Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-02-21
A SHORT TALK
With ce-President ChaS
w. Smith.
LOS ANGELES TO BE A CAPITAL
So Thinks Mr.. Smith, when the
State is Divided into Two
Parts. Railroad News.

The HERALD's representative called a. tn
Santa Fe depot yesterday afternoon to se
Mr.. C.. W. Smith, the Vice resident AM
General Manager oi the Atchison Topeka
Santa Fe Co. That gentleman was yer.
busily engaged ut the time of the first Visit
but when the second one was made he wei
coined the newspaper man in a very coVdla
man er. In answer to question about III
health, he said: "Ycs, sir, was unable Z
see any one yesterday, owing to sllght IN
dissosltion which necessitatcd absolute
rest an quiet, but to-day feel much bette
AMI have been quite busy all day."
"What WAS the obi ct in your visit al th.
time, Mr. smith,
at was strictly for business. I make seve
raj trips over the entire line every go !,
order to thoroughly understand lts cohui
tion. and that is partly the reason for thi
one"
what is the other one?"
"Wcll, l wanted to look over the con
struction now going on, ana to see wha
could be Zone to hurry 1t up"
Are you going to make any improve
mehts to the road now"
"Ohl / shall probably suggest se' era
minor things, but we want to ct tn ough
with the work now going on before W.
II suppose you mean by that, that you d.
not intend to commence the construction Of
aby more branches for some timer
mo, sir; we will not do anything now il
the way of extension until we have com
pleted everything we have on hand now
"Huw are you getting along with the ex
tension 70 san Diego, and when Will 1t be
fnished7"
"well, sir, we are doing, very well; The
great scarcity of materials has delayed US 0
great deal, and we will not get the road nm
ished as soon as we hoped, though we will
have train run'lug there i'll ninety days
"How about the road from Perris to Sar
Jacintu?' That is almost entirely graded
now and will lie completed before many
weeks" 1.-The road from San Bernardo {
to Mentone, about twelve miles long viii bt
finished by tomorrow night or heXt day
and trains VIII run there according the new
timetable which will he out on the 26tE
instant"
II suppose you were greatly surprised a
the amount OF travel to this country st all
were you not?'' Yes sir, we were, We
could have don SO easily, but instead vi ne
ing 5000 a month, we brought to Los Ange
les an average of 5000 people for foul
months, making nearly twice as many as WE
had so much more freight tnan We
anticipated it caught us short of rolling
stock an sho Of motive power
you win make preparations for another
rush next ldli, VIII on NOT!
Yes sir; W. are 1ncr' asing our rolling
stock and motive power US fast as pOSsl BILE,
aud viii be able to haul everything we can
get next fall
DO you think the rush Will be as great
then as II was this season.
"Well, | can't say though | believe the
future OF southern Calf rnia to be grand
one. believe people will continue to come
here until the whole country becomes one
Of the most densely populated 81 ctions Oh
the United States"
After few il cidental renal ks, Mr. Smith
said:
II am firmly convinced that the State of
California will be divided into two paI ts,
and that within the next five years"
What do you think will be the dividing
Hnr-wher1 will it be lUcated?'
THAT, Of course, ! cannot say They Will
have to make u pretty even division.
J aquin valley in this part of the State,
and l am sure Los Angeles will be made
the capital"
What do you think of the future of this
city as II railroad center?"
"Oh think il is assured"
'Do You, ever thi' k of extending your
line 10 san Francisco?"
"We think of il ony as something in the
very d NJ future. We dou't care TO do it
now"
"You could not if you wanted to, for a
number of years, believe"
mo, we could not starr to work without
first giving the southern Pacific Company
two years notice of our intention, but We
are satisfied with Los Angeles
Mr. smith said he exp cted to leave this
morning at O'Clock for the East. The
Bridge Committee went to see him, to as
certain whether or not he would agree to
Cooperate with the Los Angeles Cabt1 Road
aud the city Railway Co, in building ele-
vtted iron bridges over the liver at Downey
Ave. and At First stccet, and at Seyeuth
street. M.rrSmith told the Committee, he
would suomit a proposition as soon as he
returned home.