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         This was the pioneer railroad scheme in Iowa. The company was organized under the general laws of the State. The charter provided for the building of a railroad from Lyons, on the Mississippi River, via DeWitt, Tipton, Iowa City and Fort Des Moines to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River—distance about 308 miles—and dividing the State nearly equally north and south.

         When the plans of this company were fully matured, its representatives came to Tipton and asked Cedar county tax payers to aid in the enterprise to . . .

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. . . the amount of $50,000. In response to this request, S. A. Bissell, County Judge, on the 1st of March, 1853, issued the following order:

         Ordered, That the question be submitted to the decision of the legal voters of Cedar County whether the said county will aid to construct a railroad to run through the county by subscribing $50,000 to the capital stock of the Lyons Iowa Central Railroad Company, said amount to be expended only in the event of said railroad being constructed and running centrally through said county, and only to be employed in the construction of the same within the limits of the county. The payment of the amount to be thus subscribed to be provided as follows, to-wit: The county to issue her bonds for the sum of $50,000, payable in twenty years, with interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum, payable semi-annually; the principal and interest of the same to be liquidated by an annual tax to be continued from year to year until the whole amount is paid, of ten and one-half mills on the dollar of the county valuation, as shown by the assessment roll. The form in which this question shall be taken shall be as follows: the vote in favor of the question shall be written or printed “For the Lyons Railroad;” the vote against the measure shall be written or printed “Against the Lyons Railroad.” And said measure shall be submitted and voted upon at the regular election on the 4th day of April next.

         The proposition carried, and on the 2d day of May, 1853, Judge Bissell caused the following entry to be made on his docket:

         It appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that, at an election held in Cedar County on the first Monday of April, a majority of the votes case were in favor of Cedar County issuing bonds to the amount of $50,000 to aid in the construction of the Lyons Iowa Central Railroad, therefore it is considered by the Court that such a vote being a majority of all the legal votes cast for and against the proposition aforesaid, the Court orders that upon its being made satisfactory to the Court that said railroad will be constructed centrally through Cedar County, that the said County subscribe $20,000 to the capital stock of said railroad company, and that the same be paid for by the county issuing twenty bonds of $1,000 each, with interest at the rate of six per cent per annum, payable in twenty years, and that in accordance with the decision of the proposition aforesaid, that the principal and interest of said bonds by paid by an annual tax of ten and one-half mills on the dollar of the valuation, as shown by the assessment, to continue from year to year until the whole of the principal and interest on said bonds is paid; and it is further considered that the County Judge make arrangements to secure the expenditure of the money raised by the sale of said bonds, within the limits of Cedar County, all of which is in accordance with the proposition decided by the voters aforesaid.
                    S. A. Bissell, Judge.

         Of this railroad undertaking and what became of it, Judge Tuthill furnishes the following details:

         The advent of the Lyons Iowa Central Railroad Company in February, 1853, with a nominal capital of $15,000,000, proposing to construct and operate a railroad from Lyons, on the Mississippi River, to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri, running centrally through Cedar County, was, for a time, the great sensation among Cedar County citizens.

         While the fever was at the highest, a vote of the people was had in which it was agreed that the County should issue $50,000 in bonds to aid the company in this undertaking. Some time after grading had been commenced at and near Tipton (June, 1853) a demand was made on the county for the bonds; but inasmuch as some ugly rumors respecting the solvency of the company had circulated pretty freely; that the company had no actual capital; that there were no real stockholders; that there was not a single man among the officers, directors and managers, who, individually, had sufficient capital or credit to build a mile of road; that the mode adopted to raise the money that had already been expended in grading was by issue and sale or hypothecation of their own bonds, which had already become greatly depreciated; that the President of the company was a myth, and had never been seen in Iowa; that Henry P. Adams, Esq., one of the Directors, was financial agent of the company empowered to negotiate the bonds and raise the money; that he was also the contractor to grade and tie the road between Lyons and Iowa City, and therefore had the power to obtain money by sale and hypothecation of bonds, &c., and pay it over to himself as contractor, caused some hesitation as to the propriety of Cedar County parting with her bonds to the company unless satisfactorily assured that the road would be built, and the County Judge, Hon. S. A. Bissell, retained Wm. H. Tuthill, Esq., as counsel for the county, who immediately gave his opinion that the county should not issue any bonds to the company until the road was completed to Tipton, or unless the company would give the county good security that it would be completed.

         Judge Bissell, unfortunately for the financial welfare of the county, had too strong a pressure brought to bear on him by the friends of the company to refuse to issue the bonds, but compromised the matter by issuing $20,000 then, and promising to issue the balance afterward.

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         Some time afterward, a formal demand was made for the remaining $30,000, but as it had then become notorious that the company was embarrassed, the demand was refused, and the company procured from Judge Leffingwell an alternate mandamus on the county to show cause why the bonds demanded had been refused. The county appeared before Judge Leffingwell by Wm. H. Tuthill and Wm. G. Woodward as its attorneys, and upon their motion the mandamus was vacated on the ground it was returnable in vacation.

         This course was taken in consequence of positive information having been obtained by the Attorney of the county that the R. R. Company was so near the end of its existence that it would not probably survive until the next term of the Court, and the information proved so far true that in one short year from its inception the Lyons Iowa Central Railroad Company expired, loaded with indebtedness, and having no visible assets, save the earthworks occasionally seen here and there upon the prairie between Lyons and Iowa City.

         The indignant bondholders of the company, believing themselves victimized by an outrageous swindle, appointed an Investigation Committee to make a thorough investigation of the affairs of the company, and recommend such course of action as might be deemed advisable, which Committee, after a protracted and laborious research and scrutiny, reported that the work of construction, etc., was commenced early in the Spring of 1853, and was prosecuted with considerable force from that time until April, 1854, or for about one year from the time it was commenced, when the entire work was suspended in consequence of the financial embarrassment and failure of the company.

         That the total amount expended by the company of the road in grading, building culverts, etc., was about $225,000, as estimated by Allen Black, Esq., a competent engineer, employed by the Committee, as follows:

Between Lyons and the Wapsipinicon River	$145,000
Between Wapsipinicon River and Tipton	$30,000
Between Tipton and Iowa City	$50,000
Total	$225,000

         That at the time of the commencement of the work, the company issued 800 of its own bonds of $1,000 each, with a deed of trust duly executed to George S. Robbins, Esq., of the city of New York, covering the first division of 100 miles of the road. In order to more effectually carry out the arrangement and facilitate the negotiation or hypothecation of these bonds, it was deemed advisable to appoint a Treasurer, to hold his office in New York. W. E. Caldwell was appointed such Treasurer and his office located in the Merchants’ Exchange, New York.

         These bonds were negotiated and hypothecated, from time to time, by the financial agent of the company, for the purpose of raising money--$100,000 being obtained from the Cochituate Bank, of Boston, for which 250 of the bonds were pledged as collateral security.

         It was stated by officers of the company that 300 of the bonds were paid over to the contractors, but the particulars of the transaction could not be ascertained. One hundred and seventy bonds were pledged to different individuals as security for loans of money, which were mostly made at rates varying from 33 to 60 per cent of the par value of the bonds.

         The company also received county bonds from two counties, viz.: from Johnson Co., Iowa, $50,000, and from Cedar County $20,000, but the committee were unable to ascertain what became of these county bonds, or that anything whatever had been received by the company for them.

         In addition to sums realized by the sale or hypothecation of bonds, a wholesale issue of negotiable paper was made through their New York office, in the shape of acceptances of the company, of which some $670,000 were negotiated, and of this amount $410,000 remained unpaid at the time of its failure.

         The Committee say that during the last three months of the existence of the company, the amount of money that passed through the Treasurer’s hands was about $1,100,000, a sum nearly sufficient to complete the first division of the road, had it been faithfully applied for that purpose.

         It will very naturally be asked, “What has become of this large amount raised, compared with the amount expended on the road?”

         The presumption is conclusive that large amounts remain in the hands of some one or more persons unaccounted for; but the Committee do not desire to make specific charges against any one, for it can avail nothing, inasmuch as all the parties in any way connected with these transaction have become apparently insolvent, and charge their misfortunes either upon their connections with the company or each other. Nothing short of a searching legal investigation will ever develop the facts, if they can even be obtained in that way.