The San Francisco call., 1908-07-08
VALLEY
EVIDENCE is IN
Alameda Properties of Company
Will Be Visited by Court
and Lawyers Today
Water People Get Contentious
on Many Points Into Rec
ord Unchallenged

The Spring valley case slid along
oiled tracks yesterday and by night all
the evidence had been presented. To-
day Judge Harrington and the repro
sentatives of the city and the company
will inspect the Alameda county prop
critics Of the Spring valley. Argu-
ments will be begun on Thursday and
completed on Friday night. A few
days thereafter decision may be ex-
pected.
The closing days of the hearing have
made 1t apparent that the company
has fortified itself to a degree that
has placed the city at a great disad-
vantage The city's representatives
have not been able to acquaint them
selves with the details of the COM
panys affairs and the corporation has
therefore been able to place a large
number of its own contentious in the
record unchallenged.
Evidence of every conceivable sort
was introduced yesterday by both
sides. The witnesses of the day were
]. H Dockweiler, consulting engineer
for the city; Captain A. H. Payson,
president of the Spring Valley COM
pany; Cyril Williams Jr, of the COM
panys engineering STAFF: John E. Be
han, clerk of the board of supervisors,
and Supervisor ]. A Johnston, chair
man of the special water committee
Of the board.
In addition several affidavits were
submitted by the company and volum-
inous extracts read from the testimony
given in previous injunction cases.
Much OF the evidence adduced by
Spring Valley was directed at the
charge made in the city's answer to
the original bill that the officers of
the company when appearing before
the board of supervisors had been
"shifty and evasive." Payson, Behan
and Johnston were interrogated on
this point and upon their statements
that the company had given the infor-
nation asked for by the board of SUI
pervisors. Assistant City Attorney
Thomas E. Haven asked that the OBJ
jectionable words be stricken from the
city's answer. He explained that it
had been copied from an old document
filed by the city.
SKELETON NOT EXPOSED
The Interrogation of Payson on this
subject paved the way for Haven to
ask what the company had done in
its former political maneuverings. The
assistant city attorney quoted from
Payson's affidavit this point and
for a moment it looked as though the
skeleton were to be dragged into the
courtroom, but the attorneys for the
company rushed to the rescue and the
bones of the past were not disturbed.
I'VE thought that this might throw
some light on the expenditures of the
company" said Haven, and as the ex-
penditures are taken into account in
figuring the cost of the plant, it be-
comes an important factor in this
hearing"
Judge Harrington ruled, however,
that the past should remain buried.
lively discussion ranged about the
value Of the lands of the Spring Val
ley company. The subject was brought
up at the opening of the session, when
]. H Dockweiler was on the stand.
He estimated the value of the water
shed holdings of the company at $40
an acre and the Lake Merced ranch
at $1,000 an acre. The Lake Merced
ranch comprises 2,63S acres, and the
! company holds that 1t is worth at
/ least $4,000 an acre. Attorney Nc
| Cutchen tried to force Dockweiler into
an admission that the property should
have been listed, in estimating valua-
| tion, at it's worth as real estate. It
was developed finally that the govern
ment had condemned a piece of the
property for fortifcations at 5000 an
! acre The company replied that 1t
had recently purchased the gum grove
near the boulevard and had paid 1000
/ an acre. This section, however, is i'm
proved and advantageously located.
During the cross examination, Dock
weller stated that he should have
added to his estimate of the cost of
the plant a sum in the neighborhood of
81 900, 900 for additional interest. This
would bring his estimate to something
over S25, 900.
Dockweiler stated that four inter-
ests questioned the company's water
rights in Alameda county. These. he
| declared, were represented In the liti-
CATION of the Bay Cities water COM
pany, the Clough case, the hop yard
| cases, and the suits over riparian
rights. Dockweiler asserted that Spring
Valley was confronted by several rival
claimants for the water in the Ala
media county creeks.
AUGMENTING SUPPLY
Captain Payson was called to the
stand by McCutchen to explain the
statement made in his affidavit that the
company must go to the Alameda
sources to augment Its supply. Pay
son said that by this he meant that
as the next step the company would
turn to Alameda county, but that ulti-
mately 1t could develop the ocean side
of the peninsula watershed.
Cyril Williams Jr. was called as a
witness merely for the purpose Of ex-
planning to the court some maps tha:
had been introduced in evidence.
A new affidavit by Herman Schussler,
chief engineer of the Spring Valley
company, was introduced, in which he
estimated the perishable property of
the corporation at $13,200.oo0 and stat
ed that s265,000, trifie more than 2
per cent, should be allowed annually
for depreciation.
]. NJ Duke. secretary of the COM
pany, submitted a new affidavit in
which he sought to controvert the
claim of the city that the old company
had sold out to the new, a transac-
ton within the corporation itself, on
terms which brought the price to about
$4,000, 900. Duke asserts that this was
a transaction Of convenience, and that
| 1.-THE actual value" of the plant was not
taken into consideration. the market
quotations being used as a basis for
| the transfer.
Attorneys A. Z. Shaw and Frank
i Powers presented afhdavits for the
company in which they denied that
there had been any unnecessary delay
in preparing the brief in the 1903 case,
as charged by the city.
Two automobiles will carry the party