[St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway]:

$650 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

A GEOGRAPHICALLY CORRECT COUNTY MAP OF STATES TRAVERSED BY THE ST. LOUIS IRON MOUNTAIN AND SOUTHERN RAILWAY AND ITS CONNECTIONS. A scarce promotional for Missouri and Arkansas published by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway, featuring a folding map by Rand McNally & Co. The map shows cities, rivers, railways, and geographical features from eastern Texas through Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, and parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Alabama. The Iron Mountain Railway owned a large land grant in the central United States, but it was not allowed to sell until the railway was completed; now that time had come, and they were advertising it heavily. Some of the attractions promoted in the text include wild game hunting (including squirrels), resources such as zinc and coal, good soil, river and rail transportation, telegraph service, "cheap homes in Missouri and Arkansas," and low property taxes. They also exhort the nervous migrant:"This is the time to have decision of character, or the opportunity will be lost to you and to your family forever. The strong-hearted Europeans who settled America did not know what they would reap from planting in strange soils and climates. Why should you hesitate about a country peopled an hundred years and well known? Have manhood, and come."The authors do not limit their reach to the United States either, as they make sure to note after listing their prices that "One dollar in American [is] equal to about four shillings in E

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