USA > California > Placer County > History of Placer county, California > Part 37
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TAXATION IN 1866.
The tax levy for 1866 was State $1.13, and county 81.42, including all purposes, making a total of $2.55 on each 8100. The Legislature authorized a special poll tax of $2.00 in Placer County, for the benefit of schools, and three other poll taxes were levied, the military poll tax law having been repealed.
The valuation of property, as returned by the Board of Equalization, was, real estate and improve- ments, 81.710,805; personal property, 81,981,556.21. a total of 83,692,391.21. The Assessor had assessed the Central Pacific Railroad at the rate of $6.000 per mile, and all property of the company aggre- gating 8243,000. This amount was raised by the Board of Equalization to 8607,500. upon which the railroad company refused to pay taxes, and suit was instituted against them. The California Central Railroad, assessed at $40,000, and the Yuba Railroad. assessed at 810,000, were also delinquent, and were sued for the payment of taxes.
At that time, the California Central Railroad ex- tended from Folsom to Lincoln, although operated only from Roseville Junction to Lincoln: and the Yuba Railroad was the extension of the former, then in course of construction, by a company organized in Marysville, under the superintendency of Col. Charles L. Wilson. the owner and builder of the California Central.
In the suit for taxes a verdict was obtained in the Fourteenth Judicial District Court in favor of the county, but the case was appealed to the Supreme Court by the railroad company. No decision was reached during the year, and in the following year a compromise was effected, placing the assessment of the Central Pacific Railroad at $6,000 per mile, and remitting all that had been raised by the Board of Equalization. With these results the property valu- ation for the year was $3.327,861.21.
LEGAL DISTANCES.
Legal distances for which jurymen could draw mileage and amounts allowed thereon, March 5, 1866 :-
LOCALITY.
MILES
AMT.
LOCALITY.
MILES
AMT.
Beals Bar.
16 84 80
Wells
5 81 50
Carrollton
13 3 90 Orrs.
6 1 80
Fountain House.
16 4 80 Grizzly Bear House.
9 2 70
Dotans Bar. .
12 3 60 Butcher Ranch.
11
3 30
Roseville
20 6 00 Oregon Bar.
12
3 60
Rocklin.
16 4 80
U. S. House.
13
3 90
Auburn- Station.
7 2 10 Smiths Ranch.
14
4 20
Pine Grove.
9
2 70 Spring Garden.
16
4 80
New Castle.
4| 1 20 North Star House.
20
6 00
Franklin House.
9 2 70
Yankee Jim's.
20
6 00
Ophir ..
4|
1 20
Forest Hill
6 60
Doty's Flat
5
1 50 Bath
24 7 20
Gold Hill.
8
2 40 Bakers Ranch.
7 SO
Virginia
10: 3 00
Michigan Bluff.
30
9 00
Lincoln
14
4 20
Damascus.
36 10 80
Fullers
20
6 00 Forks House.
34 10 20
Union Shed
21
6 30 Secret Spring House.
40 12 00
Cox Ranch.
14
4 20
Upper Horse Shoe Bar 27
8 10
Dunn Shed.
24 7 20
Birds Valley
2S
S 40
Wilsontown
12: 3 60
Dead wood
37 11 10
Neilsburg
6 1 80
Devil's Basin.
39 11 70
Lisbon
12 3 60
Last Chance. .
44 13 20
Illinoistown
20 6 00
Blacksmith Flat.
46 13 80
Colfax
20
6 00
Antoine Cañon
43 12 90
Maddens Station.
25 7 50
Towa Hill ..
28
8 40
(Holdl Ran.
29 7 70
Monona Flat.
29 8 70
Dutch Flat
32 9 60
Grizzly Flat.
30, 9 00
Herberts Station
35 10 50
Wisconsin Hill.
30, 9 00
Zerts Ranch. .
41 12 30
Mineral Bar.
23
6 90
Wilson's Ranch
46 13 80 |Green Valley ..
34 10 20
Rattlesnake
5 1 50
Squaw Valley
74 22 20
Rock Creek ..
3
90 |Tahoe City
$0.24 00
TAX LEVY IN 1867.
The tax levied in February for 1867 was as follows: State tax, 81.13, County General Fund, 60 cents, Redemption Fund, 20 cents, railroad interest, 7 cents, schools, 12 cents, hospitals. 10 cents, a total of 82.25 on each $100. The poll taxes were the same as the previous year.
Of the property reported by the Assessor were 20 quartz-mills with 346 stamps, which had been ere cted at a cost of 8335.000; 26 mining ditches whose original cost was 81.628.000, 3 touring-mills and 30 saw-mills.
The valuation of the property in the county, for the year, as reported by the Recorder in October, from the returns of the Assessors was: For real estate and improvements 82,110,200, and for personal property 81,996,482, being a total of 84,106,682, being an increase over the preceding year of 8414,291. Upon this the amount of tax levied was: For State purposes 846.405.30, and for county purposes 845,- 994.95, a total of $92,400.25.
CENTRAL PACIFIC CONTROVERSY.
The suit against the railroad company for the taxes levied in the year 1866 was still pending, awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court. The following proceedings of the Board of Supervisors at their session held November 8, 1867, explain them- selves :-
18
3 40
Stewart's Flat.
7
2 10
Todds Valley
E. M. Banvard.
161
FINANCIAL HISTORY.
Board met as Board of Equalization of Supple- mental Assessment Rolls.
Leland Stanford, President, and Robert Robinson, Attorney of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, appeared before the Board and made the following statement and proposition in writing :-
To the Board of Supervisors of Placer County-
GENTLEMEN: The Central Pacific Railroad Com- pany of California, having become involved in litigation with the County of Placer, in relation to the taxes upon its railroad for the years 1866 and 1867, the Company believe and are advised that no taxes for said years can be legally collected, but not- withstanding that they do not wish to escape the payment of their just proportion of the taxation. which should be paid upon all the property of the State. Its road-bed and superstructures there n were assessed for each of those years at 86,000 per mile, which said Company consider a fair valuation of the same, and they propose to pay the taxes thereon at once, and as often as they become due, if the County of Placer, by its Board of Supervisors, will cancel the judgment against said Company, and remit all the additional amount of valuation and tax added by the late Board of Supervisors, acting as a Board of Equalization for said years 1366 and 1867, and all suits and proceedings at law between the said Company and State, in relation to said taxes to be dismissed and cancelled.
--
E. B. Crocker and Robert Robinson, Attorneys for -C. P. R. R. Co. of Cal. -
And now, the Board having had the same under advisement and carefully considered the same, and being satisfied that the assessments, as made by the Assessor of Revenue District No. 2, of Placer County, of the property of said Central Pacific Railroad Company of California. for the fiscal years 1866 and 1867 cannot be collected by law, said assessment having been made under and by virtue of an Act of the Legislature of the State of California entitled, " An Act regulating the assessment and taxation of railroads and other roads for revenue purposes, and other matters relating thereto," approved April 4. 1864, and which said Act is believed to be unconsti- tutional. It is therefore, on motion, ordered that the aforesaid proposition of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California oe, and the same is hereby accepted, and the Board of Supervisors, acting as a Board of Equalization, do hereby agree to accept from said Central Pacific Company of Califor- nia. the sum of six thousand one hundred and ninety six and 30-100 dollars ($6,196.50) in full, for all assessment or demands against said Railroad Com- pany on account of State and county taxes for the fiscal year 1866, and it is further ordered that the judgment against said Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, in favor of the people of the State of California, in the District Court of the 14th Judicial District, for taxes for said year be cancelled. And it is, on motion, further ordered that the order made by the Board of Equalization of Placer County' on the 22d day of August, 1867. as entered on the records of said Board, on pages 665 and 666, inereas- ing the valuation of the road-bed and superstructure of the railroad of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, from the sum of $6,000 per mile to the sum of $15,000 be, and the same is hereby rescinded, and the Clerk of this Board is hereby ordered to correct the Assessment Roll of Revenne District No. 2 of Placer County in accord- ance with the foregoing order.
The costs of litigation, interest and all losses and expenses fell upon the county.
GREAT WEALTH OF THE RAILROAD COMPANY.
At the time the railroad company was contesting the payment of its taxes, and the officers were swearing it worth but 86.000 per mile. its agents in the Eastern cities were publishing the following advertisement as a recommendation of its first mort- gage bonds :- -
The Central Pacific Railroad enjoys all the privi- leges, grants, and subsidies conferred by the Acts of Congress upon the other parts of the through line. and has in addition, several special exclusive advan tages applicable only to the western balf.
1. The company received from the State and chief cities of California, assistance in money, credit, and valuable property, worth over $3.000,000 in gold, in addition to the full henefit of the Government subsidy.
II. The hardest and costliest part of its construc- tion has been snece-sively overcome within the first 150 miles. In a few weeks the track will be com- pleted entirely across the Sierra Nevada, after which progress to Salt Lake will be easy and rapid. -
III. The local business alone of this road estab- lishes its complete financial success, independently of the vast through traffic which must pass over it. The gross earnings for the months of June and July. upon the ninety-four miles then open for business, were upwards of 8297,000 in gold, of which four- fifths were net earnings.
IV. It can have no competition, but will carry. besides its own Incrative traffic, the whole volume of through business, which is shared among its Eastern connections and their branches.
V. The road lies wholly in territory yielding the precious metals, and its revenues are collected in coin. Its rates for transportation are very advantageous, being more than three times those of roads lying east of it, and the ratio of operating is less than twenty-two per cent. of the gross earnings.
VI. In consequence of the aid it receives from the General Government, from the State of California, and from municipal corporations, the annual interest obligations which the company are called upon to assume are very light. The net earnings npon an average of abont seventy-five miles, in 1866, were nearly three times the amount of annual interest liabil- ities to be assumed in building it. mul were $235,000 more than the annual interest on the entire amount of First Mortgage Bonds which the company can issue on the first 150 miles.
The statement was also made by the same parties that the First Mortgage Bonds of $15.000 per mile, payable in gold. were not one-third the cash value of the road. or that the road was worth $144,000 per mile. The net profits of the ro id, 94 miles in opera tion, as reported by the company for 1867. was $1,261.008.
Placer County was a stockholder in the road, but received no dividends or shares in any protits of oper- ation or speculation.
An effort was made in December, 1867. by the Board of Supervisors, as representing the stock held
21
162
HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
hy Placer County, to examine the books of the rail- road company to ascertain the condition of its busi- ness, but the examination resulted in nothing. Two Supervisors of the Board were satisfied with the explanation given by the officers of the company, and the other attempting a more intimate investiga- tion was rudely repelled.
ASSESSMENT AND TAXES IN 1868.
The tax levy for 1868 was fixed for State at $1.00. and for county purposes at $1.10 on each $100. Total,-$2.10 with the usual poll taxes.
The value of property reported by the Assessors, in 1868, was as follows: Personal property, $2,184,327; real estate, 82,567,452; total valuation. 84,751,779. Amount of State taxes levied upon this, 847.517; county taxes, 852,245, and dog tax, $1,228; total, $100,991.
Of this amount the First Revenne District was taxed 828,421, and the Second District, 854,435, and the Third District, 818,176.
The Central Pacific Railroad was assessed at the rate of $12,000 per mile of road, and the company refused to pay the taxes, being delinquent in conse- quence the amount of $23,247.
The Assessors reported eighteen saw-mills in oper- ation, cutting 13,000,000 feet of lumber per annum; twelve quartz-mills; one steam flouring-mill with two run of stones; thirty six mining ditches with an aggregate of 379 miles of ditch; three irrigating ditches, irrigating eighty acres; four railroads, aggregating 113} miles; estimated total population, 14,300; registered voters, 4,780; poll tax collected, 83,051.
In January following the assessment, and on the demand for taxes, the railroad company tendered the tax at their own rate of assessment, $6,000 a mile of road, and the tender was refused by the county authorities. The railroad company was sued for its delinquent taxes, and judgment was obtained against the company, but the case was car- ried on appeal. first to the Supreme Court of the State, where the judgment was affirmed, and then on a writ of review to the Supreme Court of the United States.
ROBBING THE TREASURER.
During the change of County Treasurers in June, a robbery of 84,000 of the county money was etfected, but by what means, or by whom, was never ascertained. The bondsmen of the retiring Treas- urer, Mr. J. W. Dickerson, at once prepared to pay the loss, but the Board of Supervisors allowed an extension of eight months time to the Treasurer to recover the money. This way regarded as relieving the bondsmen. The Treasurer afterwards paid a portion of the loss, and ineffectual efforts were made to recover the balance, until, in 1872, suit was brought against the bondsmen, and decided, in December of that year, by the Supreme Court, hold. ing the bondsmen liable, and the money was paid.
TAXATION IN 1869.
The Board of Supervisors at their meeting in Feb- ruary, 1869, levied the following taxes on each $100 worth of property :-
State Fund 80 97
County General Fund 63
Redemption Fund .. 50
County School Fund 20
Hospital Fund. 10
Railroad Interest Fund 10
Total $2 50
This was an increase of forty cents on the levy of the preceding year. With increasing property there came increasing taxes. One of the causes of this was the payment of the interest and providing for the Sinking Fund of the Central Pacific Railroad Bonds; and a prolific source of expenditure was the great increase of criminal matters caused by the character of people laboring on the railroad and brought into the county by it. Another expenditure was the litigation forced upon the county by the refusal of the railroad company to pay taxes, thus showing that if the railroad was the cause of a great increase in property valuation and revenue, it was also the cause of the greatly increased expendi- tures. At the time taxes in Placer were $2.50, in the adjoining county of Nevada they were but $1.70 on each $100.
The salaries and perquisites of officers were high, the county-as also the State-paying far more for services than was paid in business life. The Legis- lature of 1868 passed an Act regulating salaries which effected a saving of quite a sum, and also changed the system of electing District Assessors to a single Assessor for the county. Under the new bill Supervisors were limited to $350 per annum, and mileage at the rate of twenty cents per mile from their home to the county seat. The Assessor was allowed $6.00 per diem, and limited to 82,500 per annum. The District Attorney was allowed a salary of $500 per annum, and fees for conviction- $25.00 where the punishment was death; $12.00, felony; $8.00, misdemeanor; $50.00 for conviction of gam. blers, etc., out of the fires imposed, and other receipts not from the county. If his receipts from official ser- vice exceeded $2,000 per annum, the surplus was turned into the County Salary Fund. The salary of County Judge was $2,000; Sheriff, $4,000; Treas- urer, $1.500; Clerk, 83,000; and Recorder who was ex officio Auditor, $2,500.
EXORBITANT BILLS.
In referring to the great expenses of the county in bills taxed by the Sheriff's, the Herald of August 14, 1869, publishing a bill by J. H. Neff, then Sheriff, says :-
This enormous bill was footed up against the county for only seventy-six working days, and reaches a total of $4,573.18. A. W. Poole drew from the county $29,448.81 for his term of two years as
163
FINANCIAL HISTORY.
Sheriff. The county has paid for 8,507 miles travel in seventy-six days, or what would make 34,500 miles a year. The simple truth is these miles were never traveled, but that thousands and thous- ands of miles have been charged, allowed and paid for that were never traveled. This is one of the reasons that taxes are higher and the county in debt. $30,000 a term for the Sheriff of Placer County for criminal business alone !
RAILROAD SUITS COMPROMISED.
In the assessment of property the Central Pacific Railroad was assessed at $12,000 per mile. Against this the company objected, and applied to the Board of Equalization for a reduction to $6,000 per mile, with which request the Board complied at their meeting September 2, 1869.
On the 28th of September, 1869, the Board of Supervisors ordered the dismissal of the suit instituted in 1868 for the taxes of that year at the rate of $12,000 per mile, and accepted the tender of the railroad company of the taxes for that year at the rate of an assessment of 86,000 per mile. The case had been tried in the District Court, where it was decided in favor of the county, and was before the Supreme Court when dismissed. This withdrawal, however, was made too late, and the suit went on. In 1872 a decision was rendered affirming the decision of the District Court, which was for 824,409.35, of which $12,785.85 was for the county and the remainder for the State. But the railroad company did not pay, but appealed to the United States Supreme Court on a writ of review. There it was pending until April, 1873, when it was rumored a decision was about to be made and the railroad company withdrew its appeal. In the meantime C. P. Huntington and other stockholders, as citizens of other States, commenced suit in the United States Circuit Court, at San Francisco, to perpetually enjoin the Collectors of several coun- ties from collecting tax on the railroad, claiming the United States held such an interest in it as to render it exempt. The amount of taxes the payment of which was thus postponed amounted to about $100,000, for the year 1872. As a result of the assessment the railroad company at once increased the rates of freights to all points .in Placer County about 40 eents per ton, thus more than recovering all sums paid in taxation. The increase was esti- mated to add $200,000 to the costs of the freight in the county, or 8175,000 more than the tax.
The assessed valuation of property in 1869 was $3,498,164, upon which the tax levied was 82.50 per $100. The total receipts in the County Treasury from all sources was 8127,492.54. of which 846.499,66 was for the State.
TAXATION IN 1870.
The tax levy for 1870 was 86g cents by the State and $1.73} by the county, or $2.60 on each $100.
SALE OF THE RAILROAD STOCK.
Numerous statements were published during the
year 1869 showing the earnings of the Central Pacific Railroad, and proving that Placer County, as a stockholder, was entitled to upwards of 8300,- 000 in dividends of working profit, and some millions of dollars it sharing proportionately with the other stockholders. In view of this claim a movement was made for the purchase of the stock by the company, and an amendment to the Act of 1866, authorizing Placer to sell the stock, was passed by the Legislature in April, 1870, authorizing the sale of the stock "upon such terms and conditions as shall to said Board of Supervisors, to be declared by a unanimous vote thereof, be deemed expedient and for the best interest of said county, provided that said sale shall be for eash and in gold coin of the United States, or in exchange of said stock, or portion thereof. for the railroad bonds of said county," etc.
In accordance with this Aet the following pro- ceedings of the Board of Supervisors are recorded :--
AUBURN, April 13, 1870. Office of the County Clerk of Placer County, State of California, and ex officio Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of said County:
It appearing to the satisfaction of the undersigned that it is proper and necessary that a special meet- ing of the Board of Supervisors of Plaeer County should be called and held for the transaction of the business of said county, it is by them hereby ordered that such special meeting be called and held at the office of the County Clerk of Placer County. in Auburn, in said county, at the hour of 2 o'clock P. M. of this the 13th day of April, 1870, for the purpose of said Board taking action in reference to the sale of the 2,500 shares of the capital stock of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California. owned and held by said county, and for determining and fixing the price, terms and conditions of the said sale of said stock.
WM. VAN VACTOR, Chairman. W. H. KINDER. J. D. PRATT.
The Board of Supervisors met this Wednesday. April 13, 1870, in pursuance to the above call for the business above specified.
Present: Wm. Van Vaetor, Chairman, W. H Kinder, J. D. Pratt and G. G. Sewell, Clerk.
J. D. Pratt offered the following resolution :
WHEREAS, D. O. Mills & Co, bankers of the City of Sacramento have this day proposed to purchase the 2.500 shares of the capital stock of the Central Pacific Railroad of California, now owned and held by the County of Placer, at the price of $250.000. in gold coin of the United States, the receipt whereof is hereby confessed, and upon the further under- standing and agreement on the part of said county that the said D. O. Mills & Co. may, and it shall be their privilege as a part of their contract, at any time within four months from the date of this order, and from time to time, present and deliver to this Board the outstanding railroad bonds of said county so many thereof as they may be able to procure within said time, and receive therefor from said county in gold coin of the United States, the full amount which said bonds may call for upon their face at the time of their presentation as aforesaid. now, therefore, be it
164
HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Resolved, And it is hereby ordered that the aforesaid proposition for the purchase of said stock be and the same hereby is sold. assigned and transferred to the said D. O. Mills & Co., at the price and upon the terms and conditions atoresaid; and be it further ordered that William Van Vactor, the Chairman of this Board, be, and he hereby is. authorized and empowered to pro- ceed to Sacramento and transfer said stock in the name of said county, upon the stock transfer books of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, and that a certified copy of this order be taken by him and filed with the Secretary of said company, as his license and authority for making said transfer.
This resolution was adopted unanimously. The sale relieved the county of the indebtedness and payment of interest on the $250,000 bonds, although the profits from the stock should have paid the inter- est and much more, yet no dividends were deciared. The county had paid in interest about $120,000, and other payments aggregating about 8170,000, which was in reality an expenditure for the sole benefit of the railroad company, and a total loss to the county. With the exception of about 85,000 in outstanding warranty, which was balanced by $18,786 of county money in the Treasury, Placer was again out of debt.
At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors in May, 1870, the three members voted themselves an allow- ance of $1,500 each " for services, expenses and attor- neys' fee in selling Central Pacific Railroad stock," besides their usual legal fees for services as Super- visors. Great indignation was expressed at this movement, as no expensesor attorneys' fees had been incurred, and from the further fact, that another party had previously made an offer of par value in gold for the stock, leaving the county to purchase the bonds on terms more advantageous to itself. The payment of the amounts voted by the Super- visors to themselves was enjoined. at the instance of Moses Andrews, and by the decision of Judge Rear- dan, rendered in August, 1870. the claim was declared illegal.
The case was then appealed to the Supreme Court, where it was decided September 16, 1872, sustaining the decision of Judge Reardan. The decision was that the Board was not entitled to extra pay; that the sale in pursuance of the statute was in the line of their official duties, and that the allowance of pay was not only unwarranted by the statute, but within its positive prohib. tion.
August 18, 1870, a final settlement was made with D. O. Mills & Co., who paid over to the Supervisors in lieu of money 8221,000 in the county's railroad bonds, and surrendered in interest coupons, $22,629 .- 35, and the remainder, 86,370.65, in coin, leaving about 827,000 of bonds out, and bearing interest at " per cent., yet an indebtedness of the county. About $3,000 of the bonds had been redeemed pre- vious to the sale to D. O. Mills & Co., the presumed agents of the railroad company.
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