The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1904-04-23
THE WESTERN PACIFIC.
II. H. Griffith Declares Road Will Be
Built Regardless of Rum0rs.

eA
Il Fl. Griffith Of Stockton, California,
In a late interviev by q Sacramento Bee
reporter was asked a question as to what
position he holds with the Western
Pacific, and described himself as ''gsn-
eral utility man" In reply to a ques-
ton concerning rumors to the effect
that the Western Pacific had been alb
sorbed by the Southern Pacific, Mr..
Griffith said /:
"The reports one hears and reads
about my road have very little bassi IN
fact, and most of them are simply ride
culous to those who understand the
situation.
81 will say to the Bee, and / know
what l am talking about, that the West
ern Pacific will be running trains into
Sacramento and into San Francisco by
1906. 1t will be an independent hne,
and / would be willing to bet my life
against that of any man who doubts my
statement that 1 am speaking the truth.
''In constructing such a line as the
Western Pacific people propose to build
there is a vast amount of work to be
done that does not show on the surface
aud which the public knows nothing
about. It's work, in fact. that Is none
of the public's business. The Western
Pacific has plenty of money behind it.
There never has been any Lack OF
funds, and there is not now. Not only
has work on the road not stopped, but
it is going ahead at a better pace and In
a more satisfactory manner than ever.
Eyes I've read the Reno and Salt
Lake reports. There is nothing in
either of them. The dispatch from Salt
Lake to the effect that work toward
Beckwith Pass had been abandoned was
based upon the withdrawal Of a party Of
engineers for reasons that were salts
factory to the management. There had
been some dissatisfaction that's all
there was to it.
Recently" continued Mr.. Griffith,
"the Western Pacific people have in
corporated two new comprehensive
Marysyille & Susanville and Placerville
& Lake Tahoe. Just why they have
done this 1 can't say, but you may rest
assured they know what they are about.
"And that reminds me that H.. II.
Yard, of the Butte g. Plumas Railroad.
seems to think he knows a whole lot
about Western Pacific affairs. I've
read his interviews in the Bee. They
made good enough reading. but where
he got his information puzzles me. It's
not likely he has been taken into the
inner councils of our company.
"IIl repeat" said Mr.. Griffith in con
clusion, that the Western Pacific will
have entered Sacramento by 1906.
"And it's up to the people of this city
to secure the location of the shops
here," he went on. "They can do it if
they go about it right. Stockton fought
us; and l tell you when a town does it
the capitalists behind a road don't like
it and consequently they don't go out OF
their way to help such a place. If the
people of Sacramento show the right
sort Of front to the Western Pacific as
far as franchises, etc., are concerned,
they can get the shops.
at is all right enough that this city
should feel friendly to the Southern
Pacific for what it has done for the
town, but at the same time your people
should not try to block the Western
Pacific. A man should not bite off his
nose to spite his face. Two railway
lines are better than one, as the way
freight and passenger traffic has been
tied up in Northern California this
Winter ought to have rubbed in"