The Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad and The Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company

The Indiana, Illinois & Iowa Railroad was part of the New York Central's western division and would become totally absorbed by the NYC in a few years after the cancel of the stamp below.  The II&I ran through territory experiencing rapid economic growth and would profit from freight and passenger traffic in the region.  

THE I. I. & I. R. R. CO.

NOV

10

1899

CHICAGO.

IND.  ILL.  &  IA. R. R.

APR  4  1902

SOUTH BEND, IND.

The 2 cent documentary above almost certainly was removed from a check.  The cancel immediately above comes from the bill of lading below from the Studebaker Company which would become one of the United States most significant car makers in the early 20th century.  The BOL appears to be a document to send Studebaker vehicles to Roswell, New Mexico, the home of Area 51.  At the time, Studebaker's vehicle product was an electric car.  

Studebaker had been a coach and wagon builder in the 1800s.  But in 1902 they began to make electric cars, making it possible that this BOL for 31,000 lbs of freight (only 1c tax for 31,000 lbs?) could be for electric cars.  Most of the carriage for the trip to New Mexico was completed by the Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fe.

The association here between Roswell and Area 51, space aliens, electric cars from 120 years ago, Tesla, Elon Musk, and Space X would have made a great April Fools post.  No such creativity this year!

Meanwhile, these cancels would be great additions to the work started by Tolman and continued by Bob Mustacich on his site to inventory RR cancels on battleships.  

Southern Railroads: Southern Railway

Pre-Norfolk & Western logo above; Norfolk Southern logo below.

Restored Southern Railway locomotive on video from 1984

Southern Railway Bill of Lading

SO. RY. CO. ???? Agt.

FEB

10

1899

Southern Railway bill of lading for a consignment of tobacco products from Winston, North Carolina, to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 

Winston and Tuscaloosa were both stops on the Southern Railway.

Waxed Paper: Erie Railroad Bill of Lading

As we head towards the holidy season, candy companies are also entering one of their biggest seasons.  In addition to making the candy, the firms also need to worry about packaging.  Over 110 years ago, Rochester Candy Works ordered a lot of waxed paper from The Hammerschlag Manufacturing Company in Garfield, New Jersey, which shipped the lot by rail via the Erie Railroad to Rochester, N. Y. 

ERIE

APR

RR.     19    CO.

1901

GARFIELD,

N.J.

Langlois scan

The Erie RR cancel above takes the diamond form of the Erie RR logo:

New England Railroads: St. Johnsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad

Bill of Lading on the St. Johsbury & Lake Champlain Railroad

Hyde Park, Vermont to Boscawen, New Hampshire

1 barrel of ground something

The St. Johnsbury and Lake Champlain was part of the Boston & Maine Railroad.

New England Railroads: Maine Central Railroad

M. C. R. R.

MAR  23  1899

System map 1923

New England Railroads: Bricks on the Central Vermont Railway

C. V. RY. CO

JUL

19

1901

AMHERST, MASS.

Langlois scan

Bill of lading for a load of bricks from the Marcy & Gardner Brick Company.  Amherst, Mass. was on the New London section of the C.V. RY.

1879 C.V. RR map showing the CVRR and its connections tying together Montreal, Boston, and New York

New England Railroads: Boston & Maine Railroad

BOSTON & MAINE R. R.

SEP

15

1900

BOSCAWEN, N. H.

Langlois scan

Boston & Maine RR for a shipment of something(?) to a Rosenberg Brothers.

Boston & Maine sytem map from 1898

Carson & Colorado Railway: Bill of Lading for Cyanide

Carson & Colorado route map

Note route within Nevada from Hawthorne, just south of Walker Lake, north to Moundhouse, just east of Carson City.

The Carson and Colorado Railway was a narrow gauge railroad that ran through eastern Nevada down to Keeler California.   It was incorporated on May 10, 1880 as the Carson and Colorado Railroad, and construction began that month. 3 ft  gauge track was used to keep costs down.  The railroad was sold to the Southern Pacific Company in 1900, which was bad timing for the C&C's original investors, who by 1900 had given up the road's profitability.  Silver and gold was discovered at Tonopah, Nevada and Goldfield, Nevada, and provided major revenues shortly after the Southern Pacific purchase.   

*****

Carson & Colorado bill of lading for a box of cyanide samples from Hawthorne, Nevada to Moundhouse, Nevada.  An agent at Hawthorne with the initials C.P.M. receieved the consignment and canceled the stamp on April Fools Day, 1899.

Mining and Cyanide

Why a shipment of cyanide on the Carson & Colorado?  Cyanide is produced in large quantities for the mining of gold and silver.  Cyanide is used to dissolve silver and gold ore.  Finely ground high-grade ore is mixed with cyanide.  Low grade ores are piled into mounds and sprayed with a cyanide solution.   The precious metals then form soluble derivatives.

The solution containing these ions is separated from the solids, which are discarded to a tailing pond or spent heap, the recoverable gold having been removed.  The metal is recovered from the solution by reduction or adsorption.

Since the C&C's main business came from mining silver and gold, cyanide was likely a common item of freight on the line.