The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16
vertlsement .aprpes5area ln .The- .AlahaillaIl

Journal: f.l 1...5,st r+ ~
 Montgomery Railroad. Opening to Franklin-ThIrty- three and half miles of the Montgomery Railroad from Montgomery to Franklin will be in readiness for public use by or before the 10th instant. after which time daily train of passenger and freight cars will leave Montgomery at a, m, Returning the same day. will leave Franklin at ?. m Passage from Montgomery to Franklin. $2.O0; inter- mediate points, 6 cents per mile. Freight and merchandise will be trans ported at the following rates; Cotton bale. not exceeding 500 pounds, from Franklin to Montgomery, s2 cents; Fort Decatur to Mont Eomery. 70 centsi Haden's Mill to Montgomery 62 ls2s cents; McGruder's Station to Montgom- cry. 50 cents; Ashurst's Lane to Mont gomery, 50 cents; Mt. Meigs Road to Montgomery, s7 1-z cents; Crayon's Station to Montgomery. 25 cents. Mer- chandise. from Montgomery to Frank lin, IT cents per cwt.; intermediate points, same rates in proportion to dis tance. es
 An arrangement has been made with the proprietors of Wares and Marshall ferries on the Tallapoosa for the pas- sage toll free of all cotton destined FGI fSs E9 lKsSs .,SIto,,sIs Tt sis reIInquisfed the 8a:me privilege.
 Charles F. shannon. l& Engineer" Portentious events were about to happen now. |, Colonel ., Pollard g hRd builded wiser than he Knew and fFom the pioneer railroad that seven years ago he had inaugurated the expansion Of Montgomery was begining to slow ly, timidiy open. This line of iron road that he had toiled and struggled over in pain and weariness was about to place Montgomery in touch with the great outside world. From Savannah, Ga, on the Atlantic coast a company called "The Central Railroad" had a line extending all the way to Macon, and "The Monroe Railroad Company" had a line from Augusta to near Madi- son, Ga. Stage coaches ran from Franklin, the terminus of the Mont gomery Railroad through to Madison, the terminus of the Monroe Road and on to Augusta by rail. Stage coaches had been run from Franklin through Columbus and on to Macon where con- nection was had with the Central to Savannah. This gave new route from the East to Montgomery. steamships to Savannah. Central to Macon. stage coaches to Franklin and Colonel Pol lard's road to Montgomery.
 In 1S46 the Monroe Road was through to w est ROlnL ana d BnOEl WIiilG dAA6E- wards the Montgomery Railroad met 1t at West Point. That place is the dividing line, the Monroe Railroad be- ing what Is now. the Georgia Railroad to Atlanta and the Atlanta and West Point from Atlanta to West Point. while the Montgomery Railroad form ed what is now the Western Railway of Alabama. Tue guage5 sof the road from Augusta and Atlanta to West ha{n0 dtHaHanf from 4haf Of the Montgomery road a transfer of cars and change in the width Of trucks had to be made at West Point, but Mont gomery now had almost direct connec- ton with the outside world.
 Birth Of the and N.
 Alabama had now fully awakened to the value of railroads, and about this time the Legislature authorized the Louisville. Cincinnati and Charles ton Railroad Company to borrow $2,- GOO. 900 for which the State of Alabama would be responsible. As an indemnity to the State the property funds. and estate possessed by the Louisville, Gin cinhati and Charleston Railroad Com pany. inside the State wara- mortg9ged to the State. This was the beginning of the great Loulsville andJ Nashville ssytem. one of the greatest trunk lines of the South That, however. was only a dream road then while the Montgom- cry Railroad was in full operation The depot was over where the present shops of the Western are now. The embyro road had no shops or anything of that kind in Montgomery, and the only buildings they had were small frame structures
 Colonel Pollard continued at the head of the road all during the horrible days of reconstruction. and 1t was the irony of fate that after fighting and strug- gling for the road through years and ycdrs of bitter hardships he should have lost nearly everything when the irOHd had to be sold to pay It's indebtedness in the early TOs The only substantial building had in Montgomery by the road then was a solid. one-story brick building in which were combined cv- cry department of the Montgomery shops"
 During the fearful times experienced by Montgomeriaus when Wilson's Raid CTS destroyed everything that they could get their hands on, the shops" were burned So substantial were the thick brick walls. however, that they came through the ordeal virtually in- tact The woodwork and everything in the interior of the building went up in smoke. but the only apparent harm done the. walls was q blackened place on the west end of the walls. After Wilson's gang had gone the interior ol the shops was rebuilt and it is stand ing today, being used as the blaming mill of the present shops. The picture was taken by a stan man of The Ad, vertiser a few days ago. as the otC ! building will in q few days be tOrr