Imperial Valley press., 1912-07-15
RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION
TEMPORARILY DELAYED

The building of the San Diego and
Arizona railroad has been somewhat
delayed, and there is great interest in
knowing how soon construction Will
be resumed and what the future Of the
road is to be-
The road was begun by ]. D. Spreck-
els, working in connection with the
late E. H. Hartman of the Southern
Pacific on a verbal agreement where
by Mr. Hartman is believed to have
furnished about three million dollars,
which has already gone into the con-
struction work. Under the agreement
it is understood that the Southern Pa
cific was to have an option on 40 per
cent of the stock of the company, Mr.
Spreckles retaining 81 per cent. The
death of Mr. Hartman brought about
some uncertainty as to the nature of
the verbal agreement, and it is under
stood that Judge Levitt, the new
president of the Southern Pacific. de-
clined to furnish more money for the
construction work unless his com.
pany was given the controlling stock.
and he went into the courts and asked
for the refunding of the money al
ready advanced.
Pending a settlement of this con
troversy all new work on the road was
suspended, after ten miles of the road
had been built out from Ell Centro
and about forty miles out from San
Diego.
The status Of affairs now is such
that the statements are given out as
TO the future of construction, but from
what seems TO be good authority the
lntlmation comes that by fall an adj
justment will have been reached and
active construction will again be un-
der way.
The heaviest construction is yet to
come, and it is believed that fully ten
million dollars will be required to
complete the road on the same sub,
stantial and economic basis it has
thus far proceeded, the total cost of
the road being more than three times
the original estimates.
While construction has thus far pro-
ceeded on the supposition that the
road will become part of the South
ern Pacific system, it is known that
two other great railroad interests have
given attention to the road, with a
view to acquiring it. These are the
Rock Island and Santa Fe.
But a few weeks ago the Rock
Island company amended it's articles
to permit it to build to Yuma, toward
which point it has been steadily
reaching out for series of years. Il
goes without saying that Yuma will
not be terminus, and it can be taken
for granted that this great railroad
system will Gin the near future have
its own outlet to tide water.
The Santa Fe is naturally very much
interested in this route, for San Diego
Is its terminus, and between Parker
and San Diego via Imperial valley IS
something like 200 miles shorter than
between the same points over it's pres
ent route, while in building by this
route it would not simply tap the
business Of this valley, but would de-
velop the Colorado river valley above
Yuma
Whatever may be the future owner
ship of the San Diego and Arizona
railroad, it seems certain that it will
furnish an outlet for a great deal Of
the business of the Southern Pacific.
SaEta Fe and Rock Island roads. for
the very nature Of the case will de-
mand that large portion of the busi-
ness along all these lines shall find its
way to San Diego.
1t is now two and half years un-
til it is expected to formally open the
Panama canal to the traffic of the
world, and the great railroad interests
all recognize the necessity for the
completion of this road to San Diego
by that time.
1t is estimated that the shortest
time in which the tunnels for the pro-
jected road can be dug is a year and
a half, while economy of construction
demands about two years for the
work. This is the line of construc-
tion which determines the length OF