Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-08-21
R. CRocKER's FAMOUS RUDE.

better showing II for the past thirty or
forty years there had been more Charlie
Crockers"
Mr.. cRocKER's FAMOUS RIDE.
Y. L. Drew was asked if he did not have
some Renaissance Of Mr.. Croker which
would be read with interest at this time.
ayes, l have" said Mr.. Drew. 81 was
one OF the party that accompanied Mr..
Croker on his famous rifle from Sacra-
mento to Virginia City. The story has
lately been partially and incorrectly told,
but can give you the facts just as they
occurred.
about the time the Genital Pacific was
completed as far as Roseville, the
fight between it and the Sac
ramento Valley Railroad Company
was very bitter. The latter ran road
from the nei. hborhood of Patterson's to
Freeport, which in the matter of sending
passengers over the mountains saved an
hour and half between Freeport and
Sacramento. as the travel was then all BY
the river They had also completed a
road from Folsom to Latrobe, where they
connected with the line of the Pioneer
Stage Company, their route being by way
of Placeryille. Their object in building
these two links was that they could land
passengers at Latrobe at about the same
time the Central Pacific people could land
them at Sacramento.
After the Central Pacific had been
completed to Roseville, they let another
section and completed it as far as Colfax.
Still the fight was being carried on bitterly,
and it was the intention of the Sacra-
TaIl II
they could to injure the Central Pacific,
hence they got up the scheme to make the
trip from San Francisco by way of Free
port, Folsom, Latrobe, Placerville and
over the mountains to Virginia City,
claiming that it was much shorter route
and that the Dutch Flat route was a
swindle.
"At that time, when the Central Pacific
was completed as far as Colfax, the Cali
fornia Stage Company swung in their
stock and made line from Colfax, by the
way of Nevada City and Henness Pass, to
Virginia City. The Central Pacific people
then went to work and built what was
known as the Dutch Flat Turnpike road
from Dutch Flat to Bonner Lake. After
that was done the California Stage Com
pany swung their stages on to the Dutch
Flat road
About that time the Sacramento valley
people, finding that they were getting a
little behind in their travel, concluded to
make a fast trip from San Francisco to
Virginia City. Edgar Mills, being in San
Francisco, learned when the trip was to
be made, and on the day before he came to
Sacramento and informed Mr. Stanford of
the situation. Mr.. Stanford at once sent
for Mr.. Croker and James Haworth,
President Of the California Stage Com
pany, and consulted as to what could be
done. The result was that George Wood,
the road agent of the California Stage
Company, and afterwards a conductor,
made the trip from Colfax clear through
to Virginia City and returned in "a hours
to Colfax, fixed the route, laid up
his teams and got them in shape, and we
were ready to start as soon as they were.
Mr. Stanford came to me on the day of de-
parture and asked me if | would be one of
a party of four or FIVE to make the trip.
told him l would The matter was then
talked over, and Harry Montfort was sent
to Freeport to meet the steamer the mo-
ment she landed and get the San Francisco
papers, so that there could be no mistake
about its being reliable. AS soon as he got
the papers he jumped OH his horse and
came to Sacramento as fast as he could
ride.
"The train was standing ready at the foot
of K street, having on board Charles
Croker, Justice Hovey, E. A. Rockwell,
Horace Adams and myself. The moment
Montfort delivered the papers in my
hands, Mr.. Crocker called out: Let
her go. Drew, you mark the time
1t was six minutes past midnight when
the train started. We crossed the bridge
rather moderately, but from the end of the
bridge to Newcastle. said to be % miles,
we made the trip in q minutes.
From there We took the stage, first stop
ping six miles beyond Auburn, and the
stations were laid out about eleven miles
apart from there to Virginia City. We
landed in Virginia City at FIVE minutes
past one o'clock that afternoon, making
the trip from the foot of K street to Vir-
GINA City in thirteen hours and one
minute.
''Mr. Croker carried a memorandum
book, in which he took down the time and
called il out. We had six-horse stages all
the way, and the longest time we were at
any station, from the time we stopped IN
til we we're on the move again, was four
minutes and a half. l am the only one
left out of the party of six, including
George Wood, who occupied the box with
the different drivers. Even with the rail-
road they have never landed passengers
from Sacramento in Virginia City in so
short time.
ave passed Bonner Lake at half past
six in the morning, and the ride down the
Bonner Lake hill was something never to
be forgotten. The horses we're all on a
dead run the whole distance, and it was
something frightful. | would not have
made the trip again for thousand dollars.
"The other stage party did not reach
Virginia City until about o'clock in the
afternoon. 1t was composed of Charley
Mclean, owner of the Pioneer Stage Line;
J. P. Robinson, George Z. Bragg, Presi-
dent of the road, and representative Of
the San Francisco Alta. think his name
was Livingston"
Mr.. CRoCKER's HONESTY.
Secretary G. L. Lansing, of the Southern
Pacific Company, speaking about Mr..
Crocker's integrity, said: There have
been in the past rumors and implications
in circulation rejecting on the honesty of
Mr.. Croker and his associates. will say
that I never knew more honest man.
He stood square to his principles on all
occasions, and his question always was, not
whether a course of action was expedient,
but whether it was right. Time and again
men have come to him with propositions
trihe shady, which, in stating, they
would let the meaning be implied rather
than directly put forth. To these Mr..
Croker would say, bluntly, as was his
wont: I don't understand you; first say
exactly what you want and what you
mean, and then we can talk about it :
and" continued Mr. Lansing, she would
never give an answer until the individual,
whoever it was, had spoken as he desired.
In his relations with the Central and South
ern Pacific his integrity was lust as remark