CALIFORNIA. 



83 



San Francisco, representing, it was said, not 

 only " all the prominent business-men of the 

 city," but " nearly all the voters of every class." 



In the United States Senate, both of the 

 members from California were opposed to the 

 granting of Goat Island to the railway com- 

 pany. 



In the Lower House of Congress, the bill 

 granting the island to the company had been 

 called up, and on the 22d of April it was final- 

 ly put to the vote and passed. 



The Committee of One Hundred, while firm 

 in the determination of using all the means in 

 their power to prevent the ultimate success of 

 the said bill in Congress, thought it expedient 

 to endeavor amicably to adjust the matter, if 

 possible. They deputed five of their number 

 as a special committee, styled "The Com- 

 mittee on Municipal Legislation," to treat 

 with the railroad company. The company 

 favorably responded to their overtures. 



After repeated conferences held by the Spe- 

 cial Committee with Mr. Leland Stanford, 

 who acteJ in his own name, and in the name 

 of his co-partners, a definitive arrangement 

 was agreed to. A full report of this negotia- 

 tion and its result was prepared and signed 

 by three of the five members of the Special 

 Committee on the 14th of August, 1872, and 

 submitted by them to the Executive Commit- 

 tee on the 23d, at a meeting held for that pur- 

 pose. 



The report recommended the adoption of 

 this agreement, by showing the benefits accru- 

 ing to San Francisco from a realization of the 

 objects contemplated in its several articles, as 

 follows: 



ARTICLE I. The abandonment of the demand for 

 Goat Island destroys the availability of Oakland and 

 its water-front as a terminus for railroads, and the 

 contemplated cession of the island to this city, for 

 hospital purposes exclusively, would, if acquiesced 

 in by Congress, effectually remove forever the pos- 

 sibility of future railroad aims in that direction. The 

 cession of the island to San Francisco, for such use, 

 would, in our estimation, be worth at least a million 

 dollars. 



ARTICLE II. The construction of the proposed 

 shore-line of road to Niles, commencing at Mission 

 Bay, and its completion within eighteen months, 

 would, in the expenditure of three million dollars, 

 give great activity to labor and skilled industries, 

 and reastablish, by its anticipated speedy completion, 

 the confidence in the future of this city. 



The commencement of the construction at Mission 

 Bay would require the expenditure of more than a 

 million dollars, in the building of the first ten miles, 

 where great difficulties are to be overcome ; and the 



Eayment of the proposed subsidy being made by 

 iw, on completion of each five miles, and then only 

 proportionate to the entire length of the road, the 

 amount to be received by the companies for this ten 

 miles would be little over one-half the cost of con- 

 struction, thus insuring the completion of the re- 

 mainder. 



ARTICLE III. The modification of the sixty-acre 

 tract is believed to be an improvement upon the 

 present system of streets, the blocks being arranged 

 by rectangular lines, with the exception of those 

 frputing on Fourth Street, which is, apd probably 

 will continue to be, an important artery to the south- 

 ern districts of the county. The concession of the 



market-places was assented to for the reason that, 

 as the city holds them only to be disposed of for 

 railroad or commercial purposes, and, as they would 

 be practically inaccessible to any other contemplated 

 railroad, their pecuniary or other value to the city 

 would be small, and, if not disposed of by the city, 

 might, by some repealing act of the Legislature, be 

 placed beyond her power to control. 



By this article, the injustice of which the railroad 

 companies have reason to complain, in the prohibi- 

 tion of access to the water-front, is removed by the 

 extension of their two hundred-foot strip along the 

 westerly line of China Basin, thus affording them 

 the needed approach to deep water, and reducing 

 the area of the basin by only about four acres. 



ARTICLE IV. Kelating to the issuing of two mill- 

 ion five hundred thousand dollars of bonds to aid 

 in the construction of the work, is regarded as liberal 

 to the companies, but believed by the committee to 

 be far less than the pecuniary benefits to be gained 

 by the city under the provisions of the agreement. 



ARTICLE V. The right of the city to grant the 

 use of the lands south of Mission Bay, donated by 

 the State to the companies for right of way, and ex- 

 tending to San Bruno Point ten miles will enable 

 San Francisco to assist some other company with a 

 grant of roadway that would be costly to obtain by 

 purchase. The same privilege is secured for the use 

 of the bridge across the bay. 



ARTICLE v I. Stipulates for the permanent loca- 

 tion of the terminus of the roads in Mission Bay, 

 and that the main business of the Southern Pacific 

 road, which has diverged at San Jose toward Oak- 

 land, shall be done over the new line. This will be 

 greatly beneficial to San Francisco in fixing the loca- 

 tion of that business at the point required by the 

 mercantile interests of the city. 



ARTICLE VII. Provides for railroad facilities to 

 trade and commerce along the entire city front._ This 

 was demanded by the committee as an act of justice 

 to that portion of the city remote from Mission Bay, 

 and upon which burdensome expenses for drayage 

 would be imposed if the Mission Bay lands were to 

 be made the only point for receiving and delivering 

 freight. Its advantages, though not immediate (be- 

 ing subject to future but necessary modification of 

 the water-front line), will be none the less beneficial, 

 and will, we think, be admitted by all. 



The committee has endeavored, in this negotia- 

 tion, to serve fully the interests of San Francisco, 

 and, while demanding such concessions from the 

 railroad companies as were important to secure, has 

 aimed to be just to both parties. 



This report is respectfully submitted for your con- 

 sideration, with the hope that the terms agreed upon 

 will be found satisfactory to your body and worthy 

 to be recommended to the people of San Francisco. 

 ALFRED WHEELER, Chairman. 

 F. W. WATERMAN, 

 TYLER CURTIS, 

 Committee on Municipal Legislation. 



Dated SAN FRANcrsco, August 14, 1872. 



Two among the members of the Committee 

 of Five, regarding the amount of subsidy to 

 be granted to the railway as too large, did not 

 sign the report of their colleagues, but pre- 

 sented the following minority report : 



The undersigned, members of the Committee on 

 Municipal Legislation, while agreeing to many of 

 the suggestions contained in the report made this 

 day by said committee, have declined to sign the 

 same, for the reason that, in their opinion, the con- 

 cessions proposed therein to be made by the railroad 

 companies are not commensurate with the amount 

 of the subsidy proposed to be given to the said rail- 

 road companies. J. C. MERRILL, 



WILLIAM SHERMAN. 



SAN FRANCISCO, August 14, 1872. 



