USA > California > Placer County > History of Placer county, California > Part 63
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Of the cost of this the Engineer says: " As the second division of the road, about thirteen miles nearest Folsom, costs so much less in proportion than the upper, it may be thought good policy to enter at once upon the construction of the lower division. thus giving an impetus to the work and providing for the transportation of the materials for the heavy bridging on the upper portion." Adding one and a half miles of the first division to bring the road to within four and a half miles of Auburn, the total cost for road, equipped with rolling stock ready for use was estimated at 8516,133.
The guage of the road was fixed at five feet, the same as that of the Sacramento Valley Railroad; the rails to weigh sixty pounds to the yard, set in chairs of wrought iron weighing seven pounds each, and fastened with spikes weighing half a pound each. Iron rails were then delivered from England at $70.00 per ton. the price in England being from £6 to £6, 10s, per ton, with freight, commission, insurance, exchange, duty etc., added.
The question was asked, " Will the road pay ?" to which the engineer answered, " Does it pay to do
without the road ?" Does it pay the people of Placer and Nevada Counties to travel in stage coaches and mud wagons, or even in buggies covered with dust in summer and mud in winter, starting at unseason- able hours and paying $8.00 or $9.00 from Nevada, and 84.00 from Auburn to Folsom ? Does it pay to get goods up over the muddy roads at 820.00, $25.00 and $30.00 per ton in three or four days passage, that might be brought up for less than one-quarter of the money in one day ? Does it pay the miners to compensate the merchants for keeping heavy stocks of goods on hand at some seasons because they can only be brought when the roads are good, when the same merchants could sell at much lower rates by renewing their stocks monthly ? Does it pay to leave the splendid timber of the forest uncut, when it might be remunerating the occupant of the land if a market were opened for it ? Does it pay to wait two or three days for letters by mail, that might be received and answered on the same day ? Does it pay to lose an extra day or two in the transit of gold-dust, and incur extra risks by reason of the unseasonable hours of travel ? Does it pay to leave the granite in the ledges that might be on its way to build stores, and public buildings, and fortifications at Sacramento and the Bay ?"
The gross receipts of the road were estimated at 8943 per day, or $344,195 per year, and the total expenses, including estimated repairs at 8168,000 per annum, leaving a net income of $176,195. This was to come from seventy-five passengers each way, at $1.90 each; 115 tons up freight at 82.85; 100,000 feet lumber, down, at 83.00; twenty tons fire-wood and granite at $1.50, each day. Should the road be com- pleted to Nevada City it was estimated that the freight to that place would add $263,000 to the annual receipts. The survey to Nevada showed a distance of thirty-one and three-quarter miles from Auburn, and an elevation of 2,498 feet above the sea. This would be more than one-third the elevation of the summit of the Sierra Nevada at Henness Pass, and the construction of this road to that city was supposed to fix it as one of the divisions, and the route of the future Pacific Railroad, which should enter the central and business portion of California.
On the 7th of April, 1860, Charles A. Tuttle, Esq., was elected President of the company, and S. W. Lovell was chosen a Director in place of Judge Hale, who had resigned.
The Legislature then in session passed an Act authorizing the people of Auburn to vote on the proposition to subscribe to $50,000 of the stock of the Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Railroad, to be paid when the road was completed and in working order to within thirteen miles of the town. This was a very popular measure in Auburn, and was strongly advocated by the papers. The election occurred on the 4th of June.
An editorial in the Herald of June 2d, asked for a unanimous vote in favor of the proposition, saying.
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"anyone who is opposed to it is not only indifferent, but an enemy to the interests of the place." The vote was 160 " yeas," and not one in opposition.
This vote was soon to be followed by another. The same Legislature passed an Act. approved April 30, 1860, authorizing an election to be held by the people of Placer County to vote on the propositions: "To subscribe for $100,000 of the stock of the Sacra- mento, Placer and Nevada Railroad: 825,000 of the stock of the Eastern Extension Railroad; $12,500 towards the construction of a wagon road from Secret Springs, on the Divide, between the Middle and North Forks of the American River, in Placer County, to Carson Valley; and $12,500 towards the construction of a wagon road from Dutch Flat, in Placer County, to Carson Valley."
The campaign preceding this election was one of the most bitterly contested ever held in Placer County. Each proposition was to be voted sepa- rately: As " Subscription to Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Railroad-Yes," or " Subscription to Sacra- mento, Placer and Nevada Railroad-No;" and the others in the same form. The Eastern Extension Railroad was to run from Lincoln up Auburn Ravine to Auburn, and received but little favor, but by those in the immediate vicinity of its route. The remain- ing propositions were favored by those along the line of the railroad, and of the Dutch Flat Wagon Road, and opposed by the people of the Divide, between the Forks of the American River. The people of the western part of the county, not affected by either of the propositions, also opposed them all.
The election was held as ordered on the 27th of June, 1860, resulting in the defeat of the measure. The official returns of the votes were as follows: Subscription to the Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Railroad-Yes, 1,997; No. 2,183. Subscription to the Eastern Extension Railroad -- Yes, 108; No, 4,000. Subscription to Dutch Flat Wagon Road -- Yes, 1,833; No, 2,218. Subscription to Secret Springs Wagon Road -- Yes, 1,030; No, 2,986. Total vote cast in the county, 4,220, being larger than any vote ever before given.
The vote of Auburn was very large, the majority for the Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Railroad being 450, and at Dutch Flat, 272. The Herald said of the unusually large vote at Auburn: "It is true the vote was larger than has been polled at any gen- eral election in many years; but never was the same effort made to get out a vote. Stages, wagons, and buggies were run constantly during the day. and several miles in every direction, and every voter who could be persuaded to leave his business was brought in."
This source of revenue being cut off, the company sought their financial help elsewhere. Books were opened in Auburn, Sacramento and San Francisco, and $60,000 were subscribed, which, with the 850,000 voted by the town of Auburn, would give 8110,000 to commence operations with. The engineer, Sher-
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man Day, in March, 1861, estimated that the giaal. ing of the lower division of thirteen miles could be made for $130,000. The Directors had arranged with the Sacramento Valley Railroad for the iron and for operating the road. On the first of Fune the Directors appointed J. P. Robinson, Chief Engi- neer, and M. L. Stangroom, Assistant, to perma- nently locate the line. The Directors clerted in August were J. B. Bayerque, of San Francisco, J. P. Robinson, of Sacramento, James E. Hale, J. R. C'ran dall and C. H. Mitchell, of Auburn. J. E. Hale, Pres- ident; John Q. Jackson. Treasurer; and C. H. Mitchell, Secretary. These contracted with Mr. Jackson R. Myers, on favorable terms to the com. pany. to grade the division from Folsom to within five miles of Auburn, and on the 20th of August. 1861, the work was begun in Big Gulch, near Folsom
The winter of 1861-62 was of unprecedented sever- ity, and work was greatly impeded thereby. The first iron was laid on the road in the latter part of April, 1862, and on the 16th of July the road was opened for business to Wildwood Station. seven miles from Folsom. September 20, 1862, the road was completed and put in operation to Auburn Station. thirteen miles from Folsom, and six miles from Auburn. At this station Johnson & Co., Egbert & Co., W. L. Perkins, and George Wilment established forwarding and warehouses, and stage and team lines made it the starting point of their business. A busy little village grew up around the station. and high hopes were entertained by town proprie- tors and railroad owners when this line should be adopted as part of the Pacific Railroad.
To secure this, and to make sure that the route of the future transcontinental road should pass through Placer County, had been among the primary objects of the builders, and the hopes of the people. As such, and as the pioneer mountain road it deserves, and has received, much consideration in this history.
In June, 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Rail- road Bill, and in October the survey of the route was begun. This survey selected the line crossing the American River at Norris' Bridge, then direct to the nearest point of the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, crossing the course of the California Central at right angles, and adopting a route from three to seven miles northwest of the Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Railroad. This survey and adoption of the route was fatal to the last named road, and its own- ers and officers became the bitter opponents of the new enterprise. The statute, permitting the people of the county to vote on the subject of a loan of 8100,000 to the Sacramento. Placer and Nevada Railroad allowed the election to be ordered at the discretion of the Board of Supervisors, and now, with the prospect of a road which would destroy its use fulness, there was no hopes of the loan being granted, and no election was called. The road continued business until in June, 1864.by which time the Central
HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Pacific was completed to Newcastle, this place being the depot for freight and passengers instead of Auburn Station, and soon business ceased entirely.
The Sacramento Valley Railroad Company had supplied the iron for the Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Railroad, and held a mortgage on the road as security. This mortgage was foreclosed, and in the latter part of June the company began taking up the rails for the purpose of relaying them on the Sacramento Valley and Placerville Railroad, which had rival aspirations to the Central Pacific to eross the Sierra to the Territory of Nevada. The Central Pacific Company procured an injune- tion against the removal of the rails. and the Placer County Railroad war was inaugurated. This rail- road war created a great sensation at the time, resulting in many arrests and trials, the calling out of troops for the protection of officers guarding the track, the importation of hired "fighters" from San Francisco, and heavy bills of costs against the county; but at last the rails were removed and the Sacramento, Placer and Nevada Railroad ceased to be.
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD PROJECTED.
Who first suggested the construction of a railroad from the navigable waters of the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific has been a matter of some eontro- versy, but it appears to have been suggested very soon after the adoption of the steam railroad system. The locomotive was put in practical operation by Stephenson, in 1829, in England, from Liverpool to Manchester. Also, in 1829, a locomotive was em- ployed at lonesdale, in Pennsylvania, in an ex- perimental manner, drawing cars of coal, and in 1831 was drawing its train of passenger cars on the road from Albany to Schenectady, in New York. This new system of travel created great excitement, and its fame spread over the country. At that early date in the history of railroads one to the Pacific was thought of. In proof of this we quote from a letter by Col. B. L. E. Bonneville, of the United States Army, to the St. Louis Democrat :--
I observe in your paper of June 4th, fourth page, that the paternity of the Pacific Railroad is claimed by certain individuals. I desire to say that in June, or July, 1831, 1 was at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, and residing as the guest of Major- General Gaines, of the United States Army, and that be told me that he had received a paper from General Leavenworth, United States Army, reeoni- mending the building of a railroad to the Pacific, and that he had forwarded the same to the War Department, Washington City, indorsed as follows: . I forward to you the magnificent project of Gen- eral Leavenworth.' Of course this paper must be in the office of the Adjutant-General of the War Department, and may be revived and published, in justice to a meritorious officer, and to compare the rude ideas of the early friends of that great and grand success.
The officers of the army, and the few trappers
and members of the fur companies, were the only civilized people then familiar with the great plains and the mountainous regions between them and the Pacific, and General Leavenworth was the most prominent of these officers in the West. His idea of a railroad at that time was bold in the extreme, and it is a question whether the indorsement of General Gaines of "magnificent project " was in irony or admiration.
No doubt hangs over the proposition of the Rev. Asa Whitney, who, in 1846, lectured in many places in the United States in the advocaey of a plan conceived by him for the construction of a Pacific Railroad. His plan was for a railroad from the Missouri, through the South Pass, to the Pacific at Astoria, Oregon, to be built by the National Gov- ernment from the proceeds of sales of the public lands lying within ten miles on each side of the road. Whitney may properly be regarded as the originator of the Pacific Railroad and father of the land grant scheme in its aid. His demands, how- ever, were exceedingly modest when compared with those who profited by his ideas and made the road. Mr. Whitney had been a missionary in Oregon, had crossed the plains and mountains more than once, and was greatly impressed with the importance of the project, and the feasibility of his plan. This was in that quiet period of American history which so happily prevailed anterior to the acquisition of Cal- ifornia and the discovery of gold. The time had not ripened until the golden Sierra and the grand bay of San Francisco had become a part of our common country and under the rule of a people capable of their development and protection. His plan, as pro- mulgated, was approved by many prominent officers of the Government, and Senator Thomas HI. Benton introduced a bill to give it effect.
The discovery of gold and the rapid increase of population in California put a different aspect on the railroad question; then it was demanded as a vital necessity by a numerous and prosperous people. Senator Benton introduced a bill on the 7th of Feb- ruary, 1849, to provide for the construction of a Pacific railroad. Then it became a great political question, over which the North and South contended until the secession of the latter, which left the North free to decide. During the period of dispute there were many projects brought forward, bills introduced and surveys ordered, the literature of which, includ- ing Congressional discussion of the subjects, would make quite a large and interesting library. The explorations attending the surveys covered the greater part of the country between the Mississippi and the Pacifie, the reports of which were elaborate and elegant volumes, but published in such a manner that they appeared but little in popular use. The knowledge of the interior was at last made public and general through the explorations by miners, prospectors and travelers, whose accounts and descriptions were published in newspapers. There
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were various routes proposed, but the great division was between the northern and the southern. The politicians of the South insisted upon adopting a southern route, which was supposed to favor south- ern capitalists and southern institutions, while those of the North contended for their special interests.
The first organized movement for the construction of a Pacific railroad made in California was by eiti- zens of Placer, Nevada and Sacramento Counties. There were filed in the office of the Secretary of State at Sacramento, August 17, 1832, articles of incorporation of the "Sacramento, Auburn and Nevada Railroad Company." The articles contained the names of twenty-six subscribers of twenty-eight shares each, at a value of $100 per share, and the names of the following Directors: S. W. Lovell, Placer County; T. O. Dunn, John R. Coryell, Charles Marsh, Isaac Williamson, and William Il. Lyons, of Nevada County; John A. Read, J. B. Haggin, and Lloyd Tevis, of Sacramento County. A line was surveyed from Sacramento through Auburn and Grass Valley to Nevada City, showing the distance to be sixty-eight miles, and the estimated cost of this section of the road was 82,000,000. From Nevada the survey was continued through the IIen- ness Pass. This was undertaken in a spirit of grand enterprise, but it was too gigantic a measure to be carried out by private individuals with the fortunes considered large in those days.
The Sacramento Valley Railroad was built with the expectation that it would be a part of the transcontinental system. This company was formed August 4, 1832, and $5,000 paid in percentage on the stock. The company reorganized Novem- ber 9, 1854, and made immediate preparations for building the road. This was completed, as has been stated, but it did not form a link in the Pacific Rail- road, although it played an important part in that great work.
EFFORTS OF THEODORE D. JUDAH.
The engineer, Mr. Theodore D. Judah, during the years 1854, '55 and '56, explored the Sierra Nevada through a great part of its extent in search of a practicable route for a railroad crossing the range, and labored assiduously to organize a company to engage in the work. The first route selected by him was from Benicia, cia Knight's Landing, Marysville and Noble's Pass, thence to the valley of the Hum- boldt. In this enterprise he visited Washington in 1836, and through Gen. James W. Denver, then Member of Congress, introduced a bill, in which the United States was to give in aid of the construction of the proposed road thirty sections of land, or 19,200 acres, per mile of road. The fund from the sale of this, he estimated, would be ample to build the road. On the 17th of May he wrote to Mr. Chenery, of Marysville, of the bright prospects of the passage of the bill. The bill, however, did not become a law, and Mr. Judah returned to California.
In 1858, while Chief Engineer of the California Central, he surveyed a route for the Auburn Branch Railroad, and made barometrieal observation of the higher Sierra, which convinced him that a practical route could be obtained in that direction for a road. He now engaged with great energy and perseverance upon carrying out his plan for the construction of the Pacific Railroad, and at the session of the Legis- lature convening in 1838, succeeded in having a con- current resolution passed which authorized the hold- ing of a Railroad Convention in San Francisco. This was held September 20, 1859, and was composed of many of the most prominent men of California at that time. This Convention delegated Mr. Judah to proceed to Washington to endeavor to procure legis- lation on the subject. While in Washington at this time a bill was drawn up by himself and Hon. John C. Burch, then a Member of Congress from Cali- fornia. This bill contained nearly all the provisions of the bill as finally passed in 1862. It was printed at private expense, and a copy sent to each Senator and Member of Congress. But the time was not ripe for the measure. Political complications-the slavery question-absorbed the attention of Con- gress. Mr. Judah urged the question upon the members, explained the details in a lucid and intelli- gible manner, and so prepared the way for the future.
In 1860 he returned to California and continued his surveys, struggling with stinted and precarious aid in the grandest enterprise of the age. Dr. D. W. Strong, of Dutch Flat, contributed largely from his private means in paying the expenses of the sur- vey, and accompanied Mr. Judah in his explorations of the route from Auburn to the Truckee River. After completing the survey, which was made with a barometer, Judah went to San Francisco to lay bis plan before the capitalists of that city, and induce them, if possible, to form a company to take hold of the work. Ilis ideas were received very coldly, and he failed in getting the financial support he desired.
Returning to his hotel one evening, convinced of the futility of any further trials in San Francisco, Mr. Judah remarked: " The capitalists of San Fran- cisco have refused to-night to make an investment for which, in less than three years, they shall have ample cause to blame their want of foresight. I shall return to Sacramento to-morrow to interest merchants and others of that place in the great work, and this shall be my only other effort on this side of the continent."
CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY.
In Sacramento were two hardware merchants with whom Mr. Judah had had business relations while in charge of the Sacramento Valley Railroad -Mr. Collis P. Huntington and Mr. Mark Hopkins- and to these gentlemen the final proposition was made. A meeting of the business men of Sacra- mento was called, and the preliminary steps were taken to organize a company. This organization
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HISTORY OF PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
was effected, and articles of incorporation were filed with the Secretary of State June 28, 1861. The company was named the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, with the following-named Directors: Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, James Bailey, Theodore D. Judah, L. A. Booth, C. P. Hunt- ington, Mark Hopkins. of Sacramento; D. W. Strong, of Dutch Flat, and Charles Marsh, of Nevada. Leland Stanford was elected President; C. P. Hunt- ington, Vice-President; Mark Hopkins, Treasurer; and Theodore D. Judab. Chief Engineer.
After the organization of the company Mr. Judah was instructed to make a thorough instrumental sur- vey of the route across the Sierra. This survey developed a line with lighter grades, less distance and fewer obstacles than the previous observations had shown. The first report of the Chief Engineer to the officers of the company, gave the following as the topographical features of the Sierra Nevada. which rendered them so formidable for railroad operations :-
" First, The great elevation to be overcome in crossing its summit, and the want of uniformity in its western slope." The average length of the west- ern slope of the Sierra Nevada is about seventy miles, and in this distance the altitude increases 7,000 feet. making it necessary to maintain an even grade on the ascent to avoid creating some sections with excessive grades.
"Second, From the impracticability of the river crossings." These rivers run through gorges in many places over 1,000 feet in depth, with the banks of varying slopes from perpendicular to forty-five degrees. A railroad line. therefore, must avoid the crossing of these canons. The line, as established by the surveys of 1861, pursued its course along an unbroken ridge from the base to the summit of the mountain, and by descending the eastern slope by the valley of the Truckee River avoided the eastern summit, which rises east of Lake Tahoe, and of the several mountain lakes and valleys that characterize the Sierra Nevada. The estimated cost of the road from Sacramento to the State line was 888,000 per mile. The estimated length of line contemplated by the company, extending from Sacramento to the eastern boundary of the State, was 116 miles, but the subsequent location of the road made it 144 miles.
The struggle now commenced to raise the money necessary to perfect the organization and give it the appearance of substantiality. Every paper in the State, every political party in its platform, and every politician on the stump, had, since the days of the discovery of gold, advocated and proclaimed the Pacific Railroad as the greatest conceivable blessing to the Union, to California. and to mankind, and that when completed it would pay the enormous profit of $50,000 000 per annum! Now that some real effort was making, a practicable route found, and a pros- pect of work being commeneed, capitalists began to
express opposition to the work, and the company was denounced as a company on paper only. The Directors were stigmatized as ordinary trades- people in a small interior city, in moderate cireum- stances, with slight education, and no experience in any great enterprise or financial operation. Truly the venture was a wild one if carried on timidly, but by a liberal expenditure, bold and energetic movements, there was a possibility of success. equal- ing the representations made by Engineer Judah to the San Franciscans. The developments in the silver mines of Nevada offered a prospect for immediate business, and the secession of the Southern States, taking the southern route from the controversy, opened the prospect for the passage of the Pacific Railroad bill with liberal grants and subsidies.
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