Edward Henry Harriman Signed Stock Certificate for the Cedar Falls and Minnesota Railroad Company.

HARRIMAN, Edward Henry.

$1,500.00

Item Number: 146742

New York: Central Trust Company of New York, 1895.

Rare Cedar Falls and Minnesota Railroad Company stock certificate signed by American financier and railroad executive E.H. Harriman. Quarto, one page partially printed and accomplished in manuscript, the certificate is dated December 19, 1895 and issues 100 shares of the Capital Stock in the Cedar Falls and Minnesota Railroad Co. to Harriman. The document reads in part: ‘This certifies that “E. H. Harriman” is the owner of one hundred shares of the capital stock of the Cedar Falls and Minnesota No. N916 Railroad Company of one hundred dollars each transferable on the books of the Company upon the surrender of this Certificate duly assigned to the transferee.’ The Cedar Falls and Minnesota Railroad was built in 1858 and ran from Dubuque to the Minnesota border. Signed by Harriman on the verso and additionally signed by W. J. Knight as President of the Company. Matted and framed with a portrait of Harriman and an informational placard. In fine condition. The piece measures 17.3 inches by 23.4 inches. 

Edward Henry Harriman's interest in transportation stemmed from his father's presidency at the Ogdensburg and Lake Champlain Railroad Company. At the age of 33, Harriman began his career as a rebuilder of bankrupt railroads, acquiring the small, broken-down Lake Ontario Southern Railroad, reorganizing it, and selling it at a profit to the Pennsylvania Railroad as 'Sodus Bay & Southern.' Harriman was nearly 50 years old when in 1897 he became a director of the Union Pacific Railroad. By May 1898, he was chairman of the executive committee, and from that time until his death, his word was the law on the Union Pacific system. At the time of his death Harriman controlled the Union Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the Saint Joseph and Grand Island, the Illinois Central, the Central of Georgia, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the Wells Fargo Express Company, and estimates of his estate ranged from $150 million to $200 million.