During the 1850s trade grew on the island. A lighthouse serving the Cedar Keys harbor was built on Seahorse Key and put into operation in 1854. The Florida Railroad (which ran across Florida from Fernandina) reached the Cedar Keys in 1861, and a terminal was constructed on Way Key (to the north of Atsena Otie Key). In 1855 A. W. Faber bought large tracts of land in Levy County to be cut for timber. A small amount of land was bought on the island in 1856, which would later become the site for a lumber mill.