The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-11-30
ANOTHER GREAT
SOUTHERN SYSTEM
Organization of Seaboard Air
Line Railway Company
PRELIMINARY STEPS TAKEN
Three Thousand Miles Long-Will In
clude Georgia & Alabama Railroad
Financed by Mr.. John Skel-
ton Williams
PRELIMINARY STEPS TAKEN

meeting of the board of directors of the
Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad company
was held here today for the purpose of
adopting the amended charter of that cor
poration, which was secured through the
legislature of the state of South Carolina
The adoption of this charter is one of the
preliminary steps i'm the formation of the
Seaboard Air Line Railway company, the
new trunk line which will traverse the
south.
This new trunk line will be combination
of the Seaboard Air Line (Which comprises
the Seaboard and Roanoke the Raleigh
and Augusta; Carolina Central; Georgia,
carolina and Northern; the Durham and
Northern; Tine Roanoke and Tar River;
Raleigh and CASTOR, and the Louisburg
railroad; the Georgia and Alabama, and
the Florida Central and Peninsular rail-
roads,. The length of the system, with it's
projected lines, will be about 5000 miles.
The system will be in operation by January
l, 1860, when through trains will be run
between New York, Jacksonville and
Tampa the northern and southern term
mails of the system.
work is now being rapidly pushed on the
connections. day and night being consumed
in finishing the links which join the vari-
Gus branches of the system. In all of the
construction work SO-pound steel rails are
being used, and the new bridges are being
built of steel.
When in operation The Sea board system
will be about seventy-five miles shorter be-
tween New York and Tampa than any
other system traversing the SOUTH This
Will reduce the record between these points
at present by about an hour and a half
The Seaboard will reach Richmond from
Tampa over its own lines, and will come in
to Washington over the tracks of the Rich
mond. Fredericksburg G. Potomac. From
Washington to New York, the seaboard
will use the tracks of the Pennsylvania rail-
road. The new system will also continue to
operate the Baltimore Steam Packet COM
pany (Old Bay line), between Norfolk, Old
Point Newport News and Baltimore.
f Pass Through Six Capitals
The Seaboard will run through the cap
ital cities of six Atlantic and gulf states,
namely: Richmond, Va; Raleigh, N c.;
Columbia, S. c.; Atlanta, Ga; Montgomery,
Alat;a and Tallahassee, lila. Every seaport
of consequence from Baltimore to Tampa
will also be touched by the new system,
including Norfolk, Wilmington, Charleston,
Savannah, Fernandina and Jacksonville on
the Atlantic. and Tampa, Cedar Keys and
st. Marks on the Gulf of Mexico Among
the interior cities which will be on the
line of the Seaboard will be Durham We'll
don, Henderson, Charlotte, North Carolina;
Chester, Camden, Clinton, Barnwell, South
Carolina Augusta, Savannah, Columbia
and Albany, Ca, as we'll as leading points
in Alabama and Florida. Among the win
ter resorts which will be accessible by
means of this line will be Jacksonville, st.
Augustine, Palm Beach, Miami Tampa and
Fernandina, Florida; Raleigh and Southern
Pines, North Carolina; Columbia s. c., and
Athens, Ga.
Four new vestibuled trains have been con-
tracted for with the Pullman company.
These trains are to be used by the Sea-
board this winter in it's passenger service
between New York, Jacksonville and Tam
pa. Each train will consist of dining,
sleeping, parlor and observation car, in
surfing to the traveller every comfort and
convenience.
The financing Of the consultations mat
ter of no small magnitude-has been the
work of Mr.. John Shelton Williams, pres
ident of the Seaboard Air Line, and Mr.. J
william Middendorf, head of the banking
and brokerage firm of Middendorf, Oliver
& Company of Baltimore. According to
President Williams, the combined bonded
debt of the railroads comprising the new
Seaboard system is less than that of any
other like system in the United States. He
states that the combined bonded debt per
mile of the Seaboard Air Line, the Florida
Central & Peninsular and the Georgia &
Alabama, the principal lines of the sys-
TENTS less than one-half per mile than the
Southern railways bonded debt. and about
one-third per mile of the bonded debt of the
Mobile & Ohio, the Louisville & Nashville,
the Chesapeake & Ohio, and the Norfolk &
Western railroads
The Parent Road
The age of the present road of the COM
bination-the Seaboard & Roanoke railroad
lis about fifty years, and for it can be said
that, 1t has never been through receiver
Ship, nor required reorganization. 1t has
been in successful operation during the en-
tire period of it's existence, and, for many
years past, has paid guaranteed dividends
ON stock. One year dividend of 50 per
cent. on the common stock was paid.
AN of the roads of the system have made
an excellent showing during the past year,
and the total surplus has amounted, after
pa yinent of interest on the bonds, for the
past year to nearly 100 per cent. more than
the fixed charges.
There is little doubt but that Mr.. John
Shelton Williams, of Richmond, Va, will |
be the first president of the Seaboard Air |
Line Railway company. When elected to |
this position, Mr.. Williams will be the |
youngest man in the United States to oc- |
cupy such position. He ds at the present |
time but "a years of age. He was educated |
in the schools of Richmond, but never went !
to college, preferring to engage, while very |
young, in the banking business of his ia |
Their. He distinguished himself at IS years /
of age. it DIS said, by preparing a strong |
pamphlet upon agriculture in the south, |
which won him praise from former Presi-
dent Grover Cleveland and the late Hon. |