MISSISSIPPI & MISSOURI RAIL ROAD COMPANY STOCK CERTIFICATE SIGNED BY JOHN A. DIX - IOWA'S FIRST RAILROAD

MISSISSIPPI & MISSOURI RAIL ROAD COMPANY STOCK CERTIFICATE SIGNED BY JOHN A. DIX - IOWA'S FIRST RAILROAD

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Item Code: 2026-1757

Original 100-share stock certificate of the Mississippi & Missouri Rail Road Company, State of Iowa, No. 243, par value $100 per share, dated at the company's Transfer Office in the City of New York, August 7, 1856. Boldly accomplished in period ink and signed at lower right by JOHN A. DIX as President and at lower center by A.C. FLAGG (Azariah Cutting Flagg) as Treasurer; registered to D.J. Townsend. Handsomely engraved by Danforth, Wright & Co. of New York & Philadelphia, the certificate is richly vignetted with a central scene of an early train flanked by allegorical Native American and Columbia figures, a side-wheel Mississippi steamboat at left, and a standing Native warrior — emblematic of the railroad's mission to bridge the Mississippi and push west toward the Missouri. The face carries a contemporary red manuscript cancellation. The verso bears a fully accomplished transfer and power-of-attorney endorsement to the New York banking house of De Launay, Iselin & Clark, signed again by D.J. Townsend with a witness, dated July 1857.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The Mississippi & Missouri was the first railroad in Iowa, chartered in 1853 to build west from Davenport on the Mississippi to Council Bluffs on the Missouri. It was organized to carry the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad across the Mississippi over the Government (Rock Island) Bridge — the first railroad bridge to span the river, opened in 1856. When the steamboat Effie Afton struck the bridge that same year and steamboat interests sued to have it removed, the railroad retained attorney ABRAHAM LINCOLN for the defense; the litigation ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in the bridge's favor in Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Co. v. Ward (1862). The M&M's surveys and the advocacy of its engineer GRENVILLE DODGE helped fix Council Bluffs as the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific under the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The company was absorbed by the Rock Island in 1866 and reached Council Bluffs in 1869 as part of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.

THE SIGNERS: JOHN A. DIX (1798–1879) — U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Treasury (author of the famous 1861 order, "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot"), Union major general, Minister to France, and Governor of New York — was president of the M&M and went on to serve as the first president of the UNION PACIFIC (1863–1868) during construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad. A.C. FLAGG (1790–1873), four-term New York State Comptroller and New York City Comptroller, was treasurer of the Chicago & Rock Island and held the Rock Island Bridge mortgage at the very heart of the Lincoln litigation — making this a desirable two-signature association piece tied directly to the bridge case.

CONDITION: Approximately 10 x 7 in. Bright and well-printed on the face with a strong engraving impression; usual file folds, light edge wear, and a small loss at the lower-left corner. The customary red cancellation crosses the center and does not detract. Verso shows show-through of the engraving, scattered foxing and soiling, and minor mounting/cancellation remnants. A presentable, displayable example that frames very well.  [ss][ph:L]

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