James Wood Colt was born in 1858 in Geneseo, New York. He moved to St. Paul, Minnesota at age 21, and soon became a partner of Shepard, Selmes and Company, a contracting firm specializing in railroad construction. Colt was in charge of construction of parts of the Great Northern Railway, the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad for Shepard, Selmes & Co. Later, Colt oversaw construction on the Chicago & Great Western Railroad for A.B. Stickney, and as vice president of MacArthur Brothers oversaw construction on parts of the Western Maryland Railroad system.
In 1908, Colt took his railroad expertise to Turkey, where he planned and began construction of a line from Constantinople through Asia Minor to Baghdad. This railroad aroused international curiosity, especially in Germany, where Kaiser William II attempted to tie the railroad into his proposed "Berlin to Baghdad Railway". The first railway proposal was rejected by the Turkish government in 1911, although it later succeeded under a modified version. At the same time, Colt also helped to begin modern development of the legendary Arghana Copper Mines in Asia Minor, using the mining concessions to help fund the railway. These various concerns were loosely tied together under a corporation called the Ottoman-American Development Company.
Colt spent much of the next decade traveling through Europe on railway business, as well as pursuing independent financial ventures. He also was a part of a U.S. Government Railway Commission; under their auspices, he traveled to Russia in 1917 to report on the effect of the Revolution. When he returned to the United States, he moved to Santa Barbara, California until his retirement. Colt was prominent in horse racing circles; he raced horses in America, England and France, and his horses won the American Grand Steeplechase three times. Colt moved back to Geneseo in 1938 and died in 1941.
The papers in the Collection fall into four categories. The first set relates to the development of the Arghana Copper Mines between 1908 and 1911. The second set is mainly correspondence written between 1911 and 1923 concerning the Ottoman-American Development Company. These papers deal with the Company's original (rejected) railway and mining proposals as well as the revival of the Company in 1922-1923 under General Goethals. The third set of papers is a series of correspondence and telegrams concerning a 1915 arms deal where Colt acted as an agent to sell Spanish Mauser rifles to the Russian military via a neutral government. The final set of papers is a series of eyewitness accounts and business/resource evaluations of Russia during the 1917 Revolution. All the papers in the collection are in English, with the exception of some of the Ottoman-American Development Co. letters, which are in French, and a few of the telegrams concerning the Spanish arms deal, which are in French on Italian forms. Approximately half the collection (papers relating to Turkey) were microfilmed in 1966 for the Turkish Historical Society; these papers also have penciled numbers in their upper right-hand corner, which corresponds to the microfilm list included in this register.
The James Wood Colt Papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Books Special Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.
The papers were a gift of Sylvia Colt, Henry Francis Colt and Charles Cary Colt, August 1947.
In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.
[Item title, item date], James Wood Colt Papers, A.C73, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Historical account of the project, by G. Pasdermadjian
Undated composition
Three copies: All are attached by a note from Francis B. Colt to ______ Remington dated May 10, [1917]. The issues of Private News Letter are for 4 (O.S.)/17 March 1917, No. 533; 5 (O.S.)/18 March 1917, [No. 534]--missing page 1; and 2 (O.S.)/15 March 1917, No. 531