Trains, depos part of Canoe history

Trains and the railroad have always been a big part of Canoe. The earliest recordation of the presence of a depot in the Canoe area may be a blip in The Standard Gauge, a Brewton, Alabama newspaper which noted on December 8, 1898; " A nice new depot is nearing completion at Canoe." North of Canoe, the Alger Sullivan logging railroad ran through the woods around Seizmore and Big Escambia Creek.

The exact date of construction of the original depot in Canoe is lost to the fog of history but The Pine Belt News, another paper from Brewton's antiquity, referenced progress on the depot in its December 22, 1898 edition, "Superintendent McKinney of the M and M (railroad) is certainly making a great record for both himself and the division in the way of having new settlements located on the line of road. To one not knowing anything about it, the surprise would be great indeed if everything that is going on between here and Mobile could be known," noted the writer.

The article went on to add, "Down at Canoe, a small station on the line, an elegant new depot has been built and the place wears an air of prosperity that effectually disguises its former appearance. A large colony of western people have located there and are engaged in fruit raising and farming generally. All that section of country is admirably adapted for farming and it is being rapidly settled up," this newspaper was quoting another article in the Montgomery Advertiser.

It has been said the original depot was a two-story structure and was rebuilt around 1918 after a fire.

The depot was at the center of life in the village. There was a soda fountain located near the structure. The Women's Baptist Association sold ice cream across the street on Lowery Lane to raise money for the new sanctuary at Canoe First Baptist Church and passengers came and went along the rails.

Yet the rails could sometimes have a troublesome side when it comes to rail crime and traffic. A May 16, 1907 Pine Belt News article reported; "The express and ticket office at Canoe Station was broken into Sunday night by some unknown party and robbed of about two hundred dollars....when it became known to the citizens of Canoe, they immediately got together and raised the sum of one hundred dollars which they have offered as a reward for the apprehension of the guilty ones.."

The Greenville Advocate reported on a horrendous rail crash in downtown Canoe in their June 16, 1922 edition. The accident occurred on June 8, 1922. "Train number four ran into an open switch near Canoe Station about 2 o'clock. One boy was killed, and one man seriously hurt and many passengers considerably frightened and some of them slightly hurt. It is almost a miracle that more people were not injured. A switch had been left open, or the train split a switch, when running about 40 mph, and ran into some cars being loaded with potatoes, standing on the siding. One report has it that the men were in a potato house and the train ran into the house. The train was delayed only a few hours, the engine, baggage and express cars were turned over, a Pullman derailed, one day coach was found exactly across the track."

Regardless of the dangers, rail service was communal transportation for the masses in the early 1900s. Trains such as the Hummingbird passed through Canoe, snatching mail from the depot hook and giving more than one passenger a fleeting view of the Stallworth Hardware sign, which read "Guns and Coffins For Sale," as the train traveled down the line.

For those living in Canoe, the trains held special memories.

Tammie Womack Davis commented on the Canoe Civic Club Facebook Page: "I rode The Hummingbird in kindergarten on a field trip."

Others remembered the speed of the train, "I remember taking the last run of The Hummingbird between Atmore and Flomaton, Emmet Hildreth took me to a place between two cars which was outside so I could see how fast we were going, he said it was 100 mph," commented Stephen Simmons on Facebook..

Betty McQueen noted, "I remember that train going really fast."

The trains carried a certain mystique, especially at night, as remembers Alvin Farrar: "The night trains, the ones after midnight, when you happened to be awake and you heard the whistle blow for the crossing, it was reassuring but sounded lonely at the same time."

Carolyn Watson Liles commented, "I can still hear a train at night and imagine being back in my bed at Canoe."

Dave Bethea remembers the elegance of The Hummingbird, "We lived next to the tracks in Canoe, many of the engineers and men in the caboose would wave at us as the trains passed. We liked it when The Hummingbird came through, as we could see the porters in their white coats and the passengers inside the cars."

History has always rolled like a freight train through Canoe, being fueled by engines of humanity and ambition while headed to various destinations. The rails have carried much more than just iron and steel; new automobiles, in their shuttered railcars, heading to new owners; various and sundry items locked away in rocking box cars which roll uninhibited into the night and onto a store shelf somewhere; or hobos clustered into the cold and icy corners of a rail car seeking a new life in some yet undiscovered country-these have all passed through the village.

Coming soon: Shadows and Dust III-view the trailer on Canoe Civic Club's Facebook Page.