History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 55

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 724

USA > Alabama > History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II > Part 55

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

See Import Duties; Mobile, City of; Mobile Bay and Harbor; Mobile River Commission; State Harbor Commission; Water-borne Commerce.

REFERENCES .- Toulmin, Digest (1823), pp. 854-859; Code, 1907, secs. 4901-4957, 7807-7812, 7863-7873; Hamilton, Charter and code of ordi- nances, city of Mobile (1897), secs. 455-457, 555- 561, Appendix, pp. 386-401. General Acts, 1915, pp. 311, 678-697; Hamilton, Colonial Mobile (1910); and Mobile of the five flags (1913); Lewis Troost, Report on the formation of a harbor for the city of Mobile (1867, pp. 33); Mobile Commercial Club; Mobile as a sea port (1896) ; River and Harbor Committee of Mobile, Report (1910, pp. 36 with map) ; Statistics and argument in favor of 27-foot channel at Mobile (1910, pp. 19); Committee on Rivers and Har- bors, Hearings on improvement of harbor at Mobile (Washington, 1914, pp. 16).

MOBILE AND ALABAMA GRAND TRUNK RAILROAD COMPANY. See East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway Company.

MOBILE AND BIRMINGHAM RAILWAY COMPANY. See East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway Company.

MOBILE AND GIRARD RAILROAD COM- PANY. One of the pioneer railroad enter- prises of southeastern Alabama. It dates from a legislative act of January 25, 1845, which authorized Samuel G. Ingersoll and John Goodwin and their associates to or- ganize the Girard Rail Road Co., to build a railroad extending 7 miles out from Girard, Russell County; capital stock, $30,000; em- powered to hold lands and other property; charter to remain in force for 30 years. Ap- parently this was a log road subsidiary to Ingersoll's sawmill, and there is no record of its having been originally, or later, a common- carrier railroad. However, in the following year, a charter was granted to the Girard Rail Road Co. It was organized by James Aber- crombie, Anderson Abercrombie, William Davis, Samuel Ingersoll, John Goodwin, Walter B. Harris, James Drummond, William

1012

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

Barrett, Robert S. Hardaway, Benjamin Baker, Henry Morfill, John Allen, William Luther, Thomas Kemp, Bryant S. Mangham, Dr. Floyd and Nimrod Long, under authority of an act of the legislature of January 21, 1846, for the purpose of constructing a rail- road from Girard, on the Chattahoochee River, "to intersect, or connect, with the navigable waters of the Mobile Bay, or with the Rail Road leading from Montgomery to West Point, at the nearest and most suitable point of said road"; capital stock authorized, $2,000,000 in $100 shares; $100,000 in sub- scriptions requisite to organization; five di- rectors to be elected annually; authorized to borrow money and execute mortgages; the exercise of banking powers prohibited; tolls, collectible as portions of the road were put in operation, limited to one-half cent per hundred-weight per mile for freight, and 6 cents per mile for passengers; forbidden to build road nearer than 10 miles from the line of the Montgomery & West Point Railroad ex- cept with the consent of the latter company; a strict annual accounting to stockholders required of the officers and payment of divi- dends out of profits provided for.

Amendments to Charter and Change of Name .- On December 12, 1849, an act was passed enabling this company to unite with the Eufaula & Mobile Rail Road Co. An act of February 2, 1850, amended the charter so as to permit the company to issue additional stock certificates for an amount equal to the estimated value of the grading completed, in order to obtain funds with which to carry on the work of construction. On February 7, 1852, a further amendment of the charter was enacted which increased the directors from five to seven; increased the authorized capital stock to $4,000,000; authorized the construction of branch roads to Eufaula and to Montgomery, and a connection with the Montgomery & West Point Railroad; also the construction of a bridge over Mobile Bay. On January 30, 1854, the charter was again amended to change the name of the company to the Mobile & Girard Rail Road Co., and to fix the time of the annual election of officers.

Extension to Troy .- By an act, February 23, 1860, a charter was issued to the Troy Railroad Co., to build a road from Troy to a connection with the Girard & Mobile Rail- road; capital stock, $500,000 in $100 shares; $50,000 subscriptions requisite to organiza- tion; 100 feet right-of-way authorized plus the needs for depots, turn-outs and borrow- pits; all property exempted from taxation until the completion of the road or the pay- ment of a dividend; in other respects the com- pany to be governed by the charter of the Girard & Mobile Rail Road Co. This was merely a convenient method of procuring financial assistance from the inhabitants of the country adjacent to the projected route of the southern portion of the Mobile & Girard Railroad, and there is no further record of the activities of the subsidiary company.

On December 4, 1863, the charter of the Mobile & Girard was amended so as to ex-

tend its provisions and keep them in force until after the ratification of a treaty of peace. The construction of the road was resumed after the War and it was completed as far as Troy in 1870, being opened for traffic on June 15. The bridge over the Chattahoochee River was completed and put in use on Jan- uary 1, 1869. This made a road of 85 miles between Columbus, Ga., and Troy, Ala., which was the extent of the company's realization of its ambitious projection of a railroad 228 miles long, connecting Columbus with Mobile.

Financed by Central Railroad & Banking Co. of Georgia .- The earnings of the road were never sufficient to pay its expenses and the interest on its bonds, and the history of the company consists mainly of the record of its struggles to keep out of bankruptcy until the property could be disposed of to advantage. In 1873, Pres. Wm. M. Wadley stated in his annual report (p. 4), that the board of directors, realizing that interest on bonds could not be met as it fell due, had passed a resolution requesting the Central Railroad & Banking Co. of Georgia to pur- chase the maturing bonds and coupons and hold them as a past-due security for account of the Mobile & Girard Railroad Co., thus increasing its bonded indebtedness to the ex- tent of the interest as it accrued. "We are not informed as to how long that company will continue this liberal arrangement," he said, "but we hope they may do so until a brighter day shall dawn."

The Central Railroad & Banking Co. con- tinued its financial assistance of the Mobile & Girard for several years, purchasing and holding the latter's interest coupons, thus keeping the Mobile & Girard out of bank- ruptcy and foreclosure proceedings. These conditions probably had much weight in bring- ing about the long-term lease of the Mobile & Girard by the Central Railroad & Banking Co. subsequently arranged.

On February 8, 1877, an act was approved which authorized the Mobile & Girard Rail- road Co. to issue $1,000,000 bonds, to be used ouly at par in settlement or exchange of its then valid indebtedness. It was ar- ranged with the Central Railroad & Banking Co. that if the amendment authorizing the new bond issue should be passed, and accepted by the board of directors of the Mobile & Girard, the rate of interest charged by the former upon the redeemed securities of the latter should be reduced to 4 per cent, which, it was believed, could be paid from the earn- ings of the road.

Lease to Central of Georgia Railway Co .- The Mobile & Girard Railroad was leased to the Central Railroad & Banking Co. of Georgia for 99 years from June 1, 1886, at a guar- anteed rental of 11% per cent per annum upon its capital stock. The road has since been operated as a part of the system of the Central of Georgia Railway Co. (q. v.).

REFERENCES .- Railroad Commission of Ala- bama, Annual reports, 1889 et seq .; Berney, Handbook (1892), p. 382; Poor's manual of railroads; Mobile & Girard R. R. Co., Annual re- ports, 1873-1880, 1884-1886; Thomas H. Clark,

1013

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

"Railroads and navigation," in Memorial record of Alabama (1893), p. 326; Fleming, Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (1905), p. 605; Acts, 1844-45, p. 95; 1845-46, pp. 57-62; 1849-50, pp. 152-154, 169; 1851-52, p. 215; 1853-54, p. 398; 1859-60, pp. 296-298; 1863, p. 178; 1876-77, p. 278.

MOBILE AND MONTGOMERY RAILROAD COMPANY. A consolidation of two of the early railroad enterprises in Alabama, the Alabama & Florida Rail Road Co., and the Mobile & Great Northern Railroad Co. Its corporate existence dates from an act of the legislature, August 5, 1868, validating the consolidation of these two companies. It is now owned by the Louisville & Nashville Rail- road Co. (q. v.), and operated as a division of that system, all records and accounts being merged in those of the Louisville & Nash- ville.

Alabama & Florida Railroad .- The oldest of its constituent companies was the Ala- bama & Florida Railroad Co., chartered Feb- ruary 11, 1850, by Messrs. Walker Anderson, W. H. Chase, B. D. Wright, O. M. Avery, of Pensacola, Fla., Mortimore Boulware, John G. McLean, Julius G. Robinson, A. J. Robertson, H. F. Sterns, Charles Snowden, Wilson Ashley, Asa Johnson, Thomas A. McIver, A. Russell, Allen Fowler, of Conecuh County, E. H. Pickens, L. J. Bolling, W. J. Streety, James Dunklin, T. J. Burnett, H. L. Henderson, J. L. McMullen, of Butler County, Conrad Webb, A. J. Perry, George Harrison, H. C. Swanson, John Walker, of Lowndes County, Charles Cromelin, James E. Belser, E. Sanford Sayre, John Cragin, J. J. Seibels, B. S. Bibb, B. W. Hilliard, Elconah Barnes, James R. Dillard, Richard Wall, and George Matthews, of Mont- gomery County, for the purpose of building a road from Montgomery to Pensacola, Fla .; authorized capital stock, $1,500,000, to be in- creased to $2,500,000 if necessary; $100,000 in subscriptions to capital stock to be paid in before the company should be organized, but "materials, labor, provisions, and all and every thing necessary for the construction of said road," were made receivable in pay- ment of such subscriptions.

The company organized under this charter did not, however, represent the first attempt to construct a railway between Montgomery and Mobile Bay. On December 23, 1836, an act of the legislature was approved, constitut- ing William Bayard and his associates a cor- poration, under the title, the City of Alabama & Montgomery Rail Road Co., with power "to survey, locate, establish and construct a railroad from the town of Montgomery to the new city on the Bay of Mobile," on such route as might be deemed most expedient. Its capital stock was fixed at $500,000. This project was not carried through and the charter lapsed by the expiration of the time limit of six years. The plan was revived in 1850 by the incorporation of the Alabama & Florida Rail Road Co. as cited above, but the later enterprise did not progress rapidly; in fact, practically nothing appears to have been done until Charles T. Pollard (q. v.),

president of the Montgomery & West Point Rail Road Co., and Samuel G. Jones (q. v.), chief engineer of the same company, took hold of the project in 1853. In 1851, Pres. Pollard called the attention of the directors of the Montgomery & West Point Co. to the desirability of a road between Montgomery and Mobile or Pensacola, and discussed with considerable particularity the various features of the situation. (For a summary of his report, see Western Railway of Alabama.)

In order to expedite construction, Samuel G. Jones was appointed in 1853 to make a thorough survey and full estimates of the cost of a road on various routes. He submitted an important and valuable report, addressed jointly to Thomas J. Judge, president of the Alabama & Florida Rail Road Co. (Ala.), and Hon. Walker Anderson, president of the Ala- bama & Florida Rail Road Co. (Fla.), on January 2, 1854.

In furtherance of the enterprise, authority was obtained from the legislature, by an act . of February 16, 1854, for the company to receive a subscription to its capital stock from the city of Montgomery; and to unite or make joint stock with the Alabama & Florida Rail Road Co. of the State of Florida, "to enable the two companies to act together for the purposes contemplated by the charter granted by the State." On February 20, the charter was further amended to permit the construction of a branch from the southern terminus of the road at the south boundary of Conecuh County to Mobile.

On January 30, 1857, the company issued $300,000 in bonds of $500 each, payable 10 years after July 1, with interest at 8 per cent per annum payable quarterly. These bonds were guaranteed by the Montgomery & West Point Rail Road Co. The legislature vali- dated the endorsement of the bonds, January 11, 1858. On February 8, the charter of the Alabama & Florida was again amended to authorize the construction of a branch from Montgomery to Selma, to connect with the Alabama & Mississippi Rivers Railroad; also to build a bridge over the Alabama River. This company did not avail itself of the privileges conferred by the latter amendment, the road from Montgomery to Selma being later built by the Western Railroad of Ala- bama and opened for traffic in December, 1870.

The governor, February 8, 1861, was authorized to make a loan of $30,000 to the company for three years, with interest at 8 per cent payable annually, on its note with satisfactory personal security, and further conditioned upon the road between Mont- gomery and the Florida line being "completed and in running order" by June 1, 1861. It was opened for traffic May 1, 1861.

On November 10, 1863, Mr. Pollard, then its president, reported a total of $854,447.93 received by the road during the 15 months ending September 30, from passengers, freight, and mail pay; and $309,005.03 ex- pended for working and keeping up repairs of the road and outfit; leaving surplus earn- ings of $545,442.90; out of which there must

1014

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

be paid $113,086.25 interest, and $50,000 Confederate tax on net income; which would leave the net profits for the period men- tioned, $382,356.55. The capital stock he reported as $946,000, on which a dividend of $10 per share, payable in Confederate notes on and after September 15, 1863, had been declared.

By an act approved February 11, 1867, the sale of that part of the road between the Florida line and the town of Pollard, Ala., to the Alabama & Florida Railroad Co. of Florida was authorized.

In May, 1858, the governor appointed John T. Milner (q. v.) chief engineer to have charge of a reconnoissance to ascertain the most practicable route for a railroad to con- nect the Tennessee River with the navigable waters of Mobile Bay, with reference to the development of the mineral region of the State. On November 1, 1859, Milner sub- mitted his report to the governor. He went exhaustively into the whole question of rail- road enterprise in all its phases, not only in Alabama, but also in the entire country. The desideratum, in his opinion, was a system of roads connecting the Tennessee River Valley and the mineral region in the vicinity of Sand Mountain and the Warrior River, with lines tapping the agricultural sections of central Alabama, all to converge at Mobile, which was to be made the most important port in the southern part of the country. Of that city he said: "Mobile is not all that we could wish as a shipping point, but next to Pen- sacola and Norfolk, it is the deepest harbor in the South, there being from 20 to 21 feet of water on the outer bar. She is superior to New Orleans as a shipping point, and equal, all things considered, to Savannah or Charles- ton; the greatest drawback being the high rates of insurance around the capes of Flor- ida. We have then in Mobile a shipping point which, on account of its prox- imity to the products of Alabama, and its harbor facilities, is better adapted to the wants of the people of Alabama than any other except, perhaps, Pensacola, and the question is, will we make for our people there a commercial emporium second to none in the cotton States?

"Mobile has struggled manfully for an ex- istence and has expended all her energies on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, and deserves the sympathy of Alabamians, especially when we can, by helping her assist all the railroad interests in the State. Dissolve the mystery which shrouds the minds of railroad men north and east of the Alabama river in re- gard to crossing Mobile river and marsh and Tensas river, by either building across them or giving aid to do it, and in less than five years, the Savannah and Mobile, Girard and Mobile, Montgomery and Mobile, and Selma and Mobile railroads will be built by in- dividual capital and the valuable grants of lands these interests have (provided they complete their roads by 1866, ten years from the date of the grants) . I have been permitted to examine the sales of lands by the Alabama & Florida Railroad Company,

and they range from 212 to $5.00 per acre for pine lands. This company get 394,000 acres to help build 115 miles of Railroad, costing about 214 millions, which, at $2. per acre, will be $788,000-more than enough to build one-third of the Road."

By way of illustrating the benefits of the contiguous country to be derived from the construction of railroads, he cited the en- hancement in value of real estate in Butler County resulting from the completion of the Alabama & Florida Railroad, and showed that in 1848, before the road was projected, the total value of real estate in the county was $469,488; in 1853, when the route was sur- veyed, it had increased to $640,495; in 1858, when trains were running within five miles of Greenville, the county seat, its valuation was $2,550,648-44.32 per cent increase in 10 years. He urged by every argument at his command that the State assist in the de- velopment of its resources by aiding, finan- cially and otherwise, the construction of these lines connecting the isolated portions of her territory with the port of Mobile. His report had particular reference to the proposed Ala- bama Central Railroad, now the South & North Alabama Railroad (q. v.), but he advo- cated also the early location and construction of lines to intersect and connect with it, so as to form parts of the vast system of trade arteries of which he had a vision.

It will be observed that Milner preferred Mobile to Pensacola as the heart of his pro- posed "system of trade arteries"; and in this particular his views were opposed to those advanced by Samuel G. Jones in his report on the location of the Alabama & Florida Rail- road. The legislature solved the problem pre- sented by these diverse views amongst the railway advocates by making contributions to all the enterprises from the funds of the State; and, in accordance with this plan, authorized, by an act of August 5, 1868, the consolidation of the Alabama & Florida Rail- road Co. with the Mobile & Great Northern Railroad Co., in order to form a through line from Montgomery to Mobile. After consolida- tlon, the total length of the line under opera- tion was 164 miles, between Montgomery and the Tensas River, passengers and freight be- ing transferred to steamboats for transporta- tion to Mobile. On March 5, 1872, the road was opened through to Mobile.

Mobile & Great Northern Railroad .- The Mobile & Great Northern Railroad Co., or- ganized by William Jones, jr., John A. M. Battle, Francis B. Clarke, T. B. Bethea, John J. Walker, H. A. Schroeder, Newton St. John, Murray F. Smith, C. C. Langdon, Jacob Magee, William F. Cleveland, Thomas McPrince, Alexander Carleton and J. G. Hawkins, for the purpose of building a road from Mobile to the southern terminus of the Alabama & Florida Railroad at Pollard, and a branch to connect with the Alabama & Tennessee River Railroad at some convenient point on its line, was chartered by act of February 15, 1856, its capital stock to be $1,500,000 in shares of $100 each, to be increased to an amount equal to the cost of the road. On February

1015

HISTORY OF ALABAMA

8, 1858, the charter was amended to extend the time for beginning work on the road for three years from passage of the amendment.

Mobile & Montgomery Railroad .- In 1868 this company was merged with the Alabama & Florida Railroad Co. to form the Mobile & Montgomery Railroad Co. The consolida- tion was validated by an act of the legislature approved August 5, 1868, which transferred to the new company all the franchises, rights, immunities, and possessions of the constituent companies, and also made it responsible for all their debts and contracts. The new com- pany was authorized to issue 8 per cent, pre- ferred stock, in amount not to exceed $2,250,- 000, and bonds as it became necessary to raise funds.

By act of February 25, 1870, the legislature authorized the governor to endorse on the part of the State, $2,500,000 of this com- pany's first-mortgage bonds which should not run more than 30 years, nor bear interest of more than 8 per cent per annum, payable semiannually. The bonds were to be en- dorsed in two installments; the proceeds of the first installment of $1,500,000 to be used to pay off all existing liens on the property, so that the State should have a first and only lien on the road and equipment. Upon the fulfilment of these stipulations, the governor was authorized to endorse the second install- ment of $1,000,000, upon the further condi- tion that satisfactory evidence were submitted to him that a contract had been let out to good and responsible parties for the building of the road from its terminus at Tensas to the city of Mobile. The act required further that a sinking fund with which to retire the bonds be established, and provided the method of creating it. The governor was required to appoint a trustee to handle all transactions in connection with the bonds, whose salary was to be paid by the railroad company.

Mobile & Montgomery Railway .- The con- solidated road was sold under a decree of the courts and purchased by its bondholders, who reorganized under the name of the Mo- bile & Montgomery Railway Co. in 1874, and leased the road for 20 years from January 1, 1881, to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., surplus income going to the lessee; operations included in those of the Louisville & Nashville. On December 17, 1900, the road was deeded to the Louisville & Nashville, at which time its capital stock was $3,022,578; bonded debt, $4,004,000;

floating debt, $2,000; surplus, $381,714; cost of road and equipment, $4,415,296; other assets, $2,994,- 936; total assets, $7,410,232.

REFERENCES .- Railroad Commission of Ala., Annual reports, 1889 et seq .; Poor's manual of railroads. 1869 et seq .; Chief Engineer of the Ala. & Fla. R. R. Co., Report, Jan. 2, 1854; Pres. and Directors of the Ala. & Fla. R. R. Co., Report, Nov. 10, 1863; John T. Milner, Re- port to the governor of Alabama on the Ala- bama Central Railroad. 1859; Clark, "Railroads and navigation," in Memorial record of Ala- bama (1893), vol. 1, pp. 318-328; Acts, 1849-50, pp. 173-178; 1836, pp. 123-125; 1853-54, pp. 258- 260, 297; 1855-56, pp. 278-288; 1857-58, p. 270;

1861, p. 80; 1866-67, p. 389; 1868, pp. 82-84; 1869- 70, pp. 175-179; President and Directors of Ala. & Fla. R. R. Co., Report, Nov. 10, 1863.

MOBILE AND NORTHWESTERN RAIL- ROAD COMPANY. See New Orleans, Mobile and Chicago Railroad Company.

MOBILE AND OHIO RAILROAD COM- PANY. Incorporated by the Alabama Legis- lature, February 3, 1848; of Mississippi, Feb- ruary 17; of Kentucky, February 26; and of Tennessee, February 28; mileage operated June 30, 1915-main track and branches, 1,122.48, side tracks, 350.18, total, 1,472.66; mileage operated in Alabama-main track and branches, 433.79, side tracks, 104.38, total, 538.17; capital stock authorized-common, $10,000,000, actually issued, $6,061,200, no preferred stock; shares, $100, voting power, one vote to a share; funded debt, $31,791,000. It is controlled by the Southern Railway Co. through ownership of a large majority of the capital stock, and a considerable amount of its securities to which voting rights are attached .- Annual report of Company to Ala. Public Service Commission, 1915.

This was one of the earliest railroad enter- prises in the State, and is the only one of the larger roads incorporated under Alabama laws which is still operated under its original name and charter. The act of the legislature chartering the company was approved Feb- ruary 3, 1848, and constituted Jonathan Emanuel, George N. Stewart, Moses Waring, Sidney Smith, John Bloodgood, Miguel D. Eslava, Samuel G. Fisher, Charles LeBaron, John A. Campbell, Archibald W. Gordon, Charles Gascoigne, Philip Phillips, John C. Whitsett and M. J. D. Baldwin, "a body politic and corporate, by the name of the Mobile & Ohio Rail Road Company," which was "au- thorized and empowered to locate, construct and finally complete a single, double or treble railroad or way, from some suitable point in the city of Mobile, in a western or northwest- ernly direction, to the west line of the State, towards the mouth of the Ohio river, in such route as shall be deemed most expedient."

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume II, Part 55

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869- Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 724

Author: Owen, Thomas McAdory, 1866-1920; Owen, Marie (Bankhead) Mrs. 1869-
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 724