The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-24

Age" then edited by Lawrence Wat
 kins, over the Elyton Land companys s dirt road" and many glbes and filings were made by the paper at the com-
 peny. One of these. l recall, which, after
 the order of Belamy. represents u citi-
 zen of that period returning to Birming- ham, after an absence of many years. to
 visit his old home He inquires of a friend of former years, What ever be-
 came of the Elyton Land company?' His friend replies. "Elyton Land company Elyton Land company? Yes, 1 do believe I remember something about it. It is dead and forgotten long ago, and everybody that was connected with 1t has long since gone and Is forgotten" There is alas, much truth in this imaginary conVersa- ton.
 Authority to build the street car line was obtained at the following session or the legislature and early in the year or 1885 work thereon was begun. Pending the construction of the bridge both lines started temporarily on Twenty-seoond street and Avenue A, one terminating at Five Points and the other at Lakeview being operated by horse power. The bridge over the railroads was com peted and thrown open October 1, 1885. It was designed and constructed under the direction of Thomas A. k. Evans, an older brother of r. Y. Evans. He was a very estimable man and m en- gneer of ability. The Car line operated by horse power proved to be very sat- isfactory both to the public and the com pany. It was therefore determined to change 1t to steam. Accordingly, the light l 12-pound rails were replaced with 40- , pound rails and the gap between Lake view and Five Points was completed l in 1SSe On June 26th of that year Wa bid farewell to the mules and be gan operating the. line with steam dummies. Four trains were put on, one leaving the terminus at First avenue and Nine- 1 teenth street every 15 minutes, two go- | ing by the Short Route,' that is, via Twenty-seventh street. and two by the 1 Long Route" via Fifteenth street. to | the other terminus, which was Lake, | view park. thus making the round trip in | just one hour, going out one way and l returning the other. It was the first dummy line of any extent ever operated in the south. and it proved great suc- l cess, and for long time very attractive 1 to the public. At times the overflow Ing trains were unequal to the demands and other heavier dummies and additional l cars had to be purchased
 This old bridge has now stood for 1 26 years. although the timbers have been i renewed from time to time as became 1 necessary. The traffic over the dummy ] line became so great as to make it nec- essary in a short time to replace the iron rails with new steal rails.
 When the town Of Highlands was in- l corporated a portion Of Highland avenue | was included in the corporate limits l and was graded and curbed by the cor porations Afterwards the limits of inc | city of Birmingham were extended ever the town of Highlands. and also to in- I olude the remainder of Highland avenue. f1r-I.t tal. |. I1.a ] the city.
 1 I have omitted to mention that after i the completion of the Highland Avenue railroad the Eiyton Land company built l the Belt railroad, which now belongs to | the Frisco company, and the two were | then transferred to separate company. l Incorporated as the Highland Avenue | and Belt Railroad company" the stock of 1 which was distributed as a dividend to I the stockholders of the parent company. | The two corporations were continued, however, for several years under the same management.
 The Belt Railroad
 | While it may not be altogether perti-
 nent to the subject of this paper, 1t will 1 not, hope. be dmiss to give some in-
 formation ill regard to the Belt railroad.
 It's construction was begun in the early 1 part of 1887. in the midst of the great l boom, during which the companys in- l come was enormous. Sometimes several dividends per month were declared and 1 paid. While the growth of the city was rapid and promising, the prices of real 1 estate were increasing entirely out of proportion to other conditions. In this l situation it was easy to see that the time was not far distant when terminal faci- l ties for any other railroads desiring to
 enter the city would be impossible at reasonable cost. In order therefore, to obviate this difficulty, conceived the idea l of constructing belt line which would l be able to supply this great need and invite other railroads to come.
 1 I laid the plan before the president of l the company. who. after some delay and i persuasion on my part, finally acceded to l the plan and instructed me to proceed. I 1 lost no time in putting engineers in the l field locating the lines. Fortunately the company still owned practically all the 1 lands that would probably be required for the railroad, which fact made me the more impatient to get to work, lest some l insurmountable obstacle should intervene I by delay.
 1 The rights of way for tracks constitut- | ing the belt within and contiguous to 1 the city limits were first obtained and oc- cupied with tracks, after which these l lines were extended to the limits of the property of the company in four direc- l tions, easterly towards Avondale, north- easterly in the direction of Guntersville, westerly towards Thomas and Pratt City. and southward to reach the summit of
 Red mountain and it's ore deposits. l The charter obtained at the next session of the legislature gave to the company .he right to extend it's lines anywhere within the county or the adjoining coun- ties, to cross or parallel any other rail- road line to reach tide water at such point as might be in future determined upon.
 During the period of depression follow
 ing the collapse of the boom of the sos,
 eliminating in the panic of 189S the in
 come of the railroad was insufficient to
 meet expenses, repairs and renewals, and,
 as the parent company had committed
 financial suicide and was therefore unable
 to render assistance to it's offspring, the
 company met disaster went Into the
 hands of a receiver, died and was buried
 After the obeequies it was resurrected
 the passenger department as an electric
 line, which eventually grayitated into the
 present corporation, while the freight de-
 partment was acquired and Is now owned,
 as has been stated, by the Frisco com
 pany, affording to that company inval-
 table terminals The public is doubtless
 benefited by the former. I wish I could
 fe el that the latter also is for the public
 good. The belt road. 1t was hoped. would
 continue in the hands of strong local in-
 terests and would afford equal terminal
 facilities for all other roads entering Bir
 mingham, as well as shipping facilities to
 the mines and manufacturing industries
 Of the district, and would eventually, as
 its charter provides, be extended to tide
 water, thus fulfilling the expectations and
 intentions of It's designer
 |, ,r,,, .>ft r1I rortn