Illinois Central R. R. [manuscript cover title]. Railway Guide for Illinois Shewing All the Stations with their respective distances by shortest route from Chicago to the Junction on Branch Line & from Cairo to Galena on Main Line. January 1st 1855 [map title].

New York: Illinois Central Railroad Co., 1 January 1855. 8vo (280 x 230 mm), plain tan wrappers with manuscript title on front wrapper. 12 pp., folding map 520 x 660 mm, plus margins. CONDITION: Pamphlet with one 10 mm tear, minor creases and folds; map very good with a few creases.

A rare financial statement of the Illinois Central Railroad Co. with a fine, large railroad map of the entirety of Illinois and portions of Missouri and Indiana.

The Illinois Central Railroad Company was established in 1851 as the first land-grant railroad in America. Here the Directors present an end-of-year Report and Statement of the Financial Condition of the Company, dated January 1st, 1855, and spanning the entire four years of the company’s existence. Among the matters addressed include Expenditures to January 1st, 1855; General Fund; Interest Fund; Lands; Receipts; Funded Debt; State of the Work; Structures; Equipment; Connections; Sources and Applications of Income; Revenue; Further Expenditures Necessary; Means to Meet Further Expenditures; and so on.

The map depicts the Illinois Central as well as the many other railroad lines criss-crossing the state, with a multitude of stops identified. Chicago appears in the top right corner of the map, the terminus of lines coming from all corners of the state and beyond. The map’s Explanation differentiates between railroads in operation versus those that are slated for construction. The main line of the Illinois Central is completed, while the branch from Centralia to Chicago is roughly two thirds complete. Notes regarding various construction projects appear on the left and right sides of the map, such as “Military Tract Road is nearly graded and tails will be laid early in 1856.” Also noted, near Chicago, is the dramatic increase in the city’s population, which is stated to have grown from 4472 in 1840 to 70,000 in 1854.

OCLC records a few copies of the map (or variants thereof), while the pamphlet itself appears to be unrecorded.

A rare pamphlet with a fine map depicting the progress of railroad construction in Illinois in 1855.