The Plant System and the Plant Investment Company
The Expedition was backed by Henry Plant. James E. Ingraham was President of Sanford's South Florida Railroad, which had been acquired in 1884 by Plant as part of the Plant System. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Henry B. Plant began to purchase and develop railway companies in order to build a system along the southern Atlantic seaboard. Also in the 1880s, he began acquiring and creating steamboat lines and hotels in cities served by his rail lines. With support from northern investors such as Henry Flagler, he formed the Plant Investment Company (PICO) in 1882 to expand his Plant System. In a span of ten years he acquired the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway; the Charleston and Savannah Railway; and the South Florida Railroad, among other lines. In 1892, he acquired the Florida Southern Railway. In 1902, a few years after Plant's death, the entire Plant System was acquired by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
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For other topics referenced in the Expedition texts, please refer to the Index to Subjects and Names.
1892 Everglades Exploration Expedition : Three Digital Texts, 2015