Railroad Cancels: Blue and Canadian Southern Lines

I need some help here. I can't find any meaningful information online about this railroad, except from sources that at least confirm it is a railroad but not much else: obituaries of former employees. The New York Times obituary of one former employee did mention that this railroad had an office, if not headquarters, in Chicago. Does anyone have information?

2 Cent Documentary Taxes

Bank check with 2 cent documentary stamp paying required tax.

Bill of foreign exchange. Tax stamps, both US and French, are on the back.

The Revenue Act for the funding of the Spanish-American War required taxes on certain documents representing business transactions. Hence the term "documentary tax": Tax stamps were applied directly to the documents representing the transaction, such as bank checks and stock transfer receipts. Specific to the current concern of this blog for the 2 cent documentary stamp, the following transactions were taxed at the rate of 2 cents:

1. Stock Transfers: All sales, or agreements to sell, or memoranda of sales or deliveries or transfers of shares of certificates of stock for each $100 in face value or fraction thereof;

2. Bank Checks: For each bank check, draft, or certificate of deposit not drawing interest, or order for the payment of any sum of money, drawn upon or issued by any bank, trust company, or any person or persons, companies, or corporations at sight or on demand;

3. Bills of exchange (inland), draft, certificate of deposit drawing interest, order for the payment of any sum of money, otherwise than at sight or demand, or any promissory note except bank notes issued for circulation, and for renewal of the same, for each $100 in value or fraction thereof;

4. Foreign bills of exchange or letters of credit (including orders by telegraph or otherwise for the payment of money issued by express or other companies or any person or persons), drawn in but payable out of the U.S., if drawn drawn in sets of two or more, according to the customs of merchants or bankers, for each $100 or fraction thereof for each instrument;

5. Certificates of profits (e.g., certificates of deposit, interest-bearing notes, bills of exchange, money orders), for each $100 face value or fraction thereof.

Of course, 2 cent stamps might have been used to pay multiples or fractions of other tax rates. but these were the uses of single 2 cent stamp.

**Note: This is the first instance of "virtual collecting" I've done on this blog. The images of the documents above were taken from sellers' images available on eBay. As I've written before, I currently live in Nairobi, Kenya, and do not have my collection with me. I work with scans of my collection. It is easy though, to borrow images of the web to demonstrate my point on occasion.

Railroad Cancels: California Street Cable Railroad

CSCRR Fare Token

The 2 cent stamp on this check paid the tax due on all bank checks regardless of the value of the check. I don't suppose too many checks were written for 2 cents.

The California Street Cable Railroad was the creation of Leland Stanford and partners and was formed in 1876. As you might expect, the first line ran along California Street.

For more information on the CSCRR, see: http://www.cablecarmuseum.org/co-california-st.html

This is the first stamp I've used that is not from Henry Tolman's 2 cent documentary calendar.

Railroad Cancels: Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Railway

The C.I. & L Railway was known as the Monon since its mainline from Chicago branched in Monon, Indiana.

In 1882, the railroad started printing "The Monon Route" on company maps, and later formally took the name "Monon - The Hoosier Line" on timetables, letterheads, and rolling stock. The Monon, from 1897, operating almost entirely within the state of Indiana, and was merged into the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1971. Much of the former Monon right of way is operated today by CSX Transportation.

Railroad Cancels: Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway

The independent Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway was a connector railway around Chicago. It continues to exist but as a property of the Candadian National railroad, and is considered a Class II railroad, unlike the large Class Is that dominate most of the cancels in this blog. The railroad was orginally created in the 1880s and maintained its independence until 2009, when it was taken over by the CN.

Railroad Cancels: Southern Iron Car Line, Express Coal Line, South Eastern Line

The cancellations of these companies changed from straight line cancels to circular date stamps sometime in early 1899..

I'm still working on these companies and their relationship to each other. I live in Nairobi Kenya and and am working with scans of my collection. While I have access to web resources I do not have access to a good library, which I need to find out more about these linked Atlanta railroad businesses. An obituary of the lines' President is helpful, but is limited in information. Comment if you know more.

Railroad Cancels: Wabash Railroad

The Wabash Railroad was a major railroad in the midwest that operated a route that ran directly between Kansas City and Detroit. This railroad would eventually come under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Cancellations by Wabash subsidiaries will be posted later.

For more see the Wabash Railroad Historical Society at: http://www.wabashrhs.org/

Railroad Cancels: Great Northern Railway

The Great Northern Railway running from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington, was the creation of the 19th century railroad tycoon James J. Hill and was developed from the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The Great Northern's route was the northernmost transcontinental railroad route in the United States and was north of the Northern Pacific Railway. The Great Northern was a privately funded transcontinental railroad, though some of its predecessor roads received land grants.

Learn more about the GN Railway at: http://www.gnrhs.org/

Railroad Cancels: Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad

Hand cancelled six days after the tax went into effect, this 2 Cent Documentary stamp was used by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad.

The DL&W RR was a coal line, hauling coal out of Pennsylvania's Lackawanna River valley to its eastern terminus in Hoboken NJ. The line eventually extended Buffalo NY, and served as a land-bridge line between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic ocean. The DL&W was formed in the early 1850's, saw great fortune in the 1930s, then went into a steady decline as America shifted away from coal as its primary fuel. DLWRR eventually merged with former rival Erie RR in 1960 to form the Erie Lackawanna (EL). This merger of 2 once-great roads, both going extinct as their primary livlihood dried up, then disappeared altogether when the EL was one of the six bankrupt railroads that formed Conrail in 1976.

I will Erie Railroad cancellations coming soon.

Railroad Cancels: Michigan Central Railroad

This stamp shows a hand cancellation by the Michigan Central Railroad. My collection holds MCRR cancels for July 2 and 3 and several other dates in July, 1898.

Michigan Central Railroad: The MCRR was owned and operated by the New York Central RR by 1898. The Michigan Central Railroad was originally incorporated in 1846 to establish rail service between Detroit and St. Joseph, Michigan . The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, and in Ontario. Not until 1867 was the railroad operated as part of the New York Central Railroad.

Find out more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Central_Railroad
or here: http://www.michiganrailroads.com/RRHX/Railroads/MichiganCentral/MichiganCentralHomePage.htm

Railroad Cancels and The 2 Cent Documentary of 1898 - 1901 - Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway

Welcome to 1898 Revenues. I have a special interest in used One and Two Cent Documentaries, and used Proprietaries. Please join me and add comments if you have similar interests. I will highlight the 2 Cent Documentaries, especially cancellations and the companies that made them.

This stamp has printed and handstamp cancellations from the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, commonly known as the Milwaukee Road. At the time this stamp was cancelled the Milwaukee Road did not extend its lines to the Pacific coast. Eventually it would, and would make extensive use of electric powered locomotives in the west.

About two years ago I succesfully bid at auction for a collection of 2 cent Battleship documentaries in the form of a calender that tracked each day of the tax period for the use of these stamps. The stamp above, for example, was in the calender blank for May 21, 1901. Put together by Henry Tolman, this calender was a minor part of one of the better US revenue collections ever assembled. But while a minor part of Tolman's great collection , the calender is a marvel. Most days of the nearly 3 year tax period have been competed by stamps cancelled by railroads or major US industrial concerns.

For the next few months I will use images from this calender, and some from my general collection, to highlight railroad cancels on these 2 cent stamps.