AR, A&G 1/1/1866 P

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
 
   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.
   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.
   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.
   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.
   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.
   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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   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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   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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   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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Respectfully submitted
John Screven
President

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