Evening journal., 1913-06-24
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
A Pioneer in the Southern
Railway System
By Holland

'I occasionally heard Samuel spen-
Ger. president Of the Southern railroad
system, speak in words of highest
admiration Of William NJ wadley. Of
Georgia" said the late James d.
Laying himself one of the great con
structive railway forces in the United
States between 1850 and 1895. and an
intimate personal as well as railroad
associate of Mr. Spencer.
"Mr. Spencer, you know. had al
ready accomplished, before he was
killed in a railway accident near
Lynchburg, Virginia, a wondeful
constructive work in building up the
Southern railway system But l have
reason to think that Mr.. Spencer in
some of his constructive work heed
ed the examples set by Mr.. Wadley
twenty years earlier in Georgia.
1T is my recollection that Mr..
Spencer once said that Mr.. Wadley
was a relative Of a very able United
States senator from New Hampshire,
although the two spelled their names
little differently The senator
spelled his name Wadleigh, but the
great constructive force of the
Georgia Central system, spelled his
name Wadley. But the two men were
Of kin and both were born in New
Hampshire.
"Mr. Wadley, however, went TO
Savannah in his early manhood,
think only ten or FIFTEEN years after
railroad construction on any extend
ed scale began in the South. His
trade was that of a blacksmith, but
he very rapidly revealed high quail
ties as a contractor and a construct
ing engineer.
"At the breaking out of the Civil
War Mr.. Wadley had already gained
a wide reputation, not merely as a
builder Of railroads, but as a master
of the true philosophy of railway
management II was for this reason
that he WAS appointed by jefferson
Davis the supreme director of trans
portation of the military railroads of
the South. serving during the life of
the Confederate government.
"Mr. Spencer told me that Mr.
Wadley's name ought 10 pass into
tradition as one OF the great construc-
tive railway forces of the United
States For a few years after the
close of the Civil War Mr.. Wadley
was placed in charge of constructive
development of the leading railway
system Of Georgia, then known as the
Central Railroad of Georgia.
He might have confined himself 10
improving the tracks, perfectns
equipment, seeing to II that the Cen
trail Railroad of Georgia was oTlrated
economically and confined itself to
business within its immediate home
But he was too great man for that
= He was the first man. I think, in
the South who fully realized that
the profound fundamental railroad
philosophy irrisistibly, pointed to
combination He realized that with
the Central Railroad of Georgia as
the core Of the system. he could build
up a great combination which would
cover Georgia, South Carolina, Ala
bama and much Of Mississippi He
put his finger upon Atlanta and said
That city is 10 he the centre of the
great constructive work He went
even further He created water com
munioations with Savannah as a
southern terminal and Baltimore,
hAAaI'ilAid anu ANfW ANlh Nr ilit
northern ports, and I think he was
the first railroad authority. at least
In the South, and one of the first in
the entire country, who fully realized
how essential IL was for the perfect
development of railroad systems that
they be supplemented by steamboat
or steamship lines. The Savannah
line represents MIR. Wadley's genius
Now. II was upon the lines worked
out and originally conceived by Mr.
Wadley that the great Southern rail-
way system was in great measure
based and has been developed. In
that sense, il was not so much
Northern brains and ability as 1t was
the example and lesson taught by
William M. Wadley, of Georgia,
twenty years earlier, which made the
Southern railway system possible"
Copyright, 1913, by e. j. Edwards
All rights reserved)
Tomorrow Mr. Edwards will tell oI
Charles A. Dana and the Govern