The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1905-09-09

1
the cause of the second boom, which be
gan in 1896 and continues to the presen
day. The official census OF 1900 CAV
Los Angeles a population OF 105, ,OOO
The people and the newspapers pro
tested and claimed all the way from
10000 to $4,000. They finally securet
second count and lost 500, the actua
total being t02,247. They now CLAIM
t5O, 900, and that is reasonable, becaus'
the growth of the city has been rapit
and steady ever since 1900. No town il
the United States is gaining in popula
ton more rapidly, and Los Angeles las
year was third of all the cities in tn,
amount of money expended for, new
buildings. 1t was surpassed only BY
New York and Chicago, and | am as.
sured that both the total and the average
this year will pass even that record. In
other words, more churches, banks
schoolhouses, business blocks, resi-
dences, factories and other buildings are
being erected here than in any other
place in the United States. except the
two cities have named.
The city is gaining in other respects
also. The census of 1900 showed $50
manufacturing establishments, where
there are now $500; 1900 artisans
were then employed, where there are
now more than $1,000, and an output
valued at s21 ,294 ,537, while that of 1905
is estimated at So, 100000.
The restored prosperity of the country
after the election of President Mckinley
affected Los Angeles and the surround
ing towns more than any other section,
because it again permitted people to
travel and gave them more money to
spend for luxuries and pleasures. 1t
permitted thousands of merchants, ban
kers, manufacturers and professional
men to retire from active business and
buy and build homes in this climate; it
enlarged and stimulated the fruit mar
ket and made better prices. Los Ange-
les was just beginning to feel the bene-
fit of this improved condition through
out the nation when the settlement of
the estate of the late C. P. Huntington
placed in the hands of his nephew, H.
E. Huntington, about SAC, 600, 600, the
proceeds of the sale of his interests IN
the Southern Pacific Railroad Company
and its auxiliarics. Mr.. Huntington,
believing in the future of Los Angeles,
decided to invest the larger part of his
legacy here, and has since built up what
is conceded by everyone to be the finest
street railway system ever known.
~
Los Angeles has more and better
street car lines than any other city in
the world three, four or five times its
size. Mr.. Huntington has 3S1 miles of
trackage, stretching in every direction
from the city. He hauls an average OF
$4,000 people day, with fares ranging
from cents to Is cents each. On the
Fourth of July last he handled $4,000
people. His lines run chiefly to the
neighboring towns south of the city, the
longest being thirty-four miles. He
has made Greater Los Angeles possible.
He has started dozen or more thriving
towns and has made a dozen or more
old towns accessible. Altogether he has
invested about St7,5O0,0OO in trolley
roads and lands. He has erected the
largest Office building on the coast and
uses it as headquarters and terminus of
his railways. The accommodations fol
hauling passengers are admirable, and
the building itself is novelty in sey-
eral respects. The ground floor is given
up to the railways. all cars of the Hun
tington system running in and out
around loop. The top floor, the floor
next to the top and roof garden, alto
gether about six acres, are leased by the
Jonathan Club, social organization OF
which Mr.. Huntington is president, and
no club in the worlds existence has
more spacious or elegant accommoda-
tions. The remainder of the building is
leased to tenants for Offices. 1t is as
nearly fireproof as possible, the doors
door frames and other woodwork being
sheathed with copper. Mr.. Huntington
is the most publie=spirited man in Los
Angeles, and one might say in Califor-
MA. Other cities can envy Los Angeles
the possession of such citizen with
such fortune and disposition.
There are two other street railway
systems. One of them is under the
direction of Mr.. Clark, formerly Of
Iowa, and takes in the towns to the
westward. 1t has about 200 miles o,
track, and gives access to dozen Oh
more seaside resorts and suburban
towns.
A third system, which is also controlled
by Mr.. Huntington, furnishes transpor-
tation to every section within the city,
-
Mr.. Huntington's railway eonstruc'
ton, which began about 1867, brought
in laborers by the thousands and stimu-
lated trade more than any other thing
that has ever happened in this section
1t made additional industries and mer-
camille establishments necessary to sup.
ply the wants of the new population
and prices advanced in every way. Th'