Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad
Encyclopedia
The Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad (P&A) was incorporated by an act of the Florida Legislature
on March 4, 1881, to run from Pensacola
to the Apalachicola River
near Chattahoochee
, a distance of about 160 miles (257.5 km). No railroad had ever been built across the sparsely populated panhandle of Florida
, which left Pensacola isolated from the rest of the state. William D. Chipley and Frederick de Funiak, both of whom are commemorated in the names of towns later built along the P&A line (Chipley
and De Funiak Springs
), were among the founding officers of the railroad company.
Chipley was general manager of the Pensacola Railroad, (formerly the Pensacola and Louisville Railroad, originally the Alabama and Florida Railroad, completed in 1860). The Pensacola Railroad connected Pensacola with the large, prosperous Louisville and Nashville Railroad
(L&N) at Pollard, Alabama
, about 44 miles (70.8 km) northward. The Pensacola Railroad had become a subsidiary of the L&N on October 20, 1880. It was Chipley, a tireless promoter of his adopted city, who was responsible for initiating discussions with the L&N concerning its extension into the Florida Panhandle. De Funiak was general manager of the L&N.
Once the P&A was created, De Funiak was named president of the new road, and Chipley became its vice president and general superintendent. On May 9, 1881, the L&N obtained control of the P&A by purchasing the majority of its $3 million worth of capital stock and all of its bonds, also valued at $3 million. Construction was completed in 1883, and in 1891 the P&A was absorbed into the L&N, operating thereafter as the P&A Division of the latter.
In May, a locomotive, rolling stock, and rails were shipped by barge across Pensacola Bay
and up the Blackwater River
to Milton
, about 20 miles (32.2 km) east of Pensacola, to enable construction to proceed eastward from there. Similar supplies and equipment were also landed by barge on the east bank of the Choctawhatchee River
near present-day Caryville
, and at Sampson's Landing on the west bank of the Apalachicola just below Chattahoochee.
Bids were let to local and out-of-state contractors who undertook the construction work in sections along the line, including H. S. Harris for the section from Milton to the Shoal River, near present-day Crestview
; Sam Baker of Thomasville, Georgia
for a section west of the Choctawhatchee; the McClendon Construction Company, also of Thomasville, for the 35 miles (56.3 km) from the Choctawhatchee to Marianna
; and John T. Howard of Quincy, Florida
for the 25 miles (40.2 km) from Marianna to the Apalachicola.
Both white and black laborers from the Panhandle as well as adjoining parts of Alabama
and Georgia
were recruited to build the track and bridges. After some disputes among competing groups of laborers, wages were set at $1.50 a day for all workers.
Delays were caused by outbreaks of swamp fever
all along the line, causing many men to fall ill; no medical help was available in the very thinly settled section between Milton and Marianna. When a bridge contractor from Macon, Georgia
, died from the fever, his body had to be carried by wagon on a journey of several days from the work camp at the Choctawhatchee River to Troy, Alabama
, the nearest point served by a railroad connection to Macon, for shipment to his hometown for burial. Nevertheless, despite all the difficulties of working in such an isolated region, with no repair shops and a largely inexperienced work crew, construction proceeded at a rapid pace.
Wooden depots were built by the P&A at Milton and Marianna, the only towns of any size in the Panhandle at that time; in other localities along the route, boxcars parked on sidings served as temporary depots. After a 2+1/2 mi trestle
across Escambia Bay
from Pensacola was completed, official groundbreaking ceremonies were held in Pensacola on August 22, 1882, at the new Pensacola and Atlantic depot
at the corner of Tarragona and Wright streets. This two-story wooden structure was replaced in 1912 by a larger L&N passenger station
of brick and stucco, at the corner of Wright and Alcaniz.
By February 1883, the line was completed to the Apalachicola River and a bridge was completed over the river in April. Until the bridge was completed, for several weeks passengers were ferried across the Apalachicola by boat.
of .
American or eight-wheeler type, including four built by Rogers in 1882. L&N records also show that six 4-4-0's (four by Rogers, two by Rhode Island
) bought by the P&A in 1881-82 had originally belonged to the Mobile and Montgomery Railway, which was acquired by the L&N in 1881.
Running through a region of plentiful timber, the P&A used woodburning locomotives until well after 1900, when the rest of the L&N system had long since converted to coal-burners.
[about 200 miles (321.9 km)] and on to the Atlantic Ocean port and major rail junction of Jacksonville
[368 miles (592.2 km)] began during the first week in May 1883, via the connection at River Junction (Chattahoochee) with the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad
, later the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad
, a predecessor of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad
.
Another trade and transportation link for Northwest Florida was provided by a branch of the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad
(a predecessor of the Atlantic Coast Line
) from Chattahoochee to Climax, Georgia
and thence to Savannah
[420 miles (675.9 km) from Pensacola], which, like Jacksonville, was an important ocean port and railroad junction for rail traffic on the eastern seaboard. Before the railroad was built, the only way for Pensacola rail traffic to reach Savannah or Jacksonville was by a long, circuitous route via Montgomery
and Macon
.
In the opposite direction, the P&A offered a through route for shipping and travel from southern Georgia
and from central and southern Florida via the Louisville and Nashville to the ports and rail hubs of Mobile
and New Orleans
, and from there to Texas and points west.
In 1894, sawmill operator W. B. Wright opened the 26 miles (41.8 km) Yellow River Railroad between Crestview
and Florala, Alabama
via Auburn, Campton, and Laurel Hill
. The L&N
supplied the line with freight cars, and in 1906, purchased the operation.
In the first two decades of the 20th century, the P&A Division (by then long since known to the public as simply the L&N) was crossed or connected to by several small regional railroads, including the Atlanta and St. Andrew's Bay Railway
, the Apalachicola Northern Railroad
, and the Marianna and Blountstown Railroad. The Choctawhatchee and Northern Railroad
, chartered in February 1927 to built a 28 miles (45.1 km) line from a point on the L&N east of Crestview
south to Port Dixie (now Shalimar
) on the Choctawhatchee Bay
, would be stillborne. An abandoned military railroad in Louisiana was moved to the Eglin Air Force Base
reservation after World War II, connecting with the L&N at Mossy Head, and going into service on 1 February 1952.
In the later 20th century, the P&A route was used by L&N
's Gulf Wind
(1949–1971) and Amtrak
's Sunset Limited
(1993–2005). CSX Transportation
is the modern-day successor railroad that owns and operates the route for freight service. The line between Pensacola and Chattahoochee is still known as the P&A Subdivision of the Jacksonville Division of CSX.
U.S. Highway 90 and Interstate 10
run generally parallel to the P&A route across Northwest Florida, usually to the south of the railroad and sometimes adjacent to it.
The building of a railroad through the cypress
swamps and dense pine forests of the Panhandle was a boon to the economy of Pensacola, which had a fine deepwater harbor (the largest in Florida) for the development of port facilities and overseas shipping, but no direct railroad link to Atlantic ports and East Coast cities before 1883. According to Kincaid Herr, official historian of the Louisville and Nashville, "[m]uch of the credit for the subsequent development of this section of Florida is due to the L&N. . . . a number of sawmills were built and turpentine began to be shipped in large quantities." Once the railroad had connected the area to the eastern parts of the nation and made possible the large-scale shipping of crops such as cotton
as well as lumber
and naval stores
, a number of lumber companies arose to exploit the region's timber, some of them building short-line railroads to connect with the P&A Division.
railroad, like a number of other American railroads in the 19th century, having been granted
3890619 acre (15,745 km²; 6,079 sq mi) of public land
by its 1881 charter from the state of Florida
as grantor for the United States Government. The grant was later reduced to 2830065 acre (11,453 km²; 4,422 sq mi). The land had originally been given to Florida by the federal government through internal improvement
acts in the 1850s for the purpose of promoting the building of railroads. The general intention of these grants was that by selling tracts of land to the public, the railroads would recoup the cost of construction and at the same time bring settlers to the railroad's territory, increasing both the population of the state as well as the freight and passenger business of the railroads.
According to J. D. Smith,
The P&A, and other railroads, received a checkerboard pattern of alternate sections of land
, six miles (10 km) on either side of the line, plus other lands making up the total, which included state lands extending into middle and south Florida, about one-fifteenth of the area of the state. After the P&A was absorbed by the L&N, William Chipley was named land commissioner by the latter, and oversaw the sale of the lands to the public. By 1897, the railroad had sold 995481 acre (4,029 km²; 1,555 sq mi) for a total of $860,343.65.
During its first fiscal year, ending in 1884, the Pensacola and Atlantic had revenues of $189,098 and received another $58,000 from land sales, which after deducting expenses left a net profit of $75,391; however, this was less than half the amount needed to cover the $180,000 it owed in bond interest to the Louisville and Nashville. Although the P&A line was not profitable for many years after its construction, the parent L&N covered the losses.
, De Funiak Springs
, Bonifay
, Chipley
, and Cottondale
. The L&N also invested heavily in the development of the port of Pensacola for many decades, and the property taxes it paid in each county along the P&A line added to the local economy too.
One indirect result of the building of the P&A was the development of the * us/history Florida Chautauqua Assembly
annual assemblies at Lake DeFuniak
, near the town of the same name, which attracted thousands of visitors at the height of the Chautauqua movement, providing educational and cultural programs to residents and tourists. William Chipley led the organization of the first festival there in 1885, which would have been inaccessible before the advent of the railroad.
Special excursion trains brought throngs of visitors to De Funiak Springs via the P&A each year from as far away as New York and Chicago; a round-trip excursion fare from Chicago to De Funiak cost $15 at this period.
Florida Legislature
The Florida State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Florida Constitution states that "The legislative power of the state shall be vested in a legislature of the State of Florida," composed of a Senate...
on March 4, 1881, to run from Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
to the Apalachicola River
Apalachicola River
The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 112 mi long in the State of Florida. This river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin for short, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its farthest headstream in northeast Georgia is approximately 500...
near Chattahoochee
Chattahoochee, Florida
Chattahoochee is a city in Gadsden County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,287 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S Census estimates of 2005, the city had a population of 3,720. It is part of the Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Chattahoochee is...
, a distance of about 160 miles (257.5 km). No railroad had ever been built across the sparsely populated panhandle of Florida
Florida Panhandle
The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide , lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is...
, which left Pensacola isolated from the rest of the state. William D. Chipley and Frederick de Funiak, both of whom are commemorated in the names of towns later built along the P&A line (Chipley
Chipley, Florida
Chipley is a city in Washington County, Florida, United States. Its population was 3,592 at the time of the 2000 U.S. Census. According to the United States Census Bureau estimates of 2005, the city had a population of about 3,682...
and De Funiak Springs
De Funiak Springs, Florida
DeFuniak Springs is a city in Walton County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,089 in the 2000 census and 5,141 in 2004. It is the county seat of Walton County.-Geography:DeFuniak Springs is located at ....
), were among the founding officers of the railroad company.
Chipley was general manager of the Pensacola Railroad, (formerly the Pensacola and Louisville Railroad, originally the Alabama and Florida Railroad, completed in 1860). The Pensacola Railroad connected Pensacola with the large, prosperous Louisville and Nashville Railroad
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.Chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1850, the L&N, as it was generally known, grew into one of the great success stories of American business...
(L&N) at Pollard, Alabama
Pollard, Alabama
Pollard is a town in Escambia County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 120.-Geography:Pollard is located at .According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....
, about 44 miles (70.8 km) northward. The Pensacola Railroad had become a subsidiary of the L&N on October 20, 1880. It was Chipley, a tireless promoter of his adopted city, who was responsible for initiating discussions with the L&N concerning its extension into the Florida Panhandle. De Funiak was general manager of the L&N.
Once the P&A was created, De Funiak was named president of the new road, and Chipley became its vice president and general superintendent. On May 9, 1881, the L&N obtained control of the P&A by purchasing the majority of its $3 million worth of capital stock and all of its bonds, also valued at $3 million. Construction was completed in 1883, and in 1891 the P&A was absorbed into the L&N, operating thereafter as the P&A Division of the latter.
Construction
After the L&N took control, construction proceeded rapidly, beginning on June 1, 1881, and was completed in 22 months. By April 1882, "2,278 men were engaged in grading, cutting cross-ties, piling and bridging, and laying track."In May, a locomotive, rolling stock, and rails were shipped by barge across Pensacola Bay
Pensacola Bay
Pensacola Bay is a bay located in the northwestern part of Florida, United States, known as the Florida Panhandle.The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is located in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, adjacent to the city of Pensacola, Florida, and is about 13 miles long and 2.5 miles ...
and up the Blackwater River
Blackwater River (Florida)
The Blackwater River of Florida is a river rising in southern Alabama and flowing through the Florida Panhandle to the Gulf of Mexico. The river enters Florida in Okaloosa County and flows through Santa Rosa County to Blackwater Bay, an arm of Pensacola Bay. The river passes through Blackwater...
to Milton
Milton, Florida
Milton , or Milltown, because Milton had the largest mill around) is a city in Santa Rosa County, Florida, United States. The city was incorporated in 1844 and is home to Naval Air Station Whiting Field. The population was 7,045 at the 2000 census. In 2004, the population recorded by the U.S...
, about 20 miles (32.2 km) east of Pensacola, to enable construction to proceed eastward from there. Similar supplies and equipment were also landed by barge on the east bank of the Choctawhatchee River
Choctawhatchee River
The Choctawhatchee River is a river in the southern United States, flowing through southeast Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida before emptying into Choctawhatchee Bay in Okaloosa and Walton counties...
near present-day Caryville
Caryville, Florida
Caryville is a town in Washington County, Florida, United States. The population was 218 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Caryville is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of...
, and at Sampson's Landing on the west bank of the Apalachicola just below Chattahoochee.
Bids were let to local and out-of-state contractors who undertook the construction work in sections along the line, including H. S. Harris for the section from Milton to the Shoal River, near present-day Crestview
Crestview, Florida
Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. Crestview’s name was chosen because of its location on the peak of a long woodland range between the Yellow and Shoal rivers which flow almost parallel on the east and west side of the City....
; Sam Baker of Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville, Georgia
Thomasville is the county seat of Thomas County, Georgia, United States. The city is the second largest in Southwest Georgia after Albany.The city deems itself the City of Roses and holds an annual Rose Festival. The town features plantations open to the public, a historic downtown, a large...
for a section west of the Choctawhatchee; the McClendon Construction Company, also of Thomasville, for the 35 miles (56.3 km) from the Choctawhatchee to Marianna
Marianna, Florida
Marianna is a city in Jackson County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,230 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,200 . It is the county seat of Jackson County and is home to Chipola College...
; and John T. Howard of Quincy, Florida
Quincy, Florida
Quincy is a city in Gadsden County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,982 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,975...
for the 25 miles (40.2 km) from Marianna to the Apalachicola.
Both white and black laborers from the Panhandle as well as adjoining parts of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
and Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
were recruited to build the track and bridges. After some disputes among competing groups of laborers, wages were set at $1.50 a day for all workers.
Delays were caused by outbreaks of swamp fever
Swamp fever
Swamp fever is a term given to a number of diseases that are acquired in wet, swampy environments. Swamp fever may refer to:* Leptospirosis* Malaria* Equine infectious anemia...
all along the line, causing many men to fall ill; no medical help was available in the very thinly settled section between Milton and Marianna. When a bridge contractor from Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
, died from the fever, his body had to be carried by wagon on a journey of several days from the work camp at the Choctawhatchee River to Troy, Alabama
Troy, Alabama
Troy is a city in Pike County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 18,003. Troy experienced a growth spurt of over 4,000+ people since 2000. The city is the county seat of Pike County....
, the nearest point served by a railroad connection to Macon, for shipment to his hometown for burial. Nevertheless, despite all the difficulties of working in such an isolated region, with no repair shops and a largely inexperienced work crew, construction proceeded at a rapid pace.
Wooden depots were built by the P&A at Milton and Marianna, the only towns of any size in the Panhandle at that time; in other localities along the route, boxcars parked on sidings served as temporary depots. After a 2+1/2 mi trestle
Trestle
A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, especially referring to a bridge composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. In the context of trestle bridges, each supporting frame is generally referred to as a bent...
across Escambia Bay
Escambia Bay
Escambia Bay is a bay located mostly in Santa Rosa County and partly in Escambia County, Florida, in the far western Florida Panhandle. The city of Pensacola is located on the western side, and the town of Milton is located on the northeastern end of the two-pronged bay. Both places are the...
from Pensacola was completed, official groundbreaking ceremonies were held in Pensacola on August 22, 1882, at the new Pensacola and Atlantic depot
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
at the corner of Tarragona and Wright streets. This two-story wooden structure was replaced in 1912 by a larger L&N passenger station
Louisville and Nashville Passenger Station and Express Building
The Louisville and Nashville Passenger Station and Express Building is a historic Louisville and Nashville Railroad depot in Pensacola, Florida. It is located at 239 North Alcaniz Street....
of brick and stucco, at the corner of Wright and Alcaniz.
By February 1883, the line was completed to the Apalachicola River and a bridge was completed over the river in April. Until the bridge was completed, for several weeks passengers were ferried across the Apalachicola by boat.
Local reaction
The recollections of J. D. Smith of Thomasville, Georgia, who at age 19 hired out as a foreman on the crew building westward from Marianna, were published in a 1926 issue of the L&N Employees' Magazine:
I was surprised to find in Jackson County, fertile lands, and the country around Marianna inhabited with old-line Southern farmers, a people of the highest type of civilization, operating many large plantations, at that time snow-white for miles and miles along the public roads, with hundreds of negroes picking and ginning it for market. The banks of the Chattahoochee River were covered with hundreds of bales of cotton that could not be moved by the steamboats as the water was very low. . . . Much money was lost by the planters on account of long delays in shipping their cotton up the Chattahoochee River to Columbus, Ga., waiting on rains to raise the river.
The people [at Greenwood] and at Marianna came out to question us about the railroad. They had been fooled for so many years by promises made to give them a railroad that they seemed to have no confidence in the project being carried out. I assured them they would now have a railroad, that the Old Reliable L&N was behind the move and we would build the railroad very quickly. People were rejoicing everywhere at the thought of this wonderful improvement. . . .
After reaching a point where Cottondale is now situated, we passed the place where civilization existed. . . . From that point on westward the railroad did not go near a single house until it reached Milton. . . . It was amusing to see the people coming from distant shacks to see the construction going on. The majority of these people had no conception of what a train looked like. Some thought it had life. They even asked me if a train could get in the door of a man's house. However, these were settlements of uninformed people living off from the railroad. . . .
Track gauge
The line was built to 5-foot gauge (1524 mm), as was common for Southern railroads of the time, including the L&N, and used 50-pound steel rail. Completed main-line trackage was 161.74 miles (260.3 km), with sidings totaling 9.1 miles (15 km). On May 30, 1886, the Louisville and Nashville changed the gauge of all its lines (over 2000 miles (3,218.7 km) of track) to in a one-day system-wide effort requiring the labor of about 8,000 men from dawn to dusk. Ten years later, in a more gradual effort, the system changed to the standard gaugeStandard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
of .
Locomotives
The Pensacola and Atlantic owned at least 13 locomotives, numbered 1-13, which it bought from the L&N. Ten of these, which were returned to the L&N in 1891, were the 4-4-04-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-4-0 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and no trailing wheels...
American or eight-wheeler type, including four built by Rogers in 1882. L&N records also show that six 4-4-0's (four by Rogers, two by Rhode Island
Rhode Island Locomotive Works
Rhode Island Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing company of the 19th century located in Providence, Rhode Island. The factory produced more than 3,400 locomotives between 1867 and 1906, when the plants locomotive production was shut down...
) bought by the P&A in 1881-82 had originally belonged to the Mobile and Montgomery Railway, which was acquired by the L&N in 1881.
Running through a region of plentiful timber, the P&A used woodburning locomotives until well after 1900, when the rest of the L&N system had long since converted to coal-burners.
Railroad connections
Through service from Pensacola to the state capital at TallahasseeTallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
[about 200 miles (321.9 km)] and on to the Atlantic Ocean port and major rail junction of Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
[368 miles (592.2 km)] began during the first week in May 1883, via the connection at River Junction (Chattahoochee) with the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad
Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad
The Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad was a Florida railroad line charted in 1869. It consisted of the former Pensacola and Georgia Railroad, which ran east from Quincy, Florida through Tallahassee to Lake City, Florida, and the subsequently consolidated Florida Central Railroad, which...
, later the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad
Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad
The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad was the final name of a system of railroads throughout Florida, becoming part of the Seaboard Air Line Railway in 1900...
, a predecessor of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad
Seaboard Air Line Railroad
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad whose corporate existence extended from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line...
.
Another trade and transportation link for Northwest Florida was provided by a branch of the Savannah, Florida and Western Railroad
Plant System
The Plant System was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system, named after its owner, Henry B...
(a predecessor of the Atlantic Coast Line
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
) from Chattahoochee to Climax, Georgia
Climax, Georgia
Climax is a city in Decatur County, Georgia, United States. The town was named Climax because it is located at the highest point of the railroad between Savannah, Georgia and the Chattahoochee River...
and thence to Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
[420 miles (675.9 km) from Pensacola], which, like Jacksonville, was an important ocean port and railroad junction for rail traffic on the eastern seaboard. Before the railroad was built, the only way for Pensacola rail traffic to reach Savannah or Jacksonville was by a long, circuitous route via Montgomery
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
and Macon
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
.
In the opposite direction, the P&A offered a through route for shipping and travel from southern Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and from central and southern Florida via the Louisville and Nashville to the ports and rail hubs of Mobile
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
and New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, and from there to Texas and points west.
In 1894, sawmill operator W. B. Wright opened the 26 miles (41.8 km) Yellow River Railroad between Crestview
Crestview, Florida
Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. Crestview’s name was chosen because of its location on the peak of a long woodland range between the Yellow and Shoal rivers which flow almost parallel on the east and west side of the City....
and Florala, Alabama
Florala, Alabama
Florala is a city in Covington County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 1,964.-Geography:Florala is located at . According to the U.S...
via Auburn, Campton, and Laurel Hill
Laurel Hill, Florida
Laurel Hill is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. The population was 549 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 576...
. The L&N
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.Chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1850, the L&N, as it was generally known, grew into one of the great success stories of American business...
supplied the line with freight cars, and in 1906, purchased the operation.
In the first two decades of the 20th century, the P&A Division (by then long since known to the public as simply the L&N) was crossed or connected to by several small regional railroads, including the Atlanta and St. Andrew's Bay Railway
Bay Line Railroad
The Bay Line Railroad is one of several short line railroad companies owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It operates between Panama City, Florida, and Dothan, Alabama, including a branch from Grimes to Abbeville, Alabama, reached via trackage rights on CSX's Dothan Subdivision between Dothan and Grimes...
, the Apalachicola Northern Railroad
AN Railway
The AN Railway is one of several shortline railroad companies owned by the Genesee & Wyoming parent company. It operates between Port Saint Joe, Florida and a connection with CSX's Pensacola & Atlantic and Tallahassee Subdivisions at Chattahoochee, Florida, with a short spur to Apalachicola, Florida...
, and the Marianna and Blountstown Railroad. The Choctawhatchee and Northern Railroad
Choctawhatchee and Northern Railroad
The Choctawhatchee and Northern Railroad was one of many proposed railroad projects that never made it beyond the planning stage, this one in the northwest Florida Panhandle...
, chartered in February 1927 to built a 28 miles (45.1 km) line from a point on the L&N east of Crestview
Crestview, Florida
Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. Crestview’s name was chosen because of its location on the peak of a long woodland range between the Yellow and Shoal rivers which flow almost parallel on the east and west side of the City....
south to Port Dixie (now Shalimar
Shalimar, Florida
Shalimar is a town in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. The population was 718 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 738...
) on the Choctawhatchee Bay
Choctawhatchee Bay
Choctawhatchee Bay is a bay in the Emerald Coast region of the Florida Panhandle. The bay, located within Okaloosa and Walton counties, has a surface area of 129 mi2...
, would be stillborne. An abandoned military railroad in Louisiana was moved to the Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 3 miles southwest of Valparaiso, Florida in Okaloosa County....
reservation after World War II, connecting with the L&N at Mossy Head, and going into service on 1 February 1952.
In the later 20th century, the P&A route was used by L&N
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.Chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1850, the L&N, as it was generally known, grew into one of the great success stories of American business...
's Gulf Wind
Gulf Wind
The Gulf Wind was a streamlined passenger train inaugurated on July 31, 1949 as a joint operation by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad...
(1949–1971) and Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
's Sunset Limited
Sunset Limited
The Sunset Limited is a passenger train that for most of its history has run between New Orleans, Louisiana and Los Angeles, California, and that from early 1993 through late August 2005 also ran east of New Orleans to Jacksonville, Florida, making it during that time the only true transcontinental...
(1993–2005). CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
is the modern-day successor railroad that owns and operates the route for freight service. The line between Pensacola and Chattahoochee is still known as the P&A Subdivision of the Jacksonville Division of CSX.
U.S. Highway 90 and Interstate 10
Interstate 10 in Florida
The of Interstate 10 in Florida is the eastern most section of the east–west Interstate 10 in the Southern United States. It is also the eastern end of the Interstate Highway known as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway, one of three coast to coast interstates, along with I-80...
run generally parallel to the P&A route across Northwest Florida, usually to the south of the railroad and sometimes adjacent to it.
Effects on Northwest Florida
Although the interior of the Panhandle is still a largely rural area today, before the coming of the railroad it was practically a frontier wilderness, as J. D. Smith recollected:In clearing the way for the railroad in this section, I became convinced that the railroad would never get expenses for the operation of its trains. I saw no encouragement here for development. The country was attractive only for its game and fish. In cutting the right-of-way through swamps we would cut timber down on deer sometimes. The principal industry was running logs down the rivers to go to Pensacola.
The building of a railroad through the cypress
Cypress
Cypress is the name applied to many plants in the cypress family Cupressaceae, which is a conifer of northern temperate regions. Most cypress species are trees, while a few are shrubs...
swamps and dense pine forests of the Panhandle was a boon to the economy of Pensacola, which had a fine deepwater harbor (the largest in Florida) for the development of port facilities and overseas shipping, but no direct railroad link to Atlantic ports and East Coast cities before 1883. According to Kincaid Herr, official historian of the Louisville and Nashville, "[m]uch of the credit for the subsequent development of this section of Florida is due to the L&N. . . . a number of sawmills were built and turpentine began to be shipped in large quantities." Once the railroad had connected the area to the eastern parts of the nation and made possible the large-scale shipping of crops such as cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
as well as lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
and naval stores
Naval stores
Naval Stores is a broad term which originally applied to the resin-based components used in building and maintaining wooden sailing ships, a category which includes cordage, mask, turpentine, rosin, pitch and tar...
, a number of lumber companies arose to exploit the region's timber, some of them building short-line railroads to connect with the P&A Division.
Land grants
The P&A was a land grantLand grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate – land or its privileges – made by a government or other authority as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service...
railroad, like a number of other American railroads in the 19th century, having been granted
3890619 acre (15,745 km²; 6,079 sq mi) of public land
Public land
In all modern states, some land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land. The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries...
by its 1881 charter from the state of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
as grantor for the United States Government. The grant was later reduced to 2830065 acre (11,453 km²; 4,422 sq mi). The land had originally been given to Florida by the federal government through internal improvement
Public works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
acts in the 1850s for the purpose of promoting the building of railroads. The general intention of these grants was that by selling tracts of land to the public, the railroads would recoup the cost of construction and at the same time bring settlers to the railroad's territory, increasing both the population of the state as well as the freight and passenger business of the railroads.
According to J. D. Smith,
The state of Florida offered 23,000 acres per mile for the railroad construction in Florida, and others were building in South Florida as fast as possible in order to get the land there, for the P&A Railroad Company "got a move on" to rush this work before the East CoastFlorida East Coast RailwayThe Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida; in the past, it has been a Class I railroad.Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a project of Standard Oil principal Henry Morrison...
and PlantPlant SystemThe Plant System was a system of railroads and steamboats in the U.S. South, taken over by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The original line of the system, named after its owner, Henry B...
got all the land, and this road was certainly rushing through.
The P&A, and other railroads, received a checkerboard pattern of alternate sections of land
Section (United States land surveying)
In U.S. land surveying under the Public Land Survey System , a section is an area nominally one square mile, containing , with 36 sections making up one survey township on a rectangular grid....
, six miles (10 km) on either side of the line, plus other lands making up the total, which included state lands extending into middle and south Florida, about one-fifteenth of the area of the state. After the P&A was absorbed by the L&N, William Chipley was named land commissioner by the latter, and oversaw the sale of the lands to the public. By 1897, the railroad had sold 995481 acre (4,029 km²; 1,555 sq mi) for a total of $860,343.65.
During its first fiscal year, ending in 1884, the Pensacola and Atlantic had revenues of $189,098 and received another $58,000 from land sales, which after deducting expenses left a net profit of $75,391; however, this was less than half the amount needed to cover the $180,000 it owed in bond interest to the Louisville and Nashville. Although the P&A line was not profitable for many years after its construction, the parent L&N covered the losses.
Towns and tourism
The line did, however, facilitate trade and travel into and out of the region, and directly spurred the establishment and growth of numerous towns along the route, including CrestviewCrestview, Florida
Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. Crestview’s name was chosen because of its location on the peak of a long woodland range between the Yellow and Shoal rivers which flow almost parallel on the east and west side of the City....
, De Funiak Springs
De Funiak Springs, Florida
DeFuniak Springs is a city in Walton County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,089 in the 2000 census and 5,141 in 2004. It is the county seat of Walton County.-Geography:DeFuniak Springs is located at ....
, Bonifay
Bonifay, Florida
Bonifay is a city in Holmes County, Florida, United States. Bonifay was given its name from a prominent family that had a brick making factory in Pensacola, FL. Frank Bonifay, the man behind the town's name, bought a stake in the L%N, now CSX, Railroad. As W. D...
, Chipley
Chipley, Florida
Chipley is a city in Washington County, Florida, United States. Its population was 3,592 at the time of the 2000 U.S. Census. According to the United States Census Bureau estimates of 2005, the city had a population of about 3,682...
, and Cottondale
Cottondale, Florida
Cottondale is a town in Jackson County, Florida, United States. The population was 869 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 865 .-Geography:Cottondale is located at ....
. The L&N also invested heavily in the development of the port of Pensacola for many decades, and the property taxes it paid in each county along the P&A line added to the local economy too.
One indirect result of the building of the P&A was the development of the * us/history Florida Chautauqua Assembly
annual assemblies at Lake DeFuniak
Lake DeFuniak
Lake DeFuniak is a lake in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, United States, at the center of the DeFuniak Springs Historic District.Lake DeFuniak is one of the two almost perfectly round circular spring-fed lakes in the world....
, near the town of the same name, which attracted thousands of visitors at the height of the Chautauqua movement, providing educational and cultural programs to residents and tourists. William Chipley led the organization of the first festival there in 1885, which would have been inaccessible before the advent of the railroad.
Special excursion trains brought throngs of visitors to De Funiak Springs via the P&A each year from as far away as New York and Chicago; a round-trip excursion fare from Chicago to De Funiak cost $15 at this period.