The San Francisco call., 1907-03-30
Gossip of the DOings of
Railroad Men

Henry AviIa of the Union Pacific, as
is well known to all people who have
any knowledge of the history of our
State, belongs to a distinguished Span
ish family, and it is believed in rail-
road circles that the original Avila, who
was with Cortez when conquering
Mexico, was that great warriors mas
ter of transportation and paid partfcu-
lar attention to the commissary depart
ment. Henry is also agent for the
Cunard line and expects to sell great
number of tickets to patriotic sons of
Erin who are thinking of making the
round trip to the Dublin Exposition
for $500. Henry. with an idea of busi-
ness. is now arrayed in garments
which would win the heart of any
Irishman. His suit has a thread of
green running through it, his shirt has
delicate sprays of shamrock, his socks
are green and his neclStie vies in the
brilliancy of its emerald hue with those
worn by that other eminent transpor-
tation man-Thornwel Mutually.
meeting OF the Transcontinental
Passenger Association has been called.
to be held at Hotel Glenwood. River
side. on May s, and 1t is expected that
there will be large attendance of all
! the general passenger agents and their
cago and the Mississippi River. The
subject of convention rates for the
latter part of the year will come up for
discussion.
E. H. Hartman. who long has been
casting covetous eyes on the Yellow
stone Park business. is in fair way to
capture this profitable traffic from
James j. Hill of the Great Northern.
The Oregon Short Line. which is one
of the Hartman properties, has issued
an innocent circular in which 1t is an
nounced that it will complete its Yell
lowstone branch to Buffalo Creek about
June Is. The completion of this line
will reduce the stage line from the end
of the track to Old Faithful, Lower
Geyser Basin. to about forty eight
miles, or practically the same amount
of staging is required by the route
through the eastern entrance of the
Yellowstone. Big Springs. seven miles
farther east, will be reached by July 1,
thus reducing the total staging to for
ty-one miles. When the line is COM
pleted to its terminus at Yellowstone
the Oregon Short Line will then have
a stage road of nineteen miles to
Fountain Head. as against forty-one
miles via the northern entrance, or
the Hill road.
The Southern Pacific yards in this
city and in Oakland are in pretty good
shape, but how long they will remain
so is a matter of conjecture. Accord
ing to the advices received in the gen.
eral offices there were S277 cars headed
for the coast between Ogden and
Sparks last Wednesday. and 102 cars
left Truckee westbound on the same
day. 1t is estimated that there are
fully 1000 cars coming to the State via
m n for
this city. There are at present 1853
cars in the yards in San Francisco, 90
in Oakland. 1876 on the western dfvi-
sion and $50 on the coast, making a
total OF 2l03. Some hard work will
have to be done when the other cars,
which have been tied up all along the
line. begin to pour into San Francisco,
or else the congestion will be worse
than at any time since the fire.
The small vegetable growers in the
vicinity 81 Hayward have been badly
hit by the succession of stormy days,
say the railroad men. According to the
freight getters of the Eastern lines
there should have been shipped out of
that part of the country some forty
cars of rhubarb by the middle Of Feb
ruary, but only seven have been sent
out. and as the Southern Illinois crop
is coming in 1t will not pay to send
from here. The asparagus crop is also
25 per cent lighter than 1t was last
year, when the growers had a COM
paratively light crop.
The name of Port Hartford, which is
well known to every person in the
State who has Travelled up and down
the coast, is to be changed, according
to the dictum of the Pacific Coast
Steamship Company. and in future 1t
is to be called Port San Luis.
w, L. Greiner. travelling freight and
passenger agent OF the Colorado and
Southern Railway Company, which.
much to the disgust OF that esteemed
railroad man, w. H. Davenport, calls
| itself The Colorado Road" is In the
| city on business and will be here till
tomorrow night Greiner's headquar-
ters are at Salt Lake City.
! Judge w. E. Cullen OF spokans, who
| is well known in the Northwest and
who makes his home at Spokane, is
visiting II. o. Wilson, general freight
agent OF tha Union Paciic in this city.
The Judge has been spending the win
ter in Lor' Angeles.
| S. F. Barr, superintendent OF the re-
| lief department of the Baltimore and
Il IN, cff