PART TENTH.

THE RAILROAD AND TELEGRAPH LINES OF ALABAMA

Besides its great river lines of transportation, the State of Alabama has forty-three railroads entering or traversing her territory, with a total length of completed main line in the State of 3,426.47 miles.†

The following table, from the report of the State Auditor, for the year 1892, will show the names of these railroads, with the length and value of their main lines and side tracks, and the value of their rolling stock, in the State, as assessed for taxes for the year 1892:

• Of this number, thirty-one have been constructed since the close of the war, in 1865.

↑ Of this number, 2,463.95 miles have been constructed since the close of the war, in 1865.

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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.

The total valuation of railroad property in the State, as assessed for State taxation, in 1892, was $47,883,749.87, against $46,406,650.55, in 1891, and $10,528,060.43, in 1877 (the year preceding the publication of the first edition of this HAND Book), showing an increase in valuation, in 1892, of $1,477,099.32, over the year 1891, and of $37,355,689.44, over the year 1877. The railroads of the State pay about one-fifth of the taxes on property collected in the State.

Following the order in which they are arranged in the above table, the railroads of the State may be described, in brief, as follows:

Alabama Great Southern Railroad.-Wauhatchie, Tennessee, to Meridian, Mississippi, 290.21 miles; 244.95 in Alabama. Uses track of Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad, Wauhatchie to Chattanooga; gauge, four feet eight and one-half inches; incorporated as Northeast and Southwest Alabama Railroad, December 12, 1853, and as the Wills Valley Railroad, February 3, 1852; reorganized as Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad, October 6, 1868; present company organized, by purchasers, November 30, 1877; completed May 17, 1871; general offices, Birmingham, Alabama, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Alabama Midland Railway. - Bainbridge, Georgia, to Montgomery, Alabama, 175.08 miles; Luverne division, Sprague junction, Montgomery county, Alabama, to Luverne, Crenshaw county, Alabama, 33.5 miles; main line in Alabama, 175.08 miles; gauge, four feet nine inches; incorporated, in Alabama, March, 1887; completed in 1890; general office, Montgomery, Alabama. The Montgomery, Tuskaloosa and Memphis Railway, an extension of this line, is now under construction.

Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad.-Talladega, Alabama, to Pell City, on the Georgia Pacific Railway, in St. Clair county, Alabama, 22.9 miles; branch, Cook junction to Kitson, Alabama, eight miles; gauge, four feet eight and one-half inches; incorporated, December 19, 1883, as Talladega and Coosa Valley Railroad; present company organized, October 1, 1890; completed in 1887; principal office, Talladega, Alabama.

Birmingham, Selma and New Orleans Railroad.—Projected, New Orleans, Louisiana, to Selma, Alabama, 240 miles; in operation, Selma, Alabama, to Martin, in Dallas county, labama, 20.70 miles; gauge, four feet nine inches; rail (steel,

3.7 miles), fifty-two and fifty-six pounds; incorporated, November 16, 1886; general office, Selma, Alabama.

Birmingham, Sheffield and Tennessee River Rail

way.

Sheffield, Alabama, to Birmingham, Alabama; completed and in operation to South Parrish, Alabama, 95.80 miles; branches, 9.40 miles; gauge, four feet eight and one-half inches; present company organized in 1889; general office, Sheffield, Alabama.

Cahaba Coal Mining Company's Railroad.-Blocton, Bibb county, Alabama, to Woodstock, a station on the Alabama Great Southern Railroad, in the same county, 8.10 miles; gauge four feet eight and a half inches; incorporated July 13, 1883; opened February 12, 1884; used to haul the product of the company's mines to Woodstock; principal office and address, Blocton, Bibb county, Alabama.

Chattanooga Southern Railway.-Chattanooga, Tennessee, southwestwardly through the States of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, to Gadsden, Alabama, 92 miles; in Alabama, 43.60 miles; recently constructed; general office, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

East and West Railroad.-Projected, Cartersville, Georgia, to Birmingham, Alabama, 200 miles; in operation, Cartersville, Georgia, to Pell City, on the Georgia Pacific Railway, in St. Clair county, Alabama; gauge four feet nine inches; incorporated February 20, 1882; opened October 1, 1882; general office, Cartersville, Georgia.

Escambia Railroad.-Located in Escambia county, 23 miles; Conecuh county, 3.50 miles; private logging road.

Fort Payne and Eastern Railroad.-Fort Payne, DeKalb county, Alabama, to Coal Mines, 11.25 miles; gauge four feet eight and a half inches; incorporated November 21, 1888; road built in 1889; principal office, Fort Payne, Alabama.

Georgia Pacific Railway.-Atlanta, Georgia, to Greenville, Mississippi, 462.52 miles; in Alabama, main line, 209.60 miles; branches, 43.87 miles; gauge four feet nine inches; incorporated in Alabama December 31, 1881; completed in 1889; road part of Richmond and Danville system; general office, Birmingham, Alabama.

Huntsville and Monte Sano Railway.-Huntsville, Alabama, to Monte Sano, Alabama, 8 miles; gauge four feet nine