The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16

down to make room for ono of the buildings of the magnificent new shops that the Western is building in Mont- gomery.
 Tn the year 1857. twenty three years after the Montgomery Railroad was chartered, Col. Samuel P. Jones, an- other big g-brained pioneer railroad man. who. like Colonel Pollard, was quick to see the significance of the situation. grasped the oportunity and chung to fN tenaeiously. South of Montgomery was vast section of country-mostly prim- oval forest-with the wealth of q king dom locked in it's virgin fastnesses and only needing the key of a master to unlock it.
 The possibilities were stupendous in their magnitude. One man, Colonel Jones, with quick perception, appreci- ated those possibilities and determined to take advantage of them. And he did.
 Samuel c. Jones, a virginian by birth. became connected with Alabama railroads In the spring of 1850. He was civil engineer of great distinc- tion, having made quite a reputation by a dam he constructed on the I've River in Virginia, in connection with the James River and Kanawha Canal. In consequence he was offered a posi- ton in Georgia in the early 40's, and was an engineer on the old& Monroe Railroad and Banking CompanyN which
 now forms a part of the system of the Central of Georgia Railroad. He moved l from Atlanta to Montgomery in the | spring of 1850.
 Jonesboro, Ga, where Sherman fought 1 his battle with Hood in 1884, just prior l to the evacuation of Atlanta, was nam- | ed in honor of Colonel Jones. He was
 also one of the first residents of Att lanta, going there at the time 1t was I fr,-S Hal a.ar fn | Montgomery to fill the position of Chief | Engineer and Superintendent of the l old Montgomery and West Point Rail-
 road which had not then been conn | pleted to West Point He also built
 the railroad from opelilka to Columbus.
 which was finished before the war. | Later he was Chief Engineer and President of the Savannah and Memphis Railroad, and carried that enterprise | through it's stormiest period.
 Under the State endorsement law, in order to get aid, the President had to swear that the first twenty miles of road were built from reHources of the company. which were not mortgaged up to the time of the endorsement of the next twenty miles. The banking company which financed the road ex- pected, however, to take over the bonds on the first twenty miles to pay debts incurred in building 1t. as the direc-  effect. Colonel Jones said that he would not make the afidavit and as he would not stand in the way of building of the road he resigned the presidency. Colonel Jones was one of the pioneers in the industrial development of this section. He and Colonel Pollard and Mir. Young developed the Chewacla Idme Works. which drovs thRfThomas- ton lime out of this market. He was also a great believer in the mineral wealth of the State, and with Colonel Pollard William Taylor and others of this place. organized the Montgomery Copper Mining Company in Talladega County which the Confederate Gov ernment afterwards utilized in the man. ufacture of sulphur
 Colonel Jones was a very pious man, and devoted Eplscopaltan He was the chief donor to the fund for build ing Hammer Hall of Montgomery, which was intended to be great school for girls He died at Scwanee, Tenn, where he went to educate his children, In the fall of 1886, in the, T3nd year of his age. and at the time of his death was Treasurer of the University of the South. He was a gentleman of the old Virginia school t"A@ 1--- Work of Colonel Jones.
 With an energy that was marvellous.
 Colonel Jones travelled over great section of the country talking railroad and making speech after speech, until
 he had imbued with some of his own enthusiasm, men with enough capital to charter his realroad.
 There was only one railroad rum
 ming out of Montgomery then. and that
 went northeast of the town. Colonel Jones' Idea was to get a road leading down into the lower part of Montgom- cry County. the western 'part of Lowndes County. almost tbpongh the ! heart of the Counties of Butler and ,Eseambia and the easternhpaFt of Con- l ecuh County.
 In the early part of the year 1858, l the work of construction had begun. | Colonel Jones personally took charge of | the construction. In the year 1861 the | road had been built to Castleberry. | over ninety miles. and 1t was destined 1 to go to the Florida coast, Pensacola. l Down the road fourteen miles was Pol | lard. from which place it was to take l a westerly direction toward Pensacola, 1 thirty-seven miles through the forests
 of Escambia County. Florida. The
 war was just beginning to blaze now, but before the end of the year 1862. | Colonel Jones had his road. through to Pensacola. over 150 miles from Mont ! gomery ratsnFa
 That road was a veritable Godsend
 to the Confederate forces operating
 in this section of the country, and es-