AR, M&O 4/1/1861 P

Annual Report of the Mobile & Ohio RR
as of April 1, 1861,
President's Report
 
Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Stockholders of the
Mobile & Ohio Rail Road Co.
Held in Mobile, May 7, 1861
 
To the Stockholders of the Mobile & Ohio Rail Road Company
   The President and Directors of your Company present the following Report of their proceedings for the past year:
Report
   By our last Annual Report you were informed that the track was laid from Mobile, North as far as Okolona, including the Columbus (Miss.) Branch; and that it was laid from Columbus, Ky., South to a point two miles below Jackson, Tennessee. Since that Report, and since your last Annual meeting, we have laid down one hundred and nineteen miles of track, completing the entire line between Columbus, Ky., and the City of Mobile. The last bar of iron was laid and the last nail driven in the presence of a large crowd of spectators, and with appropriate ceremonies, on the Twenty-Second day of April, 1861.
   In ordinary times, with our road finished, we might safely expect a large increase of income. And the time would seem appropriate to enter on a review of our financial condition, and make suggestions in regard to the future. But in the present uncertain condition of things, with a hostile army at Cairo, and a threatened, if not actual blockade of the Port of Mobile, and the whole country in arms, almost entirely breaking up commercial intercourse and the ordinary business transactions of the country, it would be unsafe, at present, to make estimates of income or propose measures of future policy. This we leave until the development of events may throw additional lights on the subject.
   Of one thing, however, we can speak with confidence and certainty -- that your road, running though four States, will furnish in times of peace a great artery of commerce and in war a powerful arm of defence; and that in peace or in war its influence will be exerted in support of Southern Commerce and the maintenance of Southern institutions.
   For the receipts and disbursements, and the operations of the several departments during the past year, we refer to the appended tables and the Report of the Chief Engineer and General Superintendent. These tables and statements furnish all the material facts relating to the progress, completion and present condition of your great enterprise.
   We take great pleasure in repeating the announcement, made in our last report, that "to the heads of the several departments too much praise cannot be awarded for their faithful and laborious discharge of duty,"
All of which is respectfully submitted.
Milton Brown, President
Mobile & Ohio Rail Road Company

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