The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-10-05

lcs This fs the fifth In the series OF ar
1sss sf'Gs nss the Of MoSfs anna
c. .colwelI, Jr. Mr.. Colweil 10 giving
his subject and his stories are COM
prehensive. The next article will soon
be printed.
Railroads are our modern empire
builders. Many the thriving town that
owes its prosperity to the fact that 1t
is on good railroad. And again there
are the sleepy hamlets far from the
steel trail, towns that said to them
selves, I'VE are not so much right now
but just you wait until the railroad
is put through here" And bitter the
disappointments when the surveying
party threw the line through some
other place or perhaps, no town at all,
but with the iron horse needing stables
a town sprang up where before was
wilderness. SO on the whole these shin
ing steel ribbons are most vital veins
in our national commercial, industrial
and productive life.
In that they are, they are important
factors in the development Of a seaport.
And what is true of support is true
Of the seaport Mobile. Like her sister
ports, considerat ton must be given to
the rail facilities at this port. And sign
must not be lost of the elements in
port railway lines--the territory that
the railroad serves directly and that sec
ton of the country which the railroad
can serve by using interchange and
transfer with connecting lines.
Mobile in the matter of railroads is
as fortunate and as well off as is the
port in having other natural and
economic factors in her favor. For con-
Meeting Mobile with It's tributary trade
territory are the Louisville and Nash
vile, Gulf, Mobile and Northern, Mis-
sissippi Central, Southern and Mobile
and Ohio railroads.
Important Trunk Lines
The most important railway system
entering Mobile is the Louisville and
Nashville. This railroad serves direct
ly the states of Alabama, Georgia, Mis-
sissippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. 1t
has Ohio river terminals at Cincinnati,
Louisville and Evansville. While its
Mississippi river points are Memphis
and New Orleans. And, by and through
the connecting lines in agreement, the
Louisville and Nashville, railroad serves
the entire United States. The terminal
facilities. of this system at Mobile
were fully discussed. and described else
where
Another important railway system
serving the port is the Southern. This
system serves directly the entire south
eastern part of the United States, en-
tering every state south of the Ohio
and Potomac rivers and east of the
Mississippi river. 1t has such agreeable
connections, interchange and transfer
relations as to reach the north and
northeastern sections of the country.
The details of the Southern's terminals
at Mobile were given in a previous
article and will not be here repeated.
A very elemental line to the Missis-
sippi Valley is the Mobile and Ohio.
With its own rails it reaches Missis-
sippi, western Tennessee, Kentucky
and southern Illinois and has terminals
on the Mississippi river at st. Louis,
Memphis and port terminal on the
Mississippi-Ohio rivers at Cairo. But
further, the Mobile and Ohio is not
limited to this territory as through its
own and connecting rails it serves very
efficiently the Mississippi valley on
both sides of the Mississippi river. And
has been instrumental in the develop
ment of foreign export general cargo
from the territory which it serves. At
the port of Mobile it owns its own
terminals capable of handling this
freight and which also were given de-
tailed description at an earlier writing.
Freight Line Important
But there is one freight road enter
ing Mobile, that while it is not as
large as those mentioned, in none the
less very important, it is the Gulf, Mo-
bile and Northern. On its own line It
serves Mississippi and western Ten
nessee. But that is not all there is to
the service offered by this sturdy
freight carrier. Through its connections
at Bells, jackson and Middleton, Ten
nessee, New Albany, Newton and
Laurel, Mississippi, it serves the Mo-
bile trade territory by linking Mobile
to northern, southern and southwestern
points. At the port of Mobile, this rail-
road uses its own terminals for bulk
commodities that need no covered stor-
age switching arrangements with all of
the other port terminals.
The last and smallest of the Quintet
of railroads serving Mobile is the Mis-.
sissippi Central and comes into the port
over the rails of the Gulf, Mobile and
Northern from Hattiesburg, Miss. The
territory served by it is more or less of a
local proposition, crossing the state of
Mississippi and serving principally the
southern part of that state, touching the
Mississippi river at Natchez.
However, equally important with the
railroads entering Mobile is the Federal
Warrior river section of the Mississippi
Warrior service of the inland and coast.
wise waterways services. This transpor.
tation system links Mobile and the Bir.
mingham iron and steel district through
Birmingham on the Locust Fork of the
Black Warrior. 425 miles above Mobile
and the Alabama coal fields at Cortl0va
on the Mulberry Fork of the Black War
rior, 450 miles above Mobile. Addition.
ally water routing is made possible from
the heart of Alabama to New Orleans
by the coastwise section of the service
using Mississippi sound, Lake Ponehar-
train, and the New Orleans Industrial
Canal and by virtue of this waterway
service freight, southbound, may come
all water from st. Paul to Birmingport
and COrdOva at a cost considerably less
than the rail movement and opening
possibilities for development of water.
borne inland traffic of such magnitude
as to 'be not readily calculated in terms
of dollars and cents, but the savings
in freight bills would be enormous On
the other hand, with a fair share OF
joint rail and water rates the territory
opened up to these services it would be
large and its freight highly profitable
and with commodities where time is not
m all important factor the savings in
freight rates would more than compen-
safe the shippers in, availing themselves
of the means of transportation.
Chip Lines Are Varied
But to- get on with the subject in