The herald., 1898-05-08
NEWS OF RAILWAYS
OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF PROG
RESS OF THE VALLEY ROAD
The Amusing Contest Between MI.
Huntington and the State Rail-
way Commission Notes

If it were not for the exciting war situa-
ton, there would be much local interest in
the progress of the Valley railway, which
is about completed to the threshold oi
Southern Californa-Bakersfield.
| Engineer-in-Chief Story has made the Of
| fetal announcement that before the end
of another week the rails will be laid into
Bakersfield.
| The bridge over Kern river was CON-
pleted yesterday, which leaves only three
miles of track to complete the line from
Stockton to the southern end of the San
Joaquin valley. This should not occupy
more than four days at the most; then there
will be the sidetracks and Y's and switches
and the odds and ends to complete before
the company will be ready to accept freight
and passengers.
Traffic Manager Moss has completed the
tariff of freight and passenger rates, bu;
these will not be announced until the 9th,
the, date of the formal opening of the line
The projectors of the enterprise have not
been idle as to the other end for 1t fls.:
been realized that without an entry into
San Francisco the line will not amount to
much. The road from Stockton to Port
Richmond will be very costly, as it in
cludes very expensive tunnel and about
eighteen miles of roadbed on piling, which
will take about s4O,o mile to build.
A Great Moral Show
One of the greatest moral shows on earth
is the one the state railway commission is
making of itself in San Francisco in it's at
tempted examination of C. P. Huntington
president of the Southern Pacific COM
pany. The commission has been trying,
without success, to ascertain the cost of
the railway built by Mr.. Huntington, and
is now struggling with the use by that
nabob of his money for legal and ''legis-
lative expenses"
Huntington all through the examination
has succeeded in making monkeys of his
examiners. and has again proved himself
10 be man of most remarkable acumen
and force. Though all sorts of attempts
were made to entrap him, and his ques-
TONERS were aided by acute lawyers and
warm personal enemies of the star wit
ness, he baff1ed every attempt to extract
any of the sort of information they were
after.
The old gentlemans wit is of the keenest.
In the proceedings on Thursday he was
asked by Commissioner Hinton if he did
not say in one of the famous Cotton let
ters that he could talk to Congressman
Piper but not to that wild hog Luttrell
of Siskiyou?"
Eyes, said that" was Mr.. Huntington's
calm admission. but, continuing, he meek
ly added: 81 have been sorry for 1t ever
since. for I have not. from that time to
this, ever passed by an honest four-footed
hog without feeling that l owed it an apol-
ogy for the comparison"
Notes and Personals
Ammunition by the several carloads has
been passing through the city lately for
San Francisco, where 1t will be expedited
to Manila.
The Santa Fe and Grand Canyon railway
will now be built at once, as yesterday the
bill authorizing the construction Of the line
across the government reservation was
passed
The Santa Fe has had a recent order
for the transportation of 200 900 sheep, to
be delivered to them by the Southern Pa
cific at Mojave to be taken east to pas
ture.
For the nine months ending March 1st
the Santa Fe earned 81 200, 900 more than for
the same time last year.
On Friday last a Southern Pacific train
jumped the track near Rivera, the engine
turning completely over. Engineer Priest
was scalded, Fireman Pendleton hurt about
the head and Conductor Bowles injured his
spine. They were all taken to the Sisters
hospital in this city.