| Annual Report of the Norfolk &
Petersburg RR |
| as of March 31, 1866, |
| President's Report |
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| President's Office |
| Norfolk & Petersburg Rail Road Co. |
| 20th April 1866 |
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| To the Stockholders of the Norfolk &
Petersburg Rail Road Company: |
| Gentlemen, |
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On behalf of the
Board of Directors, I beg leave to submit for your information, a
brief review of the past and present condition of the Road and its
affairs, considered with references to your Annual Meeting previous to
the evacuation of Norfolk in 1861, and the re-possession of the road
subsequent to the surrender of the Confederate forces in 1865.
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I.
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| As to the Relative Condition of the
Material Property of the Company |
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At the date to
which I have first referred, the Roadway, Buildings, Motive Power, and
Rolling Stock of the Road were severally in capital good order.
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The motive power
consisted of two (2) passenger and three (3) tonnage Engines, and the
Rolling Stock of four (4) passenger coaches, two (2) baggage and mail
cars, seventy-four (74) tonnage and twelve (12) dump cars, and six (6)
timber trucks.
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After the
investment of Petersburg – previous to which nearly one half of the
road had been operated to much advantage – we had no longer control
over any part of our Road-way; but we were happy to find, however,
profitable employment for such of our motive power and rolling stock
as we deemed it expedient thus to work.
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So far we had
sustained no loss or damage, in the line of this species of property,
beyond the extraordinary wear and tear, consequent upon and
insufficient supply of proper materials, and the “manner of
service” which the state of the country imposed.
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Our heaviest losses
by the accidents of the war, were inflicted during this investment,
and upon its consequent results; contiguous to Petersburg and within
the immediate lines of the
contending armies, our Road-way was much torn to pieces, and
obstructed by their defensive works; the entire Railway Track removed,
and the cross-ties and rails thereof employed in that connection. But
of more consequence than all this is to be enumerated, the destruction
of some thirty (30) tonnage, one (1) passenger and two (2) mail cars,
save the running gear thereof, and the material injury of our
passenger engines, which had been inflicted with the destruction of
some twelve (12) of the tonnage cars, already referred to, at the
hands of a raiding party, previous to the evacuation of Petersburg.
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Beyond these
sacrifices, may be added as incident to the war, the loss of some
valuable material at Norfolk, and the more insignificant loss of your
passenger shed, and the injury to other buildings, at Petersburg.
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*****
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II.
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As to the Financial Condition of the Company, Compared with references
to the Period Heretofore Indicated as the Basis of This Communication
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By reference to our
Annual Report of ’61, it will be seen that the floating debt of the
Company, embracing every species of such obligations, stood in round
figures at one hundred and eighty-seven thousand, five hundred
dollars, (187,500,) and far the larger part was owing to the Banks of
Norfolk.
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At the same time
the resources of the Company, as therein set forth, amounted to three
hundred and to thousand, eight hundred and eighty dollars, ($302,880.)
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Since then, and
intervening that date and the present, all of this indebtedness has
been paid out of the surplus earnings of the Road, and our State Bonds
and other securities, held as collateral on that account, were
released, and fully restored to the control and independent resources
of the Company.
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In the meanwhile we have paid, by the like means, two
hundred and thirteen thousand dollars, ($213,000,) of back, and of
current interest upon the mortgaged Bonds and guaranteed Stock of the
Company, and we have added to our resources twenty-three thousand
dollars ($23,000) in State Bonds, three thousand dollars ($3,000) of
our own first Mortgage Bonds, and sixty thousand dollars ($60,000)
worth of cotton and tobacco, which would indicate an increase in our
resources up to the conclusion of the war of some two hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars ($275,000).
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The
re-establishment of the Road, embracing some matters of work yet
incomplete, is estimated to cost one hundred and eighty thousand
dollars ($180,000), of which one half, as near as may be, is, perhaps,
chargeable to ordinary depreciation of property, so that the gain of
two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars ($275,000) is rightfully
subject to an abatement of ninety thousand dollars $90,000), leaving a
balance of one hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars ($185,000), as
the relative advantage of the Company’s resources in May last, a
compared with its resources in ’61.
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The means for
carrying on the work which has been performed, have been derived in
part from the sale of the cotton and tobacco we had, and in part by
temporary loan, based upon our State Bonds as collateral; and there is
now due on this account about nineteen thousand dollars ($19,000), and
for work yet important to be done, some thirty-five thousand dollars
($35,000) will have to be expended.
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Thus it will be
seen that the financial condition of the Company stands today, as
compared with that of the year ’61, estimating the like securities
of the same value in each case, as follows:
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Resources today,
three hundred and twenty-one thousand, six hundred and fifty dollars
($321,650), as compared to three hundred and two thousand, eight
hundred and eighty ($302,880); and liabilities of today, one hundred
and forty thousand ($140,000), as compared to one hundred and
eighty-seven thousand dollars ($187,000) in the year ’61 – showing
our indebtedness as of today to be less by forty-seven thousand
dollars ($47,000) than in ’61, and our resources greater by twenty
thousand dollars ($20,000), which make together an absolute gain of
sixty-seven thousand dollars ($67,000), and to which, when added the
expenditures made in the re-establishment of the Road, rightly
chargeable to depreciation, say ninety thousand dollars ($90,000), we
have the sum of one hundred and fifty-seven thousand dollars
($157,000) as the legitimate gains of the Road since your annual
meeting of 1861.
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Besides this may be
mentioned some one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars ($165,000)
in Confederate money, lost during the retirement of the army from
Petersburg, and one hundred and twenty-two thousand, three hundred and
seventy-two dollars ($122,372) in Confederate Bonds and currency now
on hand.
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*****
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