The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-06-12
Tampa Tribune, June p in.
Railroad HDrOsnectS

Since the time when those now in middle life
were children the people Of these Southwestern
counties have been looking forward to the ad-
vent OF railroad as the "good time coming"
when our isolation should be terminated and
the waste places made glad by the inhowinc
tide OF population and capital. Many times has
the cOnsummation so devcutly to be wished"
seemed about to be attained and as often have
our confident hopes been doomed 10 disappoint-
ment. Every specious promiscr has met with
ready crcdcncc, and every facility and assistance
pccunary and otherwise, has been extended by
onr people to any organization that conld make
the slightest showing, even on paper, Of its abil-
ity to give US road. Our legislators have been
lavish in grants of public lands to company after
company, and all apparently to no purpose, as
those 10 whom the largest grants have been
made are still the hrthcst from MS At last, after
about thirty years of waiting, we became tired
and disgIsted, and felt very much inclined 10
vent our feelings upon those we deemed rcspon-
sbe for our repeated disappoinlmcnts
If all of the enterprises in this direction that
have been so promising paper had been
pushed to complexion the people of South Flo
rda would have been unable to venture out
after dark without imminent danger of being
run over by railroad train but one aiicr an
other all wildcat" ventures, have stlb>idcd
into the nothingncss whence they sprung. and
have left the field in possession of thos, that
intend to occupy it and possess the sincws of
war necessary to do so.
We are about TO have a railroad at last This
time there is no room for The shadow of a doubt
about ii. And we will not only have one road
but certainly two; and we Still have the old
promises for about n half dozen morc-but we
won't count our chickens before they are hatchcd
and we won't cry if they die in the shell We
will be satisfied with the two.
The two to which we alludc as certain to he
built, are the South Florida Railroad, now in
operation from Sanford to kissimmce and the
international, popularity known as the Gordon
road. From time to time, in recent issues, we
have given our readers various items OF news in
regard TO these roads, and we are now able to
assure them that the completion of both of these
great enterprises is rs well assured rs anything
yet in the future possibly can be.
n controlling interest in the South Florida
Road has recently been purchased by the Plant
Investment Company, which owns the Saval-
nah, Florida and Western lIailrOad and its yali-
GUS branches including the Waycross Road, the
ltowland's Bluff and other lines both in this
State and Georgia The work OF this company
in the past is good guaranty as 10 what il is
able to perform. AT the time that the purchase
OF the South Florida Railroad was effected, a
part OF the transaction, as arc niormcd was
an obligation on the part of the purchasers to
complete the line from Kissimmcc, the present
terminus, to Tampa Bay, by the first day of Jan
uary, 1884 and since that time the company
has cvinccd a firm determination to carry out its
contract. measures are now beng taken for its
speedy performance. A large force of hands
will be placed on this end of the line at once
and another gang will commence work at Kis-
slmmcc. Contracts have been made for seven
new engines and two hundred cars including ten
fine passenger coaches; the crcosotcd pilng for
the wharf at this place has been ordered, and
construction train with the engine, Herald, now
running on the Sanford end of the line, is cX-
pcctcd here in few days. AS soon as sufficient
track is laid upon which to place train the
voice of the locomotive will lie heard in the land
1t is the intention of this company to place IL
line OF flrst-class steamers between this place
Key West and Havana. Another line will run
ON the st. Johns connecting the terminus at
Sanford with the Waycross line at Jacksonville,
thus forming complete system of through trans
pOrlatiOn.
We are amply warranted by the facts in max
ing the above assurances, and our people, who
have learned from their many disappointmcns
to be skcplica, may now be confident that their
hopes are about 10 reach truiion. We congrat-
ulatc the citizens of South Florida on the bright
prospects that open out in the near future, and
can scarcely refrain from giving " three cheers
and tiger" for the South Florida Railroad and
the Plant Investment Company.
We will have something to say in regard to
our other road, the International, in another is
sue