son, elected president of the convention. Three secretaries were chosen, to wit: William Turner, Sampson W. Harris, and William Wilkins. On account of the vital bearing of this pioneer convention upon the future development of the state, its membership is herewith given in full. The delegates in attendance were as follows:

Bibb-Oliver H. Prince and William B. Rogers.
Butts-Irwin Case and James H. Starke.

Campbell-Martin Cobb and E. B. Thompson.

Chatham-William B. Bulloch, Mordecai Myers, John C. Nicoll and Thomas Young.

Columbia-Nathaniel Bailey, Edmund Bowdre, James F. Hamilton, and George W. Hardwick.

Effingham-John H. Hines and Clem Powers.

Fayette-Finley G. Stewart and Nathaniel Blanchard.

Greene Thomas Dawson, Thomas G. Janes, and Thomas Stocks. Hancock-Joel Crawford, John Graybill, James B. Ransom, and William Terrell.

Harris-Henry J. Harwell.

Heard-William H. Houghton and John T. Leftwich.

Henry-Abner Davis, Francis C. Manson, and Amassa Spencer. Jasper-William Burney, Eli Glover, Alexander McDonald and William Williamson.

Jefferson-John H. Newton.

Jones James Gray, Thomas Hamilton, and Thomas Moughon.
Liberty John Dunwody and Charles West.

Meriwether-Alfred Wellborn.

Monroe Thomas N. Beall, George W. Gordon, and N. B. Williams. Morgan-Stewart Floyd, William Porter, John B. Walker, and John

Wingfield.

Muscogee John Milton.

Newton-William D. Conyers, Charles H. Sanders, Josiah Perry.

Pike-John Neal and John B. Bird.

Putnam-Henry Branham, Irby H. Hudson, L. W. Hudson, W. W. Mason, and James A. Meriwether.

Richmond-William Cumming and John Moore.

Talbot-Samuel W. Flournoy and Charles Pace.

Taliaferro-Marcus Andrews, Absalom Janes and Simon Morris. Twiggs-Nimrod W. Long, Stephen F. Miller, and Matthew Rob

ertson.

Upson-James R. Cox and Moses Wheat.

Warren-Gray A. Chandler.

Washington-William Hurst.

Wilkinson-Thomas Gilbert.

To note the stimulating effect of this convention at Eatonton, supplemented by the success of the Iron Horse as a motive power of commerce, there was a great demand for charters at the legislative session of 1833 creating railroads. On December 21, 1833, a charter was granted incorporating the Georgia Railroad Company and giving said corporation the power to construct either a rail or a turnpike road

from the city of Augusta to points westward. It was planned to construct the main line to West Point and to run branch lines to Madison, Athens, and Eatonton. At the discretion of the incorporators, power was granted to extend these lines still further.

Simultaneously, two other charters were granted, one incorporating the Central Railroad and Canal Company of Georgia, a line to run between Savannah and Macon; the other incorporating the Monroe Railroad, a line between Macon and Forsyth.**

Work on the Georgia Railroad began at once. By 1837 a portion of the road was finished and cars began to run carrying both freight and passengers. Two years later seventy-eight miles of track had been laid. In 1840 the road was completed to Madison and there was also a branch line to Athens. To quote a distinguished local historian:

"The Georgia Railroad, one of the most important enterprises in the state, had its inception in Athens. The first meeting was held here. in June, 1833, with Mr. Asbury Hull as chairman, and later, during the same year, he introduced in the Legislature a bill for its incorporation. Here for years the annual meetings of the road were held, and all its directors were Athens men until the line was completed. The board of directors in 1835 was composed as follows: James Camak, William Williams, John A. Cobb, Elizur L. Newton, Alexander B. Linton, James Shannon, W. M. Morton, and W. R. Cunningham. The road was originally intended to run between Augusta and Athens, while a branch line to Greensboro was contemplated. Subsequently the Greensboro branch became the main stem, extending to Atlanta, after which Athens was left on the branch road."

According to the charter granted in 1833 to the Georgia Railroad Company, books for subscription to the stock of the company were to be opened in the following places, to wit:

In Athens, by William Williams, James Camak, Stevens Thomas and William Dearing, for 2,500 shares.

In Eaton, by Josiah Flournoy, Henry Branham, C. P. Gordon and Irby Hudson, for 2,500 shares.

In Madison, L. Johnson, E. A. Nisbet, A. G. Saffold and J. B. Walker, for 2,000 shares.

In Greensboro, by N. Lewis, Thomas Stocks, Thomas Cunningham and W. C. Dawson, for 1,500 shares.

In Sparta, by William Terrell, Joel Crawford, W. H. Sayre and Charles E. Haynes, for 1,000 shares.

In Warrenton, by Thomas Gibson, Henry H. Lockhart, Gray A. Chandler and Solomon Lockett, for 1,000 shares.

In Crawfordville, by Absalom Janes, John Mercer, Henry B. Thompson and Archibald Gresham, for 500 shares.

In Augusta, by Thomas Cumming, Wm. H. Turpin, Wm. C. Micou and John W. Wilde, for 1,500 shares.

In Washington, by D. P. Hillhouse, Samuel Barnett, Joseph W. Robinson and L. S. Brown, for 1,000 shares.

In Lexington, John Moore, John Banks, Joseph H. Lumpkin and Edward Cox, for 1,000 shares.

In Appling, by Thomas N. Hamilton, Archer Avery, Watt Collins and Wensley Hobby, for 1,000 shares.

"Annals of Athens," p. 100.

William W. Gordon, of Savannah, was the first president of the Central of Georgia. To this far-sighted captain of industry, Georgia owes a debt of gratitude which time cannot diminish. This line, 190 miles in length, was completed to Macon in 1843, and was at this time the longest line in the world built and owned by one corporation.*

The Monroe road from Macon to Forsyth was completed in 1838.† Great enthusiasm marked the progress of railroad building in Georgia; and whenever a train for the first time entered a new depot the occasion was signalized by great speech-making. Madison, Macon and Forsyth all held mammoth receptions in honor of the Iron Horse. Homes were illuminated, bonfires were kindled, holiday decorations. were displayed, and from all the countryside thousands of people flocked to witness the strange spectacle and to experience the acute thrill of a new sensation. Even in this age of scientific marvels, the locomotive engine, as a manifestation of power, has not ceased to be an object of compelling interest.

To connect these various lines of railway with the great interior of the continent, Georgia herself, in a largely attended convention at Macon, decided to construct a line running northward, through the newly acquired country of the Cherokees; and, accordingly, on December 21, 1836, an act of the Legislature was approved by Governor Schley, authorizing a line to be surveyed from the Tennessee River at Chattanooga, to the southwestern bank of the Chattahoochee River, at a point best suited for running branches to various towns within the state. A survey of the proposed route was made in 1837 by Stephen H. Long, the engineer-in-chief. Finding no point on either bank of the river suited to the purpose, Mr. Long located the terminus of the proposed line at a point seven miles to the east of the stream. But with respect to the possibilities of the site he was always a skeptic. Not a dollar of his own money went to purchase a lot; nor did he advise any of his friends to buy. However, there was a great political seer who, tarrying at the place one day, observed the topography of the landscape and predicted for the young village a future of wonderful growth. It was an instance of far-sightedness in keeping with the character of the illustrious stateman, who was none other than John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina. The earliest name given to the pioneer settlement which arose in the virgin forest at this point was Terminus; and the first settler to brave the solitude of the wilderness was Hardy Ivy, who purchased a tract of land on which he built a shanty, in 1836, before the town was surveyed. To the memory of this pioneer citizen one of the principal streets of the village was afterwards named. An

#6 "History of Georgia, "Lawton B. Evans, p. 241.

According to the charter granted in 1833 to the Monroe Railroad Company, books for subscription were to be opened at the following places, to wit:

At Forsyth, by Elias Beall, Angus M. D. King, Henry H. Lumpkin, Jesse Dunn and Cyrus Sharp, for $100,000.

At Cullodenville, in Monroe County, by John H. Persons, Arthur Ginn and James Banks, for $25,000.

At Stalling's Store, in Monroe County, by Wm. Stallings, John H. Greene and Mede Lesseure, for $25,000.

At Macon, by Hugh Craft, Alfred Clopton and Robert A. Beall, for $50,000.

other very early resident was John Thrasher, whose genial and open manner of address earned him the sobriquet of "Cousin John," but he was not cast in the molds of the old patriarch Job and losing patience he removed to Griffin. The only building of two stories in the place for quite a while was the wooden structure in which the chief engineer's office was located. Here in the capacity of a bookkeeper, then unknown to fame, was a young man of slender figure but of intellectual cast of features, destined to become the chief justice of Georgia, and to give his name to one of the great counties of the commonwealth: Judge Logan E. Bleckley.

At first the growth of the settlement was slow. But with the progress of work on the various lines which were then creeping slowly toward the foothills, to meet a line from Chattanooga, it became evident to many that some day a metropolis was destined to occupy this important strategic site. By 1842, the work of building the state road was completed to Marietta. At this stage it was necessary to test the track. Accordingly an engine, drawn by sixteen mules, was brought across the country from Madison, sixty miles distant, to Terminus, where it was placed upon the new iron rails. Hundreds of the hill people flocked to Atlanta to witness the novel experiment; and, with William F. Adair at the throttle, the initial trip was successfully made. The effect was pronounced. There seemed to be an impartation of electrical energy to the population. It was the first distinct sign of what in after years was called "the Atlanta spirit." Scores of people flocked to the village, stores multiplied, churches arose, and finally, in 1843, the old name was discarded for Marthasville.. Hon. Wilson Lumpkin, an ex-governor of the state, was at this time one of the commissioners appointed to supervise the building of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. In co-operation with Charles F. M. Garnett, chief engineer, he made a resurvey of the land, and, after fixing a site for the depot, negotiated with the owner, Mr. Samuel Mitchell, for enough property to afford terminal facilities. The latter deeded to the state five acres of ground, for which he refused to accept compensation, an act of generosity today memorialized in the street which bears his name. Several land lots, at the same time, were laid off, and one of these, at the corner of Peachtree and Decatur, was purchased by George W. Collier, who held it until his death more than fifty years later. The prominent part taken by Governor Lumpkin, in laying off the young town, created a sentiment in favor of naming the town for him; but he discouraged the movement. Nevertheless, it was named for his youngest daughter, Martha.

The year 1844 was signalized by the coming of Jonathan Norcross, a native of New England. He built the first planing mill, a crude affair in which the motive power was furnished by a blind mule, but it marked the beginning of the future metropolis. When a post office was established, the duty of handling the mail fell to George W. Collier, who lived on the outskirts of the town. Declining to sell any of the property which he subsequently acquired, Mr. Collier awaited developments. He built the Aragon Hotel to control the drift of population northward,