Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1912-10-17

crossed D6IOTe lley bCSuh liiS NAiiiip'
The slope was steep and covered with
matted brush and bushes, through
which the horses slipped and hinged
Showers of twlgs and leaves fell upon
them, and predicament followed pre-
dicament, until they emerged on the
hilltop the worse for wear hut happy
and excited. Here no trees obstruct
ed the view The particular hill on
which they were, outjutted from the
regular line of the range, so that the
csweep Of their vision extended over
three-quarters of the circle. Below, on
the fiat land bordering the bay, lay
Oakland, and across the bay was San
Francisco. Between the two cities
they could see the white ferry-boats
on the water Around to their right
was Berkeley and to their left the
scattered villages between Oakland,
and San Leandro Directly in the fores
ground was Piedmont, with its desuF
tory dwellings and patches Of farming
land, and from Piedmont the land
rolled down in successive waves upon
Oakland
Look at it." said Daylight, extend
ing his arm in sweeping gesture.
"a hundred thousand people there,
and no reason there shouldn't be half
million. There's the chance to make
five people grow where one grows
now. Here's the scheme in a nutshell.
Why don't more people live in Oak.
land? No good service with San Fran
cisco, and, besides, Oakland is asleep.
It's a whole lot better place to live in
than San Francisco Now, suppose
buy in all the street railways Of Oak
land, Berkeley, Alameda, San Leandro
and the rest-brlng them under one
head with competent management?
Suppose I cut the time to San Fran
cisco one-half by building q big pier
out there almost to Goat Island and
establishing ferry system with mod
ern upto-date boats? Why, folks will
want to live over on this side. Very
good. They'll need land on which to
build. So, first l buy up the land.
But the lands cheap now. Why? Be.
cause it's in the country, no electric
roads, no quick communication, no.
body guessing that the electric roads
are coming. I'll build the roads. That
will make the land jump up. Then
I'll sell the land as fast as the folks
will want to buy because of the i'm
proved ferry system and Transports
ton facilities.
You see, | give the value to the
land by building the roads. Then |
sell the land and get that value back,
I and after that, there's the roads, all
carrying folks back and forth and
earning big money. Can't lose. And
there's all sorts of millions in 1t. I'm
going to get my hands on some Of that
water front and the tide-lands. Take
between where I'm going to build my
pier and the old pier. It's shallow wa
ter. can fill and dredge and put in
a system of docks that will handle
hundreds of ships. San Francisco's
water front is congested. No more
room for ships. With hundreds Of
ships loading and unloading on this
side right into the freight cars Of
three big railroads, factories will
20 ttfrt. up.--4...a,.. =, = -" -
to San Francisco. That means factory
sites. That means me buying in the
factory sites before anybody guesses
the cat is going to jump, much less
which way. Factories mean tens oil
thousands of workingmen and their
families. That means more houses
and more land, and that means me
for I'll be there to sell them the land
Then there's the water. I'll come
pretty close to owning the watershed
Why not the waterworks too? There's
two water companies in Oakland now
fighting like cats and dogs and botf
about broke. What metropolis needs
is good water system. They cam
give it. They're stick-in.the-muds II
gobble them up and deliver the right
article to the city. There's money
there, too-money everywhere. Every
thing works in with everything else
Each improvement makes the value O
everything else jump up. It's people
that are behind the value. The big
ger the crowd that herds in one place
the more valuable is the real estate
And this is the very place for Grove
to herd Look at 1t. Just look at 1t
You could never find finer site for
great city. All 1t needs is the herd
and I'll stampede a couple OF hundrel
thousand people in here inside tw'
years. And what's more, 1t won't b
one of these wildcat land booms. |
will be legitimate. Twenty year
from now therell be q million peopl
on this side the bay. Another thin
is hotels. There isn't decent one Il
the town. I'll build a couple Of uptC
date ones that'll make them sit up ant
take notice. | won't care If they don
} pay for years. Their effect will NOR
than give me my money back out Q
the other holdings. And, oh, yes, IT
L going to plant eucalyptus, millions Q
them, on these hills"
"But how are you going TO do It?
Dede asked. "You haven't enoug
J money for all that, you've planned"
: 1--WE thirty million, and II | nee
more / can borrow on the land an
other things, Interest on mortgage
won't anywhere near eat up the ii
crease in land values, and III be sci
Ing land right along"
(Continued next week