Chillagoe Railway &amp; Mining Co.
After a number of proposals had been made for the route of a railway to the Etheridge field, construction of the Etheridge Railway finally commenced in 1906 from Almaden to Mount Surprise on the Mareeba to Chillagoe line. The railway was opened to Mount Surprise in May 1908, and through to Einasleigh on 8 February 1909, a total of 101 miles. The final 41 miles from Einasleigh to Forsayth were not opened until 5 February 1911, construction having proceeded slowly due to union unrest and uncertainty within the mining industry generally.
Ethridge, Tennessee
Ethridge began as a railroad stop known as Hudson Springs, which stood a few miles south of the present site of the town, in the 1880s. A political booster and store owner at the stop successfully petitioned the railroad to name the stop in honor of Emerson Etheridge, a prominent mid-19th century politician and post-Civil War candidate for governor. The current site of Ethridge, meanwhile, was located at the intersection of two mid-19th century cattle drovers' roads. When the railroad constructed a station at this site in the late 1890s, it was named Wayne Station. After constant confusion resulted in passengers bound for Wayne Station winding up at Ethridge, a prominent real estate broker in the area convinced the railroad to close the Ethridge stop and rename the Wayne Station stop "Ethridge."