The Policy
OF EXTENDING
Local Aid to Railroads
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO T1IE PROPOSED LINE THROUGH THE
SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY TO THE COLORADO RIVER.
BY J. ROSS BROWNE.
SAN FRANCISCO :
ALT A CALIFORNIA "PRINTING HOUSE, 529 CALIFORNIA 8T.
1870
THE POLICY
OP EXTENDING
LOCAL AID TO RAILROADS.
I INTER-COMMUNICATION.
The highways of nations are the measure of their civilization. Without roads
there cannot be society, government, commerce, or intelligence. In exact pro¬
portion to the abundance and excellence of highways are the exchange of
services between men, the communication of thought, the economy of labor,
the augmentation of wealth, the growth of comfort, the development and con¬
solidation of the civilized state.—Report of Committee on Railroads, U. S. Senate
Feb. 19th, 1880.
" There be three things," said Lord Bacon, " which make a
nation great and prosperous : a fertile soil, busy workshops, and
easy conveyance of men and things from one place to another."
The truth of the remark is attested, after the lapse of three cen¬
turies, by the railroad systems of the civilized world ; and the
principle upon which it is based is well explained by Dr. Dion
ysius Lardner, who, twenty years ago, used these expressive
words : "Every improvement in the art of transport, having a
tendency to diminish cost, and augment speed and safety, oper¬
ates in a variety of ways to stimulate consumption and produc¬
tion, and thereby advance national wealth and prosperity. When
the price of an article in the market of consumption is reduced
by this cause, the demand for it is increased : 1st, by enabling
former consumers to use it more freely and largely ; and secondly,,
by placing it within the reach of other classes of consumers, who.
were before compelled to abstain from it by its dearness. The
increase of consumption from this cause is generally in a larger
ratio than the diminution of price. The number of consumers
able and willing to pay one shilling for any proposed article, is
much more than twice the number who are able and willing to
pay two shillings for the same article. But consumption is aug-
4
mented in another way by this diminution in price. The saving
effected by consumers, who, before the reduction, purchased at
the higher price, will now be appropriated to the purchase of
other articles of use or enjoyment, and thus other branches of
industry are stimulated." Neither the fertile soil nor the busy
workshops can produce these beneficial results without the "easy
conveyance of men and things."
II NECESSITY OF COMBINED EFFORT.
It is an unpleasant truth, Avhich we may as well confront at
once, that the new States East of the Rocky Mountains are more
prosperous and thriving than California. Why is this? Not be¬
cause they have a better climate, a moi'e prolific soil, or a greater
variety of natural resources, but because they have a higher appre¬
ciation of the requirements of the age. They understand the
principle of combined effort and prompt action. They do not
idly await the current of progress, but go forth and meet it, and
guide and direct it to their own advantage. Immigration pours
into these young States, giving them life-blood and energy. The
lands are everywhere becoming rapidly settled and cultivated ;
confidence in the future prevails, and the prospect, in every point
of view, is encouraging.
It is scarcely possible that California can prosper while half of
its population is centred in a few towns. San Francisco alone
contains 150,000—more than one-fourth the population of the
entire State. The growth which is confined to the head, physio¬
logically speaking, is unhealthy; the extremities must be nurtured
and developed, or premature decay of all the parts will be the
result. Where there is no combination of eflort, nothing tending
to promote the general welfare will be attempted. There can
be no spectacle more discouraging than that of a young State,
highly favored by nature, gradually falling into a condition of
lethargy.
What do visitors from the East see when they cross the contin¬
ent and look about them with the intention of settling among us,
or investing their means?
Ill A DISCOURAGING SPECTACLE.
They travel through the lower tier of counties and see magni¬
ficent tracts of arable lands, lying waste and desolate; immense
5
stretches of country, extending for hundreds of miles, almost des¬
titute of population ; cattle ranges, dotted with scattered bands
of half-starved cattle; and patches of land, at remote intervals,
unfenced and poorly cultivated. They find in many places indi¬
cations of decay, rather than of progress; no provision made to
meet seasons of drought; no means of communication with mar¬
ket, save natural roads, almost impracticable in wet weather; no
organized effort to secure population or facilities for travel and
transportation of freight. They learn from experience that it costs
as much to visit some of the southern counties of California, making
the round trip from San Francisco, as it does to cross the conti¬
nent. ,They find the average expense of transportation from the
place of production to the port of shipment greater than the
freight charges by water from San Francisco to New York.
If they inquire why railroads are not commenced through these
magnificent valleys, they are informed that the counties are not
able to attempt such costly improvements, and that capitalists
have not yet arrived at the conclusion that it would be a paying
investment. The counties are waiting for population to develop
their resources, and capitalists are waiting until the resources
are developed. The Atlantic visitor naturally looks back upon
the thriving and prosperous young States stretching westward
towards the Rocky mountains ; he sees railroads chequering the
whole face of the country; he contrasts the spirit of enterprise
there with the lethargy prevailing here; and, however favorably
he may be impressed with the advantages of the climate and soil
in California, he is unable to find in these alone sufficient induce¬
ment for investment or settlement. When, in addition he finds
land held at exorbitant prices, where there is no access to market,
he calmly reviews the situation, and is apt to arrive at the con¬
clusion that the prospect is better where people have a higher
appreciation of time and a more encouraging estimate of the
advantages of modern improvements.
Such a condition of things is not flattering to us as a people,
and the sooner we realize that action is necessary, and that obso¬
lete arguments (refuted by forty years' experience of railways)
will not advance our interests, the better it will be for the general
prosperity of the State.
6
IV ACCESS TO MARKET.
It would scarcely be necessary, to refer to the importance
of convenient access to market, if it were not that a portion
of the interior press has recently been very active in denouncing
a movement having in view the opening up of the southern
counties to settlement and cultivation, by means of railway
connection with the commercial centers. Arguments, used forty
years ago, when Stephenson undertook to introduce railroads in
England, ai e now freely urged to show the unfairness and impolicy
of asking the people of the San Joaquin valley to impoverish
themselves by contributing to the construction of a work which
would drain all their resources by connecting them with the
markets of the world! It is contended that it would not
increase the value of property in proportion to the taxation that
would be necessary to meet the interest on bonds for even
a fractional part of the cost; that it would burden the people
with an indebtedness for which they would have no substantial
equivalent, because they would not own a portion of the road
when it was constructed, although others should incur seven-
eighths of the expense and risk, and furnish them with the use of
it at 7 per cent, per annum for twenty years ; but more than all,
that a combination sufficiently powerful to carry such a measure
through, if the people gave their assent to it, would prove to be
an oppressive monopoly, an arrogant despotism, relentless in its
antagonism to their interests, crushing out their liberties and
desolating the land. This fearful picture, however, has no
reference to any aid that might be granted to the city of Stockton.
The case then becomes quite different, the corporation assumes a
more friendly aspect, and all these arguments naturally fall to the
ground.
V TIIE BILL BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE WHAT IT PROPOSES.
A bill is now pending before the Legislature, which ought
to remove all jealousy on the subject. It provides that an
election shall be held in each of the counties of Stanislaus,
Merced, Fresno, Tulare, Kern and Los Angeles, to determine by
vote of the people whether the said counties will donate bonds to
the amount of $6,000 per mile, bearing 7 per cent, interest,
payable in twenty years, towards the construction of a railroad
i
{so far as it may run through their boundaries) connecting them
with Stockton or some point on the Western Pacific Railroad,
and extending to the Colorado river. No mention is made of
any company or corporate body; the proposition is open to all
responsible parties who may thiiik proper to engage in the
undertaking.
The only tangible objection I have seen urged to the passage
of this bill is, that the Western Pacific Company having men,
materials and means ready at hand to start the work at once,
could distance all competition, and that, therefore, this is an
insidious scheme for their benefit. The people are warned
against compromising themselves with a company known to
be capable of furnishing them with a railroad. This is certainly
a curious line of argument. The tax-payers are gravely warned
not to pledge themselves in favor of any party that can do
the work, and urgently invited to give aid and influence to some
party not yet ready and not likely to be for some time to come.
In other words, all favor ought to be extended to those who are
least competent to carry into effect the object contemplated
by the bill. Any company possessing the requisite means and
facilities, becomes at once obnoxious to the charge of seeking to
monopolize the trade and travel of the country, and therefore
ought not to-be sustained! I fancy the people in the lower
-counties will not be deeply impressed by such an argument
as this. They can well afford to take a smile on it.
Should the city of Stockton have such a surplus of means and
energy as to justify it in commencing the work; the enterprising
citizens of that place will, in my opinion, render a great service
to those counties by putting the railroad through without delay,
and the benefit to the tax-payers will be enhanced if the work can
be done without aid. At least, it will not subject the counties to
the inconvenience of an increased taxation, which seems to be a
special point of solicitude with the Stockton newspapers.
VI A FEW FACTS WOULD THE RATES OF TAXATION BE INCREASED?
I propose to consider now, whether the granting of such aid
really would increase the rate of taxation in the southern
counties. If I can prove my point, all parties desiring to avail
themselves of the present proposition will have reason to thank
jne for advocating their interests.
8
A single county will serve for purposes of illustration. I
select Tulare as being sufficiently remote, though not so inacces¬
sible as Kern. Visalia, the county seat, is distant from San
Francisco about 220 miles. The estimated population of Tulare
county, according to the report of the Surveyor-General for 1869,
is 9,000; number of registered voters, 1,700; taxable property,
$4,170,870. My own estimate of the population derived from
information obtained during a recent visit is 6,000 ; registered
voters, 1,300; taxable property, $2,501,780.
The chief product of Tulare, at the present time, is live stock.
The following statement is condensed from the Surveyor-General's
report: Number of horses, 7,685; mules, 675; asses, 50; cows,
20,000; calves, 13,354; beef cattle, 2,975; oxen, 422; total number
of neat cattle, 36,751; number of sheep, 100,000; Cashmere and
Angora goats, 500; hogs, 18,351; chickens, 116,976; turkeys, 940;
geese, 175; ducks, 6,780; hives of bees, 1,438.
Agriculture has made comparatively little progress, owing
to the high cost of transportation, which practically excludes the
products of the soil from market. The charges upon freight
from Stockton or the nearest point upon the Western Pacific
Railroad to Yisalia, range at from 2£ to 4 cents a pound, varying
according to the season.
Assuming the population to be 6,000, and the annual consumption
of groceries, provisions, clothing, and all other supplies from the
outside, to be $50 per head, we have $300,000 as the value of
freights. Allow 10 per cent, as the cost for hauling, and we have
30,000 per annum expended for transportation alone.
A very remarkable showing is made by Mr. W. C. Watson, civil
engineer, who states in a railroad, report in which he gives some
statistics relative to the trade of the San Joaquin valley, that the
up freights to Tulare county, in 1865, were 2,750 tons; down
freights, 409 tons; total, 3,159 tons. At 2£ cents per pound or
$50 per ton, this would amount to $137,500. In the absence of
official data on this subject, the reader can form his own
conclusions. Assuming that a portion of the freight mentioned
by Mr. Watson went through Tulare to the mines of Kern
county, I take it that $30,000 is not an unreasonable estimate for
the up freightage of Tulare. Of the merchandise transported, it
is fair to say that one-twelfth is constantly in transitu. The time
9
consumed in hauling, averages about fifteen days. There is thus
a loss of half a month's interest every month on $25,000, which,
at 1£ per cent, would amount to $187.50—say $2,250 per annum.
This makes, foi cost of up freightage and loss of interest,
$82,350, leaving aside the loss by merchants on the amount and
deterioration of supplies which they are compelled to keep
on hand. Assume that the down freights are one-tenth of this
amount, viz: $3,225; add this, and we have a total of $35,475. By
railroad, freight could be transported in twelve or fifteen hours
at half a cent a pound, or one-fifth the lowest existing rate;
in other words, it would accomplish for $7,095 what now costs
$35,475.
It costs for passage to San Francisco from Visalia, $25,
and consumes generally a day and a half. By rail the trip could
be made in eight hours, at a cost of $10, thus saving $15 and
nearly a day in time. If, on the average, each adult makes one
visit per annum to the upper country, and taking 1,300, the'
number of registered voters, as the adult population, it costs
every passenger for the round trip $50 in cash and three days
in time—excess over railroad fare, $30; board for two extra
days, $4; value of time, at $2 per day, $4; total excess, $38; total
loss to 1,300 passengers, $49,400. I contend, therefore, that the
people of Tulare county are now actually paying, in addition to
the loss and inconvenience resulting from isolation from market,
the sfim of $77,780 per annum, for the privilege ol being without
a railroad. And yet it is urged by pretended friends of the
people, with a persistency almost incredible, and a lack of public
spirit unworthy of the nineteenth century, that they are not able
to aid in the construction of a railroad; that the counties could
not bear the additional taxation that would be necessary to meet
the interest, much less to form a sinking fund and pay the
principal within twenty years!
VII CAPACITY OF THE PEOPLE.
It seems to me that they furnish ample evidence of their capac¬
ity to meet these liabilities. People who can afford to spend
$77,780 per annum in lost time and excessive charges for
travel and frieght, could well assist in constructing a
railroad. Let us see what they are asked to do. The proposition
10
is, that they shall give bonds at the rate of $6,000 per mile for
every mile of railroad that passes through their country. The
distance through Tulare county is 63 miles. When the road is
completed and in running order—and not until then—they are to
issue 7 per cent, bonds, payable in 20 years, to the amount of
$378,000, the interest on which will be $26,460 per annum. There
will be 63 miles of railway, with rolling stock, depots, and
various improvements at once added to the assessable property.
At $5,000 per mile, this would amount to 315,000. The present
rate of taxation is 2.67. Applied to the additional property
placed upon the assessment roll, this would add to the gross
receipts of the revenue $8,410, a large per centage of which
would accrue to the county after paying the portion due to the
State. I think it safe to say that the amount of interest to be
paid would not exceed $20,000 per annum, being an actual cash
gain of $57,780 upon the present expenditure—an amount suffi¬
cient to pay the principal of all the bonds in less than seven years.
It is true this outlay does not figure largely on the tax roll, and
therefore does not present itself in a formidable shape, but it is
nevertheless a heavy drain upon the people.
Having touched incidentally upon what it is actually costing
the citizens of the lower counties at the present time for freight
and passage, and demonstrated their ability to contribute towards
the construction of a railroad; I now propose showing what they
are losing in other respects, and the gain in value of property
and increase of population that would inure to them from such a
work.
VIII INCREASE IN VALUE OF PROPERTY.
Various considerations enter into the question of increased
value. There may be a comparative appreciation in property
where there are no railroads, and there may be a decrease where
railroads have been introduced. While it is clearly shown by
aggregate results that railroads stimulate evei y branch of business,
encourage immigration and advance the trade and wealth of the
country, yet it is not always possible to determine, without statis¬
tical data, extending back through a series of years, how far other
causes may have operated in producing a special condition of
things. For example, the deterioration in value of property in
the mining counties has been, to a great extent, produced by the
11
decay of the placer mines. How far this has been compensated
by the development of quartz mining and other interests would
be difficult to determine. The decrease of population for the
same reason, has also had its effect upon property values. • In
California all branches of industry have been more or less affected
by the condition of the mines. With the growth of agriculture
and manufactures, the influence of the mining interest dimin¬
ishes. The greater the diversity of pursuits the less we have to
depend upon any single branch of industry.
The average ratio of State and county taxes in the five counties
of Stanislaus, Merced, Fresno, Tulare and Kern, in which there is
no railroad, is $11.46. In Alameda county the rate is $2.20.
The taxable value of property in the latter county in 1866, was
$4,533,560, with an estimated population of 15,430; in 1869,
$10,011,561, with a population of 17,796; increase of population,
2,366 ; increase of wealth, $5,478,001. Before the construction of
the railroad from San Antonio to the Oakland Point, blocks of
ground in Oakland, 200 feet by 300, were difficult to sell at $800
to $1,000; the same I locks now readily bring $12,000 to $15,000;
and since the completion of the Alameda railroad, land three to
four miles beyond the town limits cannot be purchased for less
than $3,000 to $2,000 per acre. The same is relatively the case in
San Antonio and Alameda, and land beyond these limits lying
near the railroad for a distance of eighteen miles, ranges from
$1,500 to $500 per acre. Making due allowance for all other
causes of appreciation in the value of property, nothing can more
clearly demonstrate the direct and positive influence of railroads
than these figures.
In Santa Clara county, the taxable value of property in 1866
was $7,972,899, with an estimated population of 21,696. In 1869
the taxable value was $11,765,177, with a population of 24,000;
showing $3,792,278 increase of wealth to 2,304 increase of
population. On the line of the railroad from San Francisco to
Gilroy, property has enhanced in value from 500 to 1000 per cent,
since the construction of the road.
Taking the example of a county largely agricultural but
also directly interested in mining, very nearly the same results
are shown. Yuba county, in 1866, had an assessment roll of
$4,150,500, with an estimated population of 10,420. In 1869, the
12
property valuation was $4,066,935, with a population of 6,500.
The depreciation of the mining interest, owing to the exhaustion
of the placer diggings, partially accounts for the loss of 3,920 in
population; while the advance of agriculture and other industries,
stimulated by the Western Pacific and Oroville railroads, has so
far produced a compensating effect, as nearly to have maintained
the property valuation. It is hazarding but little, to say that
within the next three years the actual wealth of this county, with
all deduction for losses in property and population resulting from
the exhaustion of surface mines, will far exceed any figure
yet reached; and it is gratifying to believe that it will not
be subject to those disastrous fluctuations which have heretofore
prevailed. The tendency of railroads in this case, as in that of all
the counties either partially or wholly devoted to mining, is
to build up all industrial interests—to establish general as well as
individual prosperity upon a permanent basis.
The increase in the counties remote from market will be much
more rapid than has been the case in those which were already
within reach, by easy means of access, when the railroads through
them were constructed. Alameda county, for example, has
had but little to gain in the transportation of freight. In Kern
and Tulare counties it costs for transportation to San Francisco
from 3 to 9 cents per pound, and for passage from $25 to
$35. This is an almost absolute prohibition upon productive
industry and free intercourse.
IX EFFECT OF THE PROPOSED ROAD UPON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MINES.
The chief causes of the depreciation in the mining interest of
California are: 1st, the exhaustion of the placer deposits, and
the necessary change from placer to quartz mining; 2d, the high
cost of labor and transportation ; 3d, the impracticability of car¬
rying on quartz mining without capital, and the difficulty of
procuring capital where there are no facilities for reaching the
mines. In Kern, Tulare and Fresno counties there are some of
the richest mineral lodes known to exist on the Pacific coast, but
owing to these and other causes, they have never been profitably
worked. The charges for freight to the mines, range from $50 to
$180 per ton. Many of the best mines are lying idle, and few, if
any, are paying for the cost of working. A mineral belt, abound
13
ing in gold, silver and copper, a fractional part of the value of
this, would he worth untold millions in the Atlantic States or
Europe. Exploration of the mountain ranges bordering on the
San Joaquin valley and the valleys of Los Angeles and San Ber¬
nardino, demonstrate beyond question the abundant supply of
the precious metals. Mines already opened and tested would be
a source of abundant wealth to the country, if the cost of wages
and transportation could be reduced. Unskilled labor in Cali¬
fornia cannot be procured for less than $2 50 to $3 per day ;
board costs from $6 to $8 per week, and all other expenses are m
proportion. In Great Britain the same class of miners receive from
$3 to $4 per week, and in Saxony $1 to $2 per week. The cost
of living is much higher there in proportion to the wages received
than here. The European miner barely procures a subsistence
while in California, the miner can save at least one-half his wages.
But even at these high rates steady labor cannot be procured in
these regions, and the experience of the past ten years has shown
that no mines, however rich, can afford permanently to pay these
rates. It is not, as many imagine, a struggle between labor and
capital. The question is simply one of capacity. If capitalists could
make it pay, it would be to their interest to work the mines, and
they are sufficiently sagacious to understand their interest ; but
there is a limit to the yield, and the cost of production settles the
question.
That nothing will so speedily or so certainly reduce the
expenses incident to mining in these districts as the construction
of a railroad is scarcely susceptible of a doubt. This is especially
the case with gold and copper mining. Silver involves a much
more complicated process of working, and the success of that
branch of mining industry may depend largely upon other con¬
siderations. It has been suggested that the road will not pass
near enough to the mines to effect any great change ; but this is
a short-sighted view of the snbject. So far as the distance can
be reduced, and the loss of time and cost of transportation
diminished, the gain is clear. Branch roads will be constructed
as soon as population is induced to come in and facilities are fur¬
nished for working the mines. There will be no lack of capital
when the business can be carried on with profit.
14
To object to a road through the valley because it does not tap
every mine or pass directly through the mining districts, would
be to object to all improvement. There must be a beginning—a
motive power to open the way. It is certainly doing much,
if more than half the work can be accomplished by a railroad;
first, in the reduction of freights and passage as far as the
road goes; second, in the introduction of cheap and abundant
labor; third, in the diminished cost of provisions and supplies of
all kinds; fourth, in the introduction of capital and the stimulus
given to all branches of business directly or indirectly connected
with mining. It is clear, therefore, that the mining interest is no
less dependent for its success upon this enterprise than the
agricultural; that they are essentially homogeneous pursuits; that
what benefits the one will benefit the other; that, in effect, there
is no conflict of interest between them.
It is the duty of every man to take an enlightened view of his
responsibility to society at large, and not refrain from putting his
shoulder to the wheel of progress, because in helping himself he
may possibly benefit others. It would be unfair, if not impracti¬
cable, to impose all burdens, risks and responsibilities upon
the originators of every great enterprise. Each class receiving
benefits is morally bound to do its part; and it is only when all
work faithfully together that the best results are achieved for the
whole community.
A serious question for the consideration of those who own
mining claims in the southern counties is, whether anything is to
be gained by continued inaction. Has not that been tried long
enough? Will the mines improve by lying idle; will capital
seek to develop them if the policy of " waiting for something to
turn up" is indefinitely pursued?
Many miners, as well as settlers in the agricultural regions,
have spent the best years of their lives in vain efforts to secure a
competency for themselves and their families. They cannot
afford to wait much longer. Already they see that something
must be done, and that they who help themselves are best
and soonest helped. If railroad companies should adopt a similar
policy of inaction—if they waited till others moved, and never-
pushed forward an enterprise till the demands of trade and
population rendered the investment certain of success—is it not
apparent that all progress would be at an end?
15
THE STOCK BUSINESS.
Experience has sufficiently demonstrated the impolicy of
attempting to preserve a special branch of industry when the
circumstances under which alone it can be made prosperous have
ceased to exist. The history of the southern counties of California
furnishes a striking example. So long as vast tracts of Government
land were available as cattle ranges, the stock business was profit¬
able to those engaged in it. ^Whether it added materially to the
general prosperity of the country is open to question Even with
the advantages of a free range, the number of individuals who
could receive benefit from this source was comparatively small.
As inducements increased, to supply an augmenting demand, com¬
petition became greater, and the ranges correspondingly dimin¬
ished. Add to this occasional seasons of drought, during which
a large- proportion of the stock died from starvation; the
introduction of sheep, which gradually encroached upon the
cattle ranges; the progress of settlement and cultivation; the
competition from new sources ofc* supply ; and it will be seen that
there is a sufficient combination of causes to account for the
general depression of the stock interest. ' It is the history of all
new countries repeated. Since the cession of California to the
United States the process of change has been going on. The old
Spanish system of stock raising naturally gives way to settlement
and the cultivation of the soil. It is impossible that the few can
continue permanently to retard the progress of the many. Ex¬
tensive ranges cannot be maintained where the advance of agricul¬
ture gives an enhanced value to the adjacent lands. An equalization
of taxes imposes increased burdens upon the stock raiser, which
in time compels him to limit and restrict his operations.
The agricultural interest in the rich valleys of the San Joaquin
is gradually taking precedence of the old and wasteful system of
Spanish cattle raising. Families cannot be excluded from the soil
to keep open ranges for cattle. Such a state of things would
forever exclude improvement, and keep the country poor. It
would be a discrimination in favor of the rich, who own large
bands of cattle which they can drive to market, while the poor,
who have only their small farms and limited products cannot
afford to pay transportation where all facilities are denied them.
Indeed many intelligent men engaged in the stock business see
16
that the time for a change has arrived, and that it is no longer
possible to contend against the progress of improvement. Ex¬
perience elsewhere, guided by a sagacious instinct, points out that
the true remedy lies in an adaptation of existing means to altered
circumstances. Instead of attempting to perpetuate an obsolete
system, they are now improving the breed of their stock, gradually
fencing their lands, reducing their ranges to such limits as they
can control by purchase or otherwise, and thus intelligently meet¬
ing all the difficulties of the situation.
The result of this will be, that their expenses will be reduced ;
their profits will be more certain ; they will be less subject to loss
from fluctuations of the season and depreciation of stock, and will
hold their interests more directly under their own control. With
increased facilities for reaching market, their improved stock will
command fixed and remunerative prices. At present the
cost of driving stock from Tulare and the adjacent counties to the
markets of the North is a heavy item of expense, besides a serious
detriment to the agricultural population on the Avayside. The
expenditure of time, constantly diminishing ranges in the vicinity
of towns and settlement's, and the consequent deterioration of the
stock, still further increase the loss.
The Western Pacific Railroad has already made advantageous
contracts with the cattle raisers east of the Sierra Névadas, by
means of which cattle can be landed in San Francisco cheaper
than they can be driven across the mountains ; and the fact that
they find a profitable market at their place of destination, is suffi¬
cient evidence that the southern counties cannot hope to compete
much longer with these new and groAving sources of supply,
unless they adopt similar facilities for cheap and speedy transpor¬
tation of their stock. Time is an essential consideration in the
transportation of all products or articles of subsistence liable to
rapid deterioration. Dr. Lardner in his admirable Avork on Railway
Economy, gives the folioAving interesting details in regard to the
cattle interest in England, Avhere the conditions are much more
favorable than they are here :
Increased speed of transport also operates beneficially on commerce in
another way. Numerous classes of articles of production become deterior¬
ated by time, and many are absolutely destroyed, if not consumed within a
certain time. It is evident that such articles admit of transport only when
they can reach the consumer in a sufficiently sound state for use; various
classes of articles of food come under this condition.
17
While the Houses of Parliament were occupied with the numerous railway
acts which had been brought before them, a great mass of evidence was
produced, illustrating the advantages which both producer and consumer
would obtain by the increased cheapness and expedition of transport which
railways would supply. It was shown that the difficulties attending transport
by common roads, affected, in an injurious manner, the grazier who
supplied the markets with veal and lamb Lambs and calves were generally
sent by the road ; and when too young to leave their mothers for so long a
time as the journey required, the producer was obliged to send the ewes or
cows with them for at least a part of the way. This also rendered it impos¬
sible to send them to market sufficiently young, which it would have been
advantageous to do, that the mothers might feed off earlier.
But, independently of this, the animals of every species driven to market
on the common roads were proved to suffer so much from the fatigue of the
journey, that when they arrived at market, their flesh was not in a whole¬
some state. They were often driven till their feet were sore. Sheep fre¬
quently had their feet literally worn off, and were obliged to be sold on the
road for what they would fetch. Extensive graziers declared that, in such cases,
they would be gainers by a safe and expeditious transport for the animals,
" even though it cost double the price paid to the drovers."
Butchers engaged in large business in London proved that the cattle driven
to that market from considerable distances, sustained so much injury that
their value was considerable lessened, owing to the inferior quality of the
meat, arising from the animal being slaughtered in a diseased state ; that the
animal, being fatigued and overdriven, " became feverish, his looks became
not so good, and he lost weight by the length of the journey and the
fatigue.
»*«***.***»*■*»
It is not merely the fatigue of traveling which injures the animal, but also
the absence from its accustomed pasturage. The injury from this cause is
more or less, under different circumstances, but alwayB considerable ; in order
to obviate this, a large portion of the meat supplied to the London market
was slaughtered in the country, and came in this state, in winter, from dis¬
tances round London to the extent of one hundred miles. In warm weather
a large quantity of it was spoiled, The transport of calves and lambs from
a distance greater than thirty miles is altogether impracticable by common
roads, and even from that distance is attended with difficulty and injury.
To convey these and other live cattle from a great distance, not only speed
but evenness of motion is indispensable. Now these two requisites cannot
be combined by any other means than the application of steam-engines upon
a railroad.
The whole of the evidence showed that the supply of animal food to the
metropolis was not only defective in quantity but of unwholesome quality—
comparatively, at least, with what it might be, if the tract from which it
could be supplied were rendered more extensive.
A railroad connecting directly with all the great centres of
commerce, would enable the stock-raiser in Fresno, Tulare, or
Kern county to place his stock in market at a fraction of the
present expense, in about twenty-four hours, and without loss in
weight or deterioration in quality or condition. Instead of driv¬
ing in large bands, at uncertain intervals, depending on the feed
and weather, he could make his selections at any moment; send
the best conditioned of his cattle to the market; and know at any
2
18
time whether it would be judicious to await a change in the mar¬
ket, or avail himself of an existing demand. Those ruinous losses
which so frequently occur from a redundant supply, when it
would be equally ruinous to return with the stock or bear the ex¬
pense of keeping it near the cities for a change in the market,
could never occur.
It would he well, therefore, for the stock men of the southern
counties to consider these points before they commit themselves
to a suicidal opposition to an enterprise so beneficial to them as
that now proposed. Can they by any action they may take preserve
the tree ranges which they have hitherto enjoyed ? Can they by con¬
tinuing in the old way make that profitable which has already
commenced to decline ? Can they expect to keep back the whole
country, when in no possible point of view could it benefit them,
and when all existing circumstances over which they have no con¬
trol have changed?
The question that presents itself to the mass of the people in
the counties is, whether they will consent to sacrifice their inter¬
ests for the supposed benefit of the few, who, in reality, can derive
no benefit from the sacrifice. For, after all, it is upon increase of
population] and variety of production that the general prosperity
must depend, and not upon the success of a single pursuit, in
which, from its very nature, but few can be interested.
XI IRRIGATION.
The assertion that the Southern counties of California are bet¬
ter suited to cattle-raising than to agriculture is disproved by all
experience. Persons interested in the preservation of stock ranges,
naturally incline to this opinion, but all unprejudiced testimony
is against them. There is, in fact, no finer agricultural country
in the world than that embraced within the limits of the San Joa¬
quin Valley and the counties of Los Angeles and San Bernardino.
The climate is unsurpassed for salubrity, the soils are rich and warm,
and ^adapted to a greater variety of productions than any area of
similar extent in the world.
It is true there are oocasional seasons of drought; but these
affect the cattle interest even more injuriously than the agricultu¬
ral. The farmer who loses his crop undoubtedly suffers great in¬
convenience, but the loss is rarely more than partial, and the suc¬
ceeding year generally makes it up. The cattle raiser who loses
19
his stock or even a large proportion of it, suffers an absolute loss
of capital which may ruin him, and which at best he cannot hope
to recover in less than three or four years.
It is now an ascertained fact that the cultivation of the soil, the
planting of Irees, shrubbery, orchards and vineyards has a
marked effect upon the seasons, and mitigates, to a great extent,
the effects of drought and frost. This is no longer a problem to
be solved. So well understood is it, in the prairie regions of the
West, and New Mexico, that repeated applications have been
made to Congress for assistance in planting tracts of government
land. Failing in this, many of the new States now give bounties
in lands to those who plant trees upon open tracts.
A cultivated country is much less affected by drought than one
which is barren of trees and destitute of verdure. The old
theory that these are effects rather than causes of drought, has of
late years been abandoned. Exploration of New Mexico,
Arizona and the Colorado basin furnishes conclusive evidence
that these vast regions were once covered with extensive forests,
since the destruction of which they have become in great part
arid deserts. These discoveries have suggested a serious question,
now anxiously discussed in the Eastern States, as to the probable
result of the destruction of timber, and how far it is likely to be
remedied by the compensating influences of agriculture—the fact
being accepted that lands deprived of timber and remaining
uncultivated must eventually become arid wastes.
There is no doubt a considerable portion of the country south
of Stockton would be benefited by a judicious system of irrigation.
As an aid to cultivation and the growth of trees, it would tend to
bring about greater regularity in the seasons of rain. Droughts
do not take place in the Sierras because the vapors floating
inland from the ocean are there condensed and precipitated.
They pass over the valleys, which, if covered with vegetation,
would to a certain extent arrest them.
Fortunately, nature has liberally provided the means of irriga¬
tion. The mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevadas abound in
lakes and running streams which reach their highest capacity in
the season when water is most needed. In May, June and July,
the snows melt, and the sources of supply are constantly
replenished until the snows have vanished, and then there is no
20
longer any necessity for irrigation. It would seem, indeed, as if
Providence had provided a vast reservoir, at a convenient
elevation, for the express purpose of supplying this want, and
that it only required the exercise of man's ingenuity , to make it
available.
XII DITCHES AND CANALS.
When placer and hydraulic mining were the prominent
industries «of the State, there was no lack of energy in adapting
these natural auxiliaries to the extraction of the precious metals
from their places of deposit. Enterprises of such extent and
magnitude as those still to be seen in the mountains have never
been even imagined elsewhere, much less carried into successful
execution, and this under the most adverse circumstances.
The aggregate extent of mining ditches and canals built in
California since 1851, reaches the extraordinary figure of 5,328
miles, at an estimated cost of $15,575,400. Several of these
ditches cost from $500,000 to $1,000,000. Many of them were
constructed when labor was $8 per day and lumber $100 per 1,000
feet. Of late years, since the depreciation of the mining interest,
most of these ditches have ceased to be profitable investments.
The example is cited to show what can be done for the more
permanent interests of agriculture and fruit-growing. There is
still a portion of the outlay already made which can be rendered
available in some of the counties.
It is estimated that the San Joaquin Valley contains 9,000,000
acres of rich arable lands. Under a judicious system of irrigation,
both by the adaptation of mountain reservoirs and streams to this
purpose, and by the use of artesian wells, it is difficult to estimate
the extent to which this vast area of land could be rendered pro¬
ductive. There is scarcely an acre of the foothills which is not
now suitable, even without irrigation, to the cultivation of the
grape. With a moderate supply of water, in seasons of extreme
drought, all kinds of fruit known to the temperate zone could be
grown—olives, almonds, figs, walnuts, peaches, apples, apricots,
etc.; and in sheltered situations even the orange, lemon and cit¬
ron would flourish. Of the valleys generally it is scarcely neces¬
sary to speak. All the cereals grow from Stockton to San Ber¬
nardino with a luxuriance scarcely paralleled in any part of the
world ; and to these might easily be added tobacco, cotton, sorg-
21
hum, sugar-cane, and various other valuable products. .Imagina¬
tion can scarcely conceive a richer country, or one abounding in
euch natural advantages of soil and climate.
To accomplish this great improvement, it is essential 'that
capital should be introduced. But capital will seek investment
only where there is progress; and there can be no progress at the
present stage of civilization without railroads. So long as there
are no facilities for reaching market, there will be no encourage¬
ment to improve the country. A railroad will bring population,
and with population comes development of various industries.
Capital is sharp-sighted and will soon see that vast benefits are to
accrue and wealth is to flow from the inauguration of an extensive
system of irrigation. The most certain and speedy way to interest
capital in the construction of extensive flumes and ditches, reaching
from the San Joaquin tar up into the Sierras, is to build a railroad
through the valley. All other improvements will follow as a
matter of necessity. Population supplies the great desideratum—
labor—and where labor can be made profitable capital will seek
investment.
XIII THE BUGBEAR OF INDEBTEDNESS.
A very proper prejudice exists in some of the agricultural
counties against creating an indebtedness, without any apparent
means of payment. It is s aid, with good reason, that he taxes
are already sufficiently high; that the people are not able to bear
additional burdens; and that they ought not to incur obligations
which it would be impossible for them to meet without great
sacrifices. A railroad would doubtless help them; they would
like to have one ; but they are not willing to burden themselves
with debt for the benefit of a wealthy corporation.
This seems very reasonable; it has the appearance of good
sense; all such remarks meet a ready assent on the part of
unthinking men. It is so easy to be 'wise; so cheap to be
cautious ; it saves trouble, and sometimes pays to pander to the
prejudices of the ignorant, rather than carefully investigate
a subject and sift out the truth. Of course it is wrong to rush
recklessly into debt; worse than wrong not to pay your debts;
and both wrong and foolish to incur the risk of ruin for the
benefit of a company, whose interests are antagonistic to yours.
Every sane man, possessing a particle of honesty or common
sense, will agree to that.
22
XIV NO REAL INDEBTEDNESS CREATED.
What I undertake to dispute is the premises. A railroad
is constructed through each county at an average cost, let us say,
of «$40,000 a mile. When the cars are running through to
the point of connection with the Western Pacific, carrying freight
and passengers at one-third the present cost, the counties are
asked to contribute out of their savings and out of the enhanced
value of their property, a small percentage to meet the cost of the
work. It might just as well be said that when a farmer plants
his wheat he goes in debt for the crop, as to argue that the county
incurs a debt, ip the ordinary sense, when it lends its aid to the
construction of a railroad. The farmer lends to the ground both
seed and labor, and in the event of a bad season he may lose
both, while the county, in giving the aid proposed, receives full
value in advance and reaps an additional crop in the future. Far
different is this from the indebtedness of some of the middle and
upper counties. Out of a total of fifty, thirty-five are in debt. They
owe in the aggregate about seven bullions of dollars—three mil¬
lions more than the entire debt of the State. What have they to
show for all this ? How many railroads chequer their soil, connecting
them with all the available markets? Ruined towns, idle mills,
worthless machinery, dilapidated mining ditches, impassable roads,
useless buildings, in short, the debris of better times—these are
what many of them have to show for their indebtedness. I know
of none which are suffering from^ an excess of railroad facilities.
There is probably not a State in the Union that would now be
willing to dispense with its railroads at double the cost, and I am
sure there is not a county in California possessing similar
improvements that could afford to do without them in the future,
if the alternative were presented of having its debts paid
on condition that no more railroads should be built within
its boundaries. The truth is, the counties with the smallest
available means, in proportion to their indebtedness, owe their
misfortunes to other causes. I do not desire to intimate that
there has been any dishonesty on the part of county officers; any
fraudulent or unequal valuations; any wasteful expenditure of
the county revenues ; any neglect of duty on the part of the
people ; but I do assert that the financial embarrassments now
existing in a majority of the counties of California cannot
23
be attributed to railroads. So great has the evil become and so
onerous are the burdens imposed upon the tax-payers by the
reckless extension of credit, where no necessity has existed
and no substantial equivalent has been obtained, that public
attention is now very generally directed to the expediency
of arresting these abuses by stringent legislation. If continued,
it is manifest that the credit of the State will be seriously
impaired.
XV HOW TO GET RICH.
I think, however, that all this furnishes good ground for
encouraging legitimate enterprises. Because there have been
mistakes and disastrous investments, must the tax-payer groan
under his burden all the rest of his life ? Is he never to undertake
anything more ? If the country has gone injudiciously in debt
and has but little to show for it, how much better olf will it be by
falling into a state of lethargy ? Because it is poor, must
it always remain poor? The best thing a poor country can do is
to get rich; and the best way to get rich is to come out boldly,
accept some chances, go to work with a will, cultivate its
resources, encourage enterprise, invite population, and compel
success ; not idly wait for a state of prosperity which never comes
without effort.
XVI THE CHINESE ON RAILROADS.
One might suppose that the citizens of California were losing
some of that vitality for which they have hitherto been proverbial.
It is almost incredible that an intelligent man can be found
within the limits of the State, to take part against any really
useful work of internal improvement. I have heard arguments
used in China against railroads, which I thought at the time were
very absurd. Prince Kung considers them "dangerous and
impracticable schemes." Other members of the Foreign office
think they will disturb the bones of the dead ; and I was told by
one very enlightened Mandarin that he thought the people
who operated works of this kind on the lower side of the'world
would fall off. Of late I have been perusing some interior
newspapers, which give me a much better idea of the Chinese than
I ever entertained before. I find a certain "brotherhood of
ideas " which I frankly admit rather confirms the view taken by
24
my official predecessor in China, Mr. Burlingame, who has leveled
the walls of that Empire by "a touch of the magic wand
of fraternity."
There is certainly a remarkable affinity of ideas between some
of my fellow-citizens and the Chinese authorities, on the railroad
question. I do not think I have heard a single argument adverse
to the construction of a railroad through the San Joaquin valley
used of late, that I did not hear quite as clearly and much
more ingeniously expressed in China, except, perhaps, that of
disturbing the bones of the dead. We have no special reverence
either for the living or the dead; and even if we had, we do not
care much about the deceased Indians who lie slumbering beneath
the soil of the San Joaquin valley. We claim no consanguinity
with them; they are not our ancestors, for which, doubtless, their
descendants feel thankful.
XVII TAXABLE PROPERTY AND AMOUNT OF BONDS.
The following table shows the assessed value of property, rate
of taxation, population and number of registered voters in each
of the counties through which the line of the proposed railroad
is to extend :
1869. No. of
Counties. Total valuation. Rate. Pop. Voters
Stanislaus, $3,230,000 2.30 5,000 1,200
Merced 2,250,000 2.12 2,500 650
Fresno, 2,393,980 2.87 2,000 800
Tulare, 2,501,780 2 67 6,000 1,300
Kern 1,200,000 2.37 2,000 400
Los Angeles, 3,764,045 3.40 14,500 3,749
San Bernardino, 1,200,000 2.60 5,200 1,194
$16,539,811 av. 2.62 37,200 9,293
The actual vote in these counties is not more than two-thirds
the number of registered voters. The estimated distance of the
road through each county and amount of bonds asked will be
seen from the following table ; also, the gross amount of interest,
at 7 per cent, per annum :
1 .'til road, In, per
Counties. Miles. Am't Bonds. ' Annum
Stanislaus 30 $180,000 $12,600
Merced, 30 180,000 12,600
Fresno, 63 378,000 26,460
Tulare, 65 390,000 27,300
Kern 70 420,000 29,400
Los Angeles, 100* 1,000,000 70,000
San Bernardino, 200f 1,000,000 70,000
Total 558 $3,548,000 $248,360
*Bonds at $10,000 per mile.
fBonds at $10,000 per mile for 100 miles, as in Los Angeles county.
25
The total distance of the road from the point of junction with
the Western Pacific to the Colorado river will be about 650 miles ;
estimated cost per mile, allowing for bridges, levees, tunnels, etc.,
and rolling stock, $40,000 ; total cost, $26,000,000. Amount of
bonds to be donated (in case San Bernardino should elect to come
in) for 458 miles of road, $3,548,000—being less than one-seventh
of the cost of the whole road.
Now let us look at the taxable property placed upon the assess¬
ment rolls of seven counties, in addition to what they now' pos¬
sess. Suppose the road and rolling stock should be assessed $5,000
per mile, we have at the present percentage of taxation in each
county the following result :
Additional Net
taxable property. Offset interest.
Stanislaus $1 150,000 at 2.30 $ 3,450 $ 9,150
Merced 150,000 at 2.12 3,158 9,443
Fresno -, 315,000 at 2.87 9,740 16,720
Tulare 325,000 at 2.67 8,677 16,623
Kern 350,000 at 2.37 7,345 22,055
Los Angeles 500,000 at 3.40 17,000 53,000
San Bernardino 1,000,000 at 2.60 26,000 44,000
Now I contend that any ten large property owners in each of
the above counties could well afford to pay the net interest on
these bonds ; for he would be certain to make money by the trans¬
action. The total value of all the property now assessed within
the limits stated is $16,539,811. An increase of 20 per cent, per
annum in the value of this property would soon pay both interest
and principal of the bonds. W\io doubts that the increase would
far exceed this ?
XVIU OAKLAND AND LOS ANGELES.
I have already shown that the railroads in Alameda county caused
an 'advance ofproperty within three years of $4,533,560 to $10,011,-
561; also that the rate of taxation is only $2.20, while the average
of seven southern counties is $2.62. Of these there is not one,
except Los Angeles, which has a railroad within its boundaries;
and that of Los Angeles is only a small local road, retching 22
miles to Wilmington, and not connecting with any auxiliary sys¬
tem of railroads. In 1866 the taxable value of property in Los
Angelps county was $2,353,392 ; in 1869 the tax roll shows
$3,764,045, but the actual increase has been much greater. Lands
worth $2.50 to $5.00 an acre in 1866, are now worth $10 to $20;
26
and property in the city of Los Angeles has advanced 100 per
cent. The city of Oakland shows a still more remarkable increase,
viz. :
Rate of Amount Value of
Year. Taxation. of Tax. Property.
18634 $1 00 $ 7,942 $ 794,121
1864-5 1 00 9,701 970,125
1865-6 1 00 12,187 1,107,947
1866-7 0 60 8,609 1,434,800
1867-8 1 00 13,324 1,832,428
1868-9 1 00 33,634 3,363,478
All this is directly or indirectly referable to the impulse given
to all branches of business by-enterprises in railroads.
xix—POPULATION.
An important question connected with the consideration of the
proposition to construct a railroad through the San Joaquin
Valley to the Colorado river, is the extent to which such an
improvement will be likely to promote immigration to California.
The resources of a country are intrinsically valuable in proportion
to'the facilities existing for their development. Without abundant
labor the natural wealth of the State is of no avail. This is a
question of general as well as of local interest. It has been a
prominent subject of discussion for years past; and a bill is now
pending before the Legislature, for the express purpose of secur¬
ing State aid to encourage immigration. None will deny that the
growth of California in population and wealth during the past
ten or fifteen years, has been slow compared with that of Iowa,
Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, and other new States east of
the Rocky Mountains. A reason for this may be found in the
general apathy which has prevailed until recently on the subject
of local improvements. There has been no concert of action to
promote any measure for the public good. No inducements have
been held out to settlers. On the contrary, a blind policy
of prohibition has been pursued, which has not even ..subserved
individual interests. The natural advantages afforded by a fine
climate and a prolific soil, have failed to inspire a just appreciation
of the benefits to be derived from co-operation in enterprises of a
public character. California now has an estimated population of
568,827, showing but little, if any increase, during the past ten
years. To some extent, the decay of placer mining and the drain
27
upon our population from adjacent States and Territories, may
account for this; but sufficient time has elapsed since agriculture,
commerce and manufactures have been placed upon a permanent
footing, to remedy these drawbacks, had there been any intelligent
action to encourage settlement.
All the energies of a people individually the most energetic in
the world, have been devoted to wild and hazardous speculations ;
and it is only within the past few years that special attention has
been given to the development of agriculture and other industries
likely to be more permanently prosperous than mining. We are
now beginning to see the truth of what Baron Humboldt
asserted nearly forty years ago—that " the influence of mines on
the progressive cultivation of the country is more durable than
the mines are themselves," and that " the produce of the earth
derived from agriculture is the sole basis of permanent opulence."
XX THE CAPACITY OF THIS STATE
to sustain a large number of inhabitants is undoubted ; yet, with
all our advantages, and starting with a sudden influx of intelligent
and energetic people from all parts of the world, we now, after
twenty years experience, find ourselves with an aggregate
population of less than three to the square mile; while the
remaining States and Territories of the Pacific slope contain an
aggregate of less than one to the square mile. Belgium, as shown
by official data, contains three hundred and eighty-eight; and
there are provinces in China which support eight hundred. Will
it be denied, then, that we need population ?
The proposed railroad will do more to secure a large
immigration than any measure that can possibly be devised.
The expectation that population would flow into the country
the moment the Central Pacific Road was completed, was
unreasonable. It requires time and knowledge of the country
and its resources to bring about so important a change. During
the past year much of this knowledge has been obtained, and it
now only remains to offer the requisite facilities for inter-communi-
cation and settlement to fill up the country. The past year has been
devoted to an investigation of our resources. Much may be
expected in the future, if we adopt an intelligent course of
action. An industrious and energetic people, such as we desire,
28
will settle where they have access to markets, and where they can
be within the refining influences of churches, schools and publio
libraries. Without improved systems of agriculture and the
usual accessories of intercourse in a civilized country, these
advantages cannot exist. It is the duty, therefore, of every man
with a growing family, to give all possible encouragement to so
beneficent an enterprise. He owes it to his children that they
should not be reared in ignorance. If he has suffered from
neglect or isolation himself, he should see to-it that his children
are not deprived of the advantages which circumstances may have
denied him.
XXI EFFECT UPON IMMIGRATION.
The Hon. William Windom, of Minnesota, in an able speech
delivered in the House of Representatives, January 5th, 1869,
made use of the following impressive language. Speaking of the
effect of railroads in stimulating immigration, he said
One of the chief causes of the wonderful increase of the United States in
population and wealth, is our unparalleled immigration. There is nothing in
the history of nations to which it can be compared. The causes which impel
this vast tide of humanity to our shores are of course various, but next to the
attractive principal of universal freedom, the most potent among them is the
rapid development of our railroad system. I do not refer alone to the direct
influence upon those who come to find work in the actual construction of our
roads, but to the indirect and far wider influence exerted upon those who
come to make homes for themselves and their children upon our public
domain, which railroads open for settlement, and bring within reach of mar¬
kets.
It may be instructive to notice, for a moment, how immigration has kept
pace with railroad development in this country.
No. of miles of No. of Immigrants
Decades. railroad constructed. during same time.
From 1820 to 1830 41 244,490
" 1830 to 1840 2,156 552,000
" 1840 to 1850 5,289 1,558,300
" 1850 to 1860 21,295 2,707,624
Thus it will be seen that prior to the railroad era immigration was very
small, and that during the last decade (the period of greatest railway devel¬
opment.) immigration correspondingly increased Since 1863 the average
number has been about 300,000 per annum. It is not difficult to understand
why, in a country like ours, this correspondence between the increase of rail¬
ways and immigration should exist. Had it not been for the facilities they
afford, the lands in the vicinity of water communication would have all been
occupied, and those at a distance would have been worthless. The immi¬
grant would have had none of the inducements to come here which are now
presented to him. In fact, without railroads, Chicago and most of. the other
great cities of the West would be only second-class villages ; and Minnesota,
Iowa and Wisconsin, would, to a great extent, be Indian hunting grounds.
It is because railroads annihilate the distance between cheap lands and good
29
markets, and thus enable the farmer to dispose readily of his products, that
the people of the Old World are so anxious to make homes among us. It
ik for that reason that among the people of my own State to-day, will be
found more than a hundred thousand hardy, honest, industrious Germans,
Norwegians and Swedes, who rank among the best farmers of the State.
Of course, no mathematical estimate c§.n be made of the money value of
these immigrants to our country, but it is usually placed at $1,000 per
head. This estimate is based upon the assumption that each free person adds
as much to the wealth of the nation as the former slave did to his master—
an assumption evidently unjust to the free citizefl. But in order that my
calculation may be beyond the reach of cavil, I will estimate the money
value of each immigrant at only $500, which will give an aggregate increase
of national wealth from this source alone of $750,000,000 within the last five
years. It is also stated by John A. Kennedy, formerly superintendent of
the Castle Garden immigration depot, in New York, that " a careful inquiry,
extending over a period of seventeen months, gave an average of $100
(almost entirely in coin,) as the money property of each man, woman and
child " landed at New York. At this estimate the amount of gold and silver
added to the circulation of this country every year, since I860, is ahout
$30,000,000, or the enormous sum of $150,000,000 in five years. Add this
to the increase just mentioned, and we have $900,000,000 as the result of
immigration during that time—a sum much greater than the entire esti¬
mated wealth of the United States in 1870. Dr. Engel, the Prussian statis¬
tician, says
" Estimated in money, the Prussian State has lost during 16 years, by an
excess of 180,944 emigrants over immigrants, a sum of more than 180,000,000
thalers. It must be added that those who are resolved to try their strength
abroad are by no means our weakest elements ; their continuous stream may
be compared to a well-equipped army, which, leaving the country annually,
is, after having crossed the frontier, lost to it forever." " A ship loaded with
emigrants," says Dr. Engel, "is often looked upon as an object of compassion ;
it is, nevertheless, in a politico-economical point of view, generally more
valuable than the richest cargo of gold dust."
It is needless to say that the effect upon the country at large is
applicable to each part of it, precisely in proportion to the en¬
couragement given to immigration by the extension of railway
systems. Mr. Windom continues :
A little reflection will disclose the secret of this wonderful influence of
railroads upon our national prosperity. The chief basis of wealth are lands,
mines, labor. Separated they are each of little value. Combined they pro¬
duce the astonishing results we have seen. Railroads afford the only means
of combining them successfully ; and hence to railroads must these results
be attributed. Without them, neither lands nor mines can be adequately
supplied with labor, nor labor with a market. They are therefore, the true
philosopher's stone, which turns our mountains and prairies into gold.
In a very able work, entitled " Manual of Railroads of the United States,"
by Henry V. Poor, of New York city—a work, by the way, which should be
in the hands of every railroad man and political economist in the countrv^I
find this statement, viz : " The cost of transjiorting wheat for 300 miles over
ordinary highways will equal its average value at the point of consumption.
Indian corn will bear transportation over earth roads only about 100 miles."
Hence all the land outside of a radius of 300 miles from the seaboard or river
markets would be, without railroads or canals, wholly worthless for the pur¬
poses of agriculture, and that which lies within such radius would depre¬
ciate in value, just in proportion as it approximated that verge of worthless-
ao
ness. Take a map of the United States and with scale and dividers mark
out those little circles of trade which the wagon roads would accommodate,
and then compare them with the present vast sweep of commerce on this
continent, and .you will be able to understand why the augmentation of
national wealth hears so remarkable a relation to the increase of railroads.
Strike from our great cities the support of those vast fertile empires that lie
outside of the earth-road radius ; and from the prairies and rich valleys of the
West take away the markets that are more than 300 miles distant ; and ruin,
utter, hopeless ruin, will br^od over almost every hearth-stone in the land,
and National bankruptcy will stare grimly from the steps of the Treasury
Department. The same causes which have thus strengthened our national
credit, and augmented the public revenues, will continue if properly en¬
couraged, to produce similar results. Whether aided by the Government or
not, the necessities of trade will eventually compel the construction of the
road I advocate ; but the cast is so great that private capital will hesitate to under¬
take it, and years will elapse before it will be done. It is only a question of time,
it is true; but that question is an all important one to the nation. It is a ques¬
tion whether we, who are now burdened with debt, shall take means to
decrease that burden at once, and let the present generation reap the advan¬
tages that are so sure to result from the consummation of this great enter¬
prise, or by a false economy refuse and postpone the incalculable benefits that
court our acceptance.
These remarks applied to a national enterprise, are quite as
applicable to that now under consideration, the local ettect of
which is the chief question of interest to the taxpayers who are
called upon to give aid. A railroad will undoubtedly be built
through the San Joaquin Valley, in time, without such aid; but
it is an all important question whether the citizens of any portion
of the State can afford to dispense with the advantages of such a
work for an indefinite period, when the. spirit of progress ' is
attracting immigration to other parts and to other States, possess¬
ing resources certainly not superior and a climate undoubtedly
inferior. Can they aflord to leave all improvement to their
posterity ?
It will not be long before we have direct communication with
Oregon and all the northern valleys. Let the southern counties
look to it, for it is there that the immigration will go, and where it
ought to go unless equal inducements are held out to it in other
parts of the country.
XXII COST OP THE PROPOSED ROAD.
It is easy to talk flippantly about fhe cost of a railroad through
the San Joaquin valley. Figures are cheap but facts are stubborn.
There is a certain class of individuals immensely wise in their own
conceit, who, like Mr. Podsnap, can, by a mere wave of the hand,
put all difficulties behind them, and build any number 6f roads at
31
the smallest possible outlay of brains or money. These public-
spirited gentlemen are ready to take contracts and cover the whole
country with railways, regardless of mountains, rivers or swamps,
for the trifling consideration of fifteen or eighteen thousand dollars a
mile ; nay, there are some of them who will boldly guarantee to
run a road clear through to the Colorado river for the insignifi¬
cant sum of ten or twelve thousand dollars a mile, and take their
pay in county bonds. The most surprising part of it is, that we
never see any of their public improvements. As soon as there is
a prospect of anything being done, they come out in full feather,
and declare that they could do it better and cheaper than any
" bloated corporation," but unfortunately for the country they
never do anything at all of the least practical utility to mankind ;
they don't even hold their peace and conceal their ignorance.
This thing of spending other people's money is one of the most
seductive occupations in life. Every conceited demagogue can
spend it so much more judiciously than the narrow-minded capital¬
ists, who are unfortunate enough to possess it. In case of failure
the loss is so easy to bear !
These wiseacres tell us it is monstrous to ask the counties to
donate bonds when the taxpayers receive no equivalent in the
shape of a proprietary interest in the road. This is an ingenious
way of creating a prejudice based upon an imaginary grievance.
I presume the public will be at liberty to purchase stock. Those
who desire an interest in the road can doubtless obtain it upon
the same terms enjoyed by other stockholders. Is it not giving
the counties an equivalent for their bonds to assume a cash outlay
of all the cost ; to take seven-eights of the risk ; to furnish them
with access to market ; to reduce their expenses for freight and
passage two or three hundred per cent; to double or treble the
value of their property ; in short, to give them life-blood and
prosperity.
Now let us look at the facts in regard to cost. A great pro¬
portion of the southern country is level ; but it abounds in deep
arroyas, subject to be swept annually by torrents from the
mountains. There are also long stretches of land subject to over¬
flow, and requiring an expensive system of dykes and levees.
There are at least four or five rivers to be bridged—the Stanis¬
laus, the Tuolumne, the Merced, Bear creek, Miles' creek, Mari-
32
posa river, Deadman's creek, Chowchilla river, Fresno, Ootton-
wood, San Joaquin, King's river, Muscle creek, Tule river, Deer
creek, White river, Kern river, and numerous cuts, depressions and
arroyas. Some of these will require very substantial and expen¬
sive bridges more than half a mile in length ; for they must be
constructed with reference to exceptional seasons of heavy rain.
The flood of 1862-3 may be repeated, and provision must be made
for such a contingency. The mountain passes of Kern, Los An¬
geles and San Bernardino counties, abound in difficulties scarcely
second to those encountered in crossing the Rocky Mountains,
the Wasatch range and the central Sierra Nevada. To say that
this road or any considerable part of it can be constructed at
$15,000 or $20,000 a mile, is to speak without knowledge. No
road of the same length ever was built at any such a rate. A
few miles where there is but little grading,, may possibly be
constructed for $25,000 or $30,000 a mile, but the bridging, grad¬
ing and tunneling of the remainder will soon run up the average
cost to $40,000 or $45,000.
XXIII AVERAGE COST OP RAILROADS IN THE UNITED STATES.
The best way to arrive at a just conclusion on the subject of
cost is to look into the history of railroads elsewhere, and ascer¬
tain the results of practical experience, under given conditions.
An eminent authority on this sùbject, Henry V. Poor, says in a
recent pamphlet :
It is impossible to give a statement of the exact cost of the railroads of
the United States, from the incompleteness of the returns of a considerable
number of companies, particularly in the Southern States. An estimate of
$41,000 per mile it is believed, will fully equal their average cost. That of
the railroads of the New England States averages $40,500 per mile; that of
the Middle States is somewhat greater, equaling about $53,000 to the mile.
The cost of the railroads in the Southern States will not exceed $30,000 per
mile. The cost of the roads of the Western lines is about equal to the gen¬
eral average. The aggregate of the whole may be stated in round numbers
at $1,600,000,000. Such cost is estimated, for the most part, at the amount
of their capital accounts, which considerably exceed that of the money
actually expended. It is not probable that the stocks and bonds issued by
all the companies have produced more than seventy-five cents on the dollar.
The capital accounts of many roads have been largely increased by issues
made on the consolidation of lines to equal values, or from dividends paid in
stock or bonds, to represent estimated profits or values over cost. Where
such had bean made they have been usually balanced by adding an equal
sum to the cost of the lines. On the other hand, the net earnings, to a con¬
siderable extent, have been put into construction account without any corre¬
sponding increase of nominal capital.
33
It must be remembered that these averages, given upon the
best authority, represent the cost of construction under very
favorable conditions. Iron is easily obtained in the Atlantic
States; timber is abundant, and supplies of all kinds are cheap.
The transportation of rails to this coast is aheavyitemof expense.
How can a railroad be built here at a lower rate than the aver¬
age cost of railroads throughout the United States ? What are
the peculiar conveniences and advantages at hand in the southern
counties of California for works of this kind ?
The truth is, all such assertions are made in utter ignorance of
the facts or for some unworthy purpose. I have no doubt it will
cost an average of $40,000 a mile to build this road, and my de¬
liberate opinion is, after a careful investigation of the subject, that
if the citizens of those counties can secure such an important im¬
provement at 7 per cent, interest per annum on bonds for $6,000
per mile, payable in 20 years, they will be exceedingly fortunate.
XXIV WILL THE RAILROAD PAT ?
A singular fallacy, attributable to ignorance or design, is
pontained in the assertion that " if it will pay the counties
to donate bonds, it will pay the company to build the road
without such aid." Aside from the erroneous idea that because
the expenditure of a certain amount might be profitable, the
expenditure of a much larger amount would also be profitable,
there is, in this case, a confusion of interests. That the company who
may undertake this work, while advancing the general prosperity
of Ihe counties, will at the same time advance its own interests,
may be to a certain extent true. If it were otherwise the road
oould not be built. The present population and existing resources
of the counties through which it is proposed to construct it, are
not sufficient to sustain it, and will not be until millions are
expended in furnishing facilities for transportation. But there are
many direct advantages that will accrue to the counties, which
can only have a remote bearing upon the interests of the
company. The enhanced value of real estate and personal
property from 100 to 400 per cent, will be a direct gain to
the owners, while it will only benefit the company to the extent
of the effect it may produce upon trade, commerce and travel.
The property of the county may be quadrupled in value without
3
34
adding immediately to the earnings of the road. It is clear,
therefore, that the direct gain will be to the owners of property,
and a percentage of the result only to the stockholders in the
enterprise, and that in the future.
The question for every property owner to consider is, whether it
is not worth something to him to have his lands or his business at
once doubled or quadrupled in value "without the immediate
expenditure of a single cent, and with a future liability so
divided and so infinitesimal in its bearing upon each individual,
that he cannot possibly feel it. What matters it to him whether
the interests of the Company are subserved by building the road
or not, provided he can, by assuming a fractional part of the
expense, secure the immediate construction of the work with all
its resulting benefits? If these benefits enure indirectly to
the projectors of the enterprise, who are willing to assume
seven-eighths of the risk, so much the better ; a guaranty of good
faith and fair dealing will exist in the identity of interests.
A statement of the earnings of railroads throughout the
United States will be interesting in this connection. According
to Poor's Manual, 1868-69:
" The railroads of the State of Massachusetts earned, the past year,
$12,927 per mile; those of New York, $15,000, and those of Pennsylvania,
$12,600 per mile. These States require full and accurate returns from their
roads. The leading railroads in the West earn from $10,000 to $16,000 per
mile. The Pittsburg, Port Wayne and Chicago earned, the past year,
$16,464 per mile; the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, $15,218; the
Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula, $19,247 ; the Michigan Central,
$15,000, and the Chicago and Northwestern, $10,000, and the Chicago and
Alton, $14,000. It is, therefore, safe to estimate the earnings of the Eastern,
Middle, Western, and Pacific States at $10,000 per mile, which for 29,146
miles in operation, will give a total of $291,460,000. The earnings of
the railroads in the Southern States may be estimated at $5,000 per mile for
10,000 miles of road, or a total of $50,000,000. The aggregate for the whole
country consequently will be about $340,000,000.
" The ratio of gross earnings to cost for the whole country will equal about
21 per cent. ; for the Northern States very nearly 23 per cent. The cost of
the railroads of Massachusetts (including those that constitute the system of
that State) was $64,983,776. Their earnings were $18,279,102, a sum
equaling 28.13 per cent, of their cost. The earnings of the railroads of New
York were $50,000,000, upon a cost of $170,000,000, or 29 per cent. Those
of the Pennsylvania . railroads were about $52,000,000, on a cost of
$222,000,000, or 23.7 per cent. The earnings of the leading Western
Tailroads exceeded this ratio ; some of them largely. The Cleveland,.
Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad earned last year $2,639,346, on a reported
cost of $4,868,427, a rate equal to 54.8 per cent. The capital account of this
road, however, has been increased by successive waterings, without any
addition to its cost, from the sum named to $11,250,000. The earnings of the
Terra Haute and Indianapolis Railroad, the past year, were $1,134,549, upon
36
a cost of $1,984,149, a rate which equaled 575 per cent, of its cob! These are
extraordinary cases, but a large number of roads will be found to exceed the
estimated average. The cost of the New York Central is only about
$36,009,000. Its earnings were $13,979,514 or 36 per cent, of its cost, and 33
per cent, on its nominal capital."
These are the gross earnings of railroads where extensive
systems are in operation, and where every new road constructed
adds to the traffic of existing lines and derives a portion of
its support from the general network of roads. The States
through which they run have a population ranging from 25 to 50
to the square mile ; while in California, there is as yet no system
of local railroads mutually aiding and sustaining each other, and
the population is less than 8 to the square mile, and in the
southern counties will not average 1.
The net earnings bear a very small proportion to the gross j
and this is a point to which I desire to call attention.
" The ratio of expenses to the gross earnings of our railroads," says the
authority already quoted, "equals, at the present time, fully 70 per cent.
The cost of operating the railroads of Massachusetts the past year equaled
69.33. That of railroads of the State of New York was fully up to 70 per
cent. The cost of operating the railroads of the State of Pennsylvania was
very nearly up to the ratio of New York. In this matter of net earnings,
there is an element of uncertainty which is regarded as peculiar to American
railroads. But such uncertainty may be compatible both with integrity
and capacity on the part of their managers. There must always he a pretty
uniform ratio between the earnings of a road and its cost. As the former
increases, so must the latter. A ratio of increase of earnings equal to
20 per cent, annually, will require an increase in the construction account to
an amount exceeding net earnings. In such a case, therefore, unless the
necessary means can be had from other sources than earnings, dividends will
have to be foregone. The increase in construction account, rendered
necessary by increase of traffic, would absorb for years the earnings of some
of our most productive lines."
*************
"At the rate estimated, the net earnings of all the railroads in the country
the past year, equaled in round numbers, $100,000,000. The Southern
railroads, however, fall short of the average, owing to the reduced traffic and
wretched condition of most of their lines. The estimated ratio, which was
probably maintained in the Northern States, would give for their railroads an
aggregate of $87,000,000 or 6.7 per cent, on their total cost." [The average
gross earnings, as already shown, equals 23 per cent.]
The point to whicb I invite special attention is embodied in the
following paragraph :
" Large as this sum is, it is only an inconsiderable fruit of the enterprise.
The incidental advantages resulting from them (the railroads) are fine-fold
greater than a fair interest on their cost."
In other words, the public derive five times as much benefit
from their construction as the companies receive in interest upon
their investments,
36
" The losses," says Mr. Poor, " that may be sustained on the construction
of unproductive lines or in the mismanagement of good opes, however
disastrous they may prove to individuals, are vastly more than made up by the
general increase in value of property due to their construction. The people of
the United States could have well afforded to have constructed their railroads,
EVEN WITHOUT THE EXPECTATION OF THE DIHECT RETURN OF A DOLLAR
FROM THEIR COST."
Can anything be more conclusive than this ? It is not simply
the opinion of an enthusiast, based upon conjectural data. The
facts and figures show for themselves. Accurate statistics fur¬
nished by the Committee on Railroads of the U. S. Senate, (see
Report of Majority on Pacific Railroad, February 19th, 1869,)
fully sustain the statements made :
" In January, 1868," according to this report, " the mileage of American
railroads had increased to 39,000 miles. The weight of merchandise
transported over them was 50,000,000 tons, of the estimated value of
$7,500,000,000. In the short space of seventeen years the mileage of
American railroads grew nearly 400 per cent, and their tonnage 1,000
per cent., with a corresponding increase in the value of the property carried.
The population of the country in the meantime grew from 24,000,000
to 36,000,000, or at the rate of 50 per cent. So that the astounding fact is
evoked that railroads have increased the commerce of the country two thousand
fold more than the increase of its population. In 1851, the freight moved
upon all of our railroads equaled 417 pounds per head of population, and was
worth $31 per head. In 1868, the tonnage equaled 2,777 pounds per head,
and had a value of $210 per head. In 1851, the cost of 10,000 miles of rail¬
way in operation in the United States was $200,000,000. In 1868, the cost of
39,000 miles in operation was equal to $1,600,000,000. Consequently, the
investment since 1851, of $1,400,000,000, has been the means of annually
creating a commerce five times greater, amounting to 6,750,000,000. Every
dollar invested in American railroads creates five dollars ytarly.
XXV IT WILL PAY THE COUNTIES.
Two facts of special interest to the citizens of California, situ¬
ated on the line of the proposed railroad, are demonstrated by
the above figures :
1st. That under the most favorable circumstances, where the
trade and population are at least twenty times greater than here ;
where material is cheaper and the net-work of railroads alieady
existing supports and sustains every new enterprise, the net profits
to the companies whose capital is invested, do not exceed in the
average, 6.7 per cent.
2d. That the gain to the public in the increase of commerce
and value of property is five-fold the amount of the investment.
Apply this to the southern counties of California, where trade
and population stand as 1 to 20 or 30, and the following conclu¬
sions are inevitable:
37
1st. That the direct and immediate benefits conferred upon
the counties by this work will be more than five times greater than
the benefits which will accrue to the Company. The figures show
twenty times that increase, but this extraordinary disparity of
benefits will of course be at once partially reduced by the con¬
struction of the work, otherwise it could not enure to the advan¬
tage either of the counties or the company.
2d. That under the most favorable circumstances, with a direct
connection with all the great centres of commerce, both local and
trans-continental, the average net profits of the company are not
likely to exceed the general average of 6.7 per cent. ; while the
gain to the counties, making due allowance for payment of inter¬
est and principal, will be mere than Jive fold greater than the whole cost
of the road, to which they contribute less than one-sixth.
3d. That for two, three, or four years to come, until a connec¬
tion is made with the South-Western States, by a trans-conti¬
nental railroad, either on the line of the 32d or 35th parallel of
latitude, the company cannot hope even to pay expenses, while
the counties interested will be in full enjoyment of all the advan¬
tages of the enterprise, with ample means placed in their hands to
meet their liabilities.
I have no hesitation, therefore, in denying that " if it will pay
the counties to donate bonds, it will pay the company to build
the road without such aid." The proofs are directly to the con¬
trary. It certainly will not pay any company to build such a road
unaided, under existing circumstances. The question for the
counties to consider is, whether it will pay them to give the aid
asked. I think I have clearly demonstrated, not only that it will
pay, but that it will be a lucrative investment from the very
beginning ; in fact that it is the only means of saving them
from decay and bankruptcy.
XXVI SPECIAL ADVANTAGES TO EACH COUNTY.
All the arguments advanced in favor of this enterprise are
more or less applicable to each county. Differing, however,
to some extent, in soil and climate, there are special considerations
which may be applied to the counties of San Bernardino and Los
Angeles and to those south of the Merced river, which have not
so direct a bearing upon those lying farther to the North.
A glance at some of the advantages that must accrue to each
38
respectively, will be interesting in this connection. Commencing
at the southern extremity, the first in order is
San Bernardino.—Should this county elect to avail itself of the
proposition made to it by the San Joaquin Valley Railroad
Company, or a similar proposition from any other company,
it will at once secure that which it now most needs—an outlet
\
for its products. At present, San Bernardino is distant sixty
miles from Los Angeles, about sixty-five from Wilmington,
the nearest port of shipment, and some seventy-five or eighty from
San Diego, by a very difficult wagon road. Should the railroad
come in by way of Los Angeles and extend through the San
Gorgonio or any other pass to the Colorado river, this county will
then have three outlets for its products : one to Wilmington or
San Pedro, one to Arizona, and the remaining outlet to all
the markets of the North. Already the people have signified
their readiness to aid in the construction of a railroad to Anaheim
Landing, (nearly the same distance as Wilmington, but with
an open roadstead,)—a local line, which would be of no advan¬
tage at all comparable with its cost. The proposed road
would give them access to a seaport, without extra subsidy, and
in addition, two main outlets of inestimable value. For years to
come, the chief supplies of Arizona, in agricultural and dairy
products, would be drawn from this county. The cultivation of
the orange and grape will become a valuable branch of industry,
when direct access to market is furnished.
Los Angeles.—Of the abundant and varied products of this
county little need be said. Its vineyards, orange groves, olives,
nuts, and various fruits, have already given it a world-wide
reputation. When all these are brought within a day's reach of
San Francisco, and within two to three days of the chief markets of
the interior States and Territories, their value will be greatly en¬
hanced. It is hazardingbut little to say that Los Angeles could well
afford to bear one-half the expense of the road within its
boundaries, and profit by the enterprise. The amount asked,
however, will not cover one-fourth the cost ; for in order to enter
this county, there would be a divergence from the dii ect route to
the Colorado of not less than one hundred miles, and some
expensive grading and tunneling will be necessary in the mountain
passes of the San Fernando.
39
Kern.—This is the most isolated of all the southern counties.
At present it draws its chief supplies from San Pedro, an average
distance of a hundred and forty miles, over a sandy and
mountainous road, beset with difficulties. The transportation of
freight to Havilah, the county seat, costs from 7 to 9 cents
a pound, and in bad seasons more. The average of freights to all
parts of the county will not fall far short of 6 cents a pound. It
is utterly impossible for any region of country, however favored
by nature, to prosper under sucli a drawback as this. Kern
abounds in rich mines and fertile lands. Its climate is unsurpassed.
By means of railway communication, many new and important
resources can be developed, and there is no reason why it should
not become one of the most populous and flourishing counties in
the State. As a farming and fruit-growing region, it possesses
rare advantages of climate and soil.
Tula/re.—This county is rich in natural resources. The Four-
creek region is not surpassed in fertility by any equal area
of country in the world. Yisalia, despite of many adverse
circumstances, has grown to be a very important point, and could
easily be made one of the leading cities of the State. Its location
is admirable and the climate genial. Already it may be regarded
as the agricultuaal and trading centre of the southern part of the
great valley. In a few years it would command a large interior
trade. Every property owner in this thriving town would
conserve his own interests, as well as those of the public at large,
by giving the proposed measure his earnest support. The growth
in value of property in Yisalia, would alone pay the interest and
principal of the bonds. As an agricultural and fruit-growing
region, the Tulare valley can scarcely be surpassed. The orange
has already been successfully tested here, and the culture of the
grape is becoming one of the most important branches of local
industry. I have already shown that the stock interest is suscep¬
tible of amelioration.
Fresno.—A very large county, as yet sparsely settled, but
susceptible of maintaining a large population. Vast tracts of rich
lands abound in the river bottoms, and the elevated plains
towards the foothills of the Sierras contain fine, arable tracts,
which only need irrigation in seasons of extreme drought to
render them productive. The soil is extremely fertile. The
40
foothills would produce fruits and grapes almost anywhere along
the range of the mountains. Timber is abundant on the slopes of
the Sierras and within convenient access. Owing to cost of
transportation, depreciation of the mining and cattle interests and
other causes, Fresno is not at present in a prosperous condition.
It needs the stimulus of a railroad to interest capital and
encourage production.
. Merced.—A very thrifty county, steadily growing in wealth and
importance; abounding in fine water privileges for milling
purposes and for irrigation; valuable resources for manufacturing;
and rich arable lands, adapted to a great variety of productions.
The benefits that would be derived by this county from a
railroad, would be inestimable. It suffers less from isolation than
those farther south, and yet its growth is slow compared with
what it might be with convenient access to market. Favored
with great natural capacity for production, it would at once enjoy
the full benefits of direct and speedy cohnection with tide-water.
Stanislaus.—Stands in the front rank of the grain-producing
counties of California. Its yield to the acre is not surpassed by
that of any grain-growing locality in the Union. Agriculture
has made great progress in this county within the past few years,
chiefly because of its comparative proximity to market. It will
make greater still, with the increased facilities furnished by
a railroad. A saving of '20 per cent, in the transportation
of its grain product, would amount to a large sum. The farmers
are now experiencing the inconvenience of an uncertain water
communication. Since it is impossible that a single trunk line can
touch all parts of the county, there will doubtless be in the future
a demand for the construction of branch roads. A main line,
passing through or near Paradise City will, in the meantime, open
direct communication with the best and most thickly settled
parts of the county, and encourage the building of branches,
which will tap the fertile regions bordering on the foothills.
XXVII AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
It is very difficult, Owing to the meagre and imperfect returns
made to the Surveyor-General by the County Assessors, to arrive
at any satisfactory conclusions in regard to the agricultural
or other products of this State. There seems to be a general
41
disinclination on the part of property-owners to give themselves
any trouble about furnishing information ; and the assessors
complain that much of the data transmitted by them is only
approximate, and in some instances merely conjectural. The
grain product, however, is more easily determined than the
miscellaneous productions; and the probability is, the figures
furnished are not far from the truth. As this will be an important
item of freight, should the proposed railroad be constructed, a
few remarks in this connection may not be inappropriate.
The total wheat product of the State for 1868, was about twenty
million of bushels; land cultivated in wheat, one million acres;
showing an average yield of twenty bushels to the acre, being
seven bushels more per acre than the average product of twelve
of the best wheat-growing States in the Union. It is urged by
the opponents of this enterprise, that the southern counties could
not compete with those adjacent to the Sacramento river and the
Bay of San Francisco, because wheat could not bear the cost
of transportation so great a distance. Many believe it would not
pay the expense of cultivation. I think this apprehension is
ill-founded. The tendency of railroads is to equalize values
everywhere. Lands adjacent to the commercial cities are more
valuable than those at a considerable distance; an acre worth
$200 will not produce more wheat than an acre worth $20 ; and
as the value of the land largely increases, the cost of a cereal crop
is proportionately augmented. When Interest and taxation
become too heavy for the cultivation of wheat, this species
of crop becomes more profitable in more remote districts. Large
tracts of land are divided into small farms, and the cultivation of
wheat can only be made profitable by individual labor and in
combination with other branches of agriculture. In time, all
parts of the country are placed nearly on the same footing.
Climate and soil may favor one production in a particular locality
and another elsewhere; so that by the increase of facilities
for inter-communication the process of equalization is constantly
going on. A railroad through the San Joaquin Valley would not
at once place the most remote counties on a footing with those
nearest to the commercial centers ; but it would do so gradually.
The same principle prevails in those counties in which railroads
exist, as well as where they have not been introduced. A farmer
42
living twenty miles from a depot cannot transport his wheat to
market at so low a rate as one who lives within a mile or
two ; but the interest upon the lands of the former is not
so high, and he can afford to produce cheaper. So, also in the
distant parts of the country, as compared with those most
convenient of access.
Take for example Stanislaus and Tulare counties, neither
of which yet has a railroad. Stanislaus is by wagon within a day
or two days of tide-water. The wheat product of that county
for 1868 was 2,317,632 bushels; number of acres sown in wheat,
144,852. Tulare county, fifteen days distant by wagon, produced
39,884 bushels to 2,636 acres. The number ol grist mills in
Stanislaus is 3, with 8 run ol stones; barrels ol flour made,
13,824. In Tulare 3, with 7 run of stones; barrels ol flour made,
12,250—nearly as much as in Stanislaus. In Tulare the wheat
produced was limited to home consumption, owing to the cost of
transportation ; in Stanislaus a large excess was shipped, and the
farmers derived a handsome profit from it. But it will be
observed in this case that the cost of transportation from the
remote county is so great as to prohibit altogether the raising of
wheat for exportation. A railroad will so far equalize this,
by diminishing the time and cost of transportation, as to place
these counties nearly upon the same footing. Interest upon
capital used in farming, in the one case, will be partially balanced
by cheaper production in the other. The cost of moving
the wheat and loading the trains will be no greater in Tulare than
in Stanislaus ; and transportation for 170 miles will be considerably
less pro rata than for 30 or 40 miles. Tulare will gain fourteen
days in time; Stanislaus one or two days; but both will gain
largely in the increase of business and reduction in cost of
transportation and passage. I cannot undertake to make a
schedule of charges for a railroad not yet in existence; but I do
undertake to say that wheat is transported several hundred miles
by rail in some of the Atlantic States, and sold at a profit to the
producer.
Every railroad company understands the policy of graduating
its charges so as to foster and encourage those productions within
reach of the line, which are best adapted to the soil and most
profitable to the producer. I venture to affirm that there will be no
43
difficulty in the transportation of grain from Kern and Tulare
counties. If it will encourage settlement and cultivation in those
counties to produce it, the company will doubtless transport it at
the lowest possible rate, and find its account in the increase of
all other branches of business. If it paid nothing beyond actual
cost, there would be a compensation in the increase of population
and general trade, and the greater the advance in these the greater
would be the diminution upon freights, especially those bulky
products, which are least able to bear costly transportation. Tak¬
ing Yisalia as a central depot, I believe wheat can be transported
in quantity from that point to the port or place of shipment, for
$6 per ton, which is less than | of a cent per pound. Other
freights, such as miscellaneous produce, live-stock, etc., and merchan¬
dise, in various sized boxes and packages, will be so classified as
to bear some relation to risk and value ; and the general average
of freights will probal ly not exceed $10 or $12 per ton. This is
one-fourth to one-fifth of the present cost for transportation.
I append, as interesting in this connection, a series of tables,
compiled from the Surveyor General's Report, showing the prin¬
cipal products of the seven southern counties :
[See next page.]
TABLE I.-THE CEREALS.
Name of County.
Acres Land
Enclosed.
Acres Land
Cultivated.
No. Bushels
Wheat.
No. Bushels
Barley.
No. Bushels
Oats.
No. Bushels
Rye.
No. Bushels
Corn.
No. Bushels
Buckwheat.
No. Bushels
Peas.
m
fc .
o x
eh h)
•K
o **
120,594
135,000
8,673
15,681
3,750
17,300
14,642
200,456
31,000
5,000
5,310
2,400
19,600
12,500
2,317,632
45.000
7,457
39,884
5,217
19,200
50,000
854,960
125,000
15,755
65,584
24,893
154,000
120,000
2,000
29,340
4,178
8,515
2,120
238,500
50,000
1,200
3,225
1,181
1,543
1,375
800
1,430
26
550
1,800
260
700
120
1,500
500
San Bernardino
130
TABLE II.-LIVE STOCK.
Name of County
No. of
Horses.
o w
. J
2 e
No. of
Asses.
NO. of
Cows.
No. Beef
Cattle.
No. of
Oxen.
No. Meat
Cattle.
No. of
Sheep.
Mi
o3«
no. of
Hogs.
no. of
Chickens.
no. of
Turkeys.
no. of
Geese.
No. of
Ducks.
No, Hives
of Bees.
6,136
2.874
2,975
6 700
3,550
12,000
3,219
620
236
240
310
164
2,000
368
40
44
70
25
118
200
40
3,412
19,915
14,334
2,125
7,023
2,900
2,435
3,008
7,585
7,260
37,239
6,000
2,070
2,250
4,000
2,148
2,559
1/93
10,000
7,000
1,071
10.420
29,667
24,819
41,499
23,462
12,530
5,968
167,000
76 589
62,635
52,000
40,371
48,700
20,700
700
30,000
12,048
7,420
16,350
1,300
6,000
1,540
65,000
9,242
10,330
117,000
3,740
30,000
6,000
20,000
770
616
9,300
370
1,000
260
2,700
110
20
108
8
500
130
4,000
606
728
6,800
340
2,000
400
1,940
1,200
325
1,580
40
1,500
1,075
19
266
442
439
560
212
Fresno
Tulare
1
201
Ban Bernardino...
■i
45
TABLE III.—FRUITS AND VINES.
TREES AND VINES.
s.
» 7*
&
03
£
g
o
U
P
H
S
W
2
o
O
0
a
1
PS
&.
£
g
o,
o
H
53
£l
p
H
P
o
O
§
»
M
S
*£
o S
3g
3
o
S
P
53 Ë
gg
a o
ma
%
<
ai
Apple Trees
6,400
10,000
1,500
540
300
600
80
570
360
10,000
12,000
2,010
1.000
200
75
75
112
225
25
1,042
2,335
378
131
15
6,230
18,860
1,280
690
200
160
43
325
200
200
500
150
50
6,.500
9,000
4,000
100
100
2u0
600
1,820
2,000
2,300
15,000
1,500
75
250
500
3,000
5,700
10,000
450
780
50
270
150
500
320
40
226
24
915
800
570
360
350
200
6,500
365,000
40,635
3,340
Pear Trees
Plum Trees
18
10
50
30
66
95
115
Fig Trees ,
20
6,014
30
60
20
18
2,000
12
10
1,500
11,000
136,000
20,000
181,000
10,000
900
25,000
141,080
14,000
1,000
250
5,520
140,000
3338,000
760,OOC
77,000
1,000
Gallons of Brandy
TABLE IV.—DAIRY PRODUCTS AND WOOL.
Dairy Products and
Wood.
03
p •
elk
3g
5 °
o
o
p
a
£
g
o
o
o
£
g
o
o
a
H
g
O
o
7
05
w
u
£g
<g
o
5
p
53£
gg
a o
2°
o
5
ÇA
MO
no
00
P3
W
s
a
«
fc
a
P
H
H
M
O
m
g
m
Pounds of Butter
10,500
7,290
8,395
13,415
18,000
25,000
1-5,690
Pounds of Cheese
5,220
2,200
1,250
10,000
10,00(
10,050
Pounds of Wool
835.000
363,797
182,'247
337 ,,360
121,113
450.00C
41,400
Pounds of Honey
77,600
14,4001 3,000
9,755
2,000
75,000
63,700
Can it be doubted that the quantity of these products would
be largely augmented by the opening of direct and speedy
communication with market. A glance at the prices current in San
Francisco, Stockton and Sacramento, to say nothing of the
growing markets across the Sierra Nevadas, will show what the
southern counties are now losing. It would require but a small
percentage of increase, even on their present limited productions,
46
to pay the interest on the bonds. That percentage the railroad
would at once give them.
XXVIII—RESUME.
If any reliance can be placed upon the teachings of experience
elsewhere—and certainly there can be no safer guide—a railroad
through the southern counties of California, on the conditions
proposed in the bill, will result in advantages to the people and
to the State at large, scarcely possible to be over estimated. The
following is a brief summary of the reasons which it seems to me
ought to insure the favorable consideration of this measure.
1st. A railroad connecting with the Central Pacific line, and
extending to the Colorado, will form the most important connec¬
ting link with the trans-continental road to the valley of the Mis¬
sissippi. It will do more to hasten the construction of the South¬
ern Pacific Railroad than any other measure that could be devised.
All the influences concerned in it will naturally be brought to
bear upon the speedy completion of a southern line.*
2d. It will bring population from all parts of the Union ; en¬
courage immigration from Europe ; afford an opportunity to all
who visit the Pacific Coast in search of lands and homes to ex¬
amine in person, the fertile valleys in the San Joaquin and south,
now nearly inaccessible ; and demonstrate beyond question that
the people settled there have faith in the country themselves.
3d. It will connect with the mines and military stations of
Arizona, the principal seaports of the Pacific, the markets of the
central cities of California, and the great interior basin, compris¬
ing Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Montana.
4th. The Merchant will receive his goods at a lower cost for
transportation ; his capital will be more actively and profitably
employed ; his custom will increase ; and the existing system of
The Southern States are in the Union. They have the same rights that the
Middle States have, or the Northern States. They have the right of access to
the Pacific, on their parallels of latitude. They have a right to their share of
the trans continental commerce between Asia and Europe. Norfolk, Charles¬
ton, Savannah, Mobile, and New Orleans can Justly complain of a Middle State
monopoly which pours al 1 this inter-continental trafldc into New York and Phil¬
adelphia. The States lately in rebellion are ruined and Impoverished. Their
peculiar products of cotton, sugar, rice, and tobacco, are of the utmost value to
the nation. It is sound public policy to aid the restoration of the annual pro¬
duction of this wealth, which is confined by the laws of climate to the South.
To the extent that a Southern Pacific railroad will stimulate the growth of the
peculiar southern agricultural products, the Northern and Middle States have
each a large and direct interest in having It constructed, and the prosperity of the
foreign commerce of the United States demands that it shall be constructed.—
Report of the U. 8. Senate Committee on Railroads, 1869.
47
oredit will be gradually superseded by cash sales. The farmer will
have a ready market for his produce ; the stock-raiser lor his stock ;
the fruit-grower for his fruits and the vine culturist for his grapes
and wines. All branches of industry will be stimulated; all
classes will prosper.
5th. Labor will be employed in the development of new
resources ; every saw-mill in the mountains and all the additional
mills that can be put up within the next year, will have ample
work in furnishing material for the road ; teamsters will drive a
profitable business hauling ties and lumber, and when the road
is finished, the whole country will furnish new employment for
the horses and wagons to transport its products to ihe railway
stations.
6th. A large number of laborers will be employed in the con¬
struction of the road. This will create a local demand for
provisions, and for supplies of various kinds. The wages paid to
the workmen will amount in the aggregate to a large sum, a con¬
siderable portion of which will be expended in the counties.
Money will be abundant, a brisk trade will be started, and the
taxpayer will find no difficulty in meeting his obligations.
7. While the profits to the company furnishing the road will
be limited and remote in the future, the advantages of an enhanced
value of property and increase of trade and (population will at
onoe accrue to the counties.
8th. The time given for the payment of the bonds will admit
of the growth of every industrial interest before any tax is required
to form a sinking fund to meet the principal. In the mean time
the net interest on the bonds is less by two-thirds, than the peo¬
ple in these counties are now paying for freight and passage.
9th. No country can prosper without convenient access to
market. A railroad meets all the requirements of the age. It
builds up churches, schools, public libraries, and all institutions
pertaining to a civilized community. It promotes every social
and industrial interest. The southern counties of California can
no longer aflord to do without so important and beneficent a
work. An opportunity now offers, which will practically secure
to them, free of cost, for twenty years, all the facilities which they
require for the development of their material resources. It is in
their power to secure population; to place every industrial inter-
48
est on a permanent basis ; to become prosperous in the future.
Permit me, in conclusion to express the confident belief that
every man possessing an interest in the welfare of the country,
and not blinded by prejudice or imposed upon by the misrepre¬
sentations of those who seek their own aggrandizement at the
expense of others, will give the proposed enterprise his cordial
support.
This book is a preservation facsimile
produced for the Northwestern University Library.
It is made in compliance with copyright law
and produced on acid-free archival
60# book weight paper
which meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper)
Preservation facsimile printing and binding
by
Acme Bookbinding
Charlestown, Massachusetts
2012