stern, while with a view to securing some of the business of the West,
a connection was constructed at Kentucky-Tennessee state line. Such was
the condition of the East Tennessee property by the end of 1881. In the
meantime the Richmond and Danville had practically stood still.

About this time a definite revival set in throughout the South as the
long-drawn-out period of depression following the war came to an end.
Railroad activity revived, and both the East Tennessee, Virginia and
Georgia and the Richmond and Danville roads passed into the hands of new
and more aggressive interests. The new owners constructed the Georgia
Pacific, which ultimately stretched across Alabama and Mississippi.
To finance this enterprise and to consolidate their interests, a new
holding company--the Richmond and West Point Terminal Railway and
Warehouse Company--was formed in 1881 with large powers and authority
to acquire the stocks and bonds of railroad properties in many Southern
States. In addition to the properties already named, the Virginia
Midland Railway was now acquired, and by 1883 the entire system had been
merged under this organization. The company also secured the control of
a line of steamboats running from West Point, Virginia, to Baltimore,
and made close traffic arrangements with the Clyde line of steamers
running between New York and Philadelphia and all important Southern
points.

The personality at the head of the Richmond and West Point Terminal
Railway and Warehouse Company was Calvin S. Brice, a man who had become
increasingly prominent in railway affairs in the Southern States. Brice
was something of a genius at combination and by 1883 had linked together
and solidified the various properties in a very efficient manner.
Nevertheless the competitive conditions of the time, combined with
the necessarily more or less crude and hazardous methods adopted in
financing and capitalizing the enterprise, prevented the credit of
the organization from reaching a sound and secure level. The Tennessee
properties especially proved an encumbrance, and they were almost
immediately threatened with bankruptcy. Brice therefore decided to
reorganize these subsidiary lines, and a new company called the East
Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway took over this section of the
system in 1886.

In the meanwhile the Richmond and Danville properties, which were
themselves becoming burdened with an ever growing debt, gave the Brice
intere