The San Francisco call., 1897-09-18
RAILROAD WORK
NEAR STOCKTON
Corps of Valley Road En-
gineers Surveying in
TuIe Lands.
Seeking a Course That May
Save Twenty Miles to
the Bay.
Route Determined From Pacheco
Landing to Point Richmond.
Other Progress.

The Valley Railway Company has put
its engineers TO work in the tuIe lands
west of Stockton TO survey proposed
course for the extension of the road this
way toward the bay.
A corrs OF fifteen men is already on the
ground running lines, sounding channels
and making borings at different places to
ascertain the depth to a solid foundation.
To determine the course westward of
Stockton TO Pacheco Landing in Contra
Costa County is practically the final step
preparatory to actual construction of the
road from Stockton to Richmond Point on
The bay shore.
There are about twenty miles of tule
lands to be traversed. If the engineers
investigations warrant 1t the company
will build its road directly through the
tules at an additional expense, but at a
saving of from fifteen to twenty miles
over the cheaper course, which is round
by the way followed by the Southern
Pacific.
1t will req quire almost three months for
the surveying CORPS to complete its in
vestIgations of all possible and practicable
courses. Then rights of way will be
hastily obtained and actual work prob
ably begun.
From Pacheco Landing to Point Rich
mond, which is the proposed bay ter
minus, the course has already been tf-
nitely determined upon. 1t has all been
staked off. The road will be from Pacheco
Landing up grade to the mouth of FRANK
lin Canyon, where it crosses Alham bra
Valley; it will follow up Franklin Canyon
TO the mouth Of q proposed tunnel, mile
long, through to Rodeo Valley, will follow
Rocco Valley down TO Pinole, and thence
this way it will run parallel 10 the South
ern Pacific line as far as San Pablo, where
it i'll turn off to Point Richmond.
Work on this long connecting link be-
tween the bay and the present terminus
at Stockton may be begun within the next
four months.
In the meantime road building and
track-aying will continue down the val
lev from the temporary terminus at
Angola, beyond Merced, to Bakersfield,
distance OF sixty miles, the first twenty
OF which are already graded. At the
same time the track recently com pleted
to~Visalia Will be extended a distance of
twenty mics to the proposed junction
about nine miles north of Angola. The
work of construction is now steadily
going on.
The Valley road has occasioned con-
siderable cut in freight and passenger
rates wherever it has come in direct COM
petition with the Southern Pacific. For
instance before the Valley road was re-
Gently completed 10 Visalia little pri-
vate line was maintained from Goshen
Junction to Visalia, and everything trans
ierred TO it from the Southern Pacific was
charged an additional rate, from twenty
five cents package to So a carload. The
Southern Pacific has had to buy this line
and reduce lis through rates to Visalia to
meet the rates adopted blythe Valley road.
Formerly the Southern Pacific could
charge almost what it pleased for freight to
Visnlia, as long as it was not so high as
10 be opposed by wagon train competi-
ton. The former passenger rate from
here 10 Visalia was s. 40 by The Southern
Pacific, it is now So.
The following list shows the Southern
Pacitics former freight rates to Goshen
Junction-not counting the extra charge
by the branch line-and it also shows The
new rates through TO VIsalia and caused
by Valley road competition:
First class-Then 70 cents hundred pounds,
new SO. Second class-Then a. now 81.
Third class-Then 60 now 81. Fourth class
Tnen %. now Sd Fifth ciass-Then $12 40
ton. now So 20. Class A-Then $12 40, now
So 05. Glass B-Then 81. now So 45. Class
C-Then SIS 20. now 81 80. Clsss D-Then
81 20, now 81 15 Glass E-Then 81 20, now
So 40.