USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, 1913 > Part 23
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These men were merchants in a city that could not be classed among the large ones of the land, and were consequently not largely known to the financial world; they had never been engaged in the railroad business, and were supposedly ignorant of the magnitude of the undertaking in which they engaged. Aside from the natural dif- ficulty of the situation, they encountered the opposition of the moneyed men of San Francisco and other places, who gave their enterprise the name of the "Dutch Flat Swindle." C. P. Huntington, vice-president of the company, was next sent to the east, with full power-of-attorney to do any acts he might think for the interest of the company. One of the main objects of this trip was to see that the bill which was then before congress should not oblige the company to pay interest on the bonds received of the government for at least ten years from their date of issue. After the passage of the bill, the books were opened for stock subscriptions, to the amount of eight and one-half million dollars. Of this amount, six hundred thousand dollars were sub- scribed at the first rush, but after that, for a long time, the sub- scriptions came in very slowly.
When Huntington attempted to dispose of the bonds of the com- pany in New York, he was informed that they had no marketable value until some part of the road was built. Before he could dispose of them, therefore, he was obliged to give the personal guarantee of himself and his four partners, Hopkins, Stanford and the Crockers, for the money, until such time as they could be exchanged for United States bonds.
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After spending the summer of 1861 in making additional surveys of the three routes under consideration, Judah had finally decided on the Dutch Flat route, ascertaining that the maximum grade on that line would be one hundred feet to the mile. He thought the line could be kept free from snow by the use of snow plows and that eighteen tunnels, aggregating 17,100 feet in length, would be suffi- cient. "Lightning expresses" and "limited" trains did not enter into his calculations. He outlined a schedule for trains going east as follows:
Sacramento to Barrimore's, thirty-one miles, one hour. Stop at Barrimore's, half hour.
Barrimore's to Summit, eighty-one miles, four hours. Four stops en route, fifteen minutes each, one hour. Stop at Summit, quarter-hour.
Summit to Truckee river, eleven miles, three-quarters of an hour.
Total for one hundred and twenty-three miles, seven and one- half hours, including stops aggregating an hour and three-quarters.
He estimated the cost of construction from Sacramento to the state line, one hundred and forty miles, at $12,380,000, an average of $88,248 a mile.
The bill as passed gave the company two years to complete the first fifty miles, none of their land grant or government bonds being available until they had finished the first forty. This latter provision nearly doomed them to failure, as it turned out. The first fifty miles, as reported by the engineers were described as a line from "Sacra- mento to Grider's (Roseville) eighteen miles; thence California Cen- tral Railroad to the Auburn Railroad, opposite Folsom, nine miles; thence Auburn Railroad to Auburn, fifteen miles; thence eight miles to Clipper Gap." Evidently it was the intention to use the two roads named, but that intenion was abandoned later.
For the purpose of providing means for commencing the work, the seven principal stockholders formed a partnership, each one con- tributing $34,000 in gold; the amount thus received, $238,000, was thought to be sufficient to build at least to Newcastle. Everything being ready to begin they decided to have a celebration and it was held at Front and K streets in this city January 8, 1863. The ground was very muddy, and hay was scattered over it to make better foot- ing. At 12 M. Charles Crocker introduced Governor Stanford, who spoke briefly as to his gratification at being chosen to cast the first dirt on what was to be to the west what the Erie canal was to the eastern and central states, "the tie that bound." He assured those assembled that the work would go on without cessation or interrup- tion. Rev. J. A. Benton, at the close of Stanford's remarks, offered a petition that the Divine blessing might rest on the enterprise, and that the road here inaugurated in His name, might go forward to
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speedy completion and prove a highway for the people that would make the wildnerness and the solitary places blossom like a rose. Then two wagons decorated with red, white and blue, and filled with dirt were driven in front of the speakers' stand and Governor Stanford shoveled their contents on the ground, while the "Sacra- mento Union Brass band" played the national airs, and closed with "Wait for the Wagon." Presiding officers of the legislature and others made remarks, Mr. Crocker winding up with the statement that even while he was speaking the contractor was hauling piles to the American river, for the bridge across it; that the road was going through, and that all he had was devoted to the section he had under- taken to build.
The Central Pacific issued a statement that they had ordered eight first-class locomotives from Norris & Co., of Philadelphia, two of them being of the heaviest class used by the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road on its mountain grades, capable of hauling thirty loaded cars or three hundred and sixty tons over the heaviest grades that would be on the Central Pacific. Eight passenger coaches were also ordered, four combined mail and baggage cars, thirty box cars, thirty platform cars, and six hand cars, and that they were on their way round the Horn. The freight on these cost it was stated $4,000 each, making their cost set up in Sacramento, $32,000 each.
The shipment of these engines was delayed by an army officer who appeared at the locomotive works when they were about ready and took possession of them and of all others that were on hand. for use of the army, in the name of the government. Protest was made by the company and the anthorities at Washington, when they learned that the engines seized were for the use of the Central Pacific, ordered them released, on the ground that no military necessity was more important than the completion of the Pacific Railroad. They were partially paid for by a fund of $1,250,000 raised by the directors, five of them becoming responsible for the loan by endorsing the com- pany's notes.
None of the government's subsidy aid had as yet been received. Subscriptions by individuals for stock amounted to $600,000. Bonds had been received from Sacramento county for $300,000 and from Placer county for $250,000, railroad bonds being given in exchange for them. The city of San Francisco had by a large majority voted a $600,000 subsidy, but it was being held up temporarily hy officials hostile to the road. Engineer Judah reported that the company would have to abandon the original plan of using the California Central and Sacramento, Placer and Nevada roads, as they were not laid with American iron, as specified in the bill, nor could any existing roads count in aiding the Central Pacific, under the bill. He reported also that the road was being laid on redwood ties, 68,000 of them being contracted for, and that 6,000 tons of iron had
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been purchased. He estimated the cost of the first fifty miles at $3,221,496.
In 1862 the company was granted the right of way into the city of Sacramento and was also granted the Slough or Sutter lake. The contract for building the road from Sacramento to Grider's on the California Central Railroad was let December 22, 1862, to C. Crocker & Co., who sublet the contract to different parties. Twenty miles of road each year were completed in 1863, 1864 and 1865, thirty miles in 1866, forty-six miles in 1867, three hundred and sixty-four miles in 1868, one hundred and ninety and one-half miles in 1869; making six hundred and ninety and one-half miles from Sacramento to Promon- tory, where the roads met, May 10, 1869.
The difficulties were many and great. All of the materials except the eross ties, including a large proportion of the men employed, were brought from the east via Cape Horn. Toward the latter part of the great enterprise several thousand Chinamen were put at work. Be- sides this, it was war times, and marine insurance was very high; iron and railroad materials were held at tremendous figures and the price of the subsidy bonds was very low. All of these conditions combined to make the building of the road very costly.
. The state of California agreed to pay the interest on $1,500,000 of the bonds for thirty years, and in return the company gave to the state a very valuable stone quarry. A number of the counties along the road bonded themselves in exchange for stock. Sacramento county gave her bonds to the amount of $300,000. These bonds were exchanged for money and the work was pushed forward. Then there was delay in obtaining the subsidy, and the money ran short. When Mr. Hunt- ington returned from New York he found the treasury almost destitute of coin, and it became evident that there was a necessity for raising more funds or stopping the work. "Huntington and Hopkins can, out of their own means, pay five hundred men for a year; how many can each of you keep on the line," was the characteristic declaration with which he met the emergency. Before the meeting adjourned these five men had resolved that they would maintain eight hundred men on the road during the year out of their own private resources.
Mr. Judah had sold out his interest in the company about this time (1863) and gone east. On the way he was stricken with Panama fever, dying from it shortly after his arrival in New York, in 1863, at the age of only thirty-seven years. Dr. Strong of Dutch Flat, although a sincere and earnest believer in the enterprise, was not able to furnish what was considered his share of the expenses necessary to be ad- vanced, and retired from the board of directors. Messrs. Bailey, Booth and Marsh were compelled, like Judalı, to sell out after the enterprise was well under way, though it is known that they were all earnest workers for its success at the commencement.
Mr. Judah was succeeded by S. S. Montague as chief engineer of
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the road. The location surveys were made under his directions. The road to Colfax, or Lower Illinoistown Gap, was located on the line run by Mr. Judah in 1861; from Colfax to Long Ravine the line was changed materially; from Long Ravine to Alta the line ran on Mr. Judah's survey and from Alta to the Summit on an entirely new line, located by L. M. Clement, engineer in charge of the second division from Colfax to the Summit. This final location gave better grade line, and one more free from snow in the winter, two very desirable objects. The value of these changes is plainly shown by the report of George E. Gray, formerly chief engineer of the New York Central Railroad. Mr. Gray was requested by Leland Stanford, in a letter dated July 10, 1865, to inspect the line of road and surveys then made, and report to the board of directors of the company his opinion as to the quality of the work and the economical location of that portion not then built. Mr. Gray, in his report, gave as his opinion that the road already constructed would compare favorably with any road in the United States. Of that portion of the road not constructed, he reported that Mr. Judah's line had been altered materially, saving in distance nearly five thousand feet and also reducing the aggregate length of the tunnels nearly five thousand feet, a saving in cost of construction of at least $400,000. Some very skillful engineering was done on this Colfax division. The road bed ran around the promontory at Cape Horn, over twelve hundred feet above the bottom of a nearly perpendicular canyon, the banks of which were so steep that the Chinamen during the work had to be let down in baskets over the face of the cliff in order to construct the grade.
President Lincoln made a decision of great moment to the com- pany during the summer of 1863, in regard to the mountain section. By the terms of the bill, the company was to receive bonds to the amount of $16,000 per mile for its line west of the Sierras, and $48,000 per mile for the section through the mountains. The trouble was to decide where the two sections joined each other.
The Interior department showed a disposition to place the divid- ing line at the end of the first section of fifty miles. The matter being brought to the president's attention, he decided that it should be seven and eighteen-hundredths miles east of Sacramento, saying that "this was a case where Abraham's faith had moved mountains." This meant a difference of over a million dollars to the company. The tracks reached Grider's, or Roseville, on April 26, 1864, and the company commenced the operation of that much of the road.
Another factor was about to come to the aid of the financiers, whose funds were exhausted, but whose courage was not daunted. The Union Pacific Company had been unable to raise funds to prosecute its construction, operating, as it did, under the same law as the Central. It therefore made another appeal to congress, and an act granting more liberal terms was passed in April, 1864. By its terms
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the land grant was doubled, the government bonds were made a second mortgage instead of the first, and the companies were authorized to issue their own first mortgage bonds to the same amount as the gov- ernment bonds. Two-thirds of these were made available when evi- dence was presented to the secretary of the treasury that the neces- sary grading for the road bed had been done. The sections on which bonds were to be issned were also reduced from forty to twenty miles. These provisions applied equally to the Central Pacific road. The right of the road was also confirmed to lay track one hundred and fifty miles east of the state boundary.
These things effected a great change in the financial status of the company. Heretofore they had borrowed money in currency in the east, and paid it ont in gold in the west, at a heavy discount. Their first mortgage bonds now sold almost at par. and the government bonds were available immediately on completing the grading. Their credit was further aided by the operation of the road to Roseville, which brought in $103,557 from April 26 to December 31, 1864-from passengers $63,403; freight $38,667 and from express $1487. It gave them a standing at home that they had heretofore lacked.
The road progressed slowly at first, but along toward the last, it progressed more rapidly, nntil, on the 10th day of May, 1869, the last spike was down, completing the railroad connection between the At- lantic and Pacific oceans. A large party gathered at Promontory Point to witness the ceremony. Telegraph wires had been connected with the large cities of the Union, so that the exact moment of driving the last spike conld be made known to all at the same time. At the hour designated, Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific, and other officers, came forward. T. C. Durant, president of the Union Pacific, accompanied by General Dodge and others of the same company, met them at the end of the rail, where they pansed, while Rev. Dr. Todd, of Massachusetts, made a short prayer. The last tie, made of California laurel, with silver plates bearing suitable inscrip- tions, was put in place, and the last connecting rails were laid by persons from each company. The last spikes were made, one of gold from California, one of silver from Nevada, and one of gold and silver, from Arizona. President Stanford then took the hammer of solid silver, to the handle of which was attached the telegraph wires, by which, at the first tap on the head of the gold spike, at 12 M., the news of the event was flashed all over the American continent.
Then a locomotive of the Central Pacific Railroad Company and another of the Union Pacific Railroad Company approached from each way, and rubbed their pilots together, while bottles of cham- pagne were passed from one to the other.
During the building of this road the track laying force of the Central Pacific laid ten miles and two hundred feet in one day, com- pleting their work at seven p. m. The date when this herculean task
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was performed was the 20th of April, 1869, when only fourteen miles of track remained to be laid to connect with the Union Pacific.
By mutual agreement between the roads, Ogden was made the terminus for each; by this agreement the Union Pacific sold fifty-three miles of its road to the Central Pacific, making the length of road owned by the Central Pacific proper seven hundred and forty-three miles and a half, from Sacramento to Ogden. August 22, 1870, the Western Pacific, San Joaquin Valley, California and Oregon, and San Francisco, Oakland and Alameda Railroads, which had been built in the meantime, were all consolidated under the name of the Central Pacific Railroad.
The death of Mrs. Clara W. Prentice, September 14, 1912, at the age of eighty-eight years, recalled the interesting fact that the first inception of the Central Pacific road took place at the home of Edwin D. Prentice, her husband, on K street, between Ninth and Tenth. At this meeting there were present, C. P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, T. D. Judah, W. H. Stoddard and Mr. Prentice. Mr. Prentice took part in the early history of the road, but died in 1862.
WESTERN PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY
On December 13, 1862, the Western Pacific Railroad Company was incorporated for the purpose of constructing a railroad from San Jose, through the counties of Alameda and San Joaquin, to the city of Sacramento. Its capital stock was $5,400,000. The road was one hundred and thirty-seven and one-half miles in length, and made the whole length of the Central Pacific eight hundred and eighty-one miles. This road was not completed until 1870. The franchise is said to have passed into the hands of the Central Pacific Railroad Com- pany a year before the date of consolidation. The road did not enter Sacramento City, as it connected with the Sacramento Valley Railroad at Brighton Junetion.
The San Joaquin Valley Railroad is now the property of the Southern Pacific and forms a part of the second overland system.
The California and Oregon Railroad leaves the original Central Pacific Railroad at Roseville and runs thence through Redding. It was incorporated June 30, 1865, and consolidated with the Central Pacific August 22, 1870.
The California Pacific Railroad Company was for some time a very active competitor for the carrying trade of the state, and at one time it was thought that its owners intended to construct a second line of railroad to connect with the Union Pacific. It bought boats and franchises of the California Steam Navigation Company, and for some time really controlled the rates of freight between Sacramento and San Francisco. The company was incorporated January 10, 1865, with a capital stock of $3,500,000, and work was begun in Vallejo in 1867. The road was finished to Washington, Yolo County, November 11, 1868, and to Marysville in November, 1869. In June, 1869, the
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company purchased the Napa Valley Railroad, and the two roads were consolidated in December, 1869, with a capital of $12,000,000.
In 1869 and 1870 the Central Pacific and California Pacific Rail- roads were at war with each other. The California Pacific wished to come into Sacramento, but the Central Pacific having its track on the levee, it was impossible for the California Pacific to cross the river and secure depot and switching facilities without crossing the Central Pacific track. Various attempts were made by the California Pacific to lay the track and form the crossing of the two lines, but they were resisted and it looked for a time as if bloodshed would be the result. Finally, however, the crossing was accomplished and passengers were landed in Sacramento by the California Pacific, January 29, 1870. A regular ovation awaited the train. Guns were fired, the fire depart- ment turned out, and there was intense enthusiasm on all sides.
Commissioners were appointed to assess the damage to the Cen- tral Pacific and reported in June, 1870, that the damages were as follows: for about six acres of land, $40,680; damages for crossing track, $70,000; for consequential damages, $250,000, making a total of $360,680. The report was thrown out, however, by the court, on sev- eral grounds, the principal one being that it was excessive. The war between the companies continued until August, 1871, during which time freight and passenger rates were very low, greatly curtailing the profits of both companies. The roads were consolidated in August of that year, since which time, with the exception of competition by river, the Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific Company, its suc- cessor, have had the monopoly of the carrying trade of Sacramento until the coming of the new overland road, the Western Pacific, in 1910.
The California Pacific gave the Vallejo route to San Francisco. The trip was made to Vallejo by rail and thence to San Francisco by boat, making a shorter and popular route which for many years monopolized the majority of travel between Sacramento and San Fran- cisco, until the building of the route to Benicia and the construction of an immense ferry boat to carry the trains across Carquinez Straits to Port Costa, whence they continued their journey to San Francisco along the shore of San Pablo and San Francisco Bays to Oakland Mole. The new road was opened December 28, 1879, and the Vallejo line as a route to San Francisco was abandoned, although passengers going that way are still transported across the bay to meet trains on the Benicia route.
SACRAMENTO VALLEY RAILROAD
This was the first railroad constructed in California, being organ- ized August 4, 1852, when ten per cent of the stock was paid in, amounting to $5,000. The company reorganized November 9, 1854, and made immediate preparation for building the road. The first
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shovelful of dirt was thrown in February, 1855, the first tie came in May, and the first vessel load of material and rolling stock arrived from Boston in June. The first work done on a railroad car in Cali- fornia was done on this road, July 4, 1855. The first rail was laid August 9, 1855, and the first train was placed on the track August 14. The road had some little trouble with its finances, but its progress was not materially delayed.
On November 10, 1855, an excursion train was run to Patterson's, ten miles from Sacramento, the fare being one dollar for the round trip. By January 1, 1856, the road was completed to Alder creek, and on February 22 was finished to Folsom, the length of the road being twenty-two and a half miles. Its cost was $1,568,500. The capital stock was $800,000, of which $792,000 was issued. The road was a very profitable one from the time of its completion, its effect being to move the terminus of the freight and stage lines running to the northern mines from Sacramento to Folsom and building up quite a town there. At one time twenty-one stage lines ran from Folsom to other places; all leaving shortly after the arrival of the train from Sacramento.
The Central Pacific Company purchased the Sacramento Valley road in August, 1865, the purchase being made by George F. Bragg (on behalf of himself and others) of the entire stock held by L. L. Robinson and Pioche and Bayerque. The price paid for this stock was $800,000. Soon after coming into possession Bragg transferred the stock to the owners of the Central Pacific. The latter company had been forced to do this in order to secure the whole of the Washoe trade, which at this time was very great, amounting to several million dollars per annum. The short line of the Sacramento Valley road alone, declared an annual profit of nearly half a million dollars the year previous to its purchase, most of which came from the freight going to Washoe and other mining districts.
In the spring of 1857 a company was formed in Marysville to build a railroad from that city to the terminus of the Sacramento Valley Railroad at Folsom. Col. C. L. Wilson, who was one of the con- tractors for the Sacramento Valley road, was sent east to procure funds for building the road. He effected this and the construction commenced immediately. The road, however, was never finished to Marysville by the original company. By 1861 the track had been laid as far as Lincoln. The original name, the California Central Railroad, was subsequently changed to the California and Oregon Division of the Southern Pacific. Shortly after the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad to Roseville, that company purchased the California Central Railroad; that portion of the road between Roseville and Folsom was abandoned and the bridge across the American river at Folsom was condemned and sold in 1868.
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