Chicago and Alton Railroad $1000 gold bond certificate 1899 (Illinois)

Desirable RR bond. Wonderful vignette of multiple steam engines in a trainyard with workers. Vertical format. Nice $1000 underprint in green. Issued and cancelled. Dated 1899 from the text.  Folds from storage. Measuring approximately 14 x 10 inches.

The Chicago & Alton Railroad (C&A) was organized in 1861. The Chicago & Alton Railroad was a key Illinois line connecting Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City. It was known for innovations like Pullman sleeping cars and dining cars, as well as carrying Abraham Lincoln's funeral train.

The Chicago & Alton Railroad was famously targeted by robbers, most notably Jesse James and his gang in the late 1870s near Glendale, Missouri (now Selsa), and involved in later heists like the 1912 Christmas Eve robbery near Springfield, Illinois, and the major 1924 Rondout robbery of a mail train by the Newton Gang and Dion O'Banion's crew, stealing millions in cash and bonds.

Origins (1840s-1850s):
Began as the Alton & Sangamon Railroad, chartered in 1847, connecting Alton and Springfield; later extended to Chicago via leased lines like the Joliet & Chicago Railroad.

Formation (1861):
Reorganized to become the Chicago & Alton Railroad (C&A).

Innovation (1859-1930s):
First to run George Pullman's sleeping cars (1859), the "Delmonico" dining car (1868), and air-conditioned passenger trains (1932).

Lincoln Connection:
Abraham Lincoln was involved with the early Alton & Sangamon, and the C&A carried his funeral train in 1865.

Growth:
Developed a major "Triangle" route linking Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City by 1879.

1906-1931
Chicago and Alton Railroad controlled at various times by the Union Pacific Railroad, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad and Nickel Plate Railroad

1931-1947
Chicago and Alton Railroad – subsidiary of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

1947-1972
Chicago and Alton Railroad merged into Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad

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