This collection contains photographs, correspondence, contracts, court documents, newspaper clippings, blueprints, and other material pertaining to Albert K. Owen, an American civil engineer hired to construct a railway from Kansas City, Kansas to Topolobampo, Sinaloa. Includes material pertaining to the Topolobampo colony and Credit Foncier Company of Sinaloa as well as Owen's personal and professional correspondence. Letter books pertaining to land and mining operations in Sinaloa, Mexico are also contained in the collection.

Albert K. Owen was born in Chester, Pennsylvania in 1848. Owen was an American civil engineer and was hired in 1872 to evaluate the feasibility of constructing a railroad from Kansas City, Kansas to the northern Mexican port of Topolobampo, Sinaloa. Though his original plan was just to build a railroad, the modified plan soon included a cooperative colony which can be traced to Owen's roots in an Indiana utopian colony. From this plan came the Credit Foncier Company of Sinaloa. The Credit Foncier Company issued stock, credits, and scripts in return for labor which benefited the colony. This was also the agency used by Owen to acquire land holdings for himself and the colony. Though Owen's plans for the colony were never successful, his plans for the railway were pursued and later became what is now known as the Mexican Central Railroad which runs from El Paso, Texas across the Sierra Madre mountains, to the port of Topolobampo, Sinaloa.

3.60 linear feet (4 boxes)

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This collection is open for research.