Los Angeles herald., 1905-09-03
Pacific to the At
lantic by Three
Great Lines

AS railroad center Los Angeles
stands on a par with any city on the
Pacific coast, while as the hub from
which electric interurban railways ex-
tend 10 one hundred towns and viii
lagos it stands preeminent among the
cities of the United States.
Connecting the gem city of South
ern California with all the principal
cities of the east, the great transcon-
tinental lines, are naturally Of the
most importance, but the tremendous
growth Of Los Angeles during the past
five years in no small part has been
directly the result of the Huntington
electric railway system.
AS the great railroad center Of the
Pacific coast, Los Angeles has posi-
bilities which even exceed that Of San
Francisco, where at the present time
there is exceedingly little room for
railroad expansion.
The Harbor Improvement
What part the completion of the
government breakwater at San Pedro
and the making of the sea coast town
into large harbor city is to have In
the development of Los Angeles traffic
facilities can only be surmised, but the
most pessimistic can but dream golden
dreams of the future in this regard.
The opening of the Salt Lake road
May first was an event of paramount
Importance in the Los Angeles railroad
world. The facilities for communica-
tion with the east have been increased
by one-third, and the time for both
freight and passenger traffic is in
fair way to be considerably lowered.
Until the opening of the Clark road
the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe,
each having an aggregate of eighty
miles of switching tracks within the
city limits, have had undisputed sway.
Railways and Real Estate
The Southern Pacific was the first to
build into Los Angeles, with result
ing growth of the city as soon as con-
nection was made with San Francisco.
The extension of the lines south and
east to connect with the Rock Island
at Ell Paso and the entrance Of the
Santa Fe were two additional factors
to double Los Angeles real estate
values.
The closeness of the east and the
middle west to Los Angeles may be
shown better perhaps by the fast run
of a Santa Fe train July and 10 from
Los Angeles to Chicago in less than
forty-five hours.
over 5000 men, skilled and unskilled
workmen, Of Los Angeles depend for
employment upon the steam and cleo
trio railways of the city and vicinity.
OF this number $500 are employed by
the Southern Pacific, the large shops
and the general headquarters Of the
southern district which are located in
Los Angeles. The Santa Fe with it's
general headquarters for it's coast
lines, situated in the Conservative Life
building. employs half that number.
The Clark road and the electric rail-
ways employ the remainder.
City Leads in Electric Service
According to the United States gov
ernment report just issued Los An
geles for it's population possesses more
miles of electric railway track than
any other city in the United States, as
we'll as the finest interurban terminal
station in the world.
explains this fact. The Los Angeles
railway has approximately 140 miles of
single track IN operation Within the
city limits, the Pacific Electric fifty
six miles and the Los Angeles Inter
urban forty-five miles, making total
of nearly 250 miles. This does not in
clude the small mileage of the Los
Angeles Pacific and the Redondo rail-
ways, both of which are interurban.
In 1902. the only year for which
figures are obtainable, these railways
received SO,SO3,oS6 cash fares, showing
that their financial careers have been
fairly successful.
A net work of interurban railways
connects Los Angeles with the smaller
surrounding towns and beach resorts,
the Newport Beach line being forty
two miles in length. The two big in
terurban railways, under different