Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 2821the year 1890. It was incident to his interest in these properties that hisattention was attracted to the generous spirit that Nature in the distributionand allotment of her wealth displayed .toward that section of the Southeastsouth of Atlanta and east of Birmingham, a section so rich in naturalresources and possibilities of development, with surface, climate and soil sovaried that "had it been cut off from the remainder of the world, it couldhave supplied all the needs and most of the luxuries of the people withinits bounds." There is 110 other section of similar area in the United Statesof which this could be so truly said. Yet as vast and as rich as these resources were, they were largely unavailable -without additional railroad facilities, and it was the realization of this need that led Mr. Atkinson to plan,organize and build the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic Railroad, betweenAtlanta, Birmingham and Brunswick. While building the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic Railroad he also organized the Brunswick Steamship Company, of which he became the president, and constructed a fleet of fivesteamships whichi were put in service between New York and Brunswick.He also planned, organized and built the Tampa Northern Railroad, whichit was contemplated connecting with the Atlanta, Birmingham & AtlanticRailroad at Thomasville. He also organized the Birmingham Goal & IronCompany, which acquired and developed extensive iron ore and coal landsin the Birmingham district. But for the panic of the year 1907, the TampaNorthern Railroad would have been completed to Thomasville and its proposed connection at that point with the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlanticwould have given the latter road a direct north and south line to the westerncoast of Florida. This combination with the steamship line between Brunswick, New York and other Eastern and New England cities meant anentirely new and independent transportation system for the South andbetween the South and the East. The panic, coming as it did and preventingthe carrying through of Mr. Atkinson's plans, the Atlanta, Birmingham &Atlantic Railroad from a financial standpoint has fallen short of the expectations of its builders, yet it must be admitted that it serves a vast and richterritory, and with the normal increase in population and the prospectivegrowth in South American trade with this country, it is only a questionof time, with the proper management, until the road will be a self-sustainingand paying property. In the meantime, by reason of the construction ofthe railroad and its allied enterprises, thousands of acres of waste lands havebeen brought into a state of profitable cultivation, with accessible marketsfor their products, and many places along the line of road which werepreviously marked by dense wildernesses are now the sites of thrivingtowns, with efficient schools, handsome churches and all the modern conveniences. The most skeptical, after having gone over and seen the territoryserved, have come back enthusiastic converts as to the road's future.There are men in Georgia who have accumulated larger private fortunesthan has Mr. Atkinson, but none who have brought into the state morecapital and employed more capital in the upbuilding of its enterprises, orhave done more for it along constructive lines than he. He has been instrumental in bringing into the state for investment and development purposesmore than $100,000,000, and the properties which he has developed paydirectly as taxes into the treasuries of the state and the towns and countieswithin the state, more than $700,000 per, annum, and indirectly have enrichedthe public treasury many hundred thousand dollars additionally by increasedtaxes on enhanced property values due to the building of steam railroads andstreet, suburban and interurban electric lines. The construction of theseproperties has given employment to several thousand people, in addition tothe five or six thousand who are regularly and continuously employed in theiroperation.While a liberal contributor to all worthy public causes, Mr. Atkinson is