The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1907-01-11
Gossip of the Doings
of Railroad Men


w. A. Bissen and Edward Cham
bers, representing the Santa Fe; H. a.
Jones, representing the Southern Pa
cific, and a number of jobbers will
leave tonight for Spokane to attend the
nearing of the Interstate Commerce
Commission. The merchants of Spo-
kane are seeking the same rate as
that given TO Portland, and business
men and the railroad people, and also
the jobbers of this city and Portland.
are fighting the request on the ground
that Portland and San Francisco are
seaboaTd towns and that the railroad
rate comes in competition with an all
water rate.
W. r. AIberger traffic manager of
the Key Route. is slowly recovering
from a severe attack of pneumonia He
was so i'll that he had TO be taken
and placed in hospital. His friends
have received assurances from his doc
tors that he is out of danger.
E. Black Ryan, tax agent of the
Southern Pacific, will leave for Tono-
pah next Sunday.
The Santa Fe. which was already in
pretty serious position resulting
from the enormous amount of west
bound tonnage it was handling bids
fair to be still more badly congested
by the action of the Rock Island in
diverting large quantity of freight
which should have been turned over
to the Southern Pacific at Ell Paso. 1t
seems that some one in authority be-
came alarmed at the prospect of trou-
BILE with the firemen on the Southern
Pacific and turned over the business
TO the Santa Fe. with the result of
adding to the congestion of freight
In a general way the Western Pa
cifc is going to fall heir to a fine
ready made business in the territory
contiguous to San Francisco Bay, pro-
viding il may care to establish divi-
sions with the electric lines. There
are number OF these small feeders
which are at present unable TO handle
any business in connection with either
the Southern Pacific or the Santa Fe,
as those lines Cancelled about a year
ago all working arrangements on bust
ness taking intermediate rates. The
lines entering Napa, Vallejo, Benicia
Petaluma and Santa Rosa are all more
or less interested locally and can to
a certain extent influence transcon-
tinental routings. which would make
them reciprocally valuable to the
Western Pacific.
The officials of the Hartman lines
of this city have received notice that
the branch line being built from Idaho
Falls on the Oregon Short Line TO the
border of the Yellowstone Park will
be opened by the first of June and bust
ness can be routed then over this road
into the National Park. kt the pres
ent time the line is built as far as
Marysville and ffty-three miles are in
operation, and the balance of the forty
viii be completed by June. This road
has been built to compete with the Hill
lines and a person taking the Harri-
man lines Will be brought within six
teen miles of the first hotel.
George w. Colby, general agent of
the Great Northern, has received some
calendars which were designed and
printed in Toklo for the Nippon Yusen
Kaisha, one of the connecting lines
of the Hill railroads, which in artistic
merit can compare favorably with any
thing printed in this country or in
Europe.
The Transportation Club, ii is said,
will move into aits new quarters on
February Is. This is the only club
that never moved out of the burned
district and will be the first club to
be permanently re-established in it. 1t
has now membership of 32S and ac-
cording to its constitution it cannot
have more than 400.
The railroad men in the ferry build
ing and elsewhere who have to rely on
coal oil to prevent death through freez-
ing are saying unkird things nowadays
about the exactions Of the Standard
o. Cor. pany. They assert that the
Standard oil people are creating
scarcity in coal oil In Mill Valley
there has been no oil since last Friday,
and this is not the only place in
the State where there is a shortage.
Railroad men say this is done so that
an excuse can be made for another
raise in the rates At one time the
price of a can of oil was 40 cents, then
1t went TO 80 cents and then il took
another leap to $40. This was not
all. The oil then furnished was called
aline and was of good quality. The
Standard Oil people substituted this
oil. it is alleged, for an inferior oil
which has not the heating power, but
has q great capacity for emitting Of
fensive odors. There is a scarcity, even,
OIL this poor oil. and the railroad men
declare 1t is only subterfuge in order
to explain away another pending raise
in price.
William Spear. proprietor of the
Calistoga and Clear Lake stage line,
was in this city yesterday and says
he expects a big business during the
he says. have not injured the roads
and they were never in better con-
dition.