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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 141/340

A History of Columbia County, Florida
Although the tourists and settlers brought in by the railroads
were welcomed by Columbia countians, other railroad matters
caused serious problems for the county. Bonds issued by the county
prior to the Civil War in support of the Florida Atlantic and Gulf
Central Railroad were still unpaid. The bonds totaling $100,000
had been issued initially by the county in 1856 and 1857 under the
provisions of the Internal Improvement Act. The bonds were
delivered to the railroad in exchange for $100,000 of its stock. By
1880 the principal and accrued interest on the bonds totaled some
$280,000, and the bondholders had obtained rulings in federal
court that the county would have to pay.3
To compound the problem, the railroad had gone through
several changes of ownership, and the collateral behind the
original stock issued to the county was worthless. As noted previ­
ously the Florida Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad had been
reorganized as the Florida Central Railroad in 1868 and leased to
the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad. Reconstruction Governor
Harrison Reed promoted railroad development in the state and
was particularly desirous to have good railway service all the way
from Jacksonville to Pensacola. The Florida Atlantic and Gulf
Central had provided service from Jacksonville to Lake City, and
the Pensacola and Georgia operated from Lake City to Quincy. No
service was available west from Quincy to Pensacola.4
In February, 1869, Edward Houstoun, the wealthy president
of the Pensacola and Georgia, wrote to Jacksonville Attorney John
P. Sanderson, who was involved with the Florida Central, that he
was interested in extending the Pensacola and Georgia to Pen­
sacola. Houstoun told Sanderson that he had the backing of George
W. Swepsori and Milton S. Littlefield, North Carolina entrepre­
neurs with New York backing. Swepson had become a major

3County Commissioners Minutes Book (Columbia County) No. 1, Meeting of
June 1, 1880.
^Shofner, Nor Is It Over Yet, p. 243.

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