| From the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph |
| |
| February 15, 1861 |
| |
| Second Annual Report of the President of
the Macon & Brunswick Rail Road Co. |
| Office Macon & Brunswick Rail Road
Company |
| Macon, February 1, 1861 |
| |
| To the Stockholders |
|
| At the date of the last Annual
Report of the Board of Directors, to the Stockholders of this Company,
the line had been located, and the grading, bridging, and
superstructure had been put under contract upon the Northern Division,
thirty-seven and a half miles from Macon; and on the Southern
Division, from Hazlehurst's, a point on the Brunswick & Florida
Rail Road, eleven miles from Brunswick, to the Atlantic & Gulf
Rail Road, a distance of twenty-nine miles, and approximate estimates
of the cost of construction presented. |
| Since that time the grading on
the line has been finished up, from Macon, continuously, for about
thirty miles. The Iron has been purchased upon favorable terms, for
the entire length of the Northern Division, about two-thirds of which
is now delivered on the line of the road, the balance being now
discharged at the port of Darien, to be shipped up the river by
steamer. |
| The iron is laid down, and a
daily train running about twenty miles from Macon, and the
track-laying progressing as rapidly as possible. It had been the wish
and calculation of the Board to have had the road completed, and
operating to Buzzard's Roost Ferry, twenty-five (25) miles by this
time, but the unparalleled bad weather of the last month, has much
delayed the progress of the work. It is much to be regretted that we
could not have had this part of the work finished in time to have
brought the Cotton crop of that section to market this season. It will
be gratifying, however, to those who have invested in this enterprise,
-- as indicative of what may be reasonably calculated upon in the
future -- that the business which has been done over the small portion
of the Road completed and operated, since about the middle of
December, has more than paid the expenses of operating it. It is
worthy of remark, that that portion of the road through the Ocmulgee
Swamp, has stood the heavy winter rains much better than was
anticipated; it has sustained but very trifling injury indeed. |
| It is due to Messrs. Collins
& Bronk, the Contractors for the construction of the Bridge across
the Ocmulgg, to say, that it is a most admirable structure, combining
great strength and excellent finish, reflecting much credit upon the
mechanical skill, as well as the faithful workmanship, of Mr. Wm. D.
Bronk, the Architect. As a Rail Road Bridge we do not believe it
excelled, if equaled, by any structure of the kind in this country. |
| The total amount of Stock
subscribed and interest collected thereon is $711,200.00 -- including
the Stock taken in contracts. The total amount expended thus far, on
account of grading fifty-seven miles, purchase of iron for
thirty-seven miles, materials, rolling stock, bridging, masonry and
laying down superstructure, &c., $313,000.17, leaving a balance of
$397,200.83, yet to be expended. |
| The amount of subscription
here stated, does not include the stock subscribed in the counties of
Appling, Telfair and Montgomery, which it is still believed proper not
to use until the work reaches those counties. |
| It will be seen by reference
to the report of A. N. Rogers, Esq., Chief Engineer, herewith
submitted, that the actual cost of construction up to this time falls
below the original estimate, $16,580, being four per cent. on the
whole sum estimated. This is the result of the rigid system of economy
adopted in every department of the work, and the temporary reduction
of some of the grades in the river swamp. |
| The Board had hoped to have
been able before this time, to have had the iron for the Southern
Division; a piece of road so much needed by the country just at this
time, in the exposed condition of our coast; but the unusual
stringency in the monetary affairs of the country, growing out of our
political troubles, and the shortness of the Cotton crop, has rendered
it impossible to realize on our Stock Notes and City Bonds for that
purpose. It is, however, hoped and believed, that upon the
construction of a new and permanent Government in the South, within
the present year, political affairs will become quiet, business
revived, public and private confidence reinstated, and the country
return to its wonted prosperity. This may be looked for with
certainty, unless the incoming administration of the government of the
United States shall be so unwise as to plunge the country into civil
war. Surely, such policy will not be pursued, as no good can result to
any one from it, and much evil to all. |
| The balance of the Northern
division is now being graded by energetic contractors, and will
doubtless be completed and ready for the Iron early in the summer. |
| At the meeting of the Board of
Directors, in November last, the enterprising people of Hawkinsville
and vicinity, through a Committee appointed for that purpose,
consisting of Messrs. M. Manning, S. Merritt, and O. C. Horne,
presented a list of Stock notes payable to this Company, one half due
1st January, 1862, the other due 1st January, 1863, for the sum of One
Hundred and Twenty-one Thousand Six Hundred and Seventy-five Dollars,
which they proposed to turn over, and merge into the general Capital
Stock of this Company, conditioned that the Company would undertake to
build and work a branch Road, a distance of ten miles from the
Southern terminus of the Northern Division of this Road to
Hawkinsville, a town situated on the west bank of the Ocmulgee river,
which was unhesitatingly accepted by the Board, -- the route surveyed,
an excellent line found, and the whole work at once put under contract
at fair prices. The grading to W. R. Phillips, Esq., Bridging and
Masonry to Messrs. Merritt, Tooke, and Sessions, all responsible and
energetic men, taking one-third in the Stock of the Company, and the
balance, in the Stock Notes so turned over, in payment, which, it is
thought, will leave a sufficient sum to buy the Iron. If the amount
can be raised on said Notes, the Iron will be bought and laid down on
the whole line, continuously from Macon to Hawkinsville, a distance of
47 1/2 miles, in time for the shipment of the next Cotton Crop. |
| The reasons which the Board
offer for their engagement to build and work the Branch Road to
Hawkinsville are apparent. In the first place the whole line from
Macon to Hawkinsville, may be worked at a very trifling additional
expense, upon the running of a daily train the first thirty-seven
miles, -- the construction at no charge to the Company, not covered by
the additional subscription, and the business of the Road fully
doubled. Hawkinsville is situated, -- practically, -- at the head of
Steamboat navigation on the Ocmulgee, from which is shipped annually,
more than ten thousand bales Cotton, and supplies goods to a very
large district of Country, embraced in the Counties of Pulaski,
Houston, Dooly, Wilcox, Irwin, and Telfair. The navigation to that
point is not safe more than four months of the year, and the building
of the Road to that point, making shipments certain, it is estimated
will at least double the quantity hauled there now, and it is believed
that a quantity equal to this must pass over the road, either up or
down. |
| The River being navigable to
Steamers only about one-third of the year; when the River is up,
Cotton will be shipped over the Road from Macon, to Hawkinsville,
thence by boats to Savannah, because it can be shipped cheaper; when
the waters are low, cotton will be shipped over the Road to Macon,
thence to Savannah over the Central Road, and a corresponding increase
of sale of goods and provisions, at Hawkinsville, which must be
shipped over our Road, may be expected. These calculations are based
upon the actual experience of the South Western Road, which paid a
dividend of eight per cent., the first year after it reached a
distance of fifty miles from Macon, with no circumstance, either in
the promise of business, cheapness of construction, or of working,
which gave it any advantage over this piece of Road, and it is further
based upon the idea, that we may be compelled by the hardness of the
times to suspend our work, for a period at this point. And, again,
when we shall have completed our Road through, the inducements for all
that region South of the South Western Road, and East of the Flint
River, to ship their Cotton at Hawkinsville, and receive their
supplies there, will be more than doubled. In a word, we have not
doubt but that this piece of Road, operated alone, will pay a dividend
equal to an average of the other roads of the State, all of which pay
well. |
| Your Board of Directors are
still more deeply impressed with the importance to the Company, and to
the country, of pressing this Road to completion, as rapidly as
possible, than even when they first entered upon it, by the recent
events which have transpired, and are daily transpiring in the
Southern States. It is regarded as a fixed fact, that a new Government
is soon to be formed by a union of the Southern Slaveholding States.
Georgia is the commercial, as well as the geographical centre, of the
Confederation, and Macon is the centre of Georgia. Brunswick is the
best, and only suitable port for the establishment of a Navy Yard and
Ship Building combined; certainly the nearest to the Capitol if it is
located North of us, or at Macon, where it ought to be. The South must
have a Navy, and must build ships. Brunswick is of all places on the
Southern coast, best suited to both purposes. Nature points it out as
the place, not only on account of its depth and surface of water, the
safety of its harbor, and the healthfulness of its climate, but the
superior quality, and inexhaustible quantity of yellow pine and live
oak timber in its vicinity, and along the line of our road, for
three-fourths of its length. The early connection of these two points
by rail now becomes an absolute necessity, looking to the new channels
of trade which must spring into existence in consequence of the change
in our affairs. |
| The last Legislature very
wisely and patriotically, passed a law to encourage direct trade, by
the construction of a line of Ocean Steamers to run between our ports
and the continent of Europe, and the Executive has appointed one of
Georgia's most enterprising and enlightened Citizens, and Statesmen, a
Commissioner to Europe, with power, among others with which he is
charged, to negotiate arrangements to carry the objects of the
Legislature into practical effect at an early period. This is the
first step towards encouraging the productions of a very large portion
of the Valley of the Mississippi, to find a transit over her Roads and
through her Ports to foreign markets, which, without any change in our
political relations, must have been the result in after years, upon
the completion of her system of interval improvements now begun. |
| But it now becomes a
necessity to prevent the Cotton and other productions of that vast and
fertile region, from taking the more circuitous and expensive routes
through Northern ports. This should not and will not be permitted. The
commerce of these States certainly will seek new channels, and it is
important that it should be directed rightly at the outset. Georgia
and her ports are the natural channels, and we believe, when peace and
prosperity shall be restored, Capitalists must see, and feel the
increased advantages of this enterprise over any other in the country,
and it will not be found difficult to raise a sum sufficient to
complete the work. The eyes of the Country are now already being
turned to Savannah, as the great Southern Atlantic port. Brunswick,
though now comparatively without business, has many natural and
enduring advantages over her; but it will be remembered that our Road,
after its connection with the Savannah, Albany & Gulf Road, is a
Savannah, as well as a Brunswick Road, possessing every advantage held
by the Central Road, with the certain promise of concentrating more
business at Macon and along the lines, than both can do. |
| The last Legislature so
amended our Charter, as to allow us to form such connections with
lines of Steamships plying between this and foreign Countries, as we
might find advantageous. And as an inducement for foreign capital to
invest in our enterprise, placed foreign Stockholders upon the same
footing in every respect, with Citizens of this State. this is a most
liberal and beneficial provision of the charter, and one not possessed
by any other Company in this State. |
| We think it only necessary for
any intelligent mind to carefully examine this enterprise under
present circumstances, to be satisfied that it will be a remunerating
investment. We have no bonded, or mortgage debt, and it is the settled
policy of the present Direction, to have none, until by so doing we
can raise a sum sufficient to finish the work, based upon the part of
the road completed, and paid for. |
| We have a floating debt of
$83,700 which is in the main, the balance due on the purchase of Iron,
and Rolling Stock, which we have ample assets to meet when due, but,
upon which, under the present pressure in the money market, we find it
exceedingly difficult, if not impossible to realize at once. Our
Company has not felt the shock of the financial crisis, as severely as
many others in the country, owing in the main to the fact, that we
adopted, in the beginning, the policy of contracting with parties for
the grading, laying down superstructure, &c., they taking the
Notes and Bonds of our Stockholders in payment. We are only compelled
to raise cash for the purchase of Iron and materials, and current
expenses. And for the purpose of encouraging and sustaining the work,
and of rendering profitable the money already paid, we would in this
critical hour, respectfully urge our Stockholders who have not paid
up, to strain a point, each and every one of them, to meet their Notes
in the hands of Contractors, as well as the Company; by doing so, we
have a road paying us a profit at an early day; otherwise we may be
ruinously delayed. The reports of the Chief Engineer and Treasurer,
herewith submitted, show the operations of the work, the assets and
expenditures, up to this time. It has been thought not improper in
this Report, to refer to the additional facts, growing out of our
political changes, pressing the importance to the Country and to the
Stockholders, for the early completion of this work, although, the
subject has been more elaborately discussed in our Report of the first
of February last. |
| A. E. Cochran, President |
|