Saint Paul and Duluth Railroad Co. Issued to and signed by William H. Seward
Inv# AG2140 StockStock issued to William H. Seward and signed on back. Rare!
William H. Seward Jr. (1839-1920) was born in Auburn, New York, the son of United States Secretary of State William Henry Seward, Sr. and Frances Adeline Seward; and younger brother of United States Assistant Secretary of State Frederick William Seward.
Educated at home, Seward became interested in finance and later started a partnership with Clinton McDougall and opened a private bank in Auburn, New York in 1861. He left banking in 1862 to command New York's 9th Heavy Artillery in the U.S. Civil War, which joined the Army of the Potomac in 1864 and was present at Appomattox Court House. After being wounded in battle, he eventually rose to the brevet rank of Brigadier General. He was thereafter known within his family as "The General".
Retiring from the army at the close of the war, he returned to Auburn and the banking profession and also served as secretary and director of the American Express Company.
He lived with his wife, Janet MacNeil Watson Seward, in the family homestead in Auburn, New York. He had three children: Cornelia Margaret Seward Allen, William Henry Seward III, and Frances Janet Seward Messanger.
He was targeted as a victim of the Lincoln assination conspiracy but was spared.
He died at the age of 80. Today, he is buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York next to his father William H. Seward, Sr.
Originally incorporated in 1863 and known as the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, the road provided the first service between Duluth and the Twin Cities upon its completion in 1870. Serving as the all-important eastern terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, the road linked the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. A victim of the panic of 1873, the company defaulted on its bonds and was reorganized in 1877 as the Saint Paul and Duluth Railroad. It was absorbed by the Northern Pacific in 1900. These exceptional stocks are beautifully printed by American Bank Note Company. The two Steamships and Locomotive scenes are so very impressive. A fine example of engraving of this Golden Era of Financial Printing.
The St. Paul and Duluth Railroad was reorganized from the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad in 1877. It was bought by the Northern Pacific in 1900. Known as the "Skally Line", it operated from Saint Paul to Duluth, Minnesota, with branches to Minneapolis, Taylors Falls, Kettle River, and Cloquet, in Minnesota, and Grantsburg and Superior in Wisconsin.
The line was purchased by the Northern Pacific Railway, which was succeeded by the Burlington Northern and then the Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Most of the line became redundant with other lines after the Burlington Northern merger, as it paralleled another line of the Great Northern Railway. Most of the line therefore was abandoned and many segments were turned into rail trails.
The disposition of those segments is as follows:
- St. Paul, Minnesota to Maplewood, Minnesota - abandoned; now part of the Bruce Vento Regional Trail
- Maplewood, Minnesota to Hugo, Minnesota - now operated by the Minnesota Commercial Railway
- Hugo, Minnesota to North Branch, Minnesota - abandoned; now the Hardwood Creek Regional Trail and Sunrise Prairie Trail
- North Branch, Minnesota to Hinckley, Minnesota - now operated by the St. Croix Valley Railroad
- Hinckley, Minnesota to Duluth, Minnesota - abandoned; now the Willard Munger State Trail
A stock certificate is issued by businesses, usually companies. A stock is part of the permanent finance of a business. Normally, they are never repaid, and the investor can recover his/her money only by selling to another investor. Most stocks, or also called shares, earn dividends, at the business's discretion, depending on how well it has traded. A stockholder or shareholder is a part-owner of the business that issued the stock certificates.
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