Beautifully engraved SCARCE $1,000 6% 40 year Gold Bond Certificate from Georgia Pacific Railway Company This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of miners underground flanked by cotton pickers and a train at a busy dock. This item has the signatures of the Company's President, Joseph Bryan and Secretary, A. J. Rank, Jr. and is over 124 years old. This is the first time we have had this bond for sale.
Certificate Vignette The company was chartered December 31, 1881, consolidating the Georgia Western Railroad and the Georgia Pacific Railroad Company of Alabama. Elyton and Aberdeen Company was incorporated in Alabama and Mississippi in 1870 for the purpose of connecting Elyton, Alabama, and Aberdeen, Mississippi, by railroad. The charter was unused until the Richmond Terminal Company acquired control of it in 1881; consolidated in 1881-82 with the Columbus, Fayette and Decatur Railroad Company and the Georgia Pacific Railroad Company of Alabama to form the Georgia Pacific Railway Company. Georgia Pacific Railway Company began construction in 1881. Regular service to Atlanta began May 15, 1882, and the road to Birmingham was completed in November 1883 The company was the predecessor of the Southern Railway. Joseph Bryan, a Virginian, was part of the group that was particularly notable in founding, building, and promoting the development of Birmingham, Alabama.