Imperial Valley press., 1920-03-20

Instead of calling it all dream,
she called it an inspiration and, with
al the indomitable pluck and perser-
verance of the new west, she said lit
shall be- and adopted taat as her
slogan. But tickle dame fortune laugh
ed and said that the god CT obstacles
5hould have his way first.
General John c. Fremont was in
Paris just closing a deal to finance
The railway when Sumter was fired
upon and the railway scheme collaps-
ed.
Again in the early seventies San
Diego's hopes ran high, but the panic
vas again exploded, just as the neces
sary financial backing was forthcom-
'ng. The death Of e. H. Hartman
vas anothe blow to San Diego's as
.oirations, for actual construction was
lnder way when his untimely death
occurred.
SPRECKELS COMES
With the death of Mr.. Hartman.
he Southern Pacific would make no
further advances of capital, and con-
truction work languished. British
:apital was about to lend it's aid when
the Vera Cruz incident occurred, the
United States was at war with Mex
co, and the English would not draw
heir purse strings.
1t was at this juncture that John D.
'prec.,els, backed by his brother,
Adolph B. Spreckels, stepped into the
reach and poured his private fortune
INTO the road. $1S,O00,OC0 is what
his 149 miles Of railway, which con-
lects with the Southern Pacific rail-
way to the east, cost, and one-half
Of this amount has been furnished by
this staunch empire builder, who above
all things, prides himself upon never
)eing a gutter.
The road is 149 miles long, "A of
which are in Old Mexico and known as
re Tijuana and Tecate Railway, en-
;ering Mexico at Tijuana and leaving
t again at Tecate. 1t reaches it's
highest elevation at Hipass, Califor-
ia, 1867 feet above sea level. and in
he vicinity Of Seeley, in the Imperia!
Valley, drops to 47.4 feet below sea
level. The heaviest grade encounter
ed on the entire system is % per
cent.
San Diego has been my home now
ior nearly quarter of a century. !
ave come to love her beauties and
her commonplaces, and. lover-like |
have eyes for no other. Along with
many an old timer, have believed in
her destiny, and today we are seeing
our faith eXemplified and the promis-
IS of youth fulfilled. But we, who
have waited so long, find it hard to
realize that the trans continental
railway is really in operation and that
we have lived to see the day of San
Diego's unfolding.
FIRST PART is ORDINARY
After all these years of waiting, it
vas with q feeling of hesitancy that
we boarded the train at the union
station for our first trip over the San
Diego and Arizona railway. Had San
Diego been merely a backward child
and her railway an ordinary every
day accomplishment for verile COM
munity,-we the boasted engineer
ng feats of Carriso Gorge to. become
mere commOnplaces upon close in
spection?
Down through National City, Chula
Vista, across the Mexican border at
Tia Juana, just ordinary railway, and
IL was I1OC uHCll heuOIUO was ISdCIlcu
that we began to become interested.
Before US was unfolded a country of
fertile mesas and meadows, anxious
ly looking forward to the day when a
man should>come with plow and seed.
True, there were scars, here and there,
where the Mexican farmer had scratch
ed the ground, but we were in the
country of manana where the people
are easily overcome with the ordinary
tasks Of life, and the whole coun-
try seemed to yearn for the hardy
pioneer of our early days.
Leaving Redondo, all sense of di-
rection was lost, the road looped back
and forth, every way. but always up
ward. Twenty minutes later the
initial ridge was gained and Redondo
was just below, with four loops Of
tracks lying between.
SCENES OF OLD MEXICO
The train passed through section
gang of some 80 Mexican laborers
resting on their pick and shovel
handles, and of all the impressions of
this first trip, this section gang stands
out as one of the prominent pictures
on our memory. They were replac-
ing wornOut ties-not one or two, but
hundreds of them. Our new trans
continental railway has not been
built in day, but the wilderness has
been conquered foot by foot and moth