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Auction: 317 - The Collector's Series
Lot: 420

Mason City and Fort Dodge R R (IA) 1887. $100 Capital stock. No.A7. 2338 shares. Issued Dec. 20, 1887 to, and signed by James J. Hill on verso. Green ornate border. Locomotive. Stub lightly pasted to a small portion of the left border. IC. POC, minor rust stains in the right margin, otherwise VF+.
This railroad was built in order to connection with the Chicago Great Western Railway Company's tracks at Hayfield, Minnisota, southwesterly through the cities of Mason City and Fort Dodge, Iowa, to Omaha, Nebr., and Sioux City, Iowa, with a line extending westerly from Oelwein, Iowa, to Clarion, Iowa, and branches from Fort Dodge to Lehigh, Iowa, and elsewhere as determined. It was later acquired from the Chicago Great Western Railway Company, and rehabilitated.
Between 1883 and 1889, James J. Hill built railroads across Minnesota, into Wisconsin, and across North Dakota to Montana. He brought industry into undeveloped areas, often by buying out companies and placing plants along his railroad lines. By 1889, Hill decided to focus on building a Transcontinental railroad, without the use of government funds. "What we want," Hill is quoted as saying, "is the best possible line, shortest distance, lowest grades, and least curvature we can build. Eventually Hill got what he wanted. In January of 1893 his Great Northern Railway extended from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington - a distance of more than 1,700 miles.
Stock certificates of any kind with Hill's signature are extremely rare. In our May 2013, Lot 701, the Webster County Coal and Land Company, issued to and signed by Hill, realized $4,750. The current example should be much more compelling, as it is a railroad, is graphically pleasing, represents a high number of shares (that probably gave control of the company to Hill), and it is in nice condition.
No scripophily collection of important autographed pieces will ever be complete without this example.

Sold for
$6,750