The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-06-05

resistance offered on this coast did have its
effect eventually, and the bill died in the
Senate 1t must have cost the company d
rang to see its Legitimate darling come TO
an Untimely end. On the Goat Island grab
Mr. Huntington had confessed that he was
not originally friendly to it, but luaSnluch
as his associates had their hearts set that
way he would be hanged if they did not get
What they wanted.
By what mas occurred in Oakland-aEd
there may be q good deal yet To OcCUr-tAe
public. who study tie situation, can sa- what
would have been done had not cur pe0pls
bestirTed themselves 20 checkmate the de-
sion. The company wauld undoubtedly
have q. Goat Island bad Congress been left
Uuins ruct-d as 10 the facts, and then the
company could have built town aud
haryes and set up warehouses, and under
taken 10 dc the warehouslng business OF the
coast
The public, however, were not gulled by
the soothing aud iulling assurances given
20 the time By the railroad pl0tiers Just
before tie committee OF one hundred 0egan
% no d meetings, and while the Goat Island
grant was still before Congress and was
being pressed through WIKI all the arts Of
the lobby the Evening Bli etln published q
map to show what this scheme on the Oak
land shore meant, once the company had
ali IFS plans agreed 10. Tie map has many
elements of interest at the present day
il in oruer That cur readers may judge for
themselves. The Bulletin had the follow
ing comments in an editorial on the same
day:
rive publish elsewhere to-day map Of
the Jav Of San Francisco, filled In with a
Guy where the Central Pacific Railroad
Company owns the tide lands 1t should be
noticed that a considerable proportion OF
tie HAT marked Central City at low tide
is above water and that but little filling
would be required for a distance Of one
mile or one aud a half miles, from the
main shore. No disDassionate person eX-
aiming the s0undingS and location viii
say it is not perfectly practicable 10 make a
considerable town N the Slie noticed,
should the managers Of the Central PacIhc
Railroad Company 81 determine And then
we have Goat Island, which, 10 is pre-
sumed, is intended 10 be reached by a
bridge, as marked in our plan, connecting
with the main Improvement. The grant
by the State alone IS q tract sutlclent IN
extent % constitute considerable city. IL
should be borne in mind that this grant IS
not vet dead although bill TO extend the
time for IMPROVEMENT has been vetoed by
the Governor, for the company has one and
half years remaining ~ which to eXpend
$4,000, when it VIII Oa secure Tie grant
gives the right Of way fer a bridge to the
island from The Oakland shore, 80 feet in
width. The water Is some 90 feet deep for
short distance east Of Goat Island, which
would be passed by a tubular bridge. leay-
ing the tides 20 ebb or flow between the plat
Of Central City and the island. The railway
CgmUanv has applied to Congress for grant
Of Goat Island. including also the right 10
construct a bridge from the Oakland shore
10 that point. Should this scheme be con-
summated the railroad company viii own
land extending uninteuuptedly tW0-thlTds
Of the way across the bay.
T"It is sheer folly to say that this effort to
obtain control over several thousand acres
Of land, much Of which may easily be I'M
proved, means nothing. The moment Con-
gTess consents that Goat Island shall be-
come private prof. erty, then the company
viii commence grading and filling III the
land obtained from tie State, when that
Will have been made secure. The company
has simply 10 eXpend 100000, when this
city Will be threatened Ia such a way as
viii MAKE prOpeTty-0wners groan. The
manipuations on the opposite side OF the
bay put US IN mind of the efforts which were
made four years ago to obtain some eight
mics Of the waterfront of this city, ex-
tending south from Mission Bay. We IN
derstaud very well why the Genital Pacific
Company does not desire a bridge now, and
throws cold water on the project 1t was
that they might obtain a stronger influence
over u.s. Having Goat Island and some
5000 acres Of tide lands Of their own,
they could make this city give Mission
Bay and millions # dollars in the form OF
subsidies As 1t is, they expect TO obtain
the right to sweep the entire water front Of
San Francisco with a railroad, and property
in Mission Bay worth millions OF dollars,
without even promising anything more than
the termination Of railroad leading down
the coast counties san Francisco has
reached point 10 her history when she
will be bound hand aud foot II she does not
take heed. Tie city must not give more
money, more property, unless we have some
thing tangtble-a certainty that we shall
not be giving simply to ruin ourselves. At
the present time there is but oae opinion in
this city. Merchants. business meD, me-
Chanics and ordinary labOrers have home
steads here. and they will not consent that
any deterioration shall take place IN their
values il they can help it.
TIE fore going does not at all under
describe tie danger that then loomed ahead.
A new city was possible on railroad land,
and all tie adjuncts o. n great port could
have been provided at comparatively small
cost The difficulties ID tic way OF OBJ
tanning all the deep-water accommodation
needed for miles along he saOse are slight
compared with the labor aud the cost III
VOWED in making docks and haTbOrs IN Lon
don, Liverpool, Manchester, Antwerp,
Glasgow and many other places. Either 10y
dredging CT filing IN. Tie task IS trivial to
lie engineer aud not serious for the capl-
talist. The question that should occupy az
tention It this moment is what the com
psny intends 10 do in the future. Does the
land Of the Oakland water front really be-
long TO u? The company Claims the
water front. aud will fight for possession,
but those who ought to know believe that
tie compaay's claim is illegal. Yet no one