The herald., 1898-03-15
LOCAL RAILWAY NEWS
ALL KINDS OF SALT LAKE ROAD
RUMoRS AND STORIES
THE COAST ROUTE BUILDING
Unmistakable Signs That the Gap
Will Soon Be Closed-Activity in
Construction-Track and Tie

| y. L. huntington reldtlVe 10 the CLOSING o
the gap in the Coast Line" of the South
ern Pacific existing between the station
of Surf and Elwood. it certainly looks as /
the line was to be finished. The Southern
Pacific company on Friday bought ST.
blocks of land in the city of Paso Robles
and will at once proceed to grade it level
using the gravel removed to ballast tn,
line referred to. Another order recent!
| received by the contractors, Messrs. Nc
Murtrie & Stone, is to at once replace al
| of the wooden culverts and waterways
| with stone structures built in the mos
| substantial manner. In fact, the whole
| line from San Francisco south is being
placed in such condition as to indicate, be
yond question. that it is to be used for the
heaviest kind of traffic. Such changes
| would never be demanded if it were not
to be made the through line between
the north and the south. In fact, all the
| reports are such as lend color to the state
| ment made by Roadmaster SINNERS OF
the line, who said on Friday that he knew
Messrs. McMurtrie and Stone had received
orders to go over the line between Elwood
and Surf for the purpose of preparing to
commence work on its completion.
THE GILA VALLEY ROAD
President William Garland of this city
is building an important bit of road in
Arizona, without making any to do about
it. Some time ago he conceived the idea
of building road from Geronimo to Globe,
which would give him the trade of very
rich mining country, which would have
enough local traffic to make it pay well
with what business there was ready for 1t,
without figuring on the result of develop
ment of the country. He was obliged to
stop work for some time on account of the
impossibility of getting the Apache In
dians to consent to the lines crossing their
reservation of San Carlos. This was set
tied, as stated in The Herald, some time
ago. and Friday of last week Mr.. Garland
sent to Lieutenant Rice, agent for the In
dians at San Carlos, a check for $1,000 for
his wards, and the contract for the con-
struction of the road was at once let, all
the material was ordered and it is said
that the line will be open for business by
September 1st. Mr.. Garland is now build
ing one of the most palatial houses in the
city, at the corner of Eighth street and
Westlake avenue.
RAILROAD BUILDING
times in the west, but there can be little
truth in such report, for there is an unmis-
taxable sign to the contrary. 1t is only
in what is called good times that railway
construction is active, and at no time for
twenty years past has there been so much
of that kind of work as at present in this
state and in Arizona. In California the
Southern Pacific has spent hun
dreds of thousands of dollars in betterment
of its tracks, and is now about to finish its
Coast Line. The Valley road is also doing
a lot of construction work. and has plans
for at once building from Stockton to San
Francisco, and has got the money to do it
with. Down here the Santa Fe and the
Southern Pacific have built more or less OF
short lines, and the Southern Pacific has
more planned, and is about to carry them
out. In Arizona the Santa Fe is building
a line to the Grand canyon, and two other
branches of lesser Importance. There are
also several local enterprises of consider
able extent which are taking definite
shape and will soon be announced.
THAT SALT LAKE ROAD
When it was learned that the Vanderbilt
people, Mr. Van Etten, Chauncey Depew
and others were the men who were build
ing the Randsburg road, The Herald
prophesied that it would likely form the
beginning of line to Salt Lake City, and
that this was the real object of the build
ers, they using the Randsburg base simply
as means of covering their intentions
for the time. Now comes the San Fran
cisco Examiner with the statement that
the vanderbilts. having got control of the
Oregon Short Line, will make arrange
ments to extend the line across Utah and
Nevada, in a southwesterly direction, to
connect with the Randsburg road.
The Examiner, which seems to speak by
the card, says of the project:
A road from Salt Lake City to Los
Angeles, southwest across Nevada, has
been talked of for years, and not long
ago the Oregon Short Line people made
a contract with the Salt Lake and Los
Angeles Railroad company by which
the latter was to extend its Tintic
sbranch in Utah southwest hundred
miles to the Deep Creek country in
Nevada and thence to Randsburg in
this state. George @. Cannon is presi-
dent of the Salt Lake and Los Angeles
company, and n. w. Clayton Of Salt
Lake City is the general manager. The
belief Is that the Union Pacific will rec
ognize with but few notifications, the
contract with President Cannon's COM
pany for the proposed extension to
Randsburg.
In confederation of the theory it is
learned that President Cannon of the Salt
Lake and Los Angeles railway has ordered
100, 900 ties and forty miles of rails to begin
the extention. The Randsburg road could
be used to a connection with the Atlantic
and Pacific, which is now the Santa Fe
Pacific, and thus give access to this city
via either Mojave or Barstow. Clayton
and Cannon are announced as preferring
the construction of their own line into Los
Angeles. They also have plan which they
will submit to the Valley railway people
for the joint construction of a line from
Kramer to the TETON pass to a connection
with that road at Bakersfield. C. p. Hunt
ington, it is reported from the east, has
already commenced demonstrating with
the Vanderbilts about this ambitious
scheme, but whether he will prevail with
them in preventing what appears to be a
settled plan remains to be seen.
NOTES AND PERSONALS
James Ager has succeeded to the va
cancy made by the death recently of Su-
perintendent A. D. Wilder of the western
division of the Southern Pacific, with head
quarters at Oakland. For three years past
Mr. Agler has been superintendent of the
Salt Lake division. He commenced rail-
roading as a brakeman.
Work on the Valley railway bridge at
Bakersfield has commenced. 1t is promised
that the line will be completed to that city
;,, akc