The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-23
NEW TERMINUS
 OF |. AND N. Some Talk of St. An drews Bay. THIS OR ANOTHER COAST POINT Mysterious Movements of Surveyors
 Around Graceville. sIay Involve Purchase of Independent Lines to Get to Goal But Press
 ident smith Is Farsee-
 ing Enough.

! When Rresident MflIon n. omithi oi the Louisville and Nashville built the | Alabama and Florida division of the M and M. through the counties of Gov l ington. Geneva, etc, It was not done I solely for fhe purpose of developing | Southeast Alabama. one of the richest | and most fertile sections of the State. | There were millions of feet of lumber | to be hauled out by the new road, it | is true. and then again the building of the road would cause lots of new saw mills and other enterprises to spring | up on the line.
 But the farseeing chief executive of | the Louisville and Nashville had even | a more important object in view than | that. When the Alabama and Florida | division was originally built the ter- minus was supposed to be Geneva, the thriving capital of the County of that name. It was not very long after extended from Geneva to Graceville, 1 Fla.
 For the past few months the myste- rious movements of a party of survey ors down in the territory below Grace vile have caused lots of gossip. From the lines that they have run 1t Is pret- ty certain that President Smith and the Louisville and Nashville people are making for St. Andrews Bay or some point on the coast, and this<was evil dently the original idea of Mfr. Smith when the Alabama and Florida divis- ion was projected.
 The route that will finally be adopt cd has not been decided or as yet, but there seems to be no doubt of the fact that the President of the Louisville and Nashville Is seeking another deep water outlet. From GracevilIe to Cot tondale, a station on the Pensacola and Atlantic division of the Louisville and Nashville. the distance Is very short and not many miles of track would have to be built to make the connec- ton.
 Along the eastern side of the Chat tahoochie river there Is a railroad known as the Appalachicola Northern, running from River Junction down to the town of Appa1achicola at the mouth of the Appalachicola river and on the Bay of the same name Now River Junction Is the terminus of the P. and A. division of the L. and N, and by extending the line from GracevilIe, to Cottondaie the tracks of the P. and A. could. be used to River Junction. It is barely possible that the Louisville and Nashville will eventually get hold of the Appalachicola Northern's seven ty-one miles of road, or even if they only make trafilc arrangements 1t would give the Louisville and Nashville virtually a line from Montgomery to Appalachicola and by the building of another short line it would put them right In the St. Andrews Bay terri tory.
 Another plan that has been project ed is to build straight down from Graceville, cross the line of the P. and A. division near Cottond&le and cou- tinue the construction of the new line straight to St. Andrews Bay or some point along that coast.
 Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay.
 From Dothan on the line of the At- lantic Coast Line. there Is a road known as the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad. It is eighty-three miles in length and runs from Dothan to Pan- anna City near St. Andrews Bay. on that coast This road crosses the P and A. division of the Louisville and Nashville at Cottondale, having it's own line straight on to Panama City. and the St. Andrews Ray eoast. Every thing would be sinplined if the Louis ville and Nashville could get hold of the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay road or even that part of it from Cotton dale to the St. Andrews Bay coast But from what is known of A. B. Steele, President and owner of the At lanta and St. Andrews Bay. 1t is more than probable that that road will re- Auolu tuS AhuCpGnuSuL Aln9 that 1t is now for some time to come. This line was originally a very small lumber road. running out from the saw mill of the German-American Lumber Co. and the only means of transportinR the millions of feet of lumber was over this insignificant road.
 For several years the lumber people had been exporting all of their high grade yellow pine lumber but millions n nf a Aa that could not be exported had simply to lay on the ground at the mill and rot on account of the fact that there was no railroad connection. When the present Atlanta and St. Andrews road. was extended and connection had with the saw mill at MiIlville Junction near their mill new machinery was bought for the mill and the manufacture of. yellow pine for the interior trade gone into on large scale.
 To show the determination and per- l tinacity of the owners of the propertv when thefe was some hitch in regard to trafflc arrangements with other roads they bought the steamship Man itou to carry their lumber to Mobile. l Pensacola and points along the bay, l Since the completion of the railroad 1 however. it makes them virtually in 1 dependent though the steamship traf- | he still goes on. the line being called Ehe Mobile and Gulf Steamship Com 1 pany, an adjunct of the Atlanta and St. Andrews Bay Railroad and the | German-AmerIcan Lumber Co.
 Some idea of the magnitude of the
 corporation can be had when it is
 stated that they own something like
 900 acres of yellow pine timber in
 the territory around Panama City. the l terminus of the railroad, the mill be-
 ing about one mile north of Panama | City. The country south of Cottondale, 1 the crossing of the Pensacola division
 of tine L. and N.. Is as yet virtually
 undeveloped. For about forty miles
 the line of the Atlanta and St An
 drews Bay road runs through a solid
 body of virgin long leaf yellow pine.
 This immense tract of timber extends
 for nearly forty miles in an easterly
 direction and about thirty miles in a
 westerly direction. From this one can
 judge of the vast amount of yellow
 pine timber waiting for the saw mill
 man to develop. and at the same time
 it is easily seen what President Smith
 of the Louisville and Nashville wants
 to get into the heart of this verltablt
 gold mine for
 Something of the Bay.
 St. Andrews Bay is a beautiful body
 of water, covering something like sixty
 square miles. It is almost land-locke cd
 and inside the bay the water Is from
 thirty-ive to sixty feet Tn depth. The 1 main body of water at East Bay where