Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-24
A GREAT PROJECT.
How the Southern Pacific Railroad will
Benefit California.

y
appreciated. Work on this road was stopped
last May, the heat of the Arizona desert
being so intense during the summer that
work cannot be done to advantage. 1t was
the intention to resume it again in October
but another delay was caused by the bust
ness boom in the East, which so crowded
the rolling-mills with orders that the steel
rails which had been contracted for could
not be obtained with promptness. Now,
however, rails, ties and materials of
all kinds have been accumulated a.
the front, and on Monday last the
first gang Of men for the resumption
OF work started from San Francisco
and have since been followed by other
| bodies. Unless some unexpected obstacle
| intervenes, there Will be no more Interrupt
tons, but track laying will proceed at the
rate of from one to two miles day. By
the time May comes again the intensely
hot district will have been passed through,
and the work will be pushed without stop
until tide-water ON the Gulf OF Mexico is
reached. Within eighteen months, or at
most two years, this road will be com
/ pleted from ocean to gulf, and continuous
/ line of steel rails, owned by one company,
will stretch from San Francisco to Calves
ton, and perhaps to New Orleans. Now
this means not merely the opening of an
other transcontinental line similar to that
already existing, nor does 1t merely mean
a line of 600 miles from ocean to ocean,
/ instead of 5000. 1t means transconti-
mental line on which there shall be no
break of ownership and which will be
controlled from the Pacific coast, and, no
matter how selfish its owners may be, con-
trolled with a view to the settlement and
development of the Pacific coast
The Central Pacific Railroad is now but
a single section Of the great overland road,
and in all their arrangements relating to
through business its owners are very much
at the mercy of the Eastern roads. This
is the reason Il am giving the statement Of
railroad mem for the unjust determinations
which compel Nevada wool-growers to first
ship their wool to San Francisco, to be
brought back again on its way East, and
which makes ticket from San Francisco
to New York cheaper than from Reno.
The Central Pacific people, they say, have
| long realized that these determinations are
against their true interests, and have
wished to put down fares to such a low
figure as to attract immigration, but have
been prevented by the demands of the
other roads, the Union Pacific, especially,
having been actuated by the policy
of keering the tide of immigration
from flowing west of Ogden, in
order that it might spread along its line,
taking up its lands and building up way
business. OF the S65 charged for emf.
grant tickets, the Central Pacific gets but
So, they not having been able to induce
the other roads to unite with them in cut
ting down rates, and so being compelled tc
stand the brunt of the reduction them
selves, in order to make even a cOmpara
lively low rate. But with a road from
ocean to ocean, they will be masters of the
situation. They will not only be able to
carry passengers and freight as low as they
please from New Orleans to the Oregon
line, but they will be able to dictate terms
to roads, which, when the Southern Pacific
advances a little further eastward, will be
anxious to make connection with it.
During the next year and before tide
water on the other side is reached, it is
the intention, by building road along the
northern verge of the Moiave desert, to
avoid the heavy grade and the long tunnel
on the present line of the Southern Pacific
DCbNSSI Jan L letlIOlSOO dliNi l1Oo AISGlGS.
This cutoff will be the main line over
which all the through business will be car
ried, only light local trains being run to
Los Angeles. Thus road will be secured
between San Francisco and New Orleans
which will nowhere have grade of over
40 feet to the mile, on which one locomo.
tive will be able to pull 65 freight cars, and
where there will be no difficulty from snow,
and the great expense of maintaining snow
sheds and long tunnels will be altogether
avoided.
The owners of the Central Pacific already
have a line of steamers running from San
Francisco to China. They propose to put
on between Liverpool and Their eastern
termins a similar line of large iron steam
ers, which may be run swiftly and cheaply.
And this done, they Will be prepared to
compete with the Cape Horn route for the
carrying trade of the Pacific coast, and
with the Suez Canal for the carrying trade
of Eastern Asia and Western Europe.
They propose to take in this way all the
grain export of California. At all the
| stations III our great interior valleys VIII
| be erected warehouses, from which the
/ grain will be dumped in bulk into cars
! At Galveston or New Orleans it will be
emptied into the holds OF steamers, and
/ be raised at Liverpool or London by
| elevators, thus avoiding the cost of hand.
| ling and what is still greater item. the
cost of sacks. There will also be paid the
cost of insurance, all but a nominal rate
between the Gulf port and the English port !;
as well as three months interest. These
items taken into consideration, the charge
! they propose will be so low that they Will
be able to turn the whole export trade into
grain over their line, and in the cars, which
must be hauled back, they propose to carry
heavy freight westward at equally low
rates.
But the great advantage of the Califor-
MIA farmer will be that he will thus be en-
abled to profit by every rise in Liverpool
quotations. Now when wheat rises in
England tonnage rises in San Francisco,
and great part of what should be the
profit of the California wheat grower goes
in higher freights. The railroad rate being
uniform, the wheat-grower will get the full
benefit OF increased prices.
have not space to follow up this mag
nificent scheme in all its main features, to
say nothing of its details. 1t involves the
development of Southern California, of Ari-
IONA and New Mexico and Western Texas,
OF the Northern States of Mexico, and uIti
mately, of that rich table land which din.
ages ago was the seat of empire and civil
cation. 1t involves the opening of new
channel for the greatest trade of the world !;
it involves such an impetus to the growth
of California in population and wealth as
has not been given since the discovery Of
gold.
That the railroad people consider the
Southern road as their big thing, is very
clear, and the statement printed by the
New York Tribune yesterday, of sale by
them of large block of Central Pacific
stock is doubtless but step in well-de-
fined policy.
The net gain in population by last years
passenger arrivals in California was 9,477,
being less than for many years preceding.
For ten years ocean steamers have taken
away more passengers than they have
1an1a1 Tho Panama otao,naro To- ,-hoy