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Testimony about the Perry Land Grant in Honduras. Owned by The Honduras Company, Owings Building…Chicago.
Testimony about the Perry Land Grant in Honduras. Owned by The Honduras Company, Owings Building…Chicago.

Testimony about the Perry Land Grant in Honduras. Owned by The Honduras Company, Owings Building…Chicago.


Late 19th century Honduran land investment booklet issued by The Honduras Company of Chicago. Laid in—and apparently unrecorded—is a plat map of the proposed settlement located on the Patuca River in northeastern Honduras.

The Honduras Company was organized in 1890. Edwrd W. Perry served as its first president in addition to being one of its directors and Governor of La Mosquitia, a tropical rainforest region where the town of Perry was laid out. The land grant was located “...900 miles south of New Orleans, and is nearer to Chicago than are the fruit fields of California.” (p5)

Perry’s agreement with the government of Honduras allowed the purchase in exchange for making “...extensive public works which will prove of inestimable value to the entire eastern half of the republic.” Improvements were to include roads, telegraph lines, and a canal.¹

Testimony about the Perry Land Grant in Honduras includes descriptions of the geography and climate as well as information on its agricultural prospects and expected outlays for emigrants or investors, and notes on crops and the legal situation. Numerous testimonials are included (one concerning gold mining) as well as travel directions and information concerning land surveys.

The rare laid in plat map shows the 100 hectare Town of Perry with its residential districts of “Wood Lawn” and “Morton Park,” a wharf, and river-side plantations. Morton Park is possibly named fro one A.H.Morton, a likely agent of The Honduras Company, whose name is stamped on the upper cover.


Description: Testimony about the Perry Land Grant in Honduras. Owned by The Honduras Company, Owings Building…Chicago.

[Chicago: Commercial Printing Co.], 1891. [3], 4–88, [8]pp. Booklet. 6¼ x 3¾ inches. Printed green wrappers; side stapled. Folded plat map by W. McCullough laid in: Town of Perry, 100 Hectares (Chicago: Geo. F. Cram, Engraver, nd; approx. 16 x 11 inches). Rubber stamp on upper cover in red ink: “Inquire for A.H. Morton.” Brief rubbing; creasing at one corner affecting some leaves; otherwise, very good with near fine folding map.

[3728939]

OCLC 39614446, three copies only and not mentioning map (Newberry; Univ. KS; Univ. MO at K.C., none of which individual records mention map). Note. 1. Charles, Honduras: The Land of Great Depths (Chicago, 1890), pp92ff.


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