Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-13
rHE rLoRIpA RARGE CANAL.
What Gen. MeLaws Says About the
Meeting to be Held To-day.

Meeting to be Held To-day.
A call for a meeting of the incorpora-
tors Of the Atlantic and Mexican Gulf
Canal Company, TO be held at the Pulaski
House to-day, appeared in the MORNING
News last Friday, signed by G. \. Swain,
VIM. Rogers. Alex. Curtis. Geo. +. Drew.
J. J. Finley and Jas. ;. Bailey. The an
nOuncement was a surprise to those in
terested in the enterprise, Is II was IN
derstOod that the incOrpOratOrs were
functus 0fici0 in the organization Of the
company. which took place in 1876.
A MORNING News reporter called
upon Gen. Lafayette McLaws, the
recent President of the company,
with an inquiry as TO the object
Of the meeting. That gentleman
disclaimed all knowledge in regard TO it.
He did not recognize any of the gentle
men as among the original incOrpOTatOrs
except Mr.. Rogers and Mr.. Swain, and he
knew nothing Of the meeting or why il had
been called. In fact" said he, these
gentlemen have nothing to do with the
company al all. The original incoTpOrators
were Messrs. Joseph Shepard, G. A.
Swain, Joseph f. Johnston, John L.
BachlOtt. John Collier. ;. L. Burns, Will
liam Rogers and myself. A charter was
granted by the General Assembly
on the 23d Of February. 1876, TO
the Atlantic and Mexican Gulf
Canal Company. cOnceding certain
rights and property for the enterprise.
This Is the only company that has ever
existed. There was no Florida company.
The Florida Legislature on March l, 1888,
approved the charter granted by the Gene
raj Assembly and conceded to the company
together with Messrs. George r. Drew. J.
J. Finley. George r. Fairbanks and Jas.
;. Bailey, whose names were added. not
charter granted, but as parties to the
construction Of the canal and the promo
ton of the enterprise, the right Of way,
and also certain privileges and lands
''When was the company OrganiZed?'
Con April 20, 1915, before any move had
been made in Florida, an organization
was effected. / was elected President.
and the books were opened for subscrip-
tiOns to the stock. The matter ran along
until November 30. 1879, when an assess
ment of per cent. was made to defray the
expenses Of the company. The assess
ment was not paid and holding the power
Of attorney of all the incOrpOratOrs,
except Mr.. Rogers, l sold the delinquent
stock, which was bought by Mr.. Shepard
pOrat0rs who subscribed to the
stock sold out their shares.
Messrs. Drew. Finley. Fairbanks and
Bailey were never recognized as incorpO-
ratOrs and were never connected with the
company in any way further than their
influence aided in securing the
approval by the Florida Legislature
General Assembly. By the terms
Of the charter they were, however, made
parties to the construction Of the canal
and were responsible for the action Of the
company, without having any voice in its
affairs. Acting upon legal advice Mr..
Finley on the 18th of last June quit
claimed any interest he might have in
the company, and upon the It'll of August
Mr.. Bailey also withdrew, leaving Mr..
Fairbanks and Mr.. Drew as parties in the
enterprise"
"What was the action Of the meeting
recently held in New Orleans?"
IAN organization was effected Of the
st. Louis. New Orleans and Atlantic Ca
nal and Transportation Company, having
in view the opening up for navigation Of
the canal. Mr.. Z. /. Carriere is President
Of. the company, and associated with him
are james o. Broadhead, /. Richard Bar
ret and J. \. Bofnger, Of st. Louis;
Nicholas W. Casey, Of Kentucky; A. a.
LelOng, A. Schneider, Of New Orleans,
aud myself comprising the Board Of Di-
rectOrs. The amount Of capital stock is
$20000,000, in 100000 shares of 800 each.
'sIt is intended to deepen and widen the
O4u MGAltdu NJull Odudl itduluE llOHl iLt
Mississippi into Lake BOrgne, and to dig
the canal across Florida, thus forming a
water route from the Mississippi below
New Orleans TO the Atlantic seabOard.
BY this means the produce Of the Missis-
sippi Valley at the West, brought down
the river in barges, may be transported,
without reshipment, to the Atlantic coast,
and thence shipped to foreign ports. Mr..
Carriere goes to Europe this week, and
viii look after the interests Of the CON-
pany while there"
''Were any of the gentlemen who signed
the call for a meeting here tomorrow in
terested in the New Orleans meetingf'
'.NOne at all, and l cannot understand
how they have any right as incOrpOrators
to hold a meeting at all, or what they can
do if they should hold one"
is there any route in view for the ca
nal other than the one included in the
survey adopted by the cOmpany"
"There is a strong effort on the part Of
capitalists to divert it from its present
survey to Jacksonville, leading through
the st. Johns river, but that route is
wholly impracticable for many reasons"
After the interview with Gen. McLaws,
from which it appears that the meeting
to-day is to be held with view to the de-
velopment of some new scheme, the re-
porter called at the Pulaski House and
found Mr.. Bailey seated in the office. In
reply to an inquiry as to the object of the
meeting to-day. Mr. Bailey said he was
unprepared to say anything about it, but
from what he had learned since his arris
val in Savannah he would probably be IN
no way connected with it. None of the
other gentlemen who signed the call had
arrived in the city last night.