SIERRA RAILWAY CO. of CALIF. Bond 1897 Central Valley to Sierra Nevada Foothills

Description

Sierra Railway Company of California. Bond issued April 12, 1897. Incorporated in February 1897 in the State of California
. Embossed company seal lower left. Certificate
No. 293
. ,000 Forty-Year First Mortgage 6% Gold Bearer Bond. Principal due 1937. Hand signed by company
president S. (Sidney) D. Freshman
and
secretary John M. Bonner
. Certificate is about 11” x 17.” Black print with green borders and underprint.
Vignettes with long passenger trainpassing cattle (top) and two small state seals of California (bottom left and right corners).
The Sierra Railway Company of California was incorporated in 1897 to “purchase, construct, maintain, operate and conduct a railroad of standard gauge in the state of California to be operated by steam, electricity or any other motive power, for the carrying of passengers and freight.” Four men were at the core of this company: Thomas S. Bullock, a railroad builder who already had completed three railroad projects; Sidney D. Freshman, a skilled business man (first president of the company and signatory of this document); Prince André Poniatowski, the president of the California Exploration Company that had purchased many abandoned mines in Amador and Calaveras Counties and saw the advantage of getting low-cost electric power to the mines; and William H. Crocker, a banker who served as one of the financial backers of the new Sierra Railway.
When the company was first incorporated, the exact route was not determined, but the men wanted to start in Stanislaus County and head east and northeast to the town of Angels Camp in Calaveras County. Not only would this serve many mines along the route, but it would also reach the Calaveras Big Trees region near to where the Crocker and Poniatowski families had timber holdings. In May 1897, the first rails were laid in the grain fields just East of Oakdale, California (in Stanislaus County in the Central Valley of California) and the stations (water stops) grew to include Occidental (Now called Arnold), Paulsell, Warnerville, Cooperstown, Hetch Hetchy Junction, Keystone, Quinn Spur, Chinese Camp, and finally on November 8, 1897, Jamestown, California. The railroad owners had no intention of ending the line there, and the line was extended to Tuolumne City, some 16 miles from Jamestown. The extension of 1900 also connected Lime Kiln, Sonora, Fassler. Standard, Black Oak, and Ralph. Originally, Crocker and Poniatowski wanted the line to begin in the Stockton area. Eventually, however, they decided to start the Sierra Railway line at Oakdale. This town was also a depot for the Southern Pacific Railroad, a transcontinental railroad, which resulted in a direct connection between the Sierra Railway and the rest of the country. The Sierra Railway was a boon to the economy of towns along each stop from the Central Valley to the Foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The railroad lasted through the Great Depression but was sold in 1937.
Condition:  Very Fine+
, light folds, minor creasing, no tears, minor signs of wear/handling/toning (see photos), punch cancelled.
Printer:
H. S. Crocker Company, San Francisco.
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