1840's dated PAIR of Mohawk and Hudson Rail Road Co. - Railway Transfer Receipt and Bond
Inv# RB7476 Bond
Unissued $1,000 Bond and Issued Transfer Receipt for the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad Co. The Pair! Incorporated in 1826 at Albany, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad Company was the first railroad company in the state of New York. The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was named after the two rivers the company hoped to connect; the Hudson river in Albany and the Mohawk river in Schenectady. The state of New York had a set of waterways between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes which had been used for transport since before colonization. These waterways would become the basis for the Erie Canal between Albany and Buffalo in 1825. It was during this time that railroads were being considered as a faster, more efficient alternative to waterways. The construction of the M&H was overseen by its two directors, George William Featherstonhaugh and Stephen Van Rensselaer, with no other directors being identified in the charter.
Due to its increasing urban population, a route alongside the Erie Canal was considered the most logical option for the first New York railroad. In order to construct the new railroad, the railroad company had to overcome political opposition fueled by the popularity of the Erie Canal; opposition which would only cease by the 1860s, as canals were becoming obsolete in favor of the more efficient railroads. The canal distance between Albany to the south and Schenectady to the north was about 22 or 23 miles. With a railroad, goods and passengers would be able to travel from one city to the other in a straight line, or a distance of only 16 or 17 miles. Featherstonhaugh argued that the railroad would reduce the travel time between Albany and Schenectady from 2 or 3 days to 3 hours. On March 27, 1826 a bill was passed in Congress and Featherstonhaugh and Rensselaer were granted a sum of $300,000-$500,000 for the construction of one of the first chartered railroads in American history. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeWitt_Clinton_(locomotive)#Mohawk_and_Hudson_Railroad
A bond is a document of title for a loan. Bonds are issued, not only by businesses, but also by national, state or city governments, or other public bodies, or sometimes by individuals. Bonds are a loan to the company or other body. They are normally repayable within a stated period of time. Bonds earn interest at a fixed rate, which must usually be paid by the undertaking regardless of its financial results. A bondholder is a creditor of the undertaking.
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