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Ottumwa Electric Railway (Uncanceled)

Inv# RB7046
Ottumwa Electric Railway (Uncanceled)
State(s): Iowa
Years: 1892
$1,000, 6% Uncanceled Gold Bond.

Ottumwa is a railroad center of no mean proportions. It has four separate and distinct roads, radiating out of Ottumwa in various directions, which bring the place in close and direct touch with Chicago and the East; St. Paul and Minneapolis in the North; St. Louis, Kansas City and the great Southwest; and Omaha, Denver and the West and Northwest. The traveler may leave Ottumwa on either one of two main lines and reach Chicago in from seven to nine hours. These roads furnish direct routes to Kansas City and St. Louis, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Omaha and Denver. On these four roads centering here, Ottumwa ships to all parts of the world of her products.

The railroad history of Ottumwa is interesting and instructive. Her means of transportation may be said to have begun soon after the organization of Wapello County, when work was immediately commenced on the laying out and building of roads. These were utilized for teams and wagons, by which freight was transported into and from towns of the county. Later they were traversed by the stage coach, which was the common carrier of the day for passengers and the mails. A step further was attempted in 185o, when a meeting was called in Ottumwa for the discussion of a plank road movement. The object was to build a thoroughfare of this description to connect with a similar highway between Burlington and Mount Pleasant. The project was accepted with general favor in this section, and a committee of prominent citizens was designated to represent the county at a plank road convention, to be held at Mount Pleasant, on the 27th of February, 1850, consisting of J. W. Norris, J. D. Devin, H. B. Hendershott, J. C. Ramsey, Thomas Ping, F. Newell, J. H. D. Street, S. M. Wright, Judge Baker, Dr. Flint, Gideon Myers, B. Boyston, B. Jones, Joseph Hayne, J. M. Peck, Doctor Yeomans, Uriah Biggs, G. B. Savery, Doctor Wood and W. S. Carter. When subscription books were opened Ottumwa raiied $8,700; Agency City, $5,000; and Ashland, one of the extinct towns of the county, $4,500. For some reason the scheme fell through and then the attention of the people was directed to the movement for a railroad. A great deal of agitation and the subscription of $100,000 of stock of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, now the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, was the result. The Burlington Road was obtained, although its completion into Ottumwa was not realized until October 13, 1859. Some time before this, the road had reached Agency and that point was the terminus until the extension into Ottumwa. The road was formally opened to public use in Ottumwa, September 1, 1859. Work from Ottumwa west was begun in 1865, and the road was finished to Albia November 1, 1866, and to Pacific Junction in 1869.

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Condition: Excellent
Item ordered may not be exact piece shown. All original and authentic.
Price: $165.00