Way back when, there were three railroads in operation in Madison County that were best described as lumber roads and they were regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Florida Railroad Commission as common carriers. The three lumber roads of the county were the Ellaville Westlake & Jennings (EWJ), the Madison Southern and the Greenville Southern. The EWJ was partially completed before Dec. of 1894 and consisted of an 11-mile line from the West Brothers sawmill in Ellaville, Fl. in Madison County on the west side of the Suwannee River, north and east across the Withlacoochee River to a lumber camp in Hamilton County named Westlake. At its peak, the EWJ stretched 30 miles from Ellaville to Westlake. A 12-mile line was added in 1906 and it extended southwest from Ellaville to Higdon in Madison County. Eugene E., W.S., John W. and Arthur H. West were prominent lumbermen in Madison and owned 42 miles of track in Madison and Hamilton County. Two steam locomotives and 35 freight cars were used to haul logs, and there was a passenger car of some type that carried passengers on a daily basis between Ellaville and Westlake. Although Ellaville was once thriving, it existed to harvest timber from the forests, and when the forests became deprived of merchantable timber, the EWJ was no longer in service. The line was reduced to the 12 miles between Ellaville and Higdon by 1910, and the entire line was abandoned before 1920. The Madison Southern was chartered in 1906 by John W. West, W.J. Kelly and William P. Smith. After many failed attempts to get a line up and running, the Madison Southern was finally built in 1909 by the West Yellow Pine Lumber Company.
The 6.7 mile road was built to haul lumber from the sawmill at Weston, Fl. and logs from its camp at Waco, Fl. The Madison Southern hauled freight and served a turpentine still owned by C.P. Kelly of Madison. Original equipment of the Madison Southern included three locomotives, one passenger car and 33 freight cars. By 1919, the number of locomotives was reduced to just one and the number of freight cars was reduced to five. One lone passenger car remained. The 60-seat combination passenger and baggage car was carried daily except on Sundays to make round trips over the length of the line. Madison Southern used the Seaboard Air Line freight and passenger station in Madison. After many good years of hauling forest products, the Madison Southern line gradually decreased its production and shut down in 1922. The turpentine still and sawmill were abandoned by January 25, 1923, and eventually, the leftover seven mile line was dismantled and scrapped. Greenville Southern developed into an important trading and lumber center after the arrival of the South Georgia Railway. In 1907, John S. Betts and John Evans, along with James Fowler of Greenville, organized the Greenville Yellow Pine Lumber Company and built a sawmill in Greenville. Two logging camps were established as well. On April 22, 1907, a route of 15 miles was incorporated from Greenville to Madison. It was used to haul logs to the sawmill and material and supplies to the logging camps. The company owned one locomotive and had no employees of its own. Employees of the sawmill operated the road. Operations ended Nov. of 1912, but Greenville Yellow Pine Company continued to operate the road as a private logging tram until WWI to connect its own 10 miles of logging tram roads with the sawmill in Greenville.
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1. Photo Submitted. The sawmill and lumber yard in Ellaville stretched 42 miles and operated until 1920.
2. Photo Submitted. This American type locomotive and log loader is believed to have been the locomotive used by Greenville Southern Railroad for logging and lumber operations from 1909 until the beginning of WWI. After, it was used by the Weaver-Loughridge Lumber Company in Boyd, Fl. This photo was taken August 11, 1993.
3. Photo Submitted. Pictured is Madison County’s sawmill on the Withlacoochee River back in the 1900s.