Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-10

not only the supplies needed by the resident
population, but vast amounts of material
needed for men temporarily in their employ,
and altogether the amount Of freight carried
has been very great. Thousands of tons of
machinery, pipes, ETC., have been carried,
and we are confident that the saving to great
mining corporations has alone amounted
to half the estimate here made.
Many men of good judgment and
broad experience would double this
estimate, and say that the savings to the
people and mining corporations of Placer
have not been less than six millions in twelve
years. And when one considers the number
of buildings of redwood that have been put
up. the stores that have been. supplied, the
agricultural implements that have been re-
quired, the engines and miles of iron pipe
| that have been used, he is forced to believe
that the larger estimate is the most correct.
| The railroad has
CREATED MARKETS
Where none existed Without the railroad
the towns of California, the mines and cities
of Nevada, the Territories, and the Eastern.
States, would not be open as markets
| to the farmers and merchants of Placer
county. The benefits that have &C.
crued from this source are easily estimated.
In single year QS1S) the railroad carried
of various Placer county products, accord
ing to the table already given, 1877, 563, $40
pounds. But that exhibit only included the
traffic on one line. The Oregon line, at the
very lowest estimate, carried twenty millions
of pounds of Placer county products. Some
of this freight brought for its owners fifty
cents a pound several millions brought ten
cents per pound, and much of it less than
half cent. If TIE statistician averages these
products at one-half cent per pound, he will
have S7S7, $40 90 worth if he fixes the aver
age at one cent, he will have 81, 575, $50 10.
In this estimate there is excluded the pro-
ducts of the extreme west end of the county,
that might have been carried to Sacramento
in wagons. Therefore in the above named
sums is given fair illustration of the value
| of the new markets that have been
opened and created by the railroads for
Placer county. To obtain full statement
of the benefits conferred in this way
it would not be fair to multiply this
sum by twelve, the number of years that
the road has been operated, for the reason
that these products have greatly increased
since 1867. But as one single item of these
products has reached the sum of 81, 300 GOO
in the last twelve years, we may safely null
tiply the larger estimate by four, which will
give s., 302, 500 40 as the sum of
BENEFITS CONFERRED
By the creation of new and distant markets
during the past twelve years. As matter
of course the creation of new markets has
greatly increased the value of land. The
extreme west end of the county alone had
markets without a railroad, but even there
| facilities for transportation have more than
Il doubled the value of land. East and north
of Rsseville there was a limited market for
certain articles among the miners, but these
markets did not give any actual market value
to that land And nine-tenths of the land
in the entire county that is now productive
and valuable twelve years ago possess
ed no market value whatever, and
in many instances the value has since in
creased from nothing to S175 per acre. 10
be within bounds, let it be said that railroad
| facilities have added, ON the whole, one-half
to the value of real estate and personal prop
erty in Placer county within the last twelve
years. First, take the present valuation of
real estate estimated by the Assessors for
1879. According to their report the real es-
tate and personal property of Placer county
is worth S., 713, COG The half of this amount
is 50, 344, which, if the Assessors valua-
lions Were correct, would represent the in
creased value caused by railroad facilities.
But it is fact well known to every intelli-
ent man in Placer county that the actual
VALUE OF THE REAL ESTATE
And personal properly is more than three
times greater than the estimates furnished by
the Assessors. The real estate and personal
property of Placer county Is, therefore,
actually worth SIG, SOS, 061, which provides us
with anew and more correct basis for calcula-
ton. The half of this is IS, 434 $50, which
| gives q moderate representation of the en-
| HANGED values of real estate and personal
property caused by the railroads.
Let there now be given the total OF ali
these additions to the values and capital of
Placer county, excluding 81, 1872 1876 63 of
railroad property, because that amount is in
cluded in the estimate Immediately preceding
this sentence. The total of money paid for
labor in the county, the amount saved in
| freghts and prices, sums realized from new
markets opened by the road, and the en-
HANGED value of real estate and personal
property, amounts to the sum of sd, &C.,
294 49, This large amount represents the
lowest estimate of the values that have ac-
crued to Placer county from the Central
Pacific Railroads.
| But there is another aspect of the subject
| that deserves consideration. The Central
Pacific Railroad Company
PAYS oNE-THIRD OF THE TAXES.
1t supports OIL ethird Of the schools, educates
one-third of the children, supports one-third
of the county officials, and provides hospital
accommodations for one third of the poor Of
the county. These are direct advantages
indirectly, the railroads, by creating wide
spread prosperity, add immensely to the gen.
eral comfort, the refinement, culture and
morals of the people. In the same way they
contribute very largely to good government
the protection of life and property, the good
name of the county, and the self respect of
people, who are able to keep the county
free from debt because of the advantages de-
rived from the railroad.
But the reader may imagine that Placer
county gave quid pro quo in the shape OF
subsidies given to the railroad company. In
reply to this query, it is to be stated that
Placer county never gave any subsidy what
ever to the Central Pacific Railroad Com
pany. Two hundred and fifty thousand dol
| lars was subscribed by the county, but that
was an investment, and the county received
| that amount of stock in return for the $780,
600 worth of county bonds. Several years
ago the county sold its stock for one hundred
cents on the dollar and hquidated its bonds
with the proceeds. But the reader may ask,
! Why do the people complain of the Central
| Pacific Railroad? In answer to this ques-
| ton, it is to be Sid that in several weeks of
continuous investigation there were found but
two men who made specific
| COMPLAINT AGAINST THE RAILROAD COMPANY.
| Both of these complaints related wholly to
mistakes that occurred in land matters before
the organization of the Land Department.
Some were bitter against few Of the local
railroad agents, but they did not hold the
company responsible for the acts complained
| of. There are, however, number OF lndo.
! lent teamsters who hang about bar rooms and
swear that they would be better off if there
were no railroads. The greater part of the
chickering's in Placer county arise out of the
belief that the county made a mistake In
selling its railroad stock, and in many In
stances this animosity against county
officials passes over to and against
the railroad company. But no man
of common sense ever thinks of hold
ing the railroad company responsible
for this supposed mistake. Nevertheless
there is considerable jealousy among many
who have been less successful than the rail
road naen, and to this envy is attributable
ell the aati-railroad feeling now existing
| In Placer county. The vast majority,
| including all the industrious people
Of the county, recognize the fact that
1ey are under almost infinite obligations to
he g. P. r. r. Company. And this
Ia. Of people declare that the rail-
J company has been not only
toau =, I'd Just but generous in everything
rar. ing TO the welfare of the people
rs .ha oosnty. Among these people the
1 u ;no railroad officials are exceed
inaIv non. siar. and any one of them
n ns c pTp AID two-thirds vote of conf
denca Sbou u any reader hereafter settle
;n P1aosr conn ~. &c will find the railroad
~ ,.n i sccommods ting and ever ready to sacri-
fee their own com cart Tor the personal advan.