Oct 02, 2012 - Sale 2287

Sale 2287 - Lot 423

Price Realized: $ 570
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(RAILROADS.) Archive of letters to the promoter of the Camanche, Albany & Mendota Rail Road. 60 manuscript letters and documents, various sizes, condition generally strong. Vp, 1856-1862
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An intriguing batch of correspondence relating to the development of railroads in rural northwestern Illinois. The Camanche, Albany & Mendota Rail Road was chartered in 1856, and collected most of its stock subscriptions from farmers along the route. Many of them mortgaged their land to support the project, hoping to make it up in increased crop sales and property values. When the project stalled in 1859 and banks demanded payment, some were threatened with loss of their land. According to the town history, "the people were indignant" and "even resorted to violent means," attempting to seize their promissory notes by force. The company merged into the Illinois Grand Trunk Railway and continued its efforts. See Bent, History of Whiteside County, 369-370, 379-380.
The letters in this lot are addressed to Anthony J. Mattson (1818-1886) of Prophetstown, IL, the leading promoter of the railroad from its inception until it finally opened in 1871, and all relate to the company's tumultuous first years. The early letters reflect the enthusiasm of Mattson's neighbors; a farmer named J.G. Banes writes in 1856 that "I feel an abiding interest in the enterprize and will incidently advance the interests of the road so far as in my power." The tone became bitter as the project collapsed in 1859. Farmer Jacob Sells wrote "It will be utterly impossible for me to pay the interest on that note I gave you on railroad subscription. . . . I have been unlucky and am entirely broke." In 1860, a surveyor named Sidney S. Emerson complains that he has not been paid for almost a year, and concludes with high sarcasm, "Hoping that I may soon have the extreme pleasure of holding up my platter when the company gives down its shower of gold."
Among Mattson's correspondents was Charles B. Stuart, a New York railroad engineer who reached the rank of general in the Civil War, represented by 16 Autograph Letters Signed from 1859 to 1861. Some of his 1861 letters allude to the coming war; on 8 March he writes "Everything now looks dark and threatening & I fear Lincoln will not meet the issue promptly nor properly." The lot also features two letters from Illinois Secretary of State Ozias M. Hatch, an old friend of Lincoln, 1857 and 1859; and 5 letters from Charles Atkinson, founder of Moline, IL, all from 1856. A complete list of correspondents is available on request.