The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-08

| Terminal facilities have been pro- | vided at Brunswick, Birmingham and Atlanta at a cost, when the work In Birmingham has been completed of a little under $10,00o.00. At Brunswick this includes wharves and docks un- excel1ed not only along the south At lantic coast but along any other coast anywhere. At Atlanta and Birmingham land In bult-uI communities has had to be secured at a cost that such con- ditions require and 1t has been ob tained in both these places in area sufficient to afford an entrance into the city, with ample space for local sta- tions and freight yards and for general yards and for connections with all other lines of transportation in each of these cities. Terminals have been acquired on a proportionate schedule in every other community through which the road runs.
 Starting From Nothing.
 starting from nothing to build Q railroad means not only providing the main line and terminals, but also loco motives, passenger cars, freight cars. V rolling stock. shops and facilities of various kinds, furnishing innumerable and undreamed of avenues for the flowing out of money.
 "Coincident with the construction of the railroad line in order that the mar kets of the east might be reached for | the outlet of the products and service ! of that territory along the line of the 1 railroad, a steamship company was or ganized, known as the Brunswick Steamship company, provided by con struction with five steel steamships, well located terminals acquired on Manh attan Island, New York city and a steamship line inaugurated and now | in regular service between Brunswick 1 and New York.
 At Birmingham the men behind this | enterprise have acquired large holdings i of coal and iron ore property, cou- structed a new furnace, and developed l and equipped coal mines, organized under a company known as the Bir- mingham Coal and Iron company. You men of Birmingham no doubt know the character and magnitude of this de- velopment.
 "The actual work of construction has ! been in progress for about five and @ half years. Six hundred and fifty miles i of main line of railroad, with termi- nals at the cities of Birmin gham, Att | lanta. the port of Brunswick and the : intermediate towns and cities, with the equipment. shops and other facilities. the construction of steel steamships and the inauguration of steamship line 1 from Brunswick to New York, the ac- | quisition of coal and iron properties 1 in the Birming gham district and the construction and development of iron furnaces and coal mines, starting from nothing and brought into being all at one time, this would seem to be a task enough in itself, and when we consider the condition of the times through { which this work has been carried on, with money almost impossible to be ob- tained, certainly for new railroad con- struction, and considering that not for one minute was there ever any stoppage in these works, that all during the | periods of deepest financial depression , these works still went on, as you men l of Birmin gham can particularly bear witness, the development of the coal | and iron company did not stop a single i day, think l may not be accused of over stating it when I call it miracu- lous.
 Must Overcome Obstacles.
 ''The Lord put the mountains between | Birmingham and the sea, and who tries to bring them together undertakes an heroic work. He won't find his lines laid alogn the ridge routes or down valleys, but he has got to make his way against the grain of the country, over hills and l across valleys. He has picked out the line of greatest resistance and he has got to be made of the stuff that overcomes 1 obstacles.
 This is not the first time the road that reaches Birmingham today was pro- iected. There have been in the past au | least a score of similar projects to bring | Birmingham and the sea together through the little gap where the Talladega creek, breaking through the Blue Ridge noun | tains, furnishes the only opening in 49 miles for the possible accomplishment Of the task. Some of the more ambitious ] actually started surveys and at least a | dozen sets of stakes can be found where | they tried to blaze that trail. Ask the 1 people of Talladega why, when this par ticular railroad was offered them, they l had no faith. They will tell you of the | many times hope had been raised only to | leave them sick at heart until they had lost belief in the possibility of the ac- complishment of this long time desile They had heard of the riches and the | treasures in the mountains and in the country beyond; they knew that in the hills of the eastern horizon were marbles far excelling those of famed Carara; they | had heard whispers that still further on were buried pyrites in greater quantities | and better quality than those of Spain or Sicily; woodmen had brought back stories 1 Of fabulous deposits of brown and gray iron ore, of mica, of graphite, of slate, of limestone, and rumors of copper and gold. The oldest inhabitants would tell of fabled | springs hidden in the hills that would re- l store the iron to mems blood and make the roses bloom again women's checks. The conjured up pictures of rapid-ruan:ng | waters, now between precipitous noun tains, now opening into beautiful valleys, | lying In deep pools here, ripping over glistening pebbles there, breaking into | waterfalls, singing a song of joy always | Some Wildly imaginative person had iald them story of tens of thousands of powerful wild water horses, sired by Tal- | lapoosa, scampering down the hills, wait ing for the day to come when some one would train them to harness and make them weave into cloth the cotton of Clay, Talladega, Chambers and Randolph coun- ties and bring out of the earth and fash ion for mans use the minerals tha. he nearby mountains were said to contain They had heard that there were powerful little towns beyond these mountains; they knew something of Ashland and Lineville and Roanoke that were pushing forward without any outside help, living in 70 hope and sharing the dream the same as Talladega of a highway that would open up this wonderful territory and give 1t a chance to take advantage of nature s lavish provisions
 No Scarcity of Promises.
 There was no scarcity of promises made Talladega for the opening of the way into this wonderful country; there had scarcely been a moment for yea IS and years in the past that some one was not saying he would lead the way Not one of them had gotten beyond mere talk and Talladega had given up in despai-