The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-21

about him. His confidence fin the com, | ing of the new road comes or his re cent conference with President Gordor and Constructor l.. E. Miller or ths
 B. c. and St. A. Railroad.
 | These gentlemen announce puDlfc- lily that they have completed the arr
 rangements for the financing of the inew road" said MT. Merrill. They say that the bonds have been ffoated . and that the road will be built They Ihave been upright and straightforward in All their dealings with me and with Ithe Citizens Committee. Never yet have they misrepresented anything to
 us and their statements are accepted lupou their face value. A new road Is
 nearer Eufaula than it has ever been
 since the Central of Georgia built in-
 to the Bluff City.
 The protected line pierces splen- did territory. From the Tennessee to Ithe Gulf there Is perhaps no richer do-
 main than that through which runs jthe survey of the Birmingham, Colum- bus and St. Andrews Bay Railroad. It lis to be a new feeder, new attribute
 ef East Alabama and Southwest Ala bama, which the small white farmer has made the garden spot of the State.
 | It Is to stretch like a long wire " and commercial viality through the States agricultural domain and along | 1t towns are to spring Into being as incandescent lights flash out along the electric light wire strung from pole to pole. And as lights are strung along the wire so are new towns to be strung along the new road when it Is built.
 The Splendid Harbor. For half a centuGy and moro about the harbor of St. Andrew Bay there have clustered the visions and dreams of the business promoters of Georgia and Alabama It has ever had an in- viting prospect. For this harbor of no special commercial value now Is called the best natural harbor on the Gulf Coast with the possible exception of Pensacolas harbor." It is a true har- bor. deep and land locked. The gov ernment would have but little work task of accommodating the largest ves- sells afloat.
 Your railroad man, all in all, is more far seeing than the average business man. There Is more business, more money in railroading than in any oth- CT line of commercial endeavor. For which reason the railroads hire a bet ter and higher class of brains than the other businesses are able to command. And the brains which are hired by the railroads have long since grasped and appreciated the possibilities of the Gulf ports. when the Panama Canal shall have been finished and it's locks shall have been thrown open to the world. A half dozen instances have fallen under the eye of the writer, wherein, the railroads. which have heretofore been shut out, have been feeling, reaching and projecting for the Gulf and it's future trade through the Panama Canal.
 No longer than last week the new survey from Birmingham to Pensacola. undoubtedly a projection of the Illinois Central was observed and noted. The new survey runs by Centerville and Selma on to Pensacola. It has been conducted with star chamber methods and no member of the surveying party was permitted to talk. But the Illi- nois Central recently bought some valuable property in Birmingham and there is no doubt along the survey but that this is the road which is try ing to forge a new link between the Birmingham District and the Gulf of Mexico.
 This same purpose is behind the building of the Birmin gham, Columbus and St. Andrews Bay, the forging of new link between the mine and the vessel.
 The EufauIa Division.
 The first portion of the road to be constructed is to be built between Columbus and Eufauia. Unoflcially 1t is said that the primary part of the road will a connection between the Seaboard Air Line at Pittsview. and Eufaula, a distance of some eigh-. teen miles The officials of the road, however. say that the entire division between Columbus and Eufaula will be first built.
 The line as projected will call for a depot near the corner of Broad and Eufaula streets in Eufaula and it will run to the northward to Columbus through the heart of the city and the city's northern suburb, Hoboben. The line will eros sthe Seaboafd Air Line near Pittsview and from there 1t will run In a little northeasterly direction to the Chattahoochee River at Os- wichee Bend. Here the river will be crossed and the road will make its way into Columbus on the Georgia side of the river. Such is the division as projected to be built first.
 To the southward the road will pass the Barbour County villages of Baker Hill and Cotton Hill. Further on it will run close to the thriving town of Abbeville and thence to the Wiregrass Metropolis. Dothan. Continuing its general southern course, the road will pass on to Chipley, Fla, and then to the waters of the deep harbor of St. Andrews Bay.
 Five miles of the road are already in operation. These five miles are to the southward of Chipley and in the di- rection of St. Andrews Bay. This sec tion of the road was built and Is con trolled by Constructor Miller. The grading for this section was put in over forty years ago for a projected rcId from Chipley to St. Andrews Bay. at which time the fine harbor of that place was the goal and the hope of the railroad builders even as 1t is to- day. When the new line has reached Chipley the other portion of that old time grading. which still endures in good condition. will no doubt be used
 The line as projected will be 200 miles long. If there Is a richer agri- cultural territory in Alabama than the ona the new road will utArca if has