The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1910-03-01

cisco's rights TO Hetch Hetchy were
well established
1t was pointed out yesterday that
Secretary BalIinger's probable antag-
onism to san Francisco on the Hetch
Hetchy project would work a greater
hardship TO the cities about the bay
Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda and the
Peninsula cities-than it would to San
Francisco.
"San Francisco might accommodate
| itself to the supply of Lake Eleanor
and might ultimately secure the Spring
| Valley system. but the transbay cities
face a far more serious crisis. Should
the Hetch Hetchy supply be placed at
the disposal of the san Francisco water
district. which may he formed under
the law passed at the last session of
the legislature. there would be plenty
of Sierra water to supply the cities in
the vicinity of san Francisco with
water Otherwise San Francisco would
have TO go is own way and the other
/ cities go theirs" said an official ia
miliar with the water situation.
The negotiations pending between
the city and the Ham Hall and other
| interests in the vicinity of the Hetch
| Betchy and lake Eleanor were touched
upon at the meeting of the board of
| supervisors. Mayor Mccarthy and VIII
| liam H Pugh, chairman of the public
I OtltlIleS com nllttee or the BOARD. pre-
/ scented q report to the board which
stated that the special committee. con-
sisting Of the mayor. the public utilities
! and finance committees of the board.
the board of public works and the city
/ attorney, held a meeting Thursday,
| February IL Progress was reported
OFFERS TO SELL LANDS
A communication regarding the pur-
chase of lands adjacent to the reser-
aTr sit 4
and filed with the special committee
It was from Attorney Jesse W. Lilien-
thai and was as follows:
Hon. p. H Mccarthy, Mayor:
Dear Sir--Referring TO the re-
Guest made at the conference held
on the 26th inst at your Office.
which was attended by yourself
Messrs. Casey, Pugh. Walsh Man
son, Hays. Hall, Hunt and myself
that proposition be submitted for
the disposition of the Lake Eleanor
and CHERRY creek properties, I
TUolumne water supply company.
and with the sanction of the board
of directors and stock holders, to
San Francisco the following offer:
(a) To sell all of the Lake
Eleanor lands. reservoir sites and
water rights owned by the COM
pany for the sum of $500. 900.
OBJ II this offer should be ac-
cepted, TO give an option to be
a
reasonable time, TO acquire all of
1 the Cherry valley lands, reservoir
sites and water rights owned by
6ae company for the sum of $500
mately represents the cost of
keeping these rights alive while
the option Is in force
JESSE w. LILIENTHAL.
Concerning these negotiations, which
are in line with those begun by the
/ former administration, Mayor McCar-
thy said: The Garfield grant provided
that the city should acquire privately
owned property either by condemnation
proceedings or by purchase. Condem-
nation proceedings are long and would
give the nature takers opportunity to
use their obstructionist tactics. We
khope TO eliminate that factor by the
purchase of lands on a basis of equity |
and thus secure all the property which |
the city needs by direct purchase"
WOULD REOPEN RATE CASE
The Spring Valley water company
made an effort in the United States
circuit court yesterday to reopen the |
old rate case and introduce new testi- |
mony in plea for a higher valuation |
of its plant, and hence power to raise /
the price of water. Accompanying the |
motion was an affidavit by S. V. East |
man for the company and one in reply |
by City Attorney Long. all of which |
were filed with Judge Harrington, who |
took the request under submission.
This attempt according to Assistant /
City Attorney Thomas E. Haven, who !
has handled the rate cases. is in viola |
ton of the agreement reached between
the city and the water company when
the case was heard in court after the
fire. 1t was agreed then that the rec
ords should be restored just as they
were without additional testimony by
aif sid he he
years from 1903 to 1906.
The Spring Valley offers many ex-
cuses for wanting to get in new evil
dence in it's favor and cites the fact
that city officials said s35, 200, 900 was a
fair valuation of it's properties at the
time of the recent bond election. The
valuation of $4,000, 900 by Judge Far
rington was based on the properties in
use and did not include the idle tracts
held as an investment or in buying out
rival concerns.
Among his Prospective additions,
corrections and new pieces of evidence
Eastman says Herman Schussler, chief
engineer of the company. said iron pipe
cost 2R cents in the east, although it
cost cents. There is more to be told
about the capacity of the Alameda
county plant and the values of San
Mateo realty other than that in use.
The transaction by which the Spring
Valley water works were taken over
by the Spring Valley water company
should be shown more in detail. M. B.
Kellogg, solicitor for the company has
since died, and the entire transcript
of his testimony, including $4,000
typewriter sheets, was destroyed in
the confagration.
In reply Longs affidavit states that
the new evidence sought to be intro
duced does not relate to the period
concerned, but is of later date. AS to |
Schussler, he was at that time chief
engineer for the company, as now, and
introduced many witnesses to corrob-
crate his testimony during the trial
The transfer of tie property from one
records.
Haven represented the city in court
yesterday, while f. S. Heller and E. J.