Circa 1890 – Cigar band for a cigar sold or distributed on a Colorado Midland Railroad train

Unbound. Very good. This cigar band has a central motif featuring a standing Native American warrior holding a shield that displays a Colorado Midland Railroad logo. Text on the band reads, ”Colorado Midland Rail Road”.

. The Colorado Midland Railway which was incorporated in 1883, was the first standard gauge railroad built over the Continental Divide in Colorado. It ran from Colorado Springs to Leadville and through the divide at Hagerman Pass to Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction. John J. Hagerman gained control of the company in June 1885 and sold it to the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, which changed its name to the Colorado Midland Railroad in 1890 and operated it as a subsidiary line.

Some railroads provided cigars on their trains that were branded with company logos. They are also known to have been sold and distributed by the New Haven, Lehigh Valley, Old Colony, and Boston & Albany Railroads.

(For more information, see “The Colorado Midland Railway” at the Rio Grande Info website and “Railroad Cigars?” at the railroad.net website.)

Cigar bands from the Colorado Midland Railroad have infrequently appeared for sale on .

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