The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-04-26
FOR MILLIONS.
Railroad Properties
to Go.
BIG TRANSFER MADE
In Pacific Improvement
Company Realities.
OVER s12,OOO,OOO INVOLVED.
Castle Crag, Hotel FL Carmelo
and Other Holdings
TO BE PLACED ON THE MARKET.
One Hundred and Fifty Townsites
and 5000 Acres of Land to
Be Offered for Sale.
Castle Crag, Hotel Ell Carmelo
and Other Holdings
TO BE PLACED ON THE MARKET.

By the action of the board of directors
of the Pacific Improvement Company. at
their meeting op Tuesday. it was decided
TO place property valued at from $4,000 900
to $4,000, 600 in the charge of the land de-
partment of the Central Pacific road for
disposal.
The Pacific Improvement Company and
the Southern Pacific, although organized
under different charters, are practically
one and the same, as the stock of both cor
pOrations is owned in great part by the
same persons. The Southern Pacific Com
pany, so its last annual report states, owns
about 81, 100000 of stock in the Improve
ment Company.
The latter was organized for the purpose
of undertaking construction work of Vari-
Gus kinds which the Southern Pacific was
unable to successfully prosecute. But the
operations of the Improvement Company
were not confined to construction work
alone, as it has acquired. in its COMPARE
lively brief existence, an enormous amount
of property.
Just what the action OF the company
signifies it is not difficult to surmise, but is
rather difficult to satisfactorily explain
upon hypothesis which the officials of
the company are willing TO admit is the
correct one.
Mrs. Stanford, as is well known. is a
heavy stakeholder in boh corporations.
AS is also we'll known, or rather as has
been repeatedly asserted of late and not
contradicted, she is said to be quite
anxious to secure a large amount of ready
cash for the purpose of furt, ering certain
matters which will require large outlay.
This, it is reasonable to suppose, may
bad something TO do with the action of
the company. Again. it is asserted in
some quarters, the Pacific improvement
Company has not Deen as prosperous of
late as its stockholders would wish. 1t is
said that nearly every one of the securi-
ties which it possesses have suffered
greatly during the recent depression in
business affairs throughout the country,
and that, in fact, its days of usefulness as
an auxiliary of the Southern Pacific Com
pany have passed. While If this were
true the natural inference one would
draw from the situation would be that the
present step was the initiation of a move
looking toward dissolution, 1t is but fair to
say that the officials Of the company deny
that such is the intention.
Whatever theory may be advanced for
the step one fact is patent and that is that
money is needed and that the most avail
able means of securing it is thought TO be
by the disposal of these various proper
ties.
The sale will include considerably over
1880 acres of land, scattered over the
States of California, Oregon, Nevada and
Utah, some Of it improved and some of it
not. Also in cluded in the list are 125 town
sites, comprising such places as Reno,
Truckee. Corning, Willows, Montague,
MERGED and others on the main lines Of
the Southern Pacific and its branches.
Near Santa Barbara are located 1000 acres,
1000 of which are comprised in what is
widely known as the Hope ranch, and on
which is located small lake, which could
be utilized to add 10 Santa Barbara's water
supply, which is one of the company's
properties.
The largest single body of land is in
Siskiyou County, this State, which con-
sists of about 80. 500 acres. 1900 to Is, 600 of
which are under fence and used for
pastorsge.
The lone ranch, owned by the 1one Coal
and Iron Company, and from which the
lone coal is shipped, is owned in part by
the Pacific Improvement Company. and
the list of other properties which 1t also
possesses. and which will be sold, Is SO
large that it will be impossible to give
space to enumerate them.
Probably the most important single
piece of property which will be affected
by the new move is that at Monterey-at
least the public is more familiar with il
through its embracing the famous Hotel
del Monte. While 1t was stated yesterday
by the Southern Pacific officials that this
piece of property had not yet been placed
upon the market, they refused to state
plainly that it would not be, and the
probability is that it will go with the rest.
The property at Monterey embraces
about Il. 600 acres. 200 of which is devoted
to the hotel grounds. The Hotel del
Monte stands in grove of ancient oaks
and pines few hundred yards from the
beach, and with its back to the ocean and
the trade winds faces the south. From
the hotel northward there are miles oil
sand beach, affording at low tide drive
equal TO tie one of similar kind at Calves.
ton. This beach extends south and west
to Monterey. and thence on around the
peninsula which bounds the southern ex
tremity of the bay the coast is wild and
rocky, its ruggedness broken and tanned al
intervals by little beaches of sand The