Two Annual Passes for the International and Great Northern Railroad Company.

[Houston]: International and Great Northern Railroad Company., 1910 & 1911. Two annual passes , 4 x 2 1/2 inches each, made out to W. L. Gill who was the secretary of the Southwestern Freight Association (and thus rated free passes). Signed on the verso by J. B. Haefer. Very good."The International-Great Northern Railroad Company was a major component of the Missouri Pacific lines in Texas. The railroad was formed on September 30, 1873, by the consolidation of the International Railroad Company and the Houston and Great Northern Railroad. The Houston and Great Northern was chartered on October 22, 1866, by the first legislature to meet after the Civil War, and was backed by eastern and local capital. At the time of the merger, the Houston and Great Northern owned 252 miles of track between Houston and Palestine, between Houston and East Columbia with branches from Phelps to Huntsville, and between Troup and Mineola. The mileage of the Houston and Great Northern included the former Houston Tap and Brazoria Railroad and the Huntsville Branch Railway, which had been merged on May 8, 1873. The International was chartered on August 5, 1870, and at the time of the consolidation operated 177 miles from Hearne to Longview. Despite the financial panic of 1873, the consolidated company continued to slowly expand, reaching Rockdale in 1874 and Austin on December 28, 1876. Building resumed in 1880, and the following year the railroad reached San Antonio and Laredo on December 1, 1881. On August 5, 1879, the International and Great Northern acquired the Georgetown Railroad Company at foreclosure and merged the latter company on June 2, 1882. The Henderson and Overton Branch Railroad Company was acquired on September 27, 1880. Although operated as a part of the International and Great Northern, the Henderson and Overton Branch was not consolidated until August 31, 1911. Jay Gould acquired control of the International and Great Northern in December 1880. The company was leased to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company, another Gould company, for ninety-nine years on June 1, 1881, but the lease was canceled on March 2, 1888, and the railroad was again operated by its own organization. The company owned 756 miles of track at the end of 1882 and did not increase mileage until after 1900. On May 1, 1901, the International and Great Northern merged the Calvert, Waco and Brazos Valley Railroad Company. The latter company had built sixty-six miles of a line between Spring, just north of Houston, and Fort Worth. The Fort Worth line was completed in 1902 by the International and Great Northern. The following year a forty-five-mile branch was built between Navasota and Madisonville. In that year the railroad also acquired the Houston, Oaklawn and Magnolia Park Railway Company. The company again entered receivership on February 27, 1908. A new company, the International and Great Northern Railway Company, was chartered on August 10, 1911, and bought the old company at foreclosure on August 31, 1911. At this time the Henderson and Overton Branch was also consolidated, giving the International and Great Northern its peak of 1,106 miles. In addition, the International and Great Northern owned the Austin Dam and Suburban Railway Company and a 50 percent interest in the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad Company. Less than three years later the reorganized company was forced into receivership, which lasted until the railroad was sold at foreclosure on July 28, 1922. A new company, the International-Great Northern Railroad Company, was chartered on August 17, 1922" )TSHA).