The Aberdeen weekly., 1908-04-24
THE ABERDEEN * TOMBIG-
BEE VALLEY RAILROAD.
Contracts Let and Work
Commenced.

mains out us puySlcdl execution.
The contract for construction OF
the entire 65 miles from Okolona,
Miss. to Pickensville, Alabama, has
been taken by the Chas. J. Peters
Construction Company Of St. Louis.
who has executed ample bond for
completion Of the road by Janu-
airy I 1909. Mr.. F. NJ. Peters Of
that company, who is in active
charge Of its interests, arrived Sun
day. and entered Monday morning
upon the work by taking a view Of
the line from Aberdeen TO Pickens-
Vile. Other contractors who have
also arrived are Mr.. Geo II John
son. Of Philadelphia, who has con
tract for the terminals; Frank
Burke Of Fort Scott; Geo. Lionbar-
ger, Kansas City; W. A Robins,
St. Louis and w. s. Moody, Mon
roe, La, sub-contractors for con
struction work. who viii be follow
ed by others in a a few days.
The engineering corps is in charge
Of Mr.. w. 4. McKen, who made
the surveys last summer, who has
in his party Messrs. Chas. J.Wood,
Of Columbus, and Thos. NJ. Sykes.
Dick Crenshaw. Guy Jamison and
Frank James, Of this city. now in
the field setting the final stakes.
One Of the first matters to receive
attention was that Of securing cross
ties. to be ready by the time Of
completion Of grading, and they are
to be obtained by contract with in
dividuals along the line, or failing
in that resource the contractors
themselves will cut them under
their own management. The tim
ber supply is more than ample at
all points
The Aberdeen Il Tombigbee Val
ley will follow the same general
route of the old Forrest Road
the Memphis {, Selma-which was
also chartered as am Aberdeen en-
terprise in 1870. General Forrest
as its President pushed it to final
survey and much Of the grading at
several points was completed,
notably in this county. The enter
prise. however, like that of Major
w. ]. Sykes Aberdeen & Elyton
(now Birmingham Railroad, was
projected in an era of financial
stringency and political turmoil
that initiated against development
Of that character, and it was aban-
doned. 1t was later taken up and
chartered a few years ago as the
Columbus, Pensacola Il Memphis
Railroad, under which charter, with
amendment, the work is now pro-
crossing. The general route paral-
lels the Tom bigbee valley from Ok
olona to Pickensville, and its ex-
tension from Pickensville to Pensa-
cola will follow the same valley
southwark for a large part of the
distance. This is one of the rich
est valleys in the world. whose cot
ton crop alone Is estimated by Major
W. F. Craighill as heretofore pub
lished in the Congressional Record,
to be worth annually 500, 100000.
or nearly equal to the entire wheat
crop of Canada. This condition is
largely due to the fact that the
Tom bigbee river has unusually high
banks, and consequently in food
times is not as prone to overflow as
streams whose banks are very low,
therefore has more arabic land pos
sibly than any other river of the
same length on the continent. 1t
is conceded that there is less than
twenty-five per cent of this land in
the remainder being in
tim Der, the hardwoods predominant /
ing
That link or section of the road +
between Aberdeen and Okolona, I
the Matubby valley, is an
alluvial soil that comes from the /
of the great prairie belt of
East Mississippi. or, according to
Secretary Wilson Of the Agricultural
Department, the land of perpetual
alfalfa, and this valley has less
-han fifty per cent in cultivation,
the remainder being in hardwoods
Considering the grain, cotton and
timber resources of the present time
With the addition that rapid devel-
)pment will bring in those commOd-
ties, the country traversed by the
-oad should be as great freight
producer, if not greater. than the
fazoo & Mississippi Valley branch
If the Illinois Central, and far less
Endangered from overflow than any
,ther on the continent that has a
grade or a maximum
.rade of three quarters of one per I
ent