Office of the Southern Kansas and Western Railroad Company. [opening lines of investment circular; with related letter]

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Rare and unrecorded 1879 four-page investment circular issued by the Southern Kansas & Western Railroad Company, proposing the consolidation of itself and two other railroad lines—the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad and the Santa Fe Railroad and Telegraph Company—as the Kansas City, Lawrence and Southern Railroad Company. As outlined in the circular the new corporations plans were as follows:

The Southern Kansas and Western Railroad Company has been organized…for the purpose of building a railroad from the town of Thayer or Independence, on our road, through the counties of Wilson or Montgomery, and through Elk, Cowley, Sumner, Harper, and Barbour Counties, in Kansas… The company will execute a first mortgage upon all its property and franchises to secure an issue of bonds to the amount of $2,500,000… The parties subscribing and paying for five shares ($500) of said stock at par, to be at liberty to subscribe for and purchase of the corporation its first mortgage seven per cent bonds… (pp[3–4])

Accompanying the circular is a letter signed by Southern Kansas & Western Railroad Company treasurer, Charles Merriam. The letter is addressed to H. Ledyard of Newport, Rhode Island informing him that his payment of $900 for his subscription to stock and bonds has been received. The circular is annotated in red ink to indicate that “You have paid to Aug 1 inclusive” and that further payments of $1800 and $900 will be due in September and October 1879.

“The Southern Kansas & Western Railroad Company was organized in 1879; opened to Harper, 148.82 miles from Cherryvale, October 1, 1880. ... In April, 1879, the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston, the…Santa Fe and the Southern Kansas Railroad Companies were consolidated, under the name of the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Railroad Company. December 16, 1880, the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern, the Southern Kansas & Western and the Sumner County Railroad Companies were consolidated, under the name of the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Kansas Railroad Company. In November, 1880, the stock of this company passed into the hands of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, and since the 1st of May, 1882, the road has been operated by the latter company.”¹

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