The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-01-25
Road Would Open
RFch Territory 70 TFa de
With PG7sa 9 ola NJ q Fke .
Would Also Tap Gulf Beach and
Make Feasible Long PropOs-
ed Tourist Resort.
PROPOSAL Is ALLURING
People of Baldwin County Are
Progressive and Have Well
Organized Towns.

| Charles Barclay. who was In the
city yesterday. when interviewed con-
cerning the benefits Of the Mobile &
! Pensacola Railroad and Navigation
! Company said:
"The prime object in building a
railroad is to so locate it through
! territory that will furnish traffic both
/ freight and passenger sufficiently eX-
| tensiye to make the road good earn
! ing proposition. This. of course, is
from the standpoint Of the investor and
not of the section to be served. The
| road which is proposed to be built by
| Lillian is to pass directly through
{ Elberta. and for the present to end
up al Foley, in Baldwin county. This
section is rich already as an agricuI-
| tural and fruit section and is now com
naratively settled. The people in the
section referred to are progressive and
already have organized into Peach
!! Growers Association and other asso-
Citations for their mutual benefit and
I are ready 10 furnish a large amount OF
! freight as soon as shipping facilities
can be furnished them. Foley, itself
has a population Of from five TO six
/ hundred people with an electric light
plant and good municipal government,
and without trip through that sec
I ton of Baldwin county, the people Of
/ Pensacola do not realize what rich
and fertile section il is and how far
i has devpsupsd.
/ Tl1e building Of the road through the
section outlined above VIII immediate
/ " be recognized by the business peo-
! pie Of Pensacola as a means of in
creasing Pensacola as their trade CEN
| ter. If this road traversed a barren
and unfertile section. such as some
of Baldwin county further north, then
! Pensacola could not hope to reap a
great deal of benefit, In some respects
4 road connected with Mobile by
bridge through an unfertile part of
Baldwin county would prove hind
rance to Pensacola as trade center
by making it easier for the people to
go to Mobile and do their shopping
instead of TO Pensacola and the draw
ing power Of a larger place might even
injure local merchants This could not
be true as to a road to Foley or even
Volanta, because there would be be-
tween the terminus al that point and
Mobile, the Mobile Bay. and to traverse
it. it would mean that the people of
across the Bay. about a distance Of
fifteen miles, and some of them like
US are not very fond of crossing the
water; and they would certainly come
TO Pensacola to do their trading.
am satisfied that the building Of
the road to Foley would mean the ad-
dition of from ten to fifteen thousand
people to Pensacola as a trade center
&F,, @f
ulation which is bound to come to
Southern Baldwin county BY reason
of its fertility and the furnishing Of
transportation facilities by the build
ing of the proposed fnter-urban line.
and would soon increase from twenty
to twenty five thousand and these
people would do business with Pensa-
cola both by way of selling their pro-
ducts and buying merchandise. Their
milk, butter, poultry live stock. vege-
tables and other products would come
to Pensacola for market. storage or re-
shipment and I think with the coming
of these products, Pensacola would
/ arrange proper facilities for mari ting
and caring for the same and in doing
this they wiz also establish better faci-
lities for the farmers Of Escambia
country. and thus in an indirect way
the road would prove a benefit to the
farmers of Escambia county. while
the benefit to the business people Of
Pensacola would be direct.
have been approached as TO the
building Of the road from Lillian so as
to form a line for the Gulf Beach
Highway, and while I had not planned
to build in that direction, If there is
a popular demand for a road through
that section, and it will most bene-
fit Pensacola, feel that the directors
Of the road would be willing to change
their plans and have the road con
structed through that section. can
readily understand how this would
greatly increase passenger traffic
both from the Pensacola end and from
the Baldwin county end. There is a
desire on the part of the people gen
orally 10 secure surf bathing and I
understand that Pensacola has no IA
cilities Of that kind and that Santa
Rosa Island is so narrow that business
men hesitate TO go to the expense Of
making improvements owing to the