The Oregon and California Railroad Company was formed following the passage of the Oregon and California Railroad Act by the U.S. Congress in 1866. The act designated 3.7 million acres for the purpose of constructing a railroad from Portland, Oregon, to the California border. The firm, initially called the Oregon Central Railroad, was managed by Ben Holladay (1819-1887) until German shareholders, represented by Henry Villard (1835-1900), purchased a controlling interest. Southern Pacific Railroad took control of the Oregon and California Railroad Company in 1887.
The land grants provided by the Oregon and California Railroad Act stipulated that the company could fund construction by selling parcels along the railroad line to settlers at a rate of $2.50 per acre. The Oregon and California Railroad Company, however, submitted fraudulent settlement claims, and then sold the claims to land developers and timber firms for a profit. Exposure of these practices resulted in the Oregon Land Fraud Trials from 1904 to 1910. In 1916, Congress passed the Chamberlain-Ferris Act, which returned 2,800,000 acres of the railroad company's lands to the federal government.
The collection consists of a handwritten, 23-page agreement made between Ben Holladay and German shareholders represented by Henry Villard. In the document, Holladay agrees to sell and transfer a majority of the shares and interest of the Oregon and California Railroad Company to the German shareholders. The shareholders are named as Heinrich Hohenemser, Julius Schmidt, Paul Reinganum, Hermann Kochler, Adolf Otto, Michael Benjamin, and Carl Stachein-Bucknor. The agreement is signed by Ben Holladay, with Henry Villard signing on behalf of each of the shareholders.
Collection is open for research.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
Agreement between Ben Holladay and German shareholders represented by Henry Villard, Coll 873, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Gift of Carol B. Moran, December 2020 (RL2021-001).
Related collections at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library include Mss 893, the Ben Holladay papers; Mss 73, the Henry Villard papers; and Mss 2958, the Transport Consultants collection of Oregon railroad records and research, which includes records of the Oregon and California Railroad Company.