Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-03-21

Government was entered into under the Act of
ls62, and we built the road under that Act and
the amendatory act of 1864. But we say this
that if the Government has derived such great
benefit from the construction of this road
which has developed its country and has given
1t facilities OF transportation such as was hardly
supposed possible. for it was not thought that
this road could be operated as it has been
operated, this constitutes an equitable PROPOSE
ton entitled to great consideration.
UNDER THE CONTRACT.
Senator Dawes-Will you allow me to inter.
rnpt you to inquire what road you built under
the Acts of lo62 aud 1874?
Senator etanford-We built the road from San
Jose and San Francisco to Ogden, near Sa I
Lake.
Senator Dawes-What subsidy did YOU get
from the Government by the Act of 1861?
Senator Staniord-Over the entiie road il
amounted 10 S200O0 COO.
Senator Dawes-I do not mean that. You say
that you built under the contract made by you
with the Government under the Act of 1862
Now what road did you build under that Act?
Senator Stantord-We built from Sacramento
10 Newcastle, thlrty-one miles from Sacramento.
Senator Dawes-What subsidy did you receive
before the Act of 1852
NO SUBSIDY RECEIVED.
Senator Stanford We did not receive any sub
sidy. The Act of 1862 required the construction
of forty miles of road before any of the Govern
ment bonds conld be delivered to the company.
Senator Dawes-Did you receive anything
from the Government until after the Act of 1864 ?
Senator stanford-No; the Act of 1864 was
much more favorable toward the railroad conf
panies
Senator Dawes-But up to that time you had
received II thing?
Senator Stanford-We had not The Act of
1862 required the construction of forty miles of
road before we should be entitled to any aid
from the Government
Senator Dawes-Did you have any contract
before?
Senator Stanford-Yes, we had to file an ac-
of fhn OF no Anf; o1F
acceptance on our part and an agreement to per-
form certain dutl s.
The Chairman-But the railroad could not get
anything until it had completed forty miles
Senator Stanford-It could not.
Senator Dawes-And therefore the Govern
ment was subordinated to the first mortgage?
THEIR OWN MEANS.
Senator Butler-The first forty mi .es was COM
pleted with your own means?
senator stanford-Yes, we had iron enough to
build nifty miles entirely from our own means.
We did not complain that the Government aided
other railroads. but we do say that it is circum-
stance 10 be considered by The Government in
settling with us that their aiding other roads di-
yerted business from US 10 the extent, which is
shown in the testimony. OF many millions of
dollars The injuries we receiv, d through the
competition which cut down our rates can
hardly be estimated. We were making money
very rapidly, and were preparing a sinking
fund by which ta pay off the Government loan
before that competition commenced and before
l0p thurman ACt was passed.
Senator Davis-I understand that the North.
ern Pacific Railroad was not finished until
1883?
Senator Stanford-No but it got far enough
along to affect our business.
Senator Davis-When was the Atchison road
finished?
Senator stanford-In 1888, believe.
Senator Davis-At what point did the North
ern Pacific road begin to affect your business
When it got to Helena?
TUF NoNTAS, pr-SrHrcs
Senator Stauford-T cannot tell you the point
exactly, but we felt the Montana business going
enti ely from us, and even the Union Pacific
road, by constructing through its influence a
line from Ogden, Utah, up towards Montana,
stopped the business that usually came from
the East. and IL does not go over our road at all
now. While we rendered a great deal better
service, the Government has never raid the
rates for carrying The mails that it used TO nav
to the stage lines. 1t paid Wells, Fargo & Co.
l,T5OOO0 per annum for carrying the mails
with maximum not to exceed eco pounds
AS soon as our railroad was completed they
required us to construct special Car, accordi Q
to the directions of the Government to carry
eighteen tons of mail matter and two rpesse1-
gers. They had that car, under their contract.
whether they fill it or not with mail matter
Au tralian mails are being sent across the road
and an extra car is required l have known o!
two extra cars being used the carry the mails
across the continent, and yet the Government
has never paid 10 the company quite 81 600 OOG
per annum for that service although it was
pay ing the large sum mention 10 Wells Fargo
Il Co.
Senator Dawes-They were paying that annu-
ally to Wells Fargo & Co.
LIVED UP To IFS CONTRACT.
StanfoTd-Yes: and the contract provided that
the maximum amounts should not exceed OOO
pounds Now the reports all show that The
Central Pacihc road has lived up to its contracts
In every respect Neither the Government nor
the people of the country in the construction OF
this road have ever been disappointed in a sin
gle expectation. 1t was not supposed that the
time allotted. which WAS until 1876 to build the
road was sufficient at the time of the passage of
the bill, and 1t was so stated in Congress- but
the reVly was that if more was required it could
be given. 1t has bsen said that the fact that we
built the road so RAPIDLY and at such extraorCi-
nary cos is not to be considered by the Govern
ment. ] think that fact should be considered
As have said, when we commenced to build
this road we thought that the local business and
the absence OF competition would enable us to
charge substantially what we considered a fair
price, and that the only competition would be
that of OK and mule teams.
THE UNION PACIFICS GAME.
AT the time of the passage of the Act of 1864
the Union Pacific road had made no progress
whatever. The country from the summit of the
Rocky Mountains through to Salt Lake was be-
lieved to be almost impa sable, and it was
thought that it wou d take long time to con-
struct that part of the road. However we pro-
ceeded with confidence, thinking that we should
be able to reach SaIt Lake before the Union Pa
citic road could possibly do so, but with the
surveys which were made it was sscertained that
the nlfncultieS were exaggerated that, ia fact
there were no great difficulties at all in con-
strurting the road from Omaha to Salt Lake
he Union Pacific road then sent over their en-
gineers to see what kind of a country we had to
go through. When they got over the Sierra Ne.
yadas and saw what we were doing-saw the
difficulties to be encountered there-they went
home and re ported that we could not possibly
raaG hos
least two years. Then it was that they con
cluded TO push on The building of their road as
rapidly as they could and meet us at the base of
the Sierra Nevada mountains, about $50 miles
east of the Sacramento valley.
SACRIFICES FOR SPEED.
We found also their capacity to construct a
road, and we saw that with the heavy work on
the sierra Nevada mountains-the $50 miles of
that kind OF road up a mountain where 1000
feet OF elevation is made in Si miles-that the
other road would be worthless unless we got up
far enough to reach into the basin of Utah, so
as to make every sacrifice possible for the sake
of speed During the three winters we were on
the mountains the snow fell to II depth of thirty
SIX 10 iorty feet but we worked through all
that We hauled our iron over the mountains
so that we could work beyond we tunneled
under the snow to get at our rock tunnels and
all material had to come from the East, II 600
miles by water, and then to be hauled up the
mountain, and we had to anticipate our wants
and provide for them in advance We sold the
Government bonds at eighty four cents on the
dollar at one time, because this work on the
mountain was done right in the midst of the
war. 1t is susceptible of demonstration that
there was more work in grading the first $50
miles of the Central Pacific Railroad than would
nave to be employed to grade the entire DAD
from there TO Omaha in fact than to grade a
road to Chicago. We worked more than double
the number of men on the sierra Nevada noun
talns within four years, and used on an average
800 kegs OF powder monthly. than we did after
ward in building the road to meet the Union
Pacific in Utah.
FAST WORK.
After we passed the mountains we built 500
miles of road in ten days less than ten months
That rate of speed Kept up for two years would
have taken us to Omaha In other words we
should have been able to get to Omaha in
year less time than we spent on the mountains
and by working half the force we had been
working on these mountains. The amount of
work rom the Sierra Neyadas to Ogden is about
a fair average of the work from there to the
Missouri river ct Omaha.
Senator Butler-What is your Eastern ter
minus?
Senator Stanford-Ogden was our business
terminus. We did all that extraordinary work
on these mountains, yet it would have been
worthless to Us operated by itself Had il not
de we would have all the conirol of the trade
OF Nevada
BUSINESS LOST.
BY the construction of the Union Pacific Road
we did actually lose the greater portion of that
trade except that Immediately upon our line of
road Now consider that at the beginning we
intended TO build a road over the Sierra Nevada
Mountains, because we could have no connec-
ton by water and no competition of any kind