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CHAPTER 20 1842 PARTICULAR years mark turning points in the careers of individuals, so do they mark important developments and changes in the growth of communities. Certain events which transpired in 1842 decided exactly where the center of the future City of Atlanta was to be. It was not destined to remain where Abbott Hall Brisbane, with the approval of Stephen Harriman Long, had located the southern terminus of the Western and Atlantic Railroad in the fall of 1837. The question of extending, changing, or approving the location of the W. & A. terminus had been discussed more than once between 1838 and 1842. In the former year a bill was introduced in the state senate providing for the extension of the railroad as far south as Henry County. This proposal was voted down, 44 to 25.l By 1841 argument over the final location became heated, particularly between James S. Williams, chief engineer of the W. & A., and Daniel Griffin, his opposite number for the Monroe Railroad. It will be remembered that the latter road had just paid John J. Thrasher $25,000 for building an embankment for the purpose of carrying its tracks over low ground to the original terminus of the W. & A. A terminal change would serve to nullify this investment . On March 18, 1841, Williams wrote, as follows, to Griffin: "I have received instructions from our Board of Commissioners to extend the location of the Western and Atlantic Railroad from its present southeastern terminus to a point suitable for the erection of depot, buildings, etc., and to put the work under contract as soon as practicable. In compliance with the resolution of the Board I have repeatedly and carefully examined the ground in the neighborhood of our southeastern terminus. "As a matter of courtesy to yourself, and in order to obtain all possible information bearing upon this point, I deem it proper to address you and request of you the favor to recite the considerations which influenced you in locating the route of the Monroe Railroad upon the ground which it at present occupies. Apart from the consideration which I readily admit is one of great importance, that the junction of the Monroe and state road is at a different point, there cannot be a doubt of the propriety of selecting ground to the southeast of our present terminus as most suitable for the purpose intended. Indeed without comparison with other localities it is positively and remarkably favorable. At either end of the state road we shall require extensive shops for repairs and construction, both of iron and woodwork. These, with the necessary appurtenant buildings, store houses, offices, etc., cannot I think be advantageously built at any point near our present junction."2 Griffin's reaction to this letter is not of record. However, during the early fall of 1841, Williams advertised for bids on the short extension (not the final extension) provided for. Governor McDonald, upon hearing of the matter, wrote to Williams, on October 22, saying: "I discover that the southeastern terminus has been extended twelve hundred feet, and that you have advertised for proposals for grading. I write to request that a contract for this grading may not be made before the legislature A 184 ATLANTA AND ITS ENVIRONS can act upon it. The President of the Monroe Railroad has made communication to me on the subject of the terminus which will be submitted to the legislature for their consideration."3 Williams replied on October 26 to the effect that the instructions would be followed. He then wrote to J. Edgar Thomson, chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad, as follows: (Courtesy Wilbur G. Kttrts. From an Atlanta Constitution roto-reproduction of fl» original water color dr&wi-ny by Mr. Kurtz and in collection of Beverly M. DuBosc) Arrival of the locomotive "Florida" at Terminus, 1842. It was hauled to Terminus from Madison, Ga., upon a huge wagon drawn by 16 mules, and made its first run on the Western & Atlantic R.R. to Marietta, Dec. 24, 1842 "A few days since I received a letter from his excellency Governor McDonald requesting me to defer making contracts for grading the extension of this road to the site selected for depot buildings at the southeastern terminus, as he had received a memorial from the president of the Monroe Railroad Company on this subject which he intended to submit to the consideration of the legislature. "I think it right that you should be informed of the approaching discussion of a subject so...

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