CALIFORNIA. 



91 



but operates 242 miles of track across tin- Mojave 

 I>.-i-rt. leased from the Southern Pacific Company. 

 Their contention is that all their rolling stock is 

 properly a-se><able at their headquarters in Al- 

 buquerque. aii-1 that the State of California has no 

 right to assess them. 



The California and Nevada Railroad, which is 

 sued for si, 447. 57. has been sold several times, and 

 is tied up in litigation, so much so that there is ap- 

 parently no known person whose duty it is to pay 

 the taxes. Two or three years ago a part of the 

 road was sold for taxes in Contra Costa County. 



The Railroad Commission fixed a new tariff for 

 freight rates. Sept. 13, 1895, leading 'to temporary 

 injunction granted on application of the Southern 

 Pacific of Kentucky to prevent the Commission 

 from enforcing it. ' The petition of the company 

 said that the provisions of the State Constitution 

 and the act of the Legislature prescribing the 

 methods to be adopted by the Railroad Commission 

 are repugnant to the provisions of the fourteenth 

 amendment of the Federal Constitution, thereby 

 attacking the constitutionality of the Commission. 

 The State Constitution says that the rates of freight 

 and fare authorized to be fixed and established by 

 the board " shall in all controversies, civil or crim- 

 inal, be deemed conclusively just and reasonable." 

 The corporation alleged that by this provision it 

 could be deprived of its property without due pro- 

 cess of law. The case was decided in the United 

 States circuit court by Judge McKenna ; the consti- 

 tutionality of the Railroad Commission was upheld, 

 but the injunction staying the execution of its 

 order reducing freight rates on grain 8 per cent. 

 was continued, on the ground that the earning 

 power of the company has been reduced by the 

 business : depression. 



In January the Mayor of San Francisco, as presi- 

 dent of the Committee of Fifty, issued an appeal to 

 the State of Kentucky, invoking the aid of the 

 public, the Governor, and the Legislature in the 

 struggle of the people of California against the 

 Southern Pacific Company df Kentucky. The 

 pamphlet was entitled "The People of Kentucky 

 disgraced," and made allegations regarding the 

 methods by which a charter was procured granting 

 the right to incorporate the company, designated 

 for deceptive designs ' of Kentucky," the express 

 purpose being to bring it into the State of Cali- 

 fornia, and to compel all the railroad corporations 

 controlled by the incorporators in the States and 

 Territories named in the charter to lease their 

 roads to the new corporation for ninety-nine years, 

 "and thereby to defy, set at naught, evade, and 

 trample upon the laws of the State of California 

 and the other States and Territories named," and 

 that they have defied the laws for ten years. 



The new San Joaquin Valley Railroad reached 

 Fresno in October, and the arrival of the first train 

 was celebrated there Oct. 5. 



Articles of incorporation of the Yosemite Valley 

 and Merced Railway Company were filed in March. 

 The road is to run from Merced easterly and north- 

 erly through Merced and into Mariposa County to a 

 point in the vicinity of the Yosemite valley, at or near 

 a point known as the Cascades, and is to have inter- 

 mediate branch lines to the villages of Coulterville, 

 Hornitos. Mariposa. and Bear Valley. The route 

 follows the canon of Merced river the greater part of 

 the distance, and the scenery in some places is so 

 grand that the promoters of the enterprise expect 

 it to become the scenic route of California. It will 

 not only make the Yosemite accessible to general 

 travel, but will open a district rich in timber, mines, 

 and quarries of marble, lime, and granite. 



Strong opposition was shown in the State to the 

 bill for refunding the secured indebtedness of the 



Central Pacific Railroad Company. An antifund- 

 ing convention was held in San Francisco Jan. 18. 

 Resolutions protesting against the passage of the, 

 bill were adopted, and a committee was appointed 

 to prepare a memorial to go with them to Washing- 

 ton. The resolutions adopted included this: 



" That the President of the United States be re- 

 quested to promptly do his executive duty under 

 the Constitution and statutes, and to instruct the 

 Attorney-General to commence foreclosure proceed- 

 ings without delay, in such form as to enforce the 

 trust and rehabilitate the security itself." 



Products. A value of $22,844.664.29 was placed 

 by the State mineralogist on the mineral produc- 

 tion during 1895. The figures for 1894 were 

 $20,203,294.44. The gold produced amounted to 

 $15,334.317.69 ; silver, $599,789.70 : -quicksilver, 

 $1,337,131. The value of all metallic substances 

 produced amounted to $17,378,308.29 ; of nonme- 

 tallic, such as asbestos, gypsum, magnesite, and 

 soda, to $116,514 ; of hydrocarbons and gases. 

 $1.404.321, including petroleum of the value of 

 $1,000,235. The value of structural materials was 

 $2.713.755. of which the granite amounted to $224.- 

 329. the lime to $386.094. the macadam to $700,- 

 987. the rubble to $394.952. and bricks to $672,360. 



The crops for 1895 were reported : Oranges, 10,- 

 600 car loads ; hops, 48.000 bales ; wool, 32.000,000 

 pounds; dried fruit, 162.700,000 pounds; prunes, 

 49,000,000 pounds; raisins, 92,500.000 pounds; 

 beans, 74.000.000 pounds; barley, 12,200.000 bush- 

 els; wheat, 26.218,000 bushels; beet sugar, esti- 

 mated, 40,000,000 pounds. The total orange crop 

 of 1896 amounted, according to close estimates, 

 to 3,2,00,000 boxes. 



The" value of San Francisco manufactures in 1895 

 is given as $88,500,000. The quantity of powder 

 made in the State was estimated at more than 13.- 

 000,000 pounds. The amount of brandy distilled 

 from grapes was 1,100,000 gallons. The canned 

 fruit packed amounted to 1.280,000 cases ; and the 

 total value of provisions packed during the year is 

 given as $5,000.000. The cheese made in the State 

 amounted to 9.000,000 pounds. 



The report of the Internal Revenue Office in July. 

 1896, on the output of sweet wines showed an in- 

 crease of more than 750,000 gallons. 



By the report of the wool clip for 1896 it appears 

 that the State has 2,739,967 sheep, which clipped 

 19,179,765 pounds of washed and unwashed wool, 

 with a 65 per cent, shrinkage ; of scoured wool the 

 output was 6.712,919 pounds. 



Mining. Great excitement was caused in July 

 by the reported discovery of gold in the Mojave 

 Desert by two prospectors, S. Drouillard and E. M. 

 Pyle. They staked out 4 claims, making 6,000 feet 

 on the ledge which they found, and then the discov- 

 ery was free for any one. Miners rushed in. and in 

 an incredibly short time had the country staked 

 out for miles. The original discoverers traced the 

 cropping for a little over a mile and located it : but 

 one man has already found similar croppings 9 

 miles away, and the intervening country has been 

 nearly all taken up. Ore from several points on 

 the ledge shows assays of $250 to $2,500 a ton, most- 

 ly in gold, but with a fair amount of silver. The 

 ledge is 3 feet in width on the surface. These 

 mines are 10 or 12 miles nearer Mojave than Rands- 

 burg. Rogers Station, on the Sante Fe road, is the 

 nearest railroad point, 18 miles. Mining in the 

 northern counties was unusually profitable this year. 



The Irrigation Law. The constitutionality of 

 the Wright law. permitting the State to be divided 

 into irrigation districts and the property in the dis- 

 tricts taxed for construction of irrigation works, 

 was attacked in two suits, one of which was tried 

 in the State Supreme Court and decided in favor of 



