B9, DEB 6/x/1861

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   The railroad connecting Fernandia and Cedar Keys {the Florida RR} is promised to be completed by the first of January next; length, one hundred and forty miles.
   There is another railroad under way {the Florida, Atlantic & Gulf RR and the Pensacola & Georgia RR}, commencing at Jacksonville, on the St. Johns river, the lower part of which is in use. This road will pass Tallahassee, and thence to Pensacola, and will be about two hundred and fifty miles long.
   Another road is constructing, which diverges from the Fernandina and Cedar Keys road, about twenty-two miles from this place, and is nearly graded to within five miles of us, the nearest point to which it will come. I suppose the engines will be put upon this section by the 1st of June next (1860). By that time, it is alleged, that it will be graded twenty-five miles further, which will bring the grading to Ocala, the county seat of Marion county; and subsequently to Tampa bay, one hundred and ten miles further, which will be its terminus. The people of Tampa have organized a company to meet this company higher up; then the road will be worked upon at each end.
   Another short road is under contract to connect Picolata, on the St. John's, with St. Augustine, on the Atlantic, which, it is supposed, will be completed by the first of July, 1862. This road is fifteen miles long. {Probably a reference to St. Johns RR}
   To construct all these roads, the Federal Government has appropriated and set apart lands, which, if valued at one dollar per acre, will be quite sufficient for all the railroads that may hereafter be constructed.
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