The Key West Extension
In 1904, Flagler made the decision to continue his railway to Key West. Although many things impeded his progress, Flagler was a stubborn man and he persevered. Despite setbacks such as the soft-bottomed Lake Surprise and the hurricanes of 1906, 1909, and 1910, which killed over 10% of the labor force, wiped out over forty miles of track, and delayed the extension; Flagler was committed to finishing it. On January 21, 1912, the 156-mile Key West Extension was opened to the public. Now frail and eighty-two years old, he “rode his own iron” from his mansion, Whitehall, in Palm Beach to the railroad’s terminus in Key West in his private railcar, Car No. 91. After spending over 50 million dollars on his hotels, land-based railroad, and “railroad across the sea,” Flagler had accomplished his dream.
"But in 1904, because the Panama Canal [began construction], he [Henry Flagler] extended the railroad from Miami to Key West, 150 miles or so, most of it over open water, because, with all the extra traffic coming through the Panama Canal, he planned that Key West would be the closest port to the eastern terminus of the Panama Canal, because ships could only go so far . . . and Key West would be a convenient place to stop." |
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"He was a stubborn man. . . . not one of those storms changed his single-minded purpose that this was going to be completed." "In addition, Cape Sable had no deep water for a port. So . . . that is when Flagler decides that he's going to build a railroad down the chain of Florida Keys down to Key West." "The railroad to Key West was an opportunity to do something that had never been done before. It presented a challenge to Flagler that I think appealed to his competitive nature. It is important to note that Flagler spent quite a bit of his own money to finish construction of the overseas railway." |