Snider

Denton

Jackson Hill

High Rock (1911)

From the Seventeenth Annual Report of the North Carolina Corporation Commission, dated December 31, 1915, with a Compilation of Railroad Returns for the Year Ending June 30, 1915:

Stations on Route in NC (28 miles):
Thomasville
Glen Anna
Cedar Lodge
Light
Mabel
Hannersville
Gordontown
Hughes
Cid
Emmons Mine
Leach's Mill
Snider
Denton
Healing Springs
Coler
High Rock