Grant Ulysses
Grant’s Sec Asks for Map of Proposed Railroad Extension in Kansas, Ex-Forbes


[ULYSSES S. GRANT.] Homer Porter, Manuscript Letter Signed, to Columbus Delano, November 2, 1871, Washington, D.C. On Executive Mansion stationery. 1 p., 5.625" x 9.25". Expected folds; tear to half of edge with integral blank; very good.


This intriguing letter from President Ulysses S. Grant’s personal secretary requests the return of a map and order from Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano for the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad Company. The Transcontinental Railroad had been built by the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroad Company between 1863 and 1869. The Union Pacific portion extended from Council Bluffs, Iowa through Nebraska and Wyoming to northern Utah.


The Central Branch was a separate rail line in Kansas, originally planned to extend from Atchison on the Missouri River to Colorado. Between 1865 and 1868, the company built one hundred miles of rail from Atchison to Waterville, Kansas. There were a variety of plans to extend it to merge with the main transcontinental line in western Kansas and southern Nebraska. Unfortunately for the Central Branch, the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division was authorized to build west into Colorado through the center of Kansas. Jay Gould, who controlled the latter railroad, acquired a majority of stock in the Central Branch in 1880 to avoid competition.


In June 1871, Grant’s Attorney General Amos T. Akerman denied land and bond grants to the Union Pacific Railroad, which had been connected to the Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1867. Union Pacific officials had created a fraudulent company, the Crédit Mobilier, to inflate construction costs by nearly 100 percent. Although the railroad cost $50 million to build, the Crédit Mobilier billed $94 million to the Union Pacific. The executives used some of the excess money to bribe several Washington politicians.


Railroad financiers Collis P. Huntington and Jay Gould protested Akerman’s rulings against the railroad. Delano twice asked Akerman to change rulings against the Union Pacific, and Akerman refused both times. When Delano complained to Grant, the President replaced Akerman with Oregon Senator George H. Williams, who was considered more favorable to railroads.


Complete Transcription

Executive Mansion,

Washington D.C. Nov 2d 1871

Sir

The President directs me to request the return to this office of the map showing the general direction and route of the proposed continuation of the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad Company & the order which accompanied it.

I am Sir

Your obedt. svt.

Homer Porter / Secretary

To / The Secretary of the Interior

Columbus Delano (1809-1896) was born in Vermont and moved with his family to Ohio in 1817. Delano gained admission to the bar in 1831 and won election to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Whig in 1844. He served in Congress from 1845 to 1847, where he opposed the Mexican War. He campaigned unsuccessfully for the Whig nomination for governor of Ohio in 1848 and became a successful sheep rancher, among other business activities. Delano joined the new Republican Party in the 1850s, and during the Civil War, he helped raise and equip troops as commissary general of Ohio. He again served in Congress as a Republican from 1865 to 1869, supporting Radical Reconstruction and opposing President Andrew Johnson. When he became president in 1869, Ulysses S. Grant appointed Delano as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, a position he held until October 1870. Grant appointed Delano as Secretary of the Interior, a position he held from November 1870 until he resigned in October 1875. Although Delano was personally honest, corruption was widespread in the Department during his tenure.

Ex-Forbes Collection. Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), the American owner-publisher of Forbes magazine and a consummate collector, amassed one of the most substantial autograph collections of such breadth and depth that it filled a half-dozen residences on three continents. Many of his manuscripts were sold in a series of multi-million dollar sales by Christie's in the early 2000s. The Forbes name is considered to be the apex of provenance, especially when attached to an item like the above. We are honored to have been chosen by the family to sell at auction the substantial balance of the collection.


This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.