Product Details

Nicely engraved antique stock certificate from H. M. Byllesby and Company dating back to the 1920's. This document, which is signed by the company Vice President and Assistant Secretary, was printed by the Western Bank Note Company, and measures approximately 12 1/2" (w) by 7 3/4" (h).

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Historical Context

Colonel Henry M. Byllesby formed H.M. Byllesby & Company, one of the largest utility holding companies of the pre-Depression era. Colonel Byllesby was involved in electric power generation for a considerable period. In 1885, the Electric Lighting Company of Mobile began operations. Colonel Byllesby, who worked as a draftsman on Thomas Edison's original electrical system, designed the generating and distribution systems for the company.

In 1882, the Minnesota Brush Electric Company built an electricity generating station at St. Anthony Falls and the company, which had been renamed the Minneapolis Electric Company, was acquired by Byllesby in 1912 and was renamed Northern States Power Company in 1916. In April 1905, the San Diego Gas & Electric Light Company was sold to the H. M. Byllesby & Company and was incorporated as the San Diego Consolidated Gas & Electric Company. In 1909, Byllesby organized the Washington County Light and Power Company, then purchased the Stillwater Gas and Electric Company, and the united the two companies as the Consumers Power Company.

In 1910, Western States Gas & Electric Company, covering Oregon, was incorporated by the H.M. Byllesby & Co. as a holding company. The production of electricity frequently led to the development of electric street railways. In 1911, the Fargo and Moorhead Street Railway company was sold to H.M. Byllesby's Consumers Power Company. Consumers was a wholly owned subsidiary of Northern States Power Company, incorporated by Byllesby as a holding company in 1909.

The company built the Lake Byllesby Dam, a concrete gravity dam located in Randolph Township, Dakota County and Stanton Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota, just west of the city of Cannon Falls, approximately 30 miles southeast of the Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The 75 foot high dam was built in 1910 to impound the Cannon River for hydroelectric power. Its nameplate capacity is 1.8 MW. The dam created Lake Byllesby, with a surface area of 1,432 acres and a capacity of 20,000 acre-feet. Today, the facility is owned and operated by Dakota County.