The San Francisco call., 1899-04-11

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city; and they told further Of an agent,
of whom no one knew or would tell,
who went along ahead of them and
bought up or secured rights-of
over the country to be surveyed. All
was done quietly and without ostenta-
ton. Not the cleverest correspondent
could get a line on the story and it
remained as much a mystery until to-
day when back from New York came
the contract that made it all as plain
as day.
By its terms the Vanderbilts assume
Of Behrend Joost and his fellows
holders the entire right Of way Of the
West Shore Railroad Company from
San Franicsco's water front via Islais
Creek, Colma, Halfmoon Bay and Pes
cadero to Santa Cruz. In return they
guarantee to grade and build the road,
establish stations and equip with such
rolling stock as the traffic may demand.
This for the present and for this end
Of the line.
The visit of the Vanderbilts to Del
Monte, however, developed the fact
that the West Shore transaction was to
be merely incidental to the main propo-
sition. They were not looking for
mere source Of pastime in Pacific Coast
finance, but under the guise of a roll
licking pleasure trip were seeking out
a western end, and a means Of getting
to it, to that petty hobby, recently real
lied, Of Mr.. Vanderbilt's, his transcon-
tinental road.
Their trip to Monterey was not so
much to gather sea mosses and catch
perch from the end of the one lone
wharf as to inspect the dock and ter
minal facilities of the proposed Mon
terey and Fresno Railroad.
Over that line the rights s-of-way and
franchises have also been clear and the
road banded back and forth across the
market since 80. 1t leads from Mon
terey to the heart of the San Joaquin
by the most direct route, Walker Pass,
and from there a connection with the
Salt Lake-Los Angeles road is an easy
possibility at almost any point on the
desert, and, for the most part. over
Government land.
Upon equally good authority it is said
that the Vanderbilts have secured, on
practically the same agreement, the en-
tire line Of the last named road.
Between the terminal of the West
Shore line at Santa Cruz and the Mon
terey-Fresno line, there is a gap Of
forty-four miles extending round Mon
terey Bay, which is covered by neither
franchise nor rights but the
people Of that section have been for so
long going into debt to G. p. Hunting
ton for their tree slips and seeds. that
an easy road is open to the agent of
the Vanderbilts now working in that
section.
NI-o hot
tiating with the Spreckels people for
the narrow-gauge road now owned by
them from the prosperous city of
WatsonVille to that equally thriving
burg, Salinas, but this John D. Spreck-
els denies, and states that he will main
tain that road solely as an adjunct to
the Spreckels beet-sugar interests in
that locality and as an agent for the
further building UP of the two coun-
ties. There are two or three routes,
however, other than that occupied by
the Spreckels line by which Monterey
or Salinas may be reached, and the
agent for the Vanderbilts in this city,
General Hart, anticipates no trouble in
acquiring one Of them.
The acquisition Of Santa Cruz and
Monterey as stations on their line will
give the Vanderbilts an equal shipping
advantage with the Southern Pacific.
The two cities command the opposite
boundary points of Monterey Bay.
which is, even in heaviest weather, an
ideal anchorage and only a short haul
from this city. The advantage will he
with the Vanderbilts for the reason
that their route along the coast is over
an hour shorter than either of the
Southern's Pacific's present lines and
Will cost, comparatively, nothing in
maintenance.
The contract which binds all this
and makes of an airy possibility a cast
iron assurance that the Santa Fe and
Valley roads in their combination are
to have the weight Of independent mil
lions and fair, open principle with them
in their fight against the relentless and
dollar marked tyranny Of the Southern
Pacific. With California's new and
splendid opportunities in the Orient is
to work jointly the facility of competi-
tive transportation from the markets
Of the whole country and the document
received yesterday puts these possibili
ties beyond the grasp and greed of c.
p. Huntington.
1t was signed in this city for the
West Shore Railway Company on
March rs by r. S. Thornton, the presi-
dent, and by r. ]. Willats, the secre-
tary Then ii was forwarded to New
York and signed by Freeman & James.
agents for the Vanderbilts, on the 5th
inst. 1t guarantees to the stockholders
that the New York people shall fully
equip the road with modern steel
bridges, track and rolling stock. and
that they, the shareholders, shall par
ticipate proportionately to the amount
of their stock IN the only company in
the new concern.
General Hart, who holds the contract
cannot speak to a certainty but saws
he is authoritatively informed that ac-
tive work will be begun within the next
sixty days.
Sarsfield Chronic Ulcer Salve, for the
treatment Of ulcers and sores, is posi-
tive cure. It has been q standard rem