Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-12-18
THE FRORIDA east COAST RY.
A Railroad Being Built Thirty Miles
Out Into the Ocean

| A writer in one of the New York
papers has the following account of
the building of the Florida East Coast
Raj ailway:-Hundreds of men are being
rushed southwark to work on the COM
pletion of the great Florida East Coast
Railway, following the decision of
Judge Hough of the United States
circuit court, in dismissing, as without
cause of action, the so-called peonage
cases that had been brought by the
United States government against the
labor agents of the railroad.
While these actions were pending in
the courts the men in charge of the
construction work on this sea-going
railroad, which is to be Henry M
Flagler's greatest achievement, were
loath to push forward with the same
amount of energy that had been dis
played prior to the action of the attor-
ney general in taking cognizance of the
reckless charges of labor slavery that
had been made. Every effort to make
up for lost time now will be put for
ward by Vice-President Joseph r.
Parrott, who has been in charge per-
sonally since the work began in June
of 1905. Fully 1000 men now are EN-.
ployed south of Knights Key and
more workmen are being sent to tn e
field of operations each day.
Vice-Presldent Parrott, who now is
in New York ON business connected
with the great extension which is
jumping over stretch of thirty miles
OF open ocean and over thirty miles
more of submerged keys and lagoons
to connect Key West by direct line
with Miami, now estimates that this,
one OF the most novel engineering en-.
terprises of modern times, will be COM
pleted.and trains running for its full
length within year.
Already the line is com pleted and
trains are running for eighty-four miles
south of Miami, right down to Knights
Key. Work also is being pushed for
! ward from Key West up, and over
forty miles of roadbed has been con-
structed by the gangs that are working
northward to meet the other workmen
who rapidly are moving south. This
means that total of 124 miles has been
completed out of the 156 mills of road
surveyed from Miami to Key West
The greatest of all the engineering feats
on this wonderful line, however, is yet
to be completed. This is the eleven
mile gap from Knights Key to Bahia
Honda where the line is being carried
over the open ocean on concrete arches.
This effect of the great extension on
traffic to Havana, however, already
has been felt because now the steam
ers for Havana meet the trains at
knights Key and take passengers and
freight from that point to the Cuban
capital instead of eighty-four miles
north at Miami. When the line is
completed to Key West huge railroad
car floats will take entire trains across
the Florida Straits to Havana, dist
ance of ninety miles, without COM
pelling passengers to leave their car
seats or sleeping-car berths and with
out the necessity of breaking bulk on
single consignment of freight. This
will mean that the Cuban sugar plant
er will be enabled to load his product
on freight car sidetracked at his
plantation, have the car hauled by rail
to Havana, foated to Key West and
then rail-hauled right to New York or
any other point without any of the ex-
pense, trouble of damage dangers Of
second handling.
This great project, which is being
financed, from beginning to end, by
Mr.. Flagler personally, generally is re-
garded by engineers as the most ex-
pensive stretch of railroad ever built,
the average cost of construction from
end to end, exceeding 100000 mile,
while the additional capital require
ments for docks, channeling, car floats
and equipment will bring the total cost
approximately to $3O,0OO,OOO. Already
Mr.. Flagler has expended upwards of
$I5, ,00O 600 on the work.
What this vast enterprise will meau,
when completed, to commercial Cuba,
belongs to the realms of fancy, but it is
doubtful if its Importance could be ex-
aggerated. Its utilization also would
give the United States a tremendous
strategical advantage, from a military
standpoint, were it necessary at any
time to rush troops to the Island Re-
public. Furthermore, in view of the
tremendous possibilities for the future
of Cuba, Panama and South America,
the Flagler road will supply the closest
link connecting the United States with
those countries.