Page 127 - John Anderson
P. 127

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Railroad Company, which was a horse railroad of the good old days.
Mr. White acted as master of transportation and as such had charge
of the 24 head of horses and mules which were the means of
locomotion. He hauled all of the people and most of the freight to St.
Augustine from the steamship landing at Tocoi on the banks of the St
Johns River in this primitive method. Tocoi from 1870 to 1892 was
the principal route from Jacksonville to Saint Augustine for people
and freight. Some folks came from Jacksonville by boat and landed at
Tocoi and some came by the Tampa/Jacksonville railroad and ferry
from West Tocoi.

The Florida East Coast railroad expansion from Jacksonville south
caused the decline of the communities of West Tocoi and Tocoi. The
St. Johns Railroad from Tocoi to Saint Augustine was closed down in
1895 and the only remnants of old Tocoi still visible are several
pilings about 1/4 of a mile out in the St. Johns River.
In 1873, the narrow gauge railroad bed was torn up and it was made
the first standard gauge road in this part of the south. For three or
four years, Mr. White remained in connection with this transportation
line. At the end of that time, however, he gave up his position and
entered the logging and lumber business, engaging therein
independently.
He hauled his logs over tram roads, the rails of which were made of
wood, but subsequently started a steel railroad with the idea of

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