| Annual Report of the Wills Valley RR |
| as of May 1, 1866, |
| President's Report |
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| President's Report |
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| Wills Valley Railroad Office |
| May 1, 1866 |
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To the Stockholders of the Wills Valley Railroad
Company:
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| Gentlemen, |
| On behalf of the board of
directors, I respectfully present to your consideration the following
report of the operations of the road: |
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A laps of three years in time has ensued since the date
of a previous report; three years made memorable by the varied scenes
of the great conflict of arms through which we, as a people, have
passed, and which has scattered ruin and desolation over almost every
section of our fair land. Every interest has been affecter, more or
less, private and public -- all progress and improvement stayed. To
have escaped damage or loss, without advancement, is sufficient cause
for gratulation; and I feel assured that a report showing this to be
the case in regard to our railroad enterprise, will be hailed by all
its stockholders as truly satisfactory; and a fact, exposed as our
road has been, that could scarcely have been expected. It has been our
rare good fortune to escape all damage to either our superstructures,
track, rolling stock, books, bonds, or other valuables of any
description, though our road has been exposed for nearly three years.
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During the first two years of the war, being far removed
from the scenes of strife, the work of track-laying was continued on
the road, and finished to Trenton, twenty miles from Chattanooga. A
daily train was put on, with every prospect of good business, not only
from the former local trade of the country, but also from the new iron
interests which the war was calculated to foster to an extraordinary
degree. The abandonment of his position at Tullahoma by General Bragg,
and falling back to Chattanooga, soon changed our ideas of security,
and measures were at once taken to send our books, bonds, and valuable
papers to a point less exposed. They were sent to Macon, Georgia, and
kept there under my care to the end of the war. General Rosecrans
still advancing, and crossing the Tennessee river, orders were issued
to us by General Bragg to discontinue running to Trenton, placing our
train in charge of his chief quartermaster. By his permission, we were
allowed to take our rolling stock to the rear, and arrangements were
made to hire out the same to the Macon & Western railroad. Macon
being threatened in turn, the stock was run around to Augusta and back
to Macon; thence to Columbus on another occasion, and working finally,
for the last six months of the war, on the repairing of the track of
the Atlanta and La Grange and Georgia railroads. The funds received by
the hire of the engine and cars was applied to the payment of the
interest due the State of Alabama on the $75,000 loan, the taking up
of some of the coupons of the $56,000 of company's bonds, the purchase
of material for repair of passenger cars, and for work done on engine
V. C. Larmore at Georgia railroad shop in Atlanta. We must acknowledge
our obligation to Judge King, president of the Georgia railroad, who
kindly forgave us a balance of eleven thousand dollars due on the
engine at the close of the war, in consideration of work done as
before mentioned by our train on his road, and for which the
confederate government had been unable to settle.
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Total amount received from all sources, from the time of
leaving Chattanooga to our return with the stock, was --
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| In confederate money |
$34,110.50 |
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| Total expenditures in confederate money |
35,263.10 |
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| Showing |
1,152.60 |
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as a deficit in funds to meet expenditures which was advanced by Mr.
Johnson, superintendent, and myself, from our private resources, at a
time when neither government nor railroads could pay.
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I have been thus minute in giving the particulars of the
causes which forced us to remove our rolling stock from the road, its
subsequent employment, and the disposition made of the earnings, in
order to silence the insinuations or charges which may perhaps either
now or hereafter be made against us, in common with others, of having
fallen into the sin of speculation, a sin damning to our cause and
country. Had the superintendent or myself the inclination to have gone
into the business of transporting cotton to Wilmington or Charleston
-- a business which offered the heaviest returns -- I hope those who
know us best would sustain me in saying, that all profits so made
would have been paid to the company to the uttermost farthing; but,
unfortunately, the worn-out little engine Pacific and three cars could
not be made available for the purpose, and we were obliged to adopt
the alternative of hiring the stock on the best terms possible.
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The engine V. C. Larmore, after being repaired, was sold
to the Macon & Brunswick Railroad Company for seventy-five
thousand pounds of cotton. She was unsuited to our road, and the sale,
as the cotton was saved, has proved a fortunate one.
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On our return to Chattanooga, we found the track, with
the exception of being overgrown with weeds and briars, to be in
comparatively fair running condition. *****
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The report of the superintendent will give more in detail
the actual working operations of the road, and the balance sheet of
the secretary and treasurer afford information of the financial
affairs of the company. Permit me, in concluding, to testify to the
uncommon merit of both officers, and more especially to the energy and
devotion to the interests of the company of the superintendent, A. M.
Johnson, displayed during the arduous and trying scenes of the last
three years.
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I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your obedient
servant,
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George H. Hazlehurst, President
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