The Gainesville Midland is but a remnant of a system of railroads that covered the northeastern Georgia landscape. Her predecessor the Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern tried valiantly to forge a living in the area between Gainesville and Macon. The Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern merged with the Walton Railroad. The empire unraveled in bankruptcy. This book also covers the Gainesville & Northwestern which was built to tap the timber stands in and around the Robertstown-Helen area. G. J. Baldwin Jr, a mine owner, built the Chestatee Railroad and a rail connection with the Gainesville & Noth Western at Clermont. He purchased the Gainesville Midland to keep rail competition alive. Once the need for pyrite was gone and the mine closed, the Gainseville Midland was sold to the same man who owned the Greene County Railroad and Georgia Car and Locomotive (a used equipment dealer).