DIVISION SIX — BUSINESS. 



469 



hotel ; and stated in explanation that instead of costing $200,000, as first 

 proposed, it would cost nearly double that amount — and consequently a re- 

 vision of plans must be made. The fact was, the unforeseen granitic charac- 

 ter of the hill formation had unexpectedly increased the cost of grading and 

 foundation work two or three times beyond the first estimates. This sus- 

 pension continued about six months, and Pasadena watched and waited the 

 outcome with deep anxiety. Meanwhile the San Gabriel Valley railroad 

 was completed from L,os Angeles to Pasadena, and commenced running 

 regular trains September 16, 1885 ; and it was pretty well understood — in 

 fact, a confidentl}'^ trusted "open secret" even at that time — that this local 

 line was ultimately to become a part of the Santa Fe's great transcontin- 

 ental line ; and this' fact had much to do with determining the fate both of 

 Pasadena and the Raymond hotel. And this suspension stage of the hotel 

 work and its outcome are spoken of in the Union of June 4, 1886, from 

 which I quote this passage : 



RAYMOND HOTEL — SOUTH-BY-WEST FRONT. 

 Photo, taken during its season of 1893-94. 



"April 23, 1884, work on the hotel was stopped, owing to financial en- 

 tanglements. Mr. Raymond had exhausted his means and knew not where 

 to turn. At last he interested in the work his aged father, Emmons Ray- 

 mond, long-time president of the Passumpsic River Railroad. The elder 

 Raymond is 79 years old, but his days of usefulness are not ended, and 

 when he came to realize the possibilities of the projected hotel, he lent vig- 

 orous aid with purse and head. Perched on its conspicuous eminence, the 

 Raymond has been growing skyward since the 27th of last September, 

 when the elder Raymond, coming out from the east, devoted himself assid- 

 uously to the work. The great foundations had already been laid, 43,000 

 cubic yards of earth had been moved, and over a million bricks laid from 

 the bed rock up. Since then the whole superstructure has risen, and today 

 the vast building is very close upon completion. It is the most imposing 

 sight in Southern California, and, perhaps, the greatest undertaking ever 



