The Barnwell people-sentinel. (Barnwell, S.C.) 1925-current, February 13, 1930, Image 2
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from 59 Mile Road
Petersburg Railroad, Earliest Constituent Company of Present
Far-Flung System, Founded 100 Years Ago.-—Interesting
Story of Road That Runs Through Barnwell.
i
Just one hundred years ago, Mon
day, February 10 t a little group of
alert men, of Petersburg, Va., ventur
ed a first step in railroad building
which has lengthened into the more
than 5,000 miles of steel highway,
known as the Atlantic Coast Line
Railroad. More than 100 railroads
were brought together to form the
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Com
pany, and that company today owns
or controls 14.4KO miles of rails.
Reaehing from Petersburg, Va., to
Blakeley, Va., a point near the North
Carolina lipe “a mile and a half be
low the falls of the Roanoke river,”
the Petersburg railroad was only 59
miles long. When completed it had
no rail connections at either end.
But so carefully was the location of
the early railroad selected that it is
today a" part of the main line of the
Atlant^t* Coast Line, one of the prin
cipal arteries of trade and travel be
tween the North and the South.
The Petersburg Railroad was one
of the first railroads to be construct
ed in the Sleuth, and indeed t in the
whole country, for the South
cars and all were hardly as long as a
present-day locomotive.
But as primitive and as awkward
as the early railroads were they came
as a Godsend to the merchants and
farmers of that time. For the whole
country along the South Atlantic
Coast and in the Piedmont was stag
nating from lack of quick and depend
able transportation that would permit
ready interchange qf trade and mark
eting of farmcrops.
The building of the Petersburg
Railroad was followed by a ‘great in
crease ip the trade of the City of
Petersburg and by the development
of the sections it served.
The early railroad builders had
plenty of trouble. Hardly was the
Petersburg road completed before the
FOOD
make more trips than had been plan
ned. The result was that a large part
was ^ of the net earnings of the railroad
very quick to adopt the railroad as, had to be* spent for new iron and
a relief from the slower and uncer
tain ran$postation by w’ater and
pack horse and wagon.
Among other thipgs •• its charter
grantetd permission ‘‘to erect \ toll
gates on the line f and scales at its
various depots,” apparently contem
plating that the public might be al
lowed to use the rails over which to
haul freight in equipment of its own.
A charge of 12Mr cents per ton mile
heavier locomotives instead of being
distiibuted as dividends.<r-
Then came hard times when crops
were poor and money was scarce.
But the Petersburg Railroad struggled
along, managing somehow to keep out
of the sheriff’s hands, and gradually
improved its facilities until it could
handle its business efficiently.
In the meantme other railroads had
The Wilmington and
was authorized for freight, or $8.00 Raleigh, late? the Wilmington and
a ton for the distance of 69 miles, j Weldon reached from a point near the
This is quite in contrast to the piesent Southern terminus of the Petersburg
average of a little more than 1 cent, railroad to Wilmington, chief seaport
that the railroad receives for hauling a of North Carolina. It was 161 miles
ton of freight if r mile. The net profit long ami at that time the longest
the Petersburg Railroad was allowed railroad in the world. The Richmond
to earn was to amount to a sum and Petersburg Railroad had been
equal to the capital stock expended constructed from Petersburg to Rieh-
with inteie.*t at 6 per cent, from the mond. Fredericksburg and Potomac
time the money was paid hy the stock- carried the traveling on toward Wash-
Hokler* until received hack in net ington, a boat being used to complete
profits. After thia rates were to be the trip.
fixed so that the railroad could earn From W’ilmington a line of steam
ers operated by the Wilmington and
Raleigh plied overnight to and from
Charleston. At the latter point con
nection was made wdth the Charleston
and Hambuig Railroad and with vici
ous stage lines to the South.
In 1840 the trip from Montgomery,
West Point. Through the Louisville
and Nashville it is interested in the
Nashville, Chatanooga and St. Louis
is closely affiliated with the Charles
ton and Western Carolina, the Northr
western Railroad of South CarolinaT
It owns a majority of stock of the
Columbia, Newberry and Laurens, the
Atlantic, Birmingham and Coast, the
Jampa Southern, the Fort Meyers
Southern and othfer railroads. To
gether with the Louisville and Nash
ville it leases the Georgia Railroad
aftd the Clinchfield and controls
through ownership pnd under the
light strap iron began to break under of tbe Georgia Railroad, a ma-
the strain of traffic. The locomotives' j° r ity of stock in the Atlanta and
were built to haul only light loads and
in order to take care of the business
they either had to be run faster than
had been originally intended, nr tn |^and other lines and has a lease hold in
terest in the Westorn Railway—of
Alabama. These railroads in connec
tion with the Atlantic Coast Line have
a total of approximately 14,480 miles
of line.
The Atlantic Coast Line is also in
terested in the Peninsula and Occiden
tal Steamship Company which oper
ates a line of steamers between Port
Tampa, Key West and Havana, and
the Cheseapeake Steamship Company,
operating steamers between Baltimore
and Norfolk, Richmond and West
Point, Va: Indirectly iris interested
in Pan-American Airways, Inc. Its
trains furnish connections at Miami
with planes of this company for
Havana, San Juan and other points in
the West Indies as well as to Mexico,
the Canal Zone and South America.
Thus from a fifty-nine- mile rail-
per cent on the capital stock above
running expense's.
So accustomed are we of today to
the heavy steel rails, gigantic loco
motives and steel coaches and sleep
ing cht« that are in common u*e, that
the equipment of the Petersburg and
the other early railroads seems primi-| A i u ^ t0 Baltimore, over this route re
live indeed.
The track consisted of pine timber
on which strips of -strap iron were
nailed. Measuied by modern stand
ards the locomotives were queer look
ing affairs; more like a boy’s play
thing than the great iron horses of
the present day. The “carriages”
were modeled after the stage coaches
of that time and must have been
vastly uncomfortable. In any evqit
the old cuts show the pa-senges sit
ting very stiff and erect as though
they rather regretted having decided
to try anything so foolhardy. Engine,
BLACKVILLE FARMER
INCREASES OAT YIELD
Where some of the
most desperate fight-
lag or the war be
tween the atates took
place—Fort HeU” and
-Fort Damnation/'
near Petersburg. Va.
When Petersburg fell,
and railroads com-
B rising the -bread
ne of Confederacy 1 '
wore cat by Federal*,
the caoae of tho
South waa doomed.
road, chartered one hundred years
ago, has grown one of the largest and
most important transportation sys
tems of the country.
Tile main line of the Atlantic Coast
Line from Richmond to Jacksonville
is double tracked, laid with heavy
steel and ballasted with crushed
stone, gravel or slag. It is protected
by automatic block signals and part
of the way by automatic train con
trol. Interlocking plants guard all
draw bridges and important railroad
crossings. Train dispatching is done
by telephone.
The trains operated by the Coast
Line are the equal in speed and equip
ment of those operated by any rail
road on the continent. The Havana
Special, between New York and Key
West, is the fastest train in the world
for the distance covered. The Florida
Special, operating in its 43rd season,
is the oldest known de luxe tourist
train. A number of other equally
famous trains could be mentioned.
I One hundred years ago the far
sighted founders of the Petersburg
Railroad foresaw the eventual de
velopment of[ a' “Great Highway of
the Union” that would connect the
North and the South and provide a
quick and dependable means of car
rying on the trade and communica
tion of the two sections. The enthus
iasm and optimism have been more
than justified by the growth of the
Atlantic Coast Line from the little
fifty-nine mile Petersburg Railroad.
Your Corn Crop
LIKES
TS it just another corn crop for you this
A year, or have you decided to join the
ranks of farmers who make a crop that really
is a crop? Now is the time to decide ... and
you can just as easily make a good crop. No
luck to it.,. just one single rule for success.
Chilean Nitrate of Soda is the difference
between a good corn crop and a poor one. A
side dressing with this nitrate fertilizer
(the only natural nitrate in the world)
greatly increases the yield. Makes larger
ears with more corn per ear and more ears
per stalk.
A South Corolina Farmer
J. Wade Drake* Anderson, S. C„ uses 200
lbs. Chilean Nitrate as a side dressing for
his corn crop. In four different corn-grow
ing contests he has averaged 113 bu. per
acre with this fertilizer. Mr. Drake says it
will pay up to 400 lbs. per acre, even when
land has been planted in cover crops.
Chilean Nitrate is not synthetic. It is mined
and refined in Chile, largely by American
capital, brought here in American ships and
sold to American farmers at a low price.
Se« your local dealer. If he does not carry Chilean
Nitrate, he can easily get it for you.
fr— Fart!Uxor took
Our new book, “How to Fertiliae Corn in tha
South, tells how to make a real corn crop. It is
Free.'Ask for Book No. 5, or tear out this ad and
mail it with your name and address written in the
margin.
1830-1930... One hundred years of fertiliser
service to A merican agriculture.
... Chilean
Nitrate of Soda
EDUCATIONAL BUKEAU
810 Carolina Life Bldg., Columbia, S. C.
In replying, please refer to ad No.69-A
* "rrfc* soda
MOT IUCK"
&
On a five-am* ou* demonstration
conducted with J. U^ I^uu.-a.-tci, of
Blarkville, in 1929, a yield of 53 bush-
els of cats per acre was seen fed with
the application of 160 pounds of Chil-
qan nitrate of soda per acre applied
as top dv?s?ing early in the spring.
On the check plot where no nitrate
was used the average yield waA 25.72
bushels per acre, or an increase of
27.28 bushels per acre in favor of ni
trate top dressing.
Twenty demonstrations were con
ducted by the Extension Service
throughout the State in 1929. The
average yield for the 20 demonstra
tions was 43.5 bushels per acre where
150 lbs. of nitrate of soda was used,
and 20.2 bushels per acre on the plots
Where ho nitrate of t-oda was used, or
an average increase of 23.3 bushels
per acre. Soil <rf average fertility
was selected for these demonstrations.
The results of the demonstrations
would indicate that the low average
yield of oats for the State might eas
ily be doubled by top-dressing with
quick-acting nitrogen.—H. G. Boyls-
$t>n. County Agent.
ADVERTISE IN
*quired a full week, -which was con
sidered a remarkably short time for
the journey.
During the War Between the Statts
the Petersburg Railroad, the Wilming
ton and Weldon, and the Richmond
and Petersburg were vitally impor
tant to the cause of the Confederacy
because they connected Wilmington,
the principal port open to blockade
runners that brought supplies and
munition to Lee’s tatered forces, with
Richmond, the capitol of the Confed
eracy, The^e three railroads became
the “bread line o fthe Confederacy,”
and were essential to the operations
of the armies of the South in Virginia.
Many raids were made by Federal
forces to cut this line, and the ruins
of forts erected to protect (strategic
points can still be seen along—the-
brntic Coast Line.
AfterTftH War Between the States
far-seeing Baltimore business men ac-
quired controlling interest in the
three roads, together with other rail
roads in North and South Carolina.
At that time the “Atlantic Coast
Line” was the designation of the route
followed by these railroads, which
retained their corporate identities but
which were operated under the direc
tion of a common management. In
1900, however, they were brobght to
gether in the Atlantic Coast Line
Railroad Company.
In 1902 this Company acquired the
Plant System, with extensive lines in
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and
Alabama, and.assumed approximately
its present proportions. By new con
struction and purchase and lease of
other roads the mileage of the com
pany has been greatly increased, how
ever and on January 1, 1930, the At
lantic Coast Line operate a total of
5,193 miles of raihoad in the six
Southeastern States.
In 1902 the Atlantic Coast Line
acquired a controlling interest in the
stock of the Louisville and Nashville
railroad.
In addition, the Atlantic Coast Line
To the Fanners
of South Carolina . .
In recognition of the vital necessity of producing higher yields per acre and better
quality of lint, the Cotton Manufacturers’ Asoociation of South Carolina is renewing its
offer of $2,000 to be given in prizes to the successful South Carolina farmers in a 1930
Five-Acre Cotton Contest to be conducted by the Clemson College Extension Service.
Increased production per acre and higher quality lint is essential to the welfare of
the South Carolina cotton growers. To meet the competition of Western cottons our
growers must realize the following facts:
We are in tjie fortunate position of having within the State a market through our
cotton mills for approximately 800,000 bales of 15-16 to 1 1-16 inch cotton. During the
past four years, since the inauguration of the Five-Acre Cotton Contest, our production
of this type of cotton has increased faster than that of any other S(>i^Jieastem State bu^
we still are Approximately 500,000 bales short of supplying the needsour home manu
facturers.
Results of the contests show that the production of a quality cotton is more profitable
per acre than is the production of 7-8 inch staple cotton, of which we grow almost 300,000
more bales than our mills can consume.
A cordial invita^ftm is extended every farmer in South Carolina to enter the 1930
contest and to compete for the valuable cash awards to be given by the Cotton Manu
facturers. Full details of the requirements and rules will be gladly furnished by the lo
cal County Agent in each County Seat.
W..W. Long, Director
Clemson College Extension Service
Comparative Profits per Acre from Various Length
Averaged from Records of 1016 Contestants
in 1928 and 1929 Contests
Staples—
Staple
7-8”
\ y
15-16”
1”
1 1-32”
1 1-16”
No. cf acres _
590
1170
1110
800
1120
Ave. yield per
acre lint 487
500
500
561
484
•Value in cts.
per lb. __ 17.96
18.48
19.36
20.18
20.48
Value per acre__ $87.46
$92.40
$96.80 $113.21
$99.12
Increased acre
value over 7-8” —
4.94
9.34
25.75
H.66
♦Average Price Delivered Carolina Mills Last Week of December
- 1928 and 1929.
Per Cent of Cotton Crops In Desired Class
of 15-16” Stapfo or Better
State
1928
1929
South Carolina
33.3
34.3
North Carolina
20.8
24.1
Georgia
17.4
10.8
Alabama
7.9
2.8
Figures by Bureau of Agri. Economics,
U. S. Department of Agriculture
The Cotton
This space is contributed to the Clemson College Extension Service by T
Manufacturers’ Association of South Carolina and this advertipemedt is being inserted
in the entire press of the State as an assurance of the continuation of the interest of
the Cotton Manufacturers tn more profitsble cotton-growing in the State.
Si
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