670 Chronicles of the Cape Fear Rwer

tor cars have enabled the carriers to transport in a fresh con-
dition to the great markets of the North.

The remarkable diversity of soil and climate is steadily at-
tracting the attention of settlers, and the Atlantic Coast Line
Railroad Company, through its Industrial and Immigration
Bureau, by codperation with State agricultural colleges, and in
other ways, has left no stone unturned to develop and advance
an interest in agriculture. During the past year a car equipped
with the agricultural products and resources of the States
through which its line runs was exhibited at many fairs at the

North and Northwest.

The products of the forest, including naval stores, form a
most important part of the tonnage of the line, running as it
does through the great pine and cypress belts of the South. Nor
is this section dependent on the forest alone for its growth and
prosperity, its manufactures, chiefly cotton goods, being impor-
tant factors. The phosphate industry particularly is an impor-
tant one, and the rails of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
company reach the rich deposits of phosphate in Florida and

South Carolina.
The Atlantic Coast Line has about 1,700 miles of its track

in the State of Florida. New lines are now being built to open
up further the rich phosphate beds and the citrus fruit belt of
that wonderful section of our country.

This road took an important part in the War between the
States, and, as already indicated, it had to be practically rebuilt

at its close.
The general offices of the company have always been located

in Wilmington. Starting with a few men in 1840, it now has
employed at headquarters about one thousand men, and to meet
the constantly increasing business there has been built in recent
years one of the handsomest railroad office buildings in the
South. This structure, six stories in height, is of concrete and
steel construction, and cost, with train sheds and concourse,
approximately $375,000.

Wilmington is one of the important points on the Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad. Cotton is its principal export, although
large quantities of naval stores, lumber, and other products are
handled. It had at one time the distinction of being the largest

naval-stores market in the world, but this industry has gradually
moved southward, and now Savannah or Brunswick claims

precedence. During the season of 1914 there was cleared from

Peace Restored 671

Wilmington one of the largest single cargoes of cotton ever
shipped from any Atlantic port.

It is a far ery from the passenger train of 1840, with its
crude equipment, on which a passenger had to pay seven cents
per mile or more to travel, to the magnificent trains of toda
with their powerful locomotives and steel passenger ieinaaiia
_ ae one may ride for two cents a mile. The Atlantic Coast
: “th . runs daily, during the winter months,

ger trains, with the most modern Pullman
equipment, from New York and eastern cities to Jacksonville
and other Florida points. It also runs daily five passenger
trains, with modern Pullman equipment, from Chicago to
Florida points, connecting with the Coast Line rails at Mont-
gomery, Albany, and Tifton. From Key West and Tampa
direct connection is made with modern passenger steamers for
Havana and other points in Cuba.

At one time all of the through trains between the North and
the South moved via Wilmington, but in 1892, in order to
shorten the distance materially and thus to compete more effec-
tively for the Florida travel, a line was completed from Con-
tentnea to Pee Dee, a distance of 141 miles. This line opened
up also a fine farming section.

The Atlantic Coast Line is generally known and advertised
as “The Standard Railroad of the South.” It is the constant

aim of the management to maintain this standard and to merit
this distinction.

THE SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILROAD.

The Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherford Railroad was
chartered February 13, 1855, and by 1861 there were built 103
miles on the eastern division, and from Charlotte to LineosInton
on the western division. The road was sold April 10, 1873,
and reorganized as the Carolina Central Railway Company, and
was completed to Charlotte and Shelby in the latter part of
1874, comprising a total distance of 242 miles.

The Carolina Central Railway was sold May 31, 1880, and
reorganized as the Carolina Central Railroad Company, July
14, 1880, when the late Capt. David R. Murchison was made
president.

It traversed the counties of New Hanover, Brunswick, Colum-

ee