The papers consist of correspondence, inventories and receipts, and legal and financial records relating to Hodges' work as a survey engineer for various railroad companies and his sheep and cattle ranching interests. Hodges' papers indicate that he was originally from New York City; he worked for a railroad company in Marshall, Texas, and owned property in Duluth, Minnesota, before working on an extension of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in Colorado in 1875-1876. He purchased a ranch in Las Animas, Bent County, Colorado, and moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1876. Hodges's correspondents include friends and colleagues who discuss their railroad work in Texas and Colorado and request Hodges's help in finding employment; ranchers who describe the sheep and cattle ranching business and provide detailed estimates of profits and investment proposals in response to Hodges's queries; Thomas Nickerson and A. A. Robinson of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad who discuss his work in Colorado; and ranch managers and friends who discuss the status of his Colorado livestock. Miscellaneous business notes, meteorological records, a dance card from a 1873 dance in Marshall, Texas, a manuscript poem in an unidentified hand initialled "G.H.D." and dated 1872 Jun 19, and an 1876 Dec 10 issue of the Laramie Daily Sentinel are included. Accompanying the papers is an account book kept by Hodges from 1875 to 1876, tracking expenses and receipts for Hodges's journey West from New York City, accounts for outfitting a camp during a trip to St. Louis, and records associated with his sheep ranch in Las Alamas, Colorado, including labor accounts for ranch hands and an inventory of goods. Also accompanying the papers is a journal containing daily entries, in an unidentified hand, 1880 Jan 1-Sep 14, of train delays, injuries, weather, etc. on an East Texas line of an unnamed railroad company. Notes on the pages for Sep 20-Oct 21, in an unidentified hand, appear to be inventories of household items.
