The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-07
Decatur Proud of Station
 Inland.
Is Only Town In Alabama of Great Water Trade, And It Derives
 Much Benefit There
 " from.
py win T. she.han. !.

s.k By VIII IT. Sheehan.
 The line of the Southern Railroad and of the Louisville and Nashville join each other at the Decatur depot and run together on the same track for a couple of hundred yards in the town of Decatur and together pass over the long cantilever steel bridge which spans the Tennessee. Beyond the bridge the one track becomes two. The Louisville and Nashville runs in through Lime- stone county to Nashville while the Southern makes a northeasterly curve for It's journey to Huntsville and to Chattanooga.
 The traveller on the main line must have noted the peaceful beauty of the wide sweeping Tennessee as he sees 1t from his car window for there are In the South few scenes so picturesque or restfu1 than the far flung Tennessee as, it glides slowly by the town of De- catur. It may interest him to know that the genesis of Decatur and New Decatur was at thaN unostentatious wharf on the south side of the river where he saw in all probability an un- dersized river steamer with two .over- sized rivers barges heavily loaded with cotton. There's where Decatur started and something will be said of that same river which so many have admired without knowing what it Is. It is pro
 
 ation which the river deserves shall be given in the few lines that tell of its ! commercial value to the Twin Cities on the south bank.
 At the same time attention is to be drawn. to the east end of the bit of track used in common by the two rail- roads. Decatur's depot stands at the point where the two tracks run togeth- CT. The depot has Just been built
 The railroads put some $25,o00 in 1t and it is we'll worth the money. The two cities, Decatur especially, are proud of 1t and they may well be. Outside of Montgomery and Birmingham no de- pot, no passenger station can approach it in convenience or good looks. It quite overshadows the union station in Mobile.
 Mayor H A. Skeggs, takes a peculiar and personal pride in it. 1t is there largely because of his perseverance and energy. He couldn't to save his life, tell how many times he went to Montgomery to try to persuade the Railroad Commission to make the rail- roads build a depot at Decatur. When he looks at the depot he smiles sat- isfied smile. as the man ordinarily does who has done good job and is pleased with the job. When he was proudly telling of the new depot was moved 10 aSk nlms
 How long were you at work on that proposition before the depot was built?"
 I was moved to ask him because l recalled in reportorial work. early in my newspaper days in Montgomery frequently wrote during the year such Q paragraph as this:
 "A delegation of citizens from Deca- tur appeared before the Commission and petitioned that the railroads be compelled to give adequate depot fa- eilities to the Decaturs. The Commis- sion took the matter under advise msnt." "a.
 Or the paragraph would read some thing like:
 'aThe Decatur, depot matter was again brought to the attention of the Com mission by Mayor IF. A. Skeggs of that city. Mr., Skeggs again urged the claims of Decatur for better depot fa- cilities than it has been receiving. No action was taken in the matter"
 remembered some of these meet ings when the Mayor had come all the way from Decatur to lay his pet pro- feet before the Commission. I remem- Der with what a resigned air he would gather up his papers slowly sort them out, put them in his pocket, pull his hat over his eyes as he walked down Dexter Avenue to catch his train for Decatur. Being present at a Railroad Commission meeting in a reportorial capacity, I used to admire the splendid persistence of the Mayor when he would come all the way to Montgom- ary and after brushing the accumulat- ca dust of the Decatur depot project he would lay it proudly before the