Black Hills & Fort Pierre Railroad Co. signed by James B. Haggin (founder of Homestake and Anaconda Mining Companies) as President - South Dakota 1896

Beautiful certificate #1 from Black Hills & Fort Pierre Railroad Co. issued in 1896. This historic document has a thin ornate border around it and has a variety of colorful stamps on the back. This item has the handwritten signatures of the Company’s President, James B. Haggin and Secretary; and is over 115 years old. The certificate was issued to Mrs. Phebe A. Hearst.


Back of Certificate



James Ben Ali Haggin was a Kentucky-born millionaire who owned at one time 400,000 acres of California land, 10,000 acres of Bluegrass pasture, and some of the richest mines and fastest horses in the world. James B. Haggin was also the President and founder of Homestake and Anaconda Mining Companies.

Mrs. Phebe A. Hearst, was the wife of United States Senator George Hearst, and a lady well known for her philanthropy and public spirit, and her interest in and taste for all things artistic.

Unlike other Midwestern communities Deadwood and Lead did not wait patiently for the Chicago railroad corporations to come to the Northern Black Hills. Nearly fifteen years would pass from the founding of Deadwood until the first passenger train from the outside world reached the isolated mining town in late 1890. This was unacceptable to the citizens and growing businesses of Lead and Deadwood, so railroad locomotives and equipment were transported across the prairie by stage, and by 1881 Homestake had established the Black Hills & Fort Pierre Railroad. By 1889 the Deadwood Central Railroad Company had connected Lead and Deadwood, and the two communities were the center of a narrow-gauge system that ensured the continued economic prosperity of the mining interests within the county, despite the absence of outside rail transportation.

By 1890 the race was on for the standard gauge companies to connect Lead and Deadwood with the outside world. The Fremont Elkhorn and Missouri Valley approached Deadwood from the eastern face of the Black Hills, while the Grand Island and Wyoming Central built its line northward through the heart of the Black Hills. The FE&MV won the race by one month, establishing service to Deadwood in December 1890. The GI&WC reached Deadwood in January 1891. Both companies came to the Hills from Nebraska, since the Sioux Indian reservation lands blocked expansion from eastern South Dakota.

Both companies prospered into the early 1930s: the FE&MV became the Chicago & Northwestern, while the GI&WC became the Chicago Burlington & Quincy, and finally the Burlington Northern. By 1930, however, all narrow gauge lines had been abandoned and improved roads in the Northern Hills were taking both passenger and freight business from the railroads. During the Second World War, the C&NW discontinued passenger service, and Burlington passenger service lasted only to 1949. Diesel engines took over the job of hauling freight to Deadwood on the Burlington in 1951, and on the C&NW by 1955. These changes were not enough to save service on either line, and in 1970 the C&NW abandoned service on its Deadwood line, while the end of the Burlington Highline came in 1983. In 1991 the first six miles of the Mickelson Trail opened on the old roadbed of the Burlington Highline, insuring that the legacy of Black Hills railroading will continue as a recreation corridor well into the next century.

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