C21.1  [North Missouri Railroad]     Report of the Board Of Directors Of The North Missouri Railroad Company To The Stockholders, Made first Monday of April, 1866.  St. Louis, George Knapp & Company, 1866.  8vo, wraps,, 114pp, large folding colored map, ex-library.  Perforation stamp on title page, few discrete rubberstamps, wraps soiled and chipped, internally clean and tight, map clean and bright with several closed fold separations, very good overall.  Not in Sabin, Howes, Streeter, Eberstadt, Phillips Maps or Modelski.   $1,250.00

Rare and engaging report consisting of lengthy and detailed narratives relative to the operation, construction and future growth of the North Missouri Railroad.  The NMRR was incorporated in 1851 and apparently continued operation and construction at least through the date of report, improbably without federal land grants.  Although an important and successful venture, the company suffered great monetary and asset losses during the Civil War.  Company President Isaac H. Sturgeon, in his opening remarks, recounts the monetary losses, asset damages and loss of life which occurred “By order of the rebel Gen. Sterling Price” and “…that most abandoned wretch Bill Anderson”.  Anderson is cited as having burned NMRR trains and then shooting down in cold blood, twenty-three unarmed Union men.

Accompanying the report is a large, splendid map by G.W. Colton:  G. Woolworth Colton’s County & Township Railroad Map of the States of Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin / North Missouri Rail Road Map Showing their connections & Proposed Branches. NY, G.W. & C.B. Colton, 1865/66. Lithographed with bright wash and outline color by county, 30.5” x 26.5”, with wide ornamental border, showing completed and proposed railroads and prospectus of the North Missouri Railroad.

Ref: Graff 3032