The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-02-28

crease In land values, and III be sell
ing land right along"
In the weeks that followed, Day
light was busy man. It meant quick
work on colossal scale, for Oakland
and the adjacent country was not
slow to feel the tremendous buying.
But Daylight had the ready cash and
1t had always been his policy to
strike quickly. Before the others
could get the warning Of the boom, he
quietly accomplished many things. At
the same time that his agents were
purchasing corner lots and entire
blocks In the heart of the business
section and the waste lands for fac
tory sites, Daylight was rushing fran
chises through the city council, cap
turing tne two exhausted water com
panies and the eight or nine inde-
pendent street railways, and getting
his grip on the Oakland Creek and
the bay tide-lands for his dock system
The tlde-lands had been in litigation
for years, and he took the bull by the
horns-buying out the private owners
and at the same time leasing from the
city fathers. BY the time that Oak
land was aroused by this unprecedent-
ed activity in every direction and was
questioning excitedly the meaning of
1t. Daylight secretly bought the chief
Republican newspaper and the chief
Democratic organ, and moved boldly
into his new Offices. Of necessity, they
were on a large scale, occupying four
floors of the only modern office build
ing in the town-the only building
that wouldn't be torn down later on,
as Daylight put it. There was de-
partment after department, a score of
them, and hundreds Of clerks and
Stenographers. AS he told Dede:-
I've got more companies than you
can shake stick 1t. There's the Ala
media & Contra Costa Land Syndicate,
the Consolidated Street Railways, the
Yerba Buena Ferry Company, the
United Water Company, the Pied
mont Realty Company, the Fairview
and Portola Hotel Company, and half
a dozen more that I've got to refer to
a notebook to remember. There's the
Piedmont Laundry Farm, and Red
wood Consolidated Quarries. Starting
in with our quarry, just kept a-going
till l got them all. And there's the
ship-building company l ain't got a
name for yet. Seeing as had to have
ferry-boats, decided to build them
myself They'll be done by the time
the pier is ready for them"
For months Daylight was buried in
work. The outlay was terrific, and
there was nothing coming in Beyond
a general rise in land values, Oakland
had not acknowledged his irruption
on the financial scene. The city was
waiting for him 70 show what he was
going to do. and he lost no time abou.
It, The best skilled brains on the.
market were hired hy him for the dil.
ferent branches of the work. Initial
mistakes he had no patience with. and
ne was determined to start right II as
when he engaged Wilkinson, almost
doubling his big salary. and brought
MIN out from Cnica 50 20 lake Charge
OF the street railway organization.
Might and day the road gangs toiled
Nn the streets. And night and day
splle-drlvers hammered the big piles
down into the mud Of San Francisco
Bay. Tne pier was to he three miles
long. and the Berkeley hills were de-
nudeG Ct whole groves of mature
eucalyptus for the piling.
AT the same time that his electric
roads were building out through the
hills, the hay-felds were being sur,
veyed and broken up into city squares,
with here and there. according to best
modern methods, winding boulevards
and strips OF park. Broad streets,
we'll graded, were made, with sewers
and water-pipes ready laid, and ma
cadamized from his own Quarries. Ce-
ment sidewalks were also laid, so that
all the purchaser had to do was to
select his lot and architect and start
building. The quick service OF Day
lights new electric roads into Oak.
land made this big district immediate.
ly accessible. and long before the fer.
~ system was In operation hundreds
or residences We're going up. The
profit on this land was enormous In
day, his onslaught Of wealth had
turned open farming country into one
OF the best residential districts Of the
city.
But this money that flowed in upon
him was Immediately poured back
INTO his other investments. The need
for electric cars was SO great that he
Installed his own shops for building
them. But no matter what pressure
was on Daylight, his Sundays he re-
served for his riding In the hills. II
was not the rainy winter weather
however, that brought these rides
with Dede to an end. One Saturday
afternoon In the office she told him
not to expect to meet her next day,
and, when he pressed for an explana-
tfOD