The record-union., 1895-05-10
ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BAY.


When the bill to lease terminal facili-
ties on the waterfront of San Francisco
was before the Legislature, we pointed
out that it was an attempt to make pri-
vate asset out of public property. That
statement covered the case exactly. The
Directors of the San Joaquin Valley road
have refused to accept the lease because
it does not make a corporate asset OF
property belonging to the people OF the
State of California. San Francisco occu-
pies a most unfortunate position on the
map of the State. 1t is practically on an
approaching completion by the coast
to Santa Barbara would find its short
est route on the east side of the
bay from San Francisco, and Goat Island
would be its natural terminus. The San
Joaquin Valley road would have found
no difficulty in securing terminal facili-
ties on the eastern shore of the bay or at
the Straits of Carquinez But San Fran
cisco Bay must be crossed; an arm of the
sea must be ferried in order to bring
lines of commerce by ocean into focal re-
lation with the same lines by land. This
is an absurdity. There is a deep water
line on the eastern shore of the bay of
San Francisco at which ship and car can
be brought together. and there is
an inherent tendency TO establish
an introactive relation between the
sea and land at some point along
the San Francisco Bay. This is
proven by the fact that all attempts to
make San Francisco the terminus of
transcontinental or State railroads are
attended with tremendous outlay. The
case of the San Joaquin Valley Railroad
is a shining illustration. 1t will cost as
much to establish terminal facilities in
San Francisco, and ferry equipment for
freight and passengers, as it will to build
three hundred miles of line down the San
JOAQUIN Valley. 1t will cost nearly two
million and half to make San Francisco
the terminus of the San Joaquin Valley
Railroad, and it ought not to cost more
than that to construct three hundred
miles of railroad on the level plains of
the San Joaquin.
When the Oakland Water Front Com
pany tied up the water front privileges of
Oakland. it was performing service to
San Francisco which that city appears
not to have duly appreciated. Every
pound of overland freight must be ferried
to what is the equivalent OF an island in
the ocean. across an arm of the sea: and
then drayed from the outer boundaries of
the city to warehouses and cellars on its
commercial streets; thence to be returned
by dray and ferriage to the mainland.
when the goods pass to the ownership of
the consumer.
Tt is clearly manifest that this condi-
ton of things cannot always last. Either
Oakland or the Straits of Carquinez will
eventually be the commercial center OF
the coast. San Francisco cannot be ap-
preached from the north without costly
ferriage. while it's eastern approach Is
eoually inaccessible. The ocean lies to
the westward, and there is no harbor on
the west shore of the peninsula. To these
disadvantages is added the more import
ant one that the approach from the south
is the shortest and most accessible by
lines of railway lying on the east shore OF
the bay.
The lease of the public property of the
water front of San Francisco has failed
as a corporate asset because the deep
water front of San Francisco is so limited.
From Antioch to Alameda there are at
least thirty miles of deep-shore line. If
the metropolis of the Pacific Coast were
located on the east shore of the harborage
afforded by the bay systems connected
with the ocean, the construction of COM
mating railroads would be easy of achieve
ment.
The confident prediction which for the
last forty years has been made concern
mo the relocation of the chief CONNER
cia, emporium of the Pacific Coast is al
,rcst o.r.a;- of early fulfillInent. The