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| A train rolls on the L&N through the Panhandle of Florida. State Archives of Florida: Memory Collection |
The
dream of linking Jackson County to larger markets by rail had been in a state
of slumber for many years but as the economy surged following the end of Reconstruction, it did not take long for
the vision to awaken. On March 4, 1881, under intense lobbying from residents
of West Florida, the state legislature approved the incorporation of the
Pensacola & Atlantic Railroad. The P&A, as the line was commonly known,
was authorized to lay tracks from Pensacola to the Apalachicola River. Jackson
County was finally getting its railroad.
The
new line quickly found the capital it needed when the Louisville & Nashville
Railroad (L&N) purchased $3,000,000 of its bonds and $3,000,000 of its
capital stock in exchange for control of the company. This was a
pre-arranged deal since both of the P&A’s principal officers were also
executives with the L&N. The line, however, retained its P&A name for
many years and functioned as a division of the larger company.
Many
residents, for good reason, were still skeptical that the railroad would come.
They had been let down many times before, but this time things were different.
Col. W.D. Chipley, the vice president and general superintendent of the
P&A, came to Marianna in early August. He offered $50,000 for right of way to build the railroad through the county and also announced plans to buy
2.5 acres for a depot at Marianna. Chipley told community leaders that he needed to
hire as many workers as possible:
…The
proposition was accepted by our citizens, and the survey of the road by
Marianna will be “finished up” at once. The grading between here and
Chattahoochee river will begin between the 10th and 15th
of December next. All the laborers possible are desired.[i]
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| The crew poses with L&N #876. State Archives of Florida/Memory Collection. |
Things moved quickly. On September 6, 1881, the Columbus Daily Enquirer reported that contracts had been let for most of the
distance between Marianna and Chattahoochee. Two hundred men were already at
work clearing the right of way and grading the bed for the tracks. Major
William H. Milton was the contractor for the five miles closest to Marianna. By
the 20th of that month word reached Columbus that a site for the
depot had been selected “between Mrs. White’s and Mrs. Myrick’s.” [ii]
October
brought news that 411 men were now at work on the section of the line between
the Apalachicola River and Marianna, with “every mile but two having a force on
it.” November came with news that a severe drought was affecting Jackson County but that large numbers of hands were passing through Marianna on their way to
join the work crews laying the tracks. Twelve miles of track bed had been
graded between the county seat and Chattahoochee.
There was also a report of a
violent outbreak in one of the work camps:
…A
white man from Gadsden county became involved in a difficulty with a negro some
weeks ago. The white man had but one friend with him and that was a colored man
from his own county; the rest of the negroes took part for the negro, and the
white man was taken out and severely whipped; after which he left the camp and
returned to his home. Last Thursday night, as the negroes of this camp were
sitting around their fires, they were fired upon by several parties. One negro
was killed and several more wounded. The parties who did the shooting are
unknown, though suspicion points to the whipped white man and his friends. The
negro killed was, unfortunately, the one who befriended the white man. The
ringleader in causing the difficulty escaped unhurt. Since this we hear every
man has left this camp. The railroad contractor at the time of the first
difficulty was absent.[iii]
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| Marianna's historic 1880s depot as it appeared when still located near the tracks. It was badly damaged by fire but moved to its current location on Caledonia Street and restored. Dale Cox Collection |
Despite
such incidents, the project moved quickly. The drought dried up creeks and
swamps along the route making it easier for workers to prepare the grades
and trestles. Even the steamboat lines on the Chattahoochee River, which would soon face competition from the new railroad, pitched in to help. The crew of the steamboat Moore found the machinery for building
the bridge over the Apalachicola River hung up on a sand bar below Neal’s
Landing. They used a tow line to pull the barge free and sent it down to the construction site at Chattahoochee.[iv]
It
took a little over one year to build the railroad line through Jackson County.
Crews working from both the east and the west neared Marianna in January of 1883:
The completion of the P.&A.
draweth to a close.
We expect to have through trains on
next week.
Work on the bridge at Chattahoochee
is retarded on account of high water.
The steamer Newton or some other boat
will soon be sent to Chattahoochee to be used for transferring purposes.
The track layers from the west expect
to take dinner here next Tuesday. Our citizens ought to “set ‘em up.”
Capt. W.D. Chipley, Col. DeFuniak,
Chief Engineer Davies and others of the P.&.A.R.R. were in town last week.[v]
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| Marianna's historic depot building as it appears today. It has been rotated on its axis. The side facing the right of the photo actually faced the railroad tracks in its original location. |
On
February 10, 1883, as was reported in The
New York Times, “Pensacola was connected with the Apalachicola River to-day
by the completion of the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad.”[vi]
It
would take two more months to complete the bridge over the river at Chattahoochee,
but for all practical purposes Jacksonville was now linked to Pensacola by
rail. Marianna gained considerable importance as the location of one of only
two original depots on the line (the other was Milton). Other communities along
the route had to settle for a boxcar parked on a siding instead of a full
station of their own, at least for the time being. Stations came to other communities in time.
The
building of the P&A had been a dramatic accomplishment. A total of 161
miles of track had been laid across swamps, rivers, creeks and bays from the
Apalachicola to Pensacola. Not only that, but the railroad paid black laborers
on an equal scale with white laborers with both earning $1.50 per day for their
work on the line.
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| Col. W.D. Chipley Washington County Historical Society |
As
was normally the case with privately built railroads, the P&A received
massive land grants from the State of Florida. More than 2,830,000 acres of
land were transferred to the railroad from the state with the expectation that
the company would then sell off or develop the land to recover its expenses in
building the line. As the land was sold, new settlements and towns developed bringing widespread economic development to all of West Florida.
The
plan worked as expected. Col. Chipley was named land commissioner for the line
and by 1897 his efforts had led to the sale of more than 995,000 acres of land for
a net of $860,343.65. New towns rapidly grew along the route of the line. In
Jackson County, for example, the town of Sneads grew out of what had been the old Pope’s
settlement. The railroad also gave birth to the modern towns of Grand Ridge,
Cypress and Cottondale. Such places as Chipley, Bonifay,
Caryville, Westville, DeFuniak Springs and Crestview also came into existence
thanks to the P&A Railroad.
[i] Marianna Courier, quoted by the Columbus Daily
Enquirer, August 10, 1881, p. 2.
[ii] Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 6, 1881, p. 4, and September 20, 1881, p.
4.
[iii] Columbus Daily Enquirer, November 1, 1881, p. 4.
[iv] Columbus Daily Enquirer, November 26, 1881, p. 4.
[v] Marianna Courier quoted by the Columbus Daily
Enquirer, January 24, 1883, p. 4.
[vii] Columbus Daily Enquirer, March 13, 1883, p. 4.
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