Railroad History of Dalton, Georgia by Randy Golden Train Viewing / Railfan Sites in the Dalton area Although the Western and Atlantic Railroad did not reach Dalton until 1847, the railroad's history dates back to 1826 when Wilson Lumpkin and Hamilton Fulton rode through the area trying to ascertain if a canal from the Chattahoochee River to the Tennessee River was feasible. Neither man felt the canal was the solution, but both men realized a railroad might be an answer to spanning the hilly to mountainous terrain in Georgia's Great Northwest. In 1831 Mark Cooper and William Gordon began pushing for such a railroad. The end of the Cherokee Nation was in sight and small towns were springing up in Northwest Georgia. Still, the concept of a state-owned railroad was problematic, but the state was the only entity with the resources to build the line. Work began in 1837 and by the time chief engineer Stephen H. Long quit in 1840 a good deal of roadbed had been prepared. Wilson Lumpkin, who had ridden the route in 1826, returned in 1842 after serving as U. S. Senator and governor of Georgia. He hired Charles Fenton Mercer Garnett and work quickly began south of the Etowah River. In 1843 work started north of the Etowah and in 1847 the track-laying crews reached the site of Dalton. The Western and Atlantic build a depot and tiny Cross Plains made the depot the center of town and organized as Dalton - its border a one mile radius measured from the new town center, the Dalton Depot. It took three years to complete the track to Chattanooga (mostly because Whitfield County's Chetoogeta Mountain stood in the way.) On May 9. 1850, the first train ran through the newly completed tunnel at Tunnel Hill. Many things contributed to the W&ARR's immediate success: the rapid expansion west, a recovering economy, and a new cash crop in northwest Georgia - cotton. Still, when the state decided to sell the railroad in the 1850's, it had no takers. In 1862 the most famous event in railroad history, The Great Locomotive Chase, sped past the Dalton Depot. The Texas slowed to drop off telegrapher Edward Henderson, who had left the depot earlier to look for cut lines. A few miles later, just north of the Ringgold station, the chase came to an end. James Longstreet and his men disembarked at the depot, then rode off to the battle of Chickamauga. Train Viewing / Railfan Sites in the Dalton area Georgia Railroads, History and Heritage