Northern and Southern West Virginia Railroad stock certificate 1870's (circa 1872)

Uncommon WV rail piece. Amazing vignette of an early steam train with railcars with a small town in the background. Unissued and not cancelled. Dated 187_. Circa 1872 from date of incorporation.

Chartered February 1872, the company was a hub of other rail lines coming into the state to gain access to mineral riches of the area.  With offices in New York's financial district, the railroad had an Eastern connection with Pennsylvania lines and western connection with the lines of Collis P Huntington (Southern Pacific), making it an important transcontinental railway.  Farmers donated land for the right of way and Lewis County voted to issue $125,000 in capital stock.  The company was short-lived and lost in the financial cataclysm of 1873.