The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-30
777'I7 E7 fts'sf 1f <A f.f NEW RAILROAD CONTEMPLATED Air Line From Chicago
 to Pensacola. BELIEVE IN SEAPORT TOWN Chicago Men Were Impressed With
 Harbor. she Panama Canal Means Thst Florids City wm Become Greatess city on Gulf 4 Mexico. = 

"C. M. & P.," the .-Chicago, Mont Eomery and Pensacola Railroad. may before long be the name of new rallr road, an air line. bi-secting the States east of the Mississippi. from the Great. Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Such a railroad has been talked of time after time, but until the trip of the Chicago business men here, . few weeks ago, the new road was only mentioned as a future dream.
 It seems now that the Chicago men. when they were here, as one of their stops in the trip from the Windy City to the Gulf, looked about a good deal and they looked about in other sections and noted the peculiar way the rail- roads fly from Nashville to Jackson. Memphis to Atlanta and every crfss- cross way, except an air line from the great populated. central northern por- ton of the inhabited part of the coun- . try, on down to the business of the Gulf coast
 Another thing has enhanced railroad talk In Chicago, and that is the advent of the Panama Canal. New Orleans has many railroads doing business there, and is many miles from the coast with most viilanous entrance from the Gulf to the city. Mobile is thirty miles from real salt water with a har- Dor that 1t takes an experienced water snake to navigate without going aground Pensacola Ia the only ob- vious port terminal. for an airline road from Chicago to the Gulf and--it looks like 1t is to be built.
 With the best harbor of the Ameri- can seaboard. and only one railroad worth men ntionfng entering the city. Chicago finance Is fastening in it's eye on the ancient stronghold of the span ,aFds.
 Just how much active work is being done in Chicago is probably known to the promoters there, but the first tan- gibie step that has been made this way Is letter to Mayor Teague from one of the big Illinois financial institutions that has been approached by the Chi cago promoters for capital.
 The letter to Mayor Teague is as foi- lows:
 ,.Dear sir--we are in communication with quite few prominent people here in Chicago and the writers had a cor. respondence some time ago with the President of one of the great railroad systems of the United States regarding direct railroad line between Chicago and the Gulf of Mexico, which was well taken
 eve would appreciate your kind in formation how the feeling of your city would be towards such an enterprise, and what efforts your city would make to have the same realized and brought through your city.
 Thanking you, etc."
 The letter is signed by the Presi- dent of a financial institution that has been heard of in many places. as the capital of railroads that have been built and carried through to success.
 Mayor Teague will take the matter up with the leading citizens here and as it Is believed a similar letter has been sent to Pensacola and cities along the proposed line north of ,Montgom- cry. There may be a meeting of the business men of Southern cities effect ed shortly.
 Impressed With Resources.
 While the late Chicago viEltors were in Montgomery they were greatly im- pressed with the mineral resources of Alabama and saw at once, the crying necessity for a railroad traversInR the northeastern portion of Alabama. through the rich mineral deposit fields that have just been opened partially for development. The Chicago men Gulf and also of a line going northeast from Montgomers.
 But the new line will afford Chicago shippers comfortable harbor at Pen- sacola for shipping and insure a safe junction between maritime trafic and Che roads 70 nandle the great amount of trade between America and the East through the Panama Canal, is the main feature of the case from the Chicago standpoint. With Pensacola as base and Montgomery as Q distributing point, for shipments going out by the roads here and that will come hsxe, would mean truly a new commercial era for Montgomery.
 Pensacola is more than alive to the situation and is not only considering the direct line north, but also a direct line from Pensacola via Meridian. Miss, a coming railroad centre, and also a scheme of the Seaboard Air Line for a road that will go northeast from Pen sacofa, via Andalusia. Ala. and reach Atlanta.
 The prospect of the Panama Canal, business men say, Is fairly prlzing tn c South out of it's long sleep. capital from all over the country is having