Los Angeles herald., 1905-01-29

fOI u WHlle IL lOOheu NJ tHdt tlllS
as If there was very even fight be-
tween San Diego and Los Angeles as
to which should be the metropolis Of
the south. There was a strong move.
ment to get Scott to build his Texas
Pacific railway to San Diego over the
Milquatry range-what was called the
direct route" which had been sur
veyed by Colonel Sedgewick. 1t was
known to be very expensive and was
even looked upon as almost imprac-
ticable 1t was thought, and probably
with some truth, that If the Texas
Pacific chieftain decided on this route
San Diego, like Eclipse, would be first,
and Los Angeles nowhere. Colonel
Scott had two other routes surveyed,
one by Warmers and the other by the
San Gorgonio pass-the latter dis
tinctively the Los Angeles route. The
people Of San Diego hoped that if
Scott should decline to accept the
Sedgewick route he would take that
by way of Warmers pass, which lay
wholly in the limits of San Diego
county.
Colonel Scott was accompanied on
his trip by a very distinguished party,
which included Senator John Sherman,
Colonel John w. Forney, Governors
Throckmorton of Texas, Dick McCor-
mick of Arizona, and many other men
of note. The party had been grandly
dined and wined i'm Los Angeles and
they were similarly dined and wined
in San Diego, you may be sure. l had
the privilege of being able to claim
acquaintance with Scott and Forney
and was proud of my splendid looking
fellow Pennsylvanians. 1t is doubtful
if two more distinguished looking men
than they ever appeared on the Pacific
coast. They were especially kind to
me, had been great friends of my
father, and did everything feasible 20
give me a pleasant send-off in a COM
munty in which l was a young new
conner. They did not extend their
courtesy to the extent of telling me
what everybody was dying to know,
viz. the name of the fateful pass.
Scott kept that to himself, and it was
sometime after he returned to the
east before he announced that, while
the Sedgewick route was geographi-
cally the shorter, the San Gorgonlo
pass was commercially the shorter
OF course this decision was like the
stroke of death to the people of San
Diego, as per contra, it was beacon
of light and hope to those of Los An
geles. When the news came that the
great Texas Pacific road was to have
it's terminus at Los Angeles, for that
was what the selection of the San
Gorgonio pass meant, a gradual de-
cline in the enthusiasm for San Diego
began, and attention soon centered on
the Angelic city.
Energy and Intelligence Do the Work
1t must be confessed by any one who
looks fairly into the past that the
people of Los Angeles have done much
to deserve their unexampled good for
tune. The place was blessed by num-
ber of citizens who would have been
prominent figures in any community.
Notable among these were General
Phineas Banning, 1. w. Hellman. Dr..
John S. Griffin, Prudent Beaudry, Don
Benito Wilson, ]. de Barth Shorb, l..
]. Rose and a. goodly addition of saga
cious and energetic people. nearly all
of whom are now dead. Banning was
a man who in himself was equal to
a whole chamber of commerce and 1t
vigilant and go-ahead press bureau
besides. Prior to the building of the
Wilmington and Los Angeles railway