The San Francisco call., 1896-03-03
Prospects for the Location of a
Beet.Sugar Factory on
the Channel.
GIVES CHEAP TRANSPORTATION
Extension From Mormon Channel to the
Material Yards of the San Joa.
quin Valley Railroad.

STOCKTON, CAL, March 2.-Division
Superintendent Mcfarland, P. A. Buell.
and several other officials of the San
way recently paid visit of inspection to
Stockton's new water front and witnessed
the gigantic work of the bucket dredge
Ajax.
There are good many people in Stock
ton who do not know that this wonderful
Ajax machine is working daily to increase
the water frontage of this city by fully
5000 feet. The work has been going on
very quietly now for about four months,
and the big channel or estuary is more
than half completed. At present those
who know of its existence call it the
Boggs- Buell. railroad canal, but shorter,
not to say more euphonious, title for the
famous canal is recognized as one Of the
crying needs of the hour.
Since the Valley Railroad came to Stock
ton this is one of the biggest and most ben
eficial undertakings that has been set on
foot In this city. The cut is at almost
right angles with and from Mormon Chan
mel, and extends for distance of 1000 feet.
1t is 80 feet in width and will have depth
of 20 feet, which is ample for the unload
ing of barges, schooners and even the
steamers that come up from the bay
through the San Joaquin and Stockton
rivers. On one side of the new channel
the land is owned by the Colusa State Sem
ator, John Boggs, and on the other side
the P. A. Buell. lum ber-yard and the
material yards of the Valley Railroad hold
the titles.
The cutting of this channel will be of
the utmost benefit to the Valley Railroad,
as it will permit all the material for the
construction of the road to be hauled from
San Francisco Bay in barges to the ma
terial yards, and there loaded from the
barges to the construction trains, which
will run on the borders of the channel.
Water frontage is very limited guam
tity in Stockton at present, and for this
reason the new cut will be of inestimable
benefit not only to those Immediately
interested in the enterprise, but to the
entire city ana even the surrounding
farmers as WE'LL. 1t is expected that Sena-
tor Boggs will build grain warehouses on
his land that adjoins the channel, and if
this be done it is easy 10 see what ad-
vantageous facilities will thus be afforded
the shippers. In fact all class of shippers
or importers will be directly benefited by
the canal, Stockton's bright commercial
future considerably hastened and her
present business prosperity much height
ened.
The work is all contracted for and more
than half completed. Already over LOG. 900
cubic yards of earth have been excavated,
and within three months the remainder
will be taken out. The estimated cost is
$4,000.
One of the big projects on foot in con-
nection with this canal is the erection OF a
beet sugar factory on the borders of the
tidal cut. This is considered something
more than possibility and an almost GER
tainty, since Claus Spreckels has several
times expressed himself as favorable to
such an enterprise.
San Joaquin County farmers are plant
ing sugar beets in large acre ages at present,
and it is thought that the required number
of acres for the support of sugar factory
will be planted before the end of this year.
San Joaquin soil, particularly that in the
region Immediately adjoining this city, is
peculiarly adapted to sugar beet culture,
as several practical experiments have al
ready shown.