Scope and Contents:
This collection contains materials relating to the effort of London entrepreneurs and their agents in Illinois to develop the site of Cairo. It includes a report about the site, sent from William Strickland and Richard C. Taylor in Philadelphia to John Wright in London on Dec. 13, 1838. Also included in the collection are two stock shares for the Cairo City and Canal Company (1839), a printed prospectus of the company (1841), and a receipt issued to assigners of the estate of Wright, for Illinois Improvement Bonds (1842).
These papers were purchased in London in 1918.