The San Francisco call., 1896-03-18
E. p. vANDERCooK.

tanning the Supervisors in awarding the
franchise from this city to Livermore to
E. P. Vandercook has removed the last
obstacle in the way of the construction OF
the road.
A few months ago Mr.. Vandercook went
East and received many pledges of support
for his road when the cloud on the fran
chise was settled. Now that the franchise
has been affirmed the construction of the
road will be pushed with all possible
haste.
The new road will start at the terminus
of the present system managed by E. P.
Vandercook at Frui tvale. From there it
will go along the foothills toward Hay
wards, only keeping well to the north of
the county road, which is traversed by the
Haywards electric line. A branch will
run from the main line to Haywards. The
line will run to L1vermore and thence to
the Corral Hollow mines and will be oper-
ated by electricity and will be adapted SO
as to carry both freight and passengers.
1t will open up much new territory and
such line has been in demand for several
years.
The rights of way over such parts OF the
route as are not county roads have been
willingly donated by the owners, with one
or two exceptions near San Leandro. The
opposition in this neighborhood is attrib
uted to the agency OF the Haywards road,
which is of course: not anxious to see any
portion of its route paralleled. For sew
eral months surveyors have been in the
field and the route is all selected. In some
places there are two or three routes pro-
posed, but choice will soon be made now
that the matter of the franchise is settled.
For some time the directors OF the COM
pany have been trying to close a contract
with the Corral Hollow people by which
the new line shall have the exclusive right
to haul coal to tide-water in Oakland for
stated period of years. 1t is the trade
from the vast developments of Corral Hol-
low that the new line is chiefly depending
upon, as the freight will be enormous
when the coal mines open up for business.
1t has been calculated that coal can be de-
hvered at one-half the prevailing prices.
The contract, however, has not yet been
made.
Mr.. Vandercook states that as soon as
the preliminaries are completed work will
be commenced. 1t would have been diff
suit to have worked throughout the past
winter, and the directors are elated that
the Supreme Court has reached such all
early decision, as it will enable work to be
prosecuted under the most favorable con-
QltlOHS VI 4idChidy my W III COll-
mence in few weeks at several points
along the proposed route, and it is ex-
pected that within year the road will be
in operation.
The terms upon which the franchise was
granted was considered by tile Supervisors
to be very favorable.
The company has to provide electric
power for lighting and heating the County
Infirmary on the slope back of San Lean
dro where the new road will run. 1t will
also maintain electric-lights along the road
at stated intervals, and must pay one-quar-
ter of per cent of the gross earnings of
the road into the county treasury and
cash amount of $25.
The bid of A. d. Thompson which was
taken before the Supreme Court was 2 per
cent of the gross earnings of the line. The
court ruled that Thompson's offer was not
a cash one, as contemplated by the act.