The age-herald., 1900-08-05
BEST DEVELOPERS s-.s.sa=
 OF ANY COUNTR ' @~4t s-sf
 Are the Railroads With Their
 Wide Ramifications. AND BIRMIN CHAM IS BLESSED s-ya - With Five Great Systems and EtevHn
 Outlets to the Four Quarters of 7 the Earth, Great Life gsr and Riches
AND BIRMINGHA IS BLESSED

It has been said that railroads are the best developers any country community can have, and if that be the case, then mere recital of the railroad interests and the railroad construction in the Birming- ham district during the past twelve months will suffice to convince the most unwary that the district has made wonderful strides in industrial development in that period
 It has been a period of the greatest &C., tivity with all the roads in the district and two of the big trunk systems have spent and are spending enormous sums of money in the building of new lines and in the improvement of existing track. It is safe to say that $3,OOO,O ,OOO is not an unreas- enable estimate of the amount of money that is now being spent in railroad develop ment within a radius of forty miles of Birmingham.
 It Is customary in preparing special ar ticles on the railroads of a community to say that that particular community has unsurpassed railroad facilities, that It has lines reaching out to the four winds of heaven, and places 1t in touch with every important trade center in the country
 
 is preferable to state the facts, and let the / reader draw his own conclusions there from.
 Y The first railroad built into Birmingham was the Alabama Great Southern, then r known as the Alabama and Chattanooga, : and which was built largely with money : borrowed by the State of Alabama during |, reconstruction days. Closely following the ,4 Alabama Great Southern came the South and North Alabama, now the Louisville :, and Nashville, both of which had been com spleted and were in operation when Birming ham was yet an unincorporated village, a mere suburb of Elyton, then the county ! seat of Jefferson County, and the principal f town of all this region.
 < With the completion of the Alabama s Great Southern and the Louisville and Nashville, railroad building in this sec ton ceased until about 1882 or 1885, when { the. Georgia Pacific, now a part of the % Southern Railway was extended into Br- mingham. The Central of Georgia and the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Z came in soon afterwards, and then the Louisville and Nashville built the Birming- ham Mineral Short lines and spur tracks were built by the different roads to all the mining camps, and all the industrial plants iH the district, until the total mile age of the county was close onto 600 miles, and with scarcely precinct in the county not traversed by one or more of the roads or their branches
 For several years prior to last fall there was a lull in railroad building, and the mileage remained practically the same from the early sos until then. The great activity in the iron market and the growth of the coal trade last year necessitated the opening of new coal and mines in sec- tfOns remote from railroads, and to accom- nlodate these lines had to be built or old lines extended. During the winter and early spring the Ensley Southern Railroad Company obtained a charter from the Sec retary of State, and a few months later the North Alabama Railroad Company did like < wise. The Ensley Southern is line about thtrty-flve miles long, extending from Ems ley to Parrish, in Walker County, where a connection is made with the Southern Railway, and the Northern Alabama Rail- road, also owned by the Southern. The North Alabama road extends from a point on the main line of the Louisville and Nashville, in the southern portion of Gull man County, to the Little Warrior river, where a junction is made with the Ems ley Southern, a distance of about forty miles. Still later a charter was granted the OEeonta and Attalla Railroad Company for a line to connect those two places, some <, thirty-five or forty miles apart. The Ems ley Southern and the Oneanta and Attalla are now under construction, and the per rnanent survey has been located for the North Alabama, and it is understood that :. the contract for it's construction will be 
 roads combined have a mileage of about 120 miles. In addition to these the Louisville and Nashville is building a six-mile branch from HancevilIe to Stouts Mountain, in Blount County, and the Southern is build ing a three-mile branch in Bfbb County. Several short lines ranging from half a z mile to two or three miles have been built in Jefferson County, and others are now un- der construction
 Dealing somewhat in speculation, it might be said that it is entirely probable that within the next two or three years at least two, and perhaps three, other great systems, will have lines into Birmingham. These are the Seaboard Air Line, the Illi- nois Central and the Mobile and Ohio. 1t is known that the Seaboard has for some time past been after the East and West road, which has been tied up in litigation since 1Sxa The western terminus of the East and West at present is thirty-five miles from Birmingham.
 The railroads now entering Birmingham are as follows:
 Louisville and Nashville-The main line from Cincinnati and Louisville to New Orleans; the Birmingham Mineral, one line to Blocton and one to Oneonta-fOur di- Fectfons.
 Southern Railway-Three directions, one to Atlanta, Washington and the east; one to Greenville. Miss, and one to Selma
 Alabama Great Southern-Two directions, one to Chattanooga and Washington, and one to Meridian and New Orleans.
 The Central of Georgia-One line 10 Sa- vannah.
 Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham One line to Memphis and Kansas City.
 Total-Five systems and eleven direc- tons.
 The completion of the Ensiey Southern