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1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
R.L. Douglass correspondence concerning business activities in Council Bluffs, Iowa
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- Description
- This collection consists of 35 business letters. The bulk of the letters are written from Council Bluffs, Iowa Territory to Alexander Lopez, a businessman, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The letters illustrate the difficulties of frontier business dealings, as Lopez is seeking to recover monies owed to him by merchants in Council Bluffs. The exchanges last over a decade from 1861-1872. In the first letter written on February 23, 1861 from Council Bluff, McBride and Bowen propose to trade their debt for stock in Council Bluffs & St. Joseph Railroad. McBride and Bowen clearly state they could not pay Lopez money. R.L. Douglass, the attorney representing the Lopez, writes "I have never felt myself at liberty to secure any thing but money in payment, yet Mess. McB & B seem possessed with the idea that they can pay with wild lands at high prices" (Mar. 5, 1861). Approximately three months later, payment has yet to be made by McBride and Bowen. Douglass writes to Lopez stating that McBride and Bowen have violated the agreement. "I am now well satisfied that they will never pay you one cent in cash" (May 27, 1861). Lopez finds the contents of Douglass' letter written on May 27, 1861 surprising because he was initially "favorably impressed towards him [McBride]" (June 4, 1861). A letter written on July 16, 1861 by S. Clinton to W.A. Drown reveals that the firm of McBride and Bowen paid $10,000 to "settle up their business" and creditors will now repossess the property owned by the firm "or do worse." In the same letter, the offer for railroad stock is on the table, which Lopez declines. Eventually, the matter ends up in court and Lopez settles for the only asset left in McBride's possession: stock. The remaining correspondence concerns Lopez's attempt to sell the stock and his payment of taxes owed on the lots. On the upside, Douglass reports in a letter written on March 4, 1867 that the railroad and lot stocks are improving and Lopez may realize his money out of them.
