Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-04-17
SOUTHERN RAILROADS.
The Five Great SVndicates which
Control Almost All OF Them-Is
There Business Enough to Divide
PrOfltabIV2
Montgomery (AlG.) Correspondence Neuv York
EueninQ Post


Montgomery (AIa.) Correspondence NesU York
Evening Post.
The last year has seen some extraordinary
changes in railroad control In this country,
and it may be fitly called the consolidation
era Of their existence. 1t is a matter Of fact
that there is only one road less than two
hundred miles long In the South that pre-
serves the individuality of its original title,
and is operated under the management
and name of its first charter. 1t is the
line from Montgomery to West Point.
Perhaps the most powerful road or con-
solidation is the Louisville, Nashville and
Great Southern. Its lines are southwest from
Louisville to Memphis, through the fertile
grazing lands of Kentucky and Tennessee;
from Bowling Green, the junction of the
Memphis line, to Nashville, and directly
south to Montgomery, then southwesterlY
over the leased road Of the Montgomery and
Mobile to Mobile, and 140 miles west to
New Orleans, over the road originally bear
ing the name Of the two cities. These and
the road from Nashville to st. Louis, one
from Montgomery to Selma, and coal and
other branches, swell the total mileage to
/ $50. Trains for passengers are run solid
from New Orleans to Louisville in forty
hours, but freight is moved over the same dis
lance in ten DAYS and thought to be moving
fast at that rate. The effects Of this great
consolidation are, In the Judgment of many
people. equally divided between good and
bad. For example, the repair shops at
Montgomery and Mobile have been taken to
Louisville and 600 workmen driven else
where to seek other labor. Naturally the
cities thus deprived of an important factor
In their population feel aggrieved and re-
gard the consolidation as q disadvantage
On the other hand the consolidation has
harmoniZed diverse interests and rendered
possible the development of the mineral
wealth of the region through which this line
passes. 1t must be said that little of de-
yelopment In this direction has been done as
yet, and the benefits to be reaped are only
prospective.
The most comprehensive consolidation,
and the one that promises to do most for
the country, runs north and south and east
and west, from the Ohio river at Cincinnati
to the Gulf at New Orleans, from the At
lantic ocean at Brunswick to the Missouri
river at Kansas City, and westward to the
Gulf of California at some port in Mexico
The extent of the road to be operated by
this management will, when completed,
exceed 1000 miles. About 900 of It is
already in operation. Its system is known
as the Erlanger syndicate, and its building
capital is from foreign source; hence 1t as
sumes at the Outetsrt the most nefcial
relations to the Southern country. It's ex-
penditure has also been in the hands Of a
Southern man, Frederick Wolfe, of this
city, the financial agent of the syndi-
cate. The roads now In operation are
the Cincinnati Southern, from Cir
cnnat to Chattanooga, distance
approximating 500 miles. This road was
built for the most part by the city of Gin
cinnat, but, falling at the outstart of its
career to justify the expectations had in
store for it, became the shuttlecock of
change until it finally reached the hands of
the Erlanger people, when the plan of a
shorkliue to New Orleans was mooted. The
next link on this branch Of the system was
the Chattanooga, Alabama and Great South
ern, 295 miles long, extending from Chatta-
nooga to Meridian, Mississippi. 1t was
built by Boston capitalists directly after the
war, and was designed to form the nucleus
of line from New York to New Orleans,
to follow the western base of the ApsIs-
chan range of mountains the entire dis
tance, and open up the vast coal and iron
veins that extend in almost un-
broken deposits between the two
cities. The constructed portion penetrated
the most valuable mineral region of the
route, that of northern Alabama; but un-
fortunately It had no market terminus, and
its condition was that of a man on a desert
island, with untold sums of money but with
to keep himself warm. Originally the road
had obtained concessions from the State,
with some sort of forfeiture attached, and
thus 1t became necessary to demand, and the
State one day found itself in the possession
of an unmanageable railroad property with
no prospects of soon making It a profitable
one. Its requirement by the Erlanger syn.
dicste was the next step of importance in
its history, and the line to New Orleans had
NIL 70 ho
thing like 200 miles. This is now building
and will be complete early in the fall.
The Kansas City and Atlantic Ocean sec
tfon is the great feature of the syndicate's
plans. By it they propose to tap the grain
country of the Northwest, the mineral
wealth of southern Missouri, the cotton
yielding uplands of Arkansas, now the
second cotton growing State, to become an
important factor In the prosperity of Mem
phis, where the Mississippi will be crossed,
and continuing southeasterly through Sell
ma and Montgomery, Ala, and Eufaula,
to reach tidewater at Brunswick. The
length OF this line will be about 200
miles. All of it is surveyed; some 100
miles from Selma westward are built, and
work Is progressing at dozen points east
OF the Mississippi river. To my mind, the
plan has no great promise of success.
Brunswick has neither prestige as
seaport nor terminal facilities for
the railroads that are reaching out
to occupy it. 1t has Individually
the best water on the coast
south of Norfolk, is easy Of access
and pregnant with possibilities But we re-
member the promise held out for Yorktown
when the Chesapeake and Ohio Road cut its
iron way from the Ohio valley across the
Alleghanies to tidewater, and Yorktown, as
terminal point, has neither entered nor
cleared any ships, exported any grain, or
received any foreign importatione. Bruins
wick has been known as a lumber port and
its export of timber has been by vessels
that lay at anchor in the bay till their car
goes foated out to them. Then, too, more
than any other city, except, perhaps,
Alexandria, La, on the Red river, has
yellow fever claimed its victims there. De-
spite all this, three railroads are turning
their attention to this point for a seaboard
outlet, and one, the Macon and Brunswick
line, has been there for some years.
TO return to the Erlanger projects. The
third line extends west from Selma to Meri- |
dian, where 1t inteTsects the Cincinnati and
New Orleans line, and thence due west to |
the Mississippi river at Vicksburg. This |
road until recently was probably the worst |
la the world. The road bed is being bal |
lasted into tolerahle shape, and new rails |
have been laid. The road crossing the Mis- |
sissippi at Vicksburg extends to Marshall, |
Texas, where it joins the Texas Pacific, with |
whose interests it has some peculiar,associa- |
tions. There remains stretch of road in |
Louisiana to be built to complete this line |
from Selma, Alabama, to Marshall, Texas, |
but 1t will soon be done-say within a few |
months. The Gulf of California branch is |
in course Of construction. Practically this |
embraces the railroad projects of the Err |
LANCER syndicate.
The Cole syndicate is the next OF the con- |
solidations to attract attention. It is en- |
braced under the title of the Virginia, |
Tennessee and Georgia Road. Its eastern !
line is the old Atlantic, Ohio and Missis- |
sippi Road, reaching from Norfolk through |
the southern tier of Virginia counties, 4O8 |
miles, to Bristol. Its next link is the road |
whose present name lives in the consolida- |
ton. 1t reaches out over the mountains to |
the upper waters Of the Tennessee river.