Forwarded Via Independent Line/Ahead Of Every Thing/From Noisy Carriers/San Francisco. Perfect strike of blue double-line framed handstamp on cover to Philadelphia franked with 1851 3¢ dull red pair tied by "San Francisco, Cal., Oct 16" cds, reverse with "Independent Line/Ahead Of The Mails / Per Yankee Blade And North Star/Via Panama" black double-lined oval handstamp (affected by flap tear), slightly reduced at left, a couple tiny edge nicks at top, F.-V.F., intended to be carried by Vanderbilt's Independent Opposition Line, but actually carried by contract steamers. Estimate  $1,000 - 1,500. Cornelius Vanderbilt pioneered the Nicaragua Route as an alternative to the Panama Route with his Independent Line starting in 1851. That company became the Nicaragua Steamship Company in 1853 when Vanderbilt lost stock control of it while vacationing on his yacht in Europe. Vanderbilt then began his Independent Opposition Line on the Panama Route later in 1853. His ships were the "S.S. Uncle Sam" and the "S.S. Yankee Blade" on the Pacific side and the "S.S. North Star", which was his yacht converted into a steamer, on the Atlantic side. He sold the ships on his Independent Opposition Line after the Panama Railroad was completed across the Isthmus in 1855. $0 (Image)