The record-union., 1896-02-24
HUNTINGTON'O STATEMENT.
Ills Testimony Before the Committee on
Railroads.
History of the Central Pacific Railroad
and How the Property Has
Been Managed.


have been telegraphed to this coast,
have contained only garbled portions of
his testimony and it has been necessary
to await the arrival of the Eastern pa
pers in order to get a clear account of
what Mr.. Huntington really said. We
find the following report Of Mr.. Hunt
ington's testimony in the Washington
Times:
II come before you again, not to argue
the case, or perhaps to say anything
new. as it is the same old subject on
which you have heard me before, and,
that being so. may to some consider
able extent repeat what I have already
said.
When these roads were built. every
body wanted them. They were COM
menced-particularly the Central Pa
cific (which was begun a year or two be-
fore any of the others built under the
Acts Of 1862 or 1S64)--when everything
was high in price. Many of our iron
rails cost $140 ton laid in the track
These have all been replaced by steel
which now can be bought for about $50,
and they have some six or eight times
the wear that the iron had. For many
Of our locomotives we paid from SIC, 600
to $50, 800 apiece. lust such engines
can be bought now for from $1,000 to
$4,000.
THE freight on them then-as it was
on all material which had to be sent
around Cape Horn-was three times
what it is now, with very high insur
ance. Labor was high, and that and all
material used in the construction of the
road, except what was bought on the
Atlantic Coast, was paid for in gold.
The material bought in California in,
cluded vast quantities of lumber, as
many of the very deep arroyas of can
yens were spanned by timber trestles,
all of which were removed later, so that
now the trains pass over solid or steel
and iron bridges. All of this material
had to be paid for IL gold, for some Of
which we had to pay as high as 81 20
in currency for each dollar in gold.
BEGINNING THE ENTERPRISE.
when the Central Pacific Railroad
was built, it was thought that the peo-
pie who embarked their money and
their time in it were taking great risks.
Many of the men in New York and Bos-
ton of large means I endeavored to get
TO join US in the building Of the road,
but no one was willing to join US in the
undertaking. Such men as Moses Tay-
Ior, William E. Dodge, Commodore Gar
rison and many others I spent hours
with in the endeavor to induce them to
take an interest, and the reply made by
Commodore Garrison was in about the
words in which they all answered: ::
Huntington, the risk is too great, and
the profits, if any, are too remote. We
cannot take the risk 1 called upon
very many of the rich men of Cali
fornia, like D. o. Mills, Eugene Kelly,
John Parrot and others, but none of
them would join us, saying the risks
were too great, and others, that we were
crazy.
''An the people Of California, however,
wanted the road: the Government
wanted it, and all those in the East
who had friends in California wanted
it. so that each could go to the other
without the inconveniences and hard
ships Of the long and tedious sea voy-
age. Finally, the work was done, and
all said then that it was well done.
Il can truly say that, when the Cen
tral Pacific was completed the value Of
all the assets that the builders had was
not sufficient to pay the debts created
in doing the work by several millions Of
dollars. That debt was carried for
long time, until values appreciated;
then the shares and other assets were
sold and the debt was paid. After the
road was completed, before it could be
operated in the winter, on account Of
the snowstorms in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains, some forty miles of the line
had to be covered.
DIFFICULT CONSTRUCTION.
'It may be said that a building had
to be put over the track, and in some
places galleries had to be built for many
miles at an expense say of $4,000
mile, as it was necessary to build them
of enormous strength to withstand the
terrible avalanches of snow and rocks
which passed over them, and which
have been passing over them nearly
every winter since. The road has ac-
commodated thousands of people, and I
think has harmed no one. In order to
be able to give the committee some idea
of the magnitude of this snow shed con-
struction I telegraphed to our people in
San Francisco for defi2ite information
and have received the following reply:
. Lumber used in original construc-
ton of snow sheds 65,000,000 feet, board
measure No record preserved of lum-
ber actually used in repairs. Total cost
Of snow shed repairs from 1873 to date,
s.. .241 600 Divide this by SIT average
actual cost and we have an approximate
estimate for repairs and renewals to
date of 131, 800, 600 feet, board measure,
making a total for construction and re-
pairs to date Of 196, 100000 feet. board
measure
APPRECIATED VALUES.
"By the experience obtained in the
building of this road the builders went
on and built other roads, and in all
places where they have built, land has
appreciated enormously. Land which
was selling at s. an acre is now worth
$50. $40, $50, and in some places even
500 an acre, and probably there is no
section through which the road was
built. where the land was good for any
thing, that has not increased in value
more than 100 per cent
sThe Central Pacific, since its COM
pletion-and before, believe-has un-
der the Acts under which it was con-
structed not only fulfilled all its require
ments. but has had no trouble-neither
has the Government-wit the Indians.
through whose reservations we passed.
The Piutes, a very powerful tribe, were
before the road was built, at war with
the whites, but when the road was COM
pleted that trouble ceased, and the
Central Pacific, I think. is entitled to
the credit of its discontinuance.
1--WE have kept the road in fine phys
ical condition. and I believe it is one of
the best-equipped roads. for what it has
to do, in the whole country.
4 believe it could to-day do twice