“The immense labor connected with the management of these railways, and of the vast business connected with the expresses, led Mr. Plant and his associates to organize the Plant Investment Co., to control these railways, and also to manage and extend, in the interest of its stockholders, the Florida Southern and the South Florida Railway. The former road was extended by the Investment Company to Tampa, and to Bartow, and they are now building it to Pemberton Ferry, where it will be joined by the South Florida line thus making connection via Gainesville with South Florida, and _via_ Tampa for Key West and the West India Islands. “In connection with these railroads, we may well answer the question which is of special importance to us in this _Florida_ number. “What has Mr. Plant done for Florida? We answer in general, that he has rendered the culture of the orange and of the other perishable products of the State profitable, has greatly facilitated the occupation of the best lands of the State, opened the way for the settlement of the lands of Southern Florida, given free and ready access to the Gulf ports, and thence to Mobile, New Orleans, and Galveston, and established a regular, frequent, and prompt steamboat service on the St. John’s River. “How has he done this? When he had purchased and rebuilt the Charleston and Savannah Railroad, access to the interior of Florida was difficult and almost impracticable except by wagon road. There was irregular and fitful navigation of the St. John’s River, but the steamboats ran when they had sufficient freight, and only then. There had been some railroads built (especially those of the Yulee system) but the country was undeveloped, and as the orange groves required from five to ten years of growth before they came into profitable bearing, meanwhile the railways were suffering for want of freight and were unprofitable. Mr. Plant was convinced that although a more rapid development was in progress, there would still be delay before the railroads he proposed to build would prove paying investments. He therefore determined to avail himself of the land grants already made, and to keep them in repair.