The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-06
DOES NOT WANT THE EARTH.
MIR. LESTER EXPLAINS HIS STREET
RAILWAY PLANS.

White Blum Line-NOrthern Pro-
motors Have Looked Into the Mat
ter and Are willing to Build the
Road if the City Will Grant the
Rights Desired-WouId BE a Great
Benefit to White Bluff and the In
termedinte Section.
If the City Council views with favor
the petition of the Vernon Shell Road
Company for the right to use certain
streets, Savannah may shortly have an
other street railway system as well as
a suburban line to one of it's most at
| tractive resorts.
The petition of the Shell Road Company
is the natural result of the amendment to
| the company's charter secured at the last
! session of the Legislature, by which some
! antiquate1 privileges with regard to the
use of steam road engines, were changed
so as to give the privilege of constructing
and operating railway tracks with cleo
tricity or other motive power except
steam. This privilege was also extended
to the city, conditioned upon the of
the streets being granted the company by
Cornell.
I'VE do not ask for the earth" said Mr..
D. b. Lester, president of the Shell Road
| Company, yesterday, nor have we any
especial intention of bucking the present
street railway system. Upon examining
the map of the city, however, we find that
the present company is in possession of
practically all the streets, and that we
! cannot Obtain the desired facilities with
! in the city without parallelling it's tracks
at some points We have, therefore, out
lined three different routes and we will
be satisfied to have Council give us any
one of the three, our preferences being in
accordance with the order in which they
are stated"
What we propose to do" said Mr..
| Lester, lis to provide a combined city
and suburban system, furnishing access
! to what is already the best developed sec
ton of the county, and one in which a
larger number of our citizens are inter
| ested than in any other section. The value
| which an electric railroad would be TO
! the property owners and citizens general
/ ly residing between Savannah and White
Bluff, does not need to be demonstrated.
This value, however, largely depends upon
such a line having easy access to the
| heart of the city, and it cannot do this
without controlling and operating its own
| lines"
THE movement is a bona fide one"
! said Mr.. Lester. TT is no speculative
scheme. What is more, the ling will be
built without asking for dollar of local
! capital. promoter, who has been look
| ing into the matter for some time is very
| anxious to undertake the enterprise. He
+ is closely associated with a large North
| ern contracting firm, and this firm is will
ing to undertake the work and give a
| bond for the completion of the line which
will enable the promoters to finance the
road without further trouble. The con-
| tracing firm must be assured however,
| that all obstacles to the completion of the
work have been removed, and that the line
viii have access to both the business and
| residence sections of the city as well as
| to the rural resorts which it is proposed
| to benefit. If Council will give us access
| to the city as desired, so that we can
give these assurances, 1 can guarantee
the completion of the line within five
| months
| The three routes mentioned In the pc
ution 10 Council, of which the company
desires only one, are, first: From the
! White Bluff road, on Twelfth street, TO
/ Barnard. on Barnard to Bay by the west
side of the market Bay to Abercorn, Abb
ercorn to Perry lane, around Colonial
| Park on Perry lane to Lincoln street, on
4 Lincoln to Park avenue, and on Park aV-
enue to Barnard Second: From the
! same initial point to Montgomery street
! on Montgomery to ST. Julien thence to
| the market, around the market to Bar
nard, and thence to Bay, to Abercorn to
| Perry lane to Lincoln, south on Lincoln
! TO Seventh street, and thence west to
/ Montgomery. Third: From the White
| Bluff road and Twelfth street to Mont
! gomery, north to Bay east to Price
south to Seventh and west to Montgomery.
/ It will be seen that each one of these
routes will parallel to some extent the
! lines of the present system. The attempt
TO make use of Price street would at once
raise an issue with the Savannah, Thun-
derbolt and Isle of Hope Railway. which
practically has a mortgage on that street
under the terms of its agreement with the
| last Council
| THE objection which was made when
| the amendment was before the LEGISLATURE
| that a railroad track would injure the
| shell road will not hold" said Mr. Lester.
/ Under the amended charter We have the
! right to run on either edge of the road
! which. of course includes the right 10
! cross the road, If necessary. Fer the great
er part of the distance, however, it will
! not be necessary TO run upon the road at
all A majority of the property owners
abutting upon the road have agreed to
! give rights of way for the railway, and It
| is probable that the others will do so AS
soon as they are assured of the certainty
of the roads being built. As to the city The
/ puDHc ana the taxpayers VIII hardly object
10 being furnished with additional railway
facilities, especially when these facilities
will place them in easy reach of some of
the most delightful resorts upon the
coast Instead of making the terminus
of the lire at White Bluff it will be con-
tinued to Rose Dew and Coffee Bluff
1.-The section through which the proposed
! line will run" said Mr.. Lester, "contains
| 60 per cent, of the truck-growing interests
of The county One grower alone ships
%, 900 packages annually. This would give
! the line a large freight business. In addi-
| ton TO this the bulk of the fish and oyster
| supplies of Savannah are drawn from
White Bluff Coffee Bluff and Nckerson.
| which would furnish another source of in
come. The road would enjoy a good bust
ness from the start, and l am satisfied
would soon become very popular with the
people OF the city as well as with the resi-
| dents along the line"
The petition was referred by Council TO
| the Committee of the Whole before which
| Mr. Lester and his attorneys, Messrs.
| Twiggs & Oliver viii be given hearing
| r,ts rIx 10