The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company was organized January 15, 1852. The articles of incorporation were filed in Des Moines County, Iowa, on January 26, 1852. In the articles the following named persons appear as incorporators: J. F. Tallant, Charles Mason, J. J. Child, William Endsley, David Rorer, James W. Woods, J. C. Hall, Thomas Sperry, William Sunderland, P. C. Tiffany, O. McClelland, John Johnson, Lyman Cook, Henry W. Starr, J. P. Sunderland, Alphonso Martin, J. P. Kriechbaum, A. W. Carpenter, William F. Coolbaugh, George Frazee, F. J. Peasley, Joseph Fales, J. F. Abrams, Joshua Copp, T. L. Parsons, J. A. Funck, R. S. Adams, John Pierson, C. H. Suelson, Thomas W. Newman, T. D. Crocker, Jarnett Garner, William S. Graff, E.D.Rand, A. D. Green, John G. Foote, Levi Hager, J. C. Stocton, Thomas Hedge, J. M. Swan, J. G. Law, D. Denise, E. H. Ives, J. G. Lawman and J. S. Schramm. The articles among other things declared that the above named persons have associated themselves for the construction of a railroad from Burlington, Iowa to the Missouri River. The second article gave the company name, "Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company. The third article fixed the life of the company at fifty years. Another article made provisions for a board of directors to consist of nine persons and provided the board could hold its meetings at any place they might select outside of Burlington. The seventh article limited the capital stock to $3,000,000 and the indebtedness should not exceed at any time, two million dollars. The twelfth article authorized the board of directors to make any arrangements with the State of Iowa for the purpose of securing the benefit of any lands which may be given by the State of Iowa for the "construction of the road herein contemplated." To construct such a road was a big undertaking for those men in a small western town in a state at the time only six years old. Between Burlington and the Missouri River at this time existed a vast extent of prairie land, the most fertile of any in the Mississippi Valley, which the Government owned and if it could be induced to part with its title to a portion of the same along the line of the contemplated road, the project seemed perfectly feasible. To do this the incorporators were determined to get the people of the towns and counties along the line of the contemplated road interested in its construction.
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