The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-11-26
Condition Of the Oregon In
Il: praVement Company.
Reasons Assigued for applying for the Ap-
.......:;. pointmsnt Of Receiver.
Statement Of The Attorney-A Claim That
=: the Resources Are abundant to Meet
+. :: ;. the Liabilities.
-:
spscial to THE MORNING CALI.

States Cirenit Court this morning Eliza
Smith and Prosper W. Smith, Of New York,
through their attorneys, made application
for the appointment Of a recei yer for the
Oregon. Improvement Company, organized
under the laws of Oregon. The application
sets forth that in order to secure the credit
of the company under the present financial
situation it was necessary that receiver
should beap olnted
:: The application further sets forth that the
Oregon Improvement Company. conceiving
its duty to be to protect its property and to
treat the same as trust fund for the secur-
ity first Of its creditors AMI then for its
stockholders, determined to appeal to the
court fer a,receiver, Their eby preventing the
destruction of its transportation system
and the scattering of its assets in
numerous suits, which would inevitably
follow unless this step was taken. The ap-
pfication shows the company owns the fol
lowing properties: Real estate-Two thou
sand five hundred and twenty-elght acres of
coal,land in the State of Washington; 5000
acres of agricultural and timber lands in the
States Of Oregon and Washington; one-half
interest in a great water-ditch in the State OF
Washington; two blocks of land in San
Francisco; leased premises, consisting Of
coaLDunkers, etc, at Oakland, Cal, and
Portland and Astoria, Oregon; 430 town lots
in Prescott, AriZ. Personal prOperty-Thr
teen steamships which are leased to the Pa
eff Coast Steamship Company; Is, 900 shares
If Pacific Coast Steamship Company; 1S,70i
shares of Pacific Coast Railway Company,
which owns and operates the narrow-gauge
railroad from Port Hartford to Los Olives,
Cal, a distance of seventy-six miles, the
- 70 lTa. IN lln
shares of the Columbia and Puget Sound
Railway Company from Seattle to the New
castle coal mines, in Washington, twenty
miles, with branch twenty-three miles in
length, known as the Cedar River extern
sion; 5000 shares of the Seattle Coal and
Transportation Company. The company
holds as security for advances the entire
issue of the capital stock Of the Seattle and
Northern Railway Company; also the en-
tire issue of the capital stock Of the Port
Townsend and Southern Railway Com
pany; $685., coo in par value of the Olympia
and Chehalis Valley Railroad Company.
The following persons and CORPORATIONS
are made defendants: the Farmers Loan
and Trust Company of New York, Colum-
bia and Puget Sound Railroad Company,
Seattle Coal and Transportation Company,
Seattle and Northern Railway Company,
Port Townsend Southern Railroad Com
paDy and the Olympia and Chehalis Valley
Railroad Company.
OBJECT OF THE COMPANY.
j. C. Haines, general attorney for the
Oregon Improvement Company, said this
afternoon: 1.-The object of the company, so
far as it has gone. is simply TO preserve the
integrity of the present system and keep 1t
together. The coal mines in the State Of
Washington cannot be operated without the
railroads owned by the company, nor can
the roads be operated unless the mines are
Kept running. We want to prevent the COM
napV's nrQpprtV frOO hplup hrOkpn into
fragments and sold under attachments for
lis fl ated indebtedness. II 1t is so broken
up, the sales thereof would be ruinous to not
only the stockholders, but to the creditors
as well. Ii We can keep the business going
till the present financial strngency is over,
we can have no trouble in meeting
all our obligations. The resources Of
the company are abundant to meet
its liabilities, and if the money market of
last summer had continued we would now
be on a solid bottom. If the company is not
disintegrated it can pay off every dollar Of
its Indebtedness, which will not exceed
sT,000,000, while the company's property is
worth at least S10,000,0o0. The situation
now is that the court has charge OF the COM
pany by virtue OF its officer, and, accord
ipgly, no attachment can be issued unless
the court grants creditor permission TO
bring suit"
Joseph Simon has been appointed re-
ceiver, and will file his bond and assume
C. Caesar d Co. to-day began suit in the
Circuit Court against the Oregon Improve
meDt Company to recover the sum of $3.50,
the value Of $50 tons of coal.
CAUSE OF THE DIFFICULTIES.
= SEATTLE, Nov. 25.-The application for
the appointment of a receiver for the Oregon
improvement Company was the one subject
Of conversation to-day among railroad men.
There was general agreement that the rail-
roads, the building of which was the imme-
date cause of the company's difficulties,
were only built for the purpose OF booming
town sites and afterward being sold 10 some
of the great railroad companies. The
.. Northern Pacific declined an outright pur-
chase of the Seattle and Northern road aud
was satisfied with a ninetv-nine years traffic
agreement. The road had. however, served
the purposes .of booming property. 1t ira
verses some of the rich land on the sound,
both agricultural and mineral, aud may
soon become a rich source of revenue.
With the Port Townsend and Southern the
circumstances are different. 1t is entirely
Isolated from any railroad system until 1t is
extended to Olympia for distance of
eighty miles. For half of this distance
it would traverse the base Of the
Olympic Mountains, and would have TO de-
pend for business on the products of mar
row strip of land. The settlement of this strip
has only begun, and, while the mountains
are reported to be rich in minerals, their de-
yelopment has not even progressed SO far as
prospecting, and all that is known is the re-
suit of an exploration made within the last
year. The construction OF railroad through
such section offered no inducements to
practical railroad men, and it was found
impossible TO sell the twenty miles of road
from Port Townsend to HoOkers Lake.
Thus the chance OF resellipg these two roads
disappeared, and the borrowed money used
in building them, instead of being realized
promptly with profit, became a permanent
investment with only prospective profits.
One railroad official found another cause
of trouble in the variety of lines of business
in which the Oregon Improvement Conn
pany is engaged. 1t is operating railroad,
mills. requiring the services of men Of the
highest ability in each of those lines, 10
whom much must be trusted, as the general
officers could not be expected TO be familiar
with every branch OF business. Yet every
proposal 10 buy any one of these properties
has met with refusal. the officers being de-
termined to sell all together or none.
7. z. Padden, the Auditor, said to-day
that he had no official information yet as TO
the application for receiver. He said that
all the property was paying well. The COM
pany's difficulties do not involve any cessa-
ton of work except on the new construc-
ton. All branches OF its business which are
now producing revenue Will be run as at
present, including railroads, steamers, coal
mines, bunkers and wharyes The construc-
ton of new railroads will probably cease.
New YORK, Nov. 25-The Evening Post
quotes Treasurer Smith of the Oregon I'M
pr0vement Company as saying he expected
to be able soon to issue an address In ex-
PLANTATION OF the whole situation to the stock
holders In the mean time he would say the
company IS in a PROSPEROUS condition, and
had earned and paid 3 per cent on its capital
stock. The receivership will be in the in
terest CT the company. and the bondholders
Will be fully protected. Oae OF the Direc-
tors Is quoted as saying there is no question
as to the sOlvency of the company.
IMMIGRATION INVESTIGA TON.
Chinese Being Constantly Struggled Across
:: .: the Intern ational Boundary Line.
Cp0KlNE Fare NV 0STba Jo;nt