| Annual Report of the Atlantic & Gulf RR |
| as of January 1, 1866, |
| President's Report |
| |
| Office, Atlantic & Gulf R. R. Co. |
| Savannah, Jan. 1, 1866 |
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| The President and Directors
respectfully submit to the Stockholders the following Report on the
condition of the Company's affairs during the past year: |
| No general Report was made by
the Board for the year 1864, in consequence of the necessary absence
of the President during the months of January and February, 1865, in
attendance upon important business of the Company at Richmond; but the
usual Report of the Superintendent, and the Balance of the Treasurer,
were presented to the Stockholders, who held their last annual meeting
at Thomasville. It is, perhaps, enough to state, as a matter or
record, that the 1st of January, 1865, found the Company with 35 1/2
miles of its railroad, with all the Station Houses and Tanks within
that distance, and its General Depot at Savannah almost entirely
destroyed. Fortunately its whole Rolling Stock had been saved,
excepting one disabled engine and a few cars, which could not be drawn
away anterior to the arrival of General Sherman's Army. |
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The financial state of the Company was good. It was in
possession of current funds and credits amply sufficient to pay a
large dividend on its capital stock, to meet every outstanding
engagement, and to place a considerable sum in reserve. The
Confederate Government, however, had failed to meet its indebtedness
for transportation, and finally dissolved in May last without settling
the Company's accounts for twelve months previous, amounting to over
one million of dollars. Thus, the principal earnings of a year were
entirely lost. To this cause can be justly traced much of the
embarrassment since suffered by the Company.
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| At the end of the war, say
June 1st, 1865, the financial status of the Company was as follows: |
| Of the whole amount of its
liabilities, $51,134 were due in Confederate funds; of the remainder,
$121,080 were due for coupons outstanding during the war, and $17,000
due for one engine, machinery and other supplies ordered at the North
in the Fall of 1860, the amount for which could not be remitted when
due. |
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Setting aside the amount due in Confederate currency,
which has been already equitably settled, the floating debt of the
Company in June last amounted in all to $138,080.
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To meet this sum the Company was wholly without cash,
while its resources, consisting of $72,000 of State 6 per cents and
2,001 shares of its own Capital Stock retired, at the then market
value, amounted to $144,800. In addition, the State was (and is now)
indebted to the Company for unpaid subscriptions in the sum of
$150,000, payable in cash or 6 per cent. bonds.
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An early restoration of the Road was now of vital
importance. It was demanded, not merely by the interests of the
Company, but the necessities of commerce required, that there should
be the least delay possible in reopening communication between
Southern Georgia and Savannah. Fourteen miles of the track west
of Doctortown had been taken up early in the Spring of 1865 to isolate
the Altamaha Bridge. Thirty-five and a half miles of the track from
the Little Ogeechee Bridge to Morgan Lake Bridge near the Altamaha,
(both inclusive) had been destroyed, with one mile, 1,719 feet of
first and second class bridging; every Station House and Tank between
Savannah and the Altamaha had been burned, and the General Depot at
Savannah converted to a ruin. The Rolling Stock of the Company, not at
any time since the opening of the Road adequate to the service of the
line, had been much impaired by excessive use and by damages
unavoidable during the war, and required extensive repairs, and the
addition of a large number of cars and of several locomotives.
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*****
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Rather than subject the Company to the large expenditure
that would be necessary to purchase new rail for 35 1/2 miles of Road,
it was determined to straighten the twisted and bent rail in hand, and
restore it to the track. Previous experience on other Railroads which
had been repaired in this manner during the war, induced our Engineer
to advise this course. There is no serious reason as yet to regret its
adoption, as the track already laid is sufficiently smooth and safe,
and will certainly answer until the condition of the Company will
enable it to re-lay this portion of the Road with new rail. The track
is however, not as yet fully furnished with chairs, in consequence of
the manufacturer not having provided chairs corresponding in either
dimensions or pattern with the terms of the order. This deficiency
will not interfere with the operation of the Road, and so soon as
proper chairs can be obtained they will be placed in the track.
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*****
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The iron on the Florida portion of the Florida Branch
Railroad has been removed, by permission of the United States
Government, and is being relaid on the Florida Railroad, from which it
was originally taken. This leaves the 25 1/2 miles of the Georgia
division, which is in an unproductive country, totally valueless,
except for the material in the track. The rail in this division of the
Branch was laid by the Confederate Government, and was obtained from
the Brunswick & Albany R. R. Co. Under the agreement by which the
Confederate Government secured the use of the road bed from the
Atlantic & Gulf R. R. Co., 636 tons of this iron was to be
delivered to this Company in the track of the Florida Branch, at the
conclusion of the war, as a compensation for the same amount of iron
seized from this Company in 1862, for which no compensation has been
paid. This claim has been laid before the proper authorities of the
United States, but still remains unsettled.
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*****
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Two connections were built during the war for military
purposes -- one to Fort Jackson, the second as far as Lamar's Mill {down
Randolph street in Savannah}.
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*****
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Respectfully submitted
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John Screven
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President
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