The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-10-21
COAST EXCHANGES,

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advent of an era of railroad building in
California. After showing that one great
railroad has dominated the State and ex
tended its feeders only where traffic is as
sured, it contrasts this policy with the
more progressive one of the middle West
ern trunk lines, and adds:
at seems as though California were at
last awakening to the fact that all things
may come to those who wait. They really
come much sooner to those who meet them
half way. The new line of road through San
Joaquin Valley has already given an i'm
petus to that section never felt before. All
along the line of the new road towns will
spring up, and various industries will fol-
low as matter of course. The great land
tracts will be broken up into small farms,
because small farms will be the more pro-
titable, when all are in easy reach of trans
portation. Our State is twenty-five years
behind the times, owing almost wholly to
this lack of transportation and the conse-
quent concentration of industries. Farm
ing has ceased to be profitable, because the
one great crop, wheat, costs more to mar
ket than it will bring. The railroads will
change all this, and where one crop is now
CulblNdLcU VIC lccllllS sui w III
produce a hundred.
"The new road now in process of con-
struction will bring others. Already there
is talk of another great overland route, to
enter our State from the northeast When
this comes, as come it will in the near
future, it will also send out its branches
and revolutionize the northern portion of
the State, as the southern portion is now
being revolutionized by the iron horse.
One of the most encouraging signs of the
times is the fact that the great treasure
vaults of San Francisco are being opened
and the accumulated millions are finding
their way into the channels of legitimate
investment. The gold that has come from
our mountains is beng used to develop the
State. With good roads reaching to every
part of our vast empire will come the
intelligent population that is SO much
needed to start the wheels of progress.
We believe the era is now upon u.s. and
that the next twenty years will see a
greater growth in California than has the
past forty of its history"
The San Diego World calls attention to
the interesting fact that it would require
only 225 miles of railroad building to give
Southern California connection with Salt
Lake. This information will be encour-
aging to those who think that the whole
distance, 750 miles, would have to be
covered. The World shows that the dis
lance from Vanderbilt, the terminus of the
Nevada Southern Railroad, to Milford, the
terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad in
Southern Utah, is only 225 miles, of which
nearly one,half, 100 miles, is already
graded from Milford southwesterly to
Clover Valley, and that the remaining 125
miles from Glover Valley to Vanderbilt is
all easily graded and can be built quite
rapidly. The World accordingly urges the
people of Southern California to bend their
efforts toward the closing of the gap.
According to the Fresno Republican the
Supervisors OF that county have essayed
the task of building a scientifically con-
structed wagon road. 1t will be only four
miles long, but that is but beginning.
| This is the way in which the road is to be
made: Cleans with road-plows will be set
to work and the present road will be broken
up. The high places will be dragged down
and the low places filled. The road-b
will be made smooth and dry above wet
weather pools. 1t will have the proper
| slope both ways from the center, so that
no water will stand on the surface. There
will be thorough mixing of soil. Where
there is too much sand clay will be hauled
in and mixed with the sand to the proper
degree. Where the soil is clay and liable to
become muddy in the winter sand will be
hauled in and mixed with the clay. By
this means a road will be made which
will be neither sandy in summer nor
muddy in winter. A 20,000-pound roller
will be kept at work while the road is in
process of construction. After the road is
leveled and given the proper slope toward
/ the sides the roller will pack it to q hard.