The San Francisco call., 1899-04-11

The Vanderbilts have secured in this
city a western terminal to their lately
bought transcontinental railway sys-
tenn. BY a deal consummated in New
York City on the 5th OF the present
month they secured Of Behrend Joost
and his associates the rights Of way
and the franchises of the West Shore
Railway from San Francisco to Santa
Cruz via Colma and Pescadero, and for
some weeks past they have had prac-
tical control of the Monterey-Fresno
line from Monterey to Fresno through
the Coast Range via Walker Pass.
From Fresno a connection with the
sroad they are now building from Salt
Lake City to Los Angeles is simply a
matter Of laying ties and tracks.
Not alone is the Santa Fe to stand in
competition with the Southern Pacific
of Kentucky and nearly every other
State of the Union. Not alone is the
Santa Fe to take up for the man Of the
hoe and the man of the mills Of Cali
.fornia the competitive fight for rates
and profits and the fair living that the
soil Of this State should render it's
every tiller. Against the capital and
-.
olist. are set the brains and capital of
the Vanderbilts, those -millionaires
of the East who have builded world-fa-
NOUS fortunes by open fighting and fair
competition, and it is now no more than
the time required to fill with track and
prosperous stations the two gaps that
exist before San Francisco will be send
ing its drays and its clerks to receive
the cargoes hauled in under the steam
OF the second competing road.
The negotiations that resulted in the
deal of the 5th inst. We're opened some
six weeks previous to the late visit of
the numerous Vanderbilt parties to
this coast. Simultaneous with their ar
rival here came a representative Of the
Vanderbilts' New York agents, Free
man & Jones, Of 81 Broad street, New
York. Laden with the field notes of the
numerous surveys that have been
made, provided him by Behrend Joost,
he Travelled and inspected the route of
the proposed road from this city to
Santa Cruz.
Not only did he look into the feasibil-
1ty Of the road itself, but he investi-
gated thoroughly the producing
capacity of the country which it taps.
The redwood forests that surround
Pescadero and the dairies and farms,
the most extensive outside the San
Joaquin Valley and more fertile than
they, impressed him at sight, and his
favorable observations he communi-
Gated directly to the Vanderbilts dur
ing their much written-of stay at Del
Monte.
Communication between them and
their New York agents at once ensued.
Through General w. H. H Hart, who
has long been their advising attorney
on this coast, Behrend Joost was ap-
preached and through him the rest of
the West Shore Company. Joost and
his cOnfreres We're in a proper state of
mind to talk business on business prin-
ciples. For more years than history
cares to tell of it the completion of the
coast road to Santa Cruz has been
Joost's annual dream. Late in '97 he
had got all Of his rights of way There
were some stickers along the route and
they held out for stiff prices, but popu-
lar pressure finally had its effect and
the way was clear for a seventy min
ute competing track to the seaside city.
Then Joost and the company discov-
cred either that they did not have or
did not care 10 risk the money the road
and its rolling stock would cost. Quietly
the deal was called off and Joost came
on the market to sell his franchise.
1t was valuable and worth the price
he asked and more. Besides the clear
rights Of way about SCI, 900 had been ex-
pended in grading a roadbed over the
most difficult portion Of the proposed
route, a strip of beach at Waddell
Creek, twenty-five miles from Santa
Cruz. Add to this the fact that the line
extended from San Francisco's water
front at point south of Islais Creek
up the creek and out of the county by
way Of Colma, and ran thence to San
Pedro Point and along the coast
through seventy miles of the grandest
marine scenery that California boasts.
and Mr.. Joost had probably as market
able a piece Of property as could be
found waiting q purchaser.
But the market was tirnid Of Mr..
Joost. At the mention of his name on
the street it held up it's financial skirts
like an old dame at a mouse. In it's
prejudice it was blinded to one Of its
best opportunities and finally the west
shore line was hawked over the streets
and offered for anything to anybody.
Then the Vanderbilts got their Salt
Lake line on the way to Los Angeles
builded as far along as the little min
ing town Of Phoebe, over in Nevada.
Three months ago the papers told Of
mysterious surveying party that had
been laying out its line and driving it's
significant little red-topped pegs into
the shifting sands Of the deserts be-
tween the thirst-stricken Nevada line
and the orange groves OF the southern