1850s CHICAGO & ROCK ISLAND RAILROAD Stock Certificate SIGNED Pres HENRY FARNAM

Description

1850's Stock Certificate for the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad Company, unissued, but signed by Henry Farnam, President. The Certificate is numbered 686. Vignette at top of a locomotive and cars.
With stub attached at left. Measures approx. 12-3/4" x 4-3/4".
A scarce autograph of
HENRY FARNAM
, (1803-1883), Philanthropist and Railroad Developer and President; He worked on the Erie Canal and the New Haven & Northampton Canal in the 1820's, becoming Construction Superintendent of the latter in 1827; In 1850, he moved to Illinois, where he partnered with Joseph E. Sheffield to build the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad, which reached Rock Island in 1854, and was the first railroad to connect Chicago to the Mississippi River. He served as the Railroad's president from 1854 until his retirement in 1863. Was involved in building several other railroads, and the first railroad bridge across the Mississippi, which was involved in many lawsuits brought by steamboat companies, and in one celebrated case, he hired attorney
Abraham Lincoln
as local co-counsel.
There is a vertical fold in the stub, and a light crease in the stock certificate at right. Fine.
COMBINED SHIPPING FOR MULTIPLE ITEMS.
[348]
NO SHIPPING OUTSIDE OF THE U.S.