The herald., 1898-04-24
LOCAL RAILWAY NEWS.
WALTER MAXWELL BECOMING
A NOTABLE PROMOTER
Eli Denison Gets There Safely-Lemon
Growers and the Emergency
Rate-A Baseless Report

HaCe-A odSc1cSS xsCHoAt
| Colonel Walter Maxwell is becoming n
railway promoter of high degree. he yes
terday presented a new application to the
council of Pasadena for a franchise for his
San Gabriel Valley Traction company, this
time selecting a slightly different route
from the one asked for before. The COM
pany has the franchise asked for from
South Pasadena and expects to be ready for
| construction in very short time.
But the above enterprise is as nothing
as compared to the one Maxwell is now
working up, with very good show of sue
cess. This is nothing less than the open
| ing to business and connection with the
| outer world of the fertile plains of Ovr" IS
valley. Mr. Maxwell has, with his So
ciates, secured many thousands of acres
of the best land in the valley, and is about
prepared to begin work on a very extensive
system of railway and other commercial
developments.
Exactly what the railway end of his
plan consists of it is not yet learned; 1t is
a sure guess, however. to say that it in
cludes the cooperation of either the
Randsburg road owners or of D. o. Mills
way. which is a narrow gauge road which
runs from Carson in Nevada to the borax
fields in the neighborhood of the valley.
the terminus being a station called Keeler
The distance from Keller to Mojave is
comparatively short, and the mountains, it
is thought, could readily be passed over,
thus traversing the valley. On the other
hand. the Randsburg road could be easily
| IaI hot <I4 <t.,r
will probably resolve itself down into a
| question of using the company that will
| make the best terms. Mr.. Maxwell has Sc.
cured the capital needed to carry out most
of his idea, an dhas good reason to feel
| confident of successful outcome.
Eli Got There
| Senator Eli Denison outwitted his op-
ponents and is still the king bandit of rail-
way peanut butchers. The contest for the
| monopoly on the Southern Pacific trains
between the senator and Mr. Fred Harvey
of the Santa Fe eating houses has been
alluded to in this column, with the opinion
that Mr. Harvey would win, as he was sup
posed to have the longest purse. This, 1t is
now shown, was an error of judgment, for
the senator, when the competitive bids
| were opened on Thursday, was far and
| away ahead of his rival, and will continue
to deal out NANCY oranges, lively figs. de-
generate literature and warm soda pop
In fact, the senator has gained point in
the change, for now he has the coast di.
vision and the narrow gauge lines of the
Southern Pacific, which were formerly
held by other purveyors. making him the
greatest monopolist of the kind in the
country.
Lemon Growers Kick
The emergency rate of 81 per hundred
weight for lemons granted by the railways
| is far from satisfactory to the growers or
shippers, as the railway companies have
| insisted on provisos, which. it is said, cause
the rate to be of little OF no use One
thing, for instance demanded, is that the
cars to get the rate must be loaded with
$4,000 pounds or 1854 boxes, which prevents
suitable ventilation and makes the fruit
more liable to be crushed.
| The fact is that the rate on all citrus
fruits is ridiculously high. despite the ar
| guments of the railways. The crop is n
| steady one, and can be counted on to bring
in an average amount of cash every year
to the roads. The present rates are the
same ones that were put in force eight or
tell years dSO, WHeH the crop Ulu not
amount to 20 per cent of what it does now
There is absolutely no risk to the roads on
losing any freight money. for they sur
round themselves with such guarantees
that even if the shipments are rotted or
lost they get their money just the same.
The absurdity of the railways keeping up
rate made when it cost them twice what
1t now does to do business is apparent. If
a rate of $3.50 a car would pay them when
they had three thousand cars season to
haul, one-half that amount would be profit
able when the crop amounts to twelve or
fifteen thousand carloads.
AS shown by Scott Chapman in recent
address to fruit growers, and quoted in this
paper (but the fact is so important and full
of unanswerable logic that it is worth
printing many times), in many cases the
railways got in freight a return from
ranches of $500 an acre. while the orange
grower was well off if he received tithe
of that amount. 1t appears to be time for
the growers to unite and fight to the bitter
end for a radical reduction of rates. 1t
cannot be done at once. but it can be done
in time by hard warfare and persistence,
and the prize ought to make it worth
while for the growers to declare war on this
line
A Base1ess Report
1t is asserted, on the authority of T. D.
Williams, general foreman of engineers,
that there is not the slightest truth in the
rumor circulated on Friday evening, and
which was mentioned in yesterdays Her.
aid as probably not having any foundation
of fact. that the engineers would refuse to
haul any car in which Messenger Mott
might be. Mr.. Williams, in fetter, states
that the report is " malicious lie and an
insult to the intelligence of the Southern
California engineers"
Notes and Personals
Owing to the rush of business on the rail-
ways, shippers on some Of the branch lines
of the Southern Pacific complain that they
cannot get their consignments off on time.
There is said to be decided shortage of
motive power.
Many of the Southern California papers
have come out recently for law making
train robbing punishable with death. Just
as good a plan would be for the express
company to hire few more messengers
like Mott, who made the fight at Orc
Grande.
Traffic Manager Moss Of the Valley road
says that rates on grain will be the same