By the Early 1800's, the economic boom that would be named the Industrial Revolution was beginning to take shape in the southeast. This period marked incredible wealth for the much of the southeast's aristocracy, contrasted to the fairly bleak existence of the yeoman farmer and slave. Throughout the South, industry was beginning to take off, and for the first time in history, large quantities of goods needed to be shipped overland to various ports for export. Port towns such as Darien, Georgia, Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina were beginning to grow in fame as international shipping hubs, servicing the export needs of much of the southeast. However, without reliable overland transportation, the full productivity of these fledgling towns and industries could not be extracted. It would be a long and difficult process from the birth of the railroads to their full implementation in the southeast. However, I think it is clear that the transportation of goods in this time period is just as important to the history of the south as the production of the goods themselves.
In the early 1800's if the average person wanted to go overland in the southeast, it meant that this person would walk, go horseback, or go stagecoach. A small network of roads was the only thing connecting most of these towns during this period. Most roads of this day served several roles to antebellum peoples; these roads were for travel, conduits for commerce, and in many cases postal networks. (Southerland and Brown 2) These early coachroads served their purposes well. In moving small groups of people by coach, as well as homesteader's possessions, these roads performed fine. In the early 1800's, most of the southeast was a vast wilderness. Many roads that were created by the government were so that military communications would be more efficient, and thus was the nature of many of the roads in the Southeast. These roads, however, had a terrible drawback; with the country teetering on an age where large machines and large quantities of goods needed transportation, these roads were virtually useless. Dr. Henry Hull had this to say about the precarious journey made overland between Athens and Augusta, Georgia.
"The merchants and farmers, the one to buy goods, the other to sell cotton and tobacco, always went on horseback, and three days of steady riding were required to go from Athens to Augusta. A loaded wagon required a week, if the roads were in good condition. That winter was fearful. The roads were in such a condition that for miles the horses would walk in mud deeper than their knees" (King 130)
This passage illustrates how difficult it was to move goods through Georgia during this period. It was problems such as these that spurred the railroad to come to the Southeast, and to Georgia.
Georgia's economy really began to skyrocket during the early 1800's. By April of 1837 there were 21 commercial banks spread out among various growing towns such as Savannah, Augusta, Macon, Millidgeville, and Colombus, with capitol of a total of 8,850,000 and loans of more than 17,000,000. Georgia had one of the most sophisticated banking systems of its day. (Coleman 154) Georgia was growing economically by leaps and bounds. By 1800, textile mills in both England and America were buying up cotton as quick as they could get their hands on it. With the spread of the cotton gin, invented by Ely Whitney in 1793, cotton was fast becoming the cash crop in Georgia. The rate at which Georgia stepped up production of cotton in the few years after the invention of this gin is staggering. The state produced only 1000 bales in 1790. There was a twenty-fold increase by 1801, and a forty fold increase ten years later. By 1821, Georgia farmers were producing 90,000 bales of cotton. By 1850, Georgia was producing 499,091 bales of cotton. (King117) However, during all of this prosperity, it was becoming increasingly clear that her systems of transportation were inadequate.
Many in the United States believed that the canal system was the future of the transportation of bulk goods. New York had completed their Erie Canal in 1825. Many in the Southeast became infatuated with the canal system. There were elaborate plans to connect the Tennessee River to Georgia rivers all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. (Coleman 155) These proposals would require much planning, and Georgia, in the year 1825, created the Board of Public Works to research canals. This board disbanded after a year, but made an interesting observation; this board concluded, as did many other people in Georgia, that Georgia needed to reduce the cost of shipping agricultural products to market. This board also made several other recommendations for improving commerce; that a primary seaport should be selected, main rivers should be steamboat navigable, and finally that railroad were more probable for mass transportation than canals. (Coleman 155) Even though several large-scale canals were built in Georgia, their usefulness was never what they were in some other states. The Savannah, Altamaha, and Ogeechee canals were quicky eclipsed by the railroads, and abandoned. The future of Georgia's transportation is put well by Kenneth Coleman in A History of Georgia. "Georgia's future lay with railroads, and Georgians were able to respond quickly when the opportunity came to bind the state together with twin ribbons of iron"
Railroads had been used for years in Europe for the purpose of mining and goods moving. However, these in most cases these early railroads were powered by potential energy through gravity, or pulled by horses or oxen. But all of this was soon to change. James Watts had invented the steam engine, but lacked practical application. In 1815, George Stephenson learned how to apply James Watt's steam engine to a locomotive. This opened the door for a slew of inventors who would try to utilize locomotive powered railroads. In 1829 Stephenson invented "the Rocket" that made him famous. This train arrived in 1829 in New York and was used experimentally by the Hudson Canal Company (Mixon 1) Their were other famous trains in this early, experimental age of locomotives, such as Peter Coopers "Tom Thumb" in1839 Baltimore. The South Carolina Rail Road Company, chartered in 1827, used the now famous "Best Friend of Charleston" to haul the worlds first regular train service, in 1831. (Mixon 1) These were the earliest days of the world's locomotive powered train services. These trains would soon be opening America to commerce, and this revolution was beginning in the southeastern United States.
The topic of railroads was widely talked about in Georgia in 1833. On August 26th of that year, many citizens of Madison Georgia met at the Morgan county courthouse to discuss a railroad from Eatonton to Augusta. These prominent citizens of Madison were to subscribe to stock in that railroad. (Georgia Journal August 26th 1833) Other issues were addressed by this committee, such as the unification of efforts between the counties, as the rails were in the best interests of all surrounding counties. From the Macon Messenger:
"Georgia is at last awakened upon the subject of Internal Improvement, and our people are beginning to be sensible of what others have known for a long time known- that our state is the first in the Union for the extent and richness of it's resources and its population is the last to improve upon its natural advantages"(Macon Messenger August 26th 1833)
This passage clearly indicates that many of Georgia's citizens were well aware of their lack of adequate ways to capitalize on their resources. Many felt that the age of the railroad would solve many of the economic and transportation woes of the day. In 1833 the Charleston-Hamburg line was finished in South Carolina, becoming the longest continuous rail line in the world. That same year, there was a charter for the Georgia Railroad to run a line between Augusta and Athens. By 1833, the Georgia mid-country buzzed with talk of the "Iron Horse".
Competition between Charleston and Savannah also fueled much of Georgia's rail development. By the early 1830's it appeared that Charleston was gaining the upper hand to her sister town, Savannah. In a day where states individuality was greatly honored, this infuriated many people. By the early 1830's many feared that unless something was done to counteract fate, that Charleston would gain most of inner Georgia's exports. Illustrating this rivalry very well is an article taken from the Macon Messenger in 1833.
"How seldom do we hear of our up-country merchants visiting Savannah, for the purchase of goods. Let not our ruins be trampled on by our successful neighbors, when natural advantages, public utility and private interest command us to stir up the sleeping energies of our minds."
This passage also illustrates that during this time period, economic development was on many of the educated public's mind. Having a thriving port town was a source of community pride, and many knew that the railroad was instrumental to this piece of
Economic identity.
While thinking about the creation of the railroads in Georgia, one cannot write an essay without mentioning the much-publicized Green County mud hole incident. James A. Camak, William Willams and William Dearing were all prominent members of the Athens community. They were starting a factory called the "Princeton Factory" but were having trouble receiving imported machinery from Augusta. This was taking place during the winter of 1832-33. (Mixon 3) When the machinery reached a place that would become Union Point, Georgia, the road became impassable due to an extensive heavy rain, and the wagon became mired in the mud. The team had to wait until the spring of that year when the ground had dried out, to free the wagon containing the machinery. This problem showed these "movers and shakers" that a better transportation system needed to be addressed. In June of 1833, these men met to introduce a bill for the incorporation of the Georgia Rail Road.
On June 26th 1833, prominent members of the Athens community addressed the general public by writing up the minutes of their meeting at the College chapel (University of Georgia) and published these minutes in a general address in the Southern Banner. At this meeting, a committee was drawn up to write a report about the advantages of a railroad to Athens. This Committee was chaired by A.S. Clayton, W. M. Dearing, Stevens Thomas, Edward Harding, William Williams, John Nisbet, Jacob Phinizy, Judge Dougherty and James Camak, but Judge Dougherty asked to be excused from duty, where Asbury Hull was asked to take his place. After this committee was created, the meeting adjourned until the 29th at three p.m., where they would review the report. This report basically cautiously extolled the greatness of a railroad system.
"That it is practicable (a railroad) the committee feel little or no doubt. It is by no means a new experiment. Nothing comes higher commended, from the lights of experience, than the railroad system. As far as the committee are advised and believe, it has never failed in Europe or America, and it would be remarkable if an instance of mis-carriage should alone be reserved for the first attempt in the State of Georgia"
It is clear that a railroad was in Athens' future. With these kinds of word from the leaders of the political and economic sectors of Athens, it was clear that before long their influence would see to it that the governments of surrounding communities would back the coming railroads.
The meeting to organize the railroad commission was held on March 10, 1834, in the library of James Camak. (Mixon 5) "At the head of a mahogany table in the middle of the library was the host, a man of forty-odd whose pompadour and black neckstocks were of equal dignity. About 25 incorporators and others were present, seated at the table or clustered about the wood fire."(Mixon 6) They then voted James Camak president of the railroad. These men would iron out the difficult details of financing such a venture. Their plan was this; Make the railroads public ventures with the towns along the line who would benefit buying much of the shares. The breakdown if shares would be as follows; The stock of the company was 15,000 shares. Athens and Eatonton would buy 2500 shares each, Madison would buy 2000, Greensboro would buy 1500, Sparta would buy 1000, Warrenton, 500, Crawfordville, 500; Augusta, 1500; Washington would buy 1000, and Lexington and Appling would buy 1000 apiece. By studying this list we can see how important the railroad was to each community by how much stock that they were going to buy. Those who were buying the most stock were the most wealthy of their day, and, the committee thought, should have the most invested in the successes of the railroad.
With the money raised for the railroad, there would have to be someone to come and find a conceivable route between Augusta and Athens, among other towns. In the "History of McDuffie County, Georgia" we learn of not only the origins of the name of the town Thomson, Georgia, but also a little bit about the railroad. "The first mention of "Thomson" we find is in Adiel Sherwood's GEORGIA GAZETTE of 1837 and he says "Thomson is the name of a village or place of deposit lately begun on the Georgia railroad." (McCommons +Stovall 83) The town of Thomson takes its name from J. Edgar Thomson, who was a Philadelphia native and railroad surveyor. Thomson came to Athens at age 26, and stayed with the Georgia railroad until 1847, upon the completion and successful operation. (Mixon 9) Thomson went on to an impressive career with the Pennsylvania Railroad, chartered in 1847, and eventually became president of that company.
By the mid 1830's several other railroad ideas were cropping up throughout the state. In 1836, a Macon convention recommended that the state build a railroad from the Tennessee River to the Chattahoochee River in Dekalb County and that other private lines be encouraged to meet up with this terminus. (Coleman 157) The legislature agreed and chartered the state owned Western and Atlantic railroad in December of 1836. Much of the state opening their eyes to the opportunities that railroads provided certainly could be attributed to the forethought of those men from Athens. Other railroads in the state, such as the Central Georgia Railroad, which stretched from Savannah to Macon, and Western and Atlantic Railroad which would stretch from what would become Atlanta all the way to Chattanooga, were growing by leaps and bounds in the 1830's. Even though there was a depression between 1837-1844, the development of most of the lines across the state was not hindered by this depression.
By 1842, the Georgia Railroad, which was envisioned by the civic and economic leaders of Athens, was complete. The railroad stretched from Augusta to Madison, and members of the community were happy with the results. The Athens Banner published this article on Friday December 10th 1841.
"This work, in which the means and the energies of our capitalists have been son long engaged, and to the completion of which our citizens have looked with such deep interest, has at length reached its termination at this place; and though not completed, is so far finished as to enable the company to forward passengers and goods through the whole length of the road." (Mixon 12)
The first train ran into Athens between December first and the tenth, 1841. With this, train service had been established in the Georgia piedmont. By 1845, the line had been extended to Marthasville, which would be soon changed to Atlanta. The total cost of the railroad was 3,369,856.42. By the civil war, Georgia had the most extensive rail system of any state in the south. (Mixon 16)
Georgia in the late 1820's was a place on the verge of vast changes in commerce. By 1833, a select few of elite Athens businessmen voiced to each other what many in our state felt; we needed better transportation if we wanted to continue growing. Our infrastructure could not allow the mass transportation of goods that we were capable of producing. In less than forty years, Georgia went from a land dominated by muddy stage-coach roads, to riverboat transportation, to the most rail miles in the country. In this short period of time, our transportation infrastructure was completely revolutionized. Our transportation went from mid-evil horse drawn carriages to, essentially, what we use today to transport much of our goods. At my internship at a grain brokerage this summer in St. Paul, Minnesota, I was told that essentially, the movement of much of America's agricultural products has changed very little, since the rise of America's railroads. The forethought of the members of the Athens community, to push for a railroad before anyone else had thought it, was amazing. More amazing is the longevity of the railroad system, and the legacy that these Athenians have left us.