Newspaper Page Text
SAN DIEGO AND EASTERN
A Story of Its Affairs Not Made Pub
lic Heretofore
"denial Jack" MeKetcliuni, vice pres
ident and general manager of the No
where nod Whitherward railroad, spent
a portion of the week in Imperial, his
palace car being held up by the quaran
tine officers on the suspicion that it is
afllicted with hollow horn, .lack is
famous throughout the height and depth
of the country. It is he to whom refer
cue ■is always made by such favored
newspaper expressions as: ''One who
knows," "It is semi-ofliciully announc
ed," and "It is stated on the highest
.hick was kind enough this time to
actually permit his name to appeal' in
print when lie was interviewed by the
Press, and he committed but one* ffense
in ail he said. That was by repeating
once more those words fir,-:t spoken by
Adam about making the desert to bloH
s m as the rose.
Hut as usual bis main talk was ah. mt
railroads. Said be:
"You iiiuy.qULte me as saying : hat
the real cause of the sudden terniina-
tion of negotiations with the Phelps-
Dodge people to build th .: road was that
the Southern Pacific Company was cute
enough to head off the San Diego pro
moters. There was a pretty definite un
derstanding between the Phelps-Dodge
company and the San Diego railroad
people that, the road would be built by
the former. No contract had actually
been entered into, but the deal was
about to be consummated, and of a sud
den President Murston was sunimoiK'd
Kast a few, weqks ago. It was ,th<. light
the summons was to close the deal.
"Hut that's where the San Diego peo
ple got left. The Southern Pacific men
are not asleep. They have kept a very
close watch on the San Diego and East
ern project from the first, and when
they saw that the Phelps-Dodge people
were getting ready to build the road,
they started a counter movement, by
threatening to invade the Phelps-Dodge
territory in Southern Arizona. That
would mean a long fight, and the con
tention was ended by an agreement sol
emnly entered into between the Plielps-
D. dge people and the Southern Pacific
Company whereby each would cease
building toward the other's territory
lor three years — and there you are."
"Well, now that the Phelps-Dodge
interest is out of the question for the
time being, will not the Southern Pa
cific or the Rock Island build to San Di
ego?" was asked.
"All this talk libimt the Southern Pa
cific movements aside from continuing
t lie* Imperial and 'Gulf to Yuma is hot
air," said he. "At the last moment,
when it seemed as though the Phelps-
Dodge people were going to build to San
Diego, the Southern Pacific threw a
force of men in here, and began making
all kinds of pretended surveys. Why,
when the men got here they had no in
struments, and yet they went tearing
about the country hither and yon, as
busy as a briefless lawyer. They were
thrown in hero so unexpectedly that
there \vasju> provision for them to carry
on the work, but the mere fact that the
surveyors were here was sufficient to en
able the officials in the East to convince
the Phelps-Dodge people that they had
a fight facing them if they proceeded
further. Talk about the Southern Pa
cific Company building to the (iulf of
California is all guff. There is no more
reason why they should build there for
some years than there is for them to
build from Los Angeles to Catalina Is
land ,' and it is just in probable that they
will build to Catalina as it is that they
will build to San Diego, unless they are
driven to do so by some competing rail
road.
Whether, the company will adopt the
Imperial and (iulf road as the main
line from Old Beach to Yuma remains
to be seen. There is no doubt that the
surveyors have at last settled down to
tin; proposition of making a careful sur
vey to determine the feasibility of that
route, as compared with the old one,
and when the survey is completed, if
you bad eyes that would carry there, you
would see the chief engineer or one of
his assistants at the main office sit down
with a lot of tables and charts and study
over the question of distances and grad
ients and water supply and the need for
avoiding the drifting sand on the old
route, and when that work was finished,
you would find that there was simply a
question ef dollars and cents in operat
ing expenses, and if this was in favor < f
the Imperial ivute, as I think will be
the case, you would see the Imperial j
r. ad extended just as soon as material
could be obtained.
"But to (Mine back to the San Diego
and Eastern railroad project, now don't,
''b^SH< WE HAKE EVERYTHING
»^^^^^^^^^l^m^^Jwl n canvas ' I*" 1 -*!*' a!1( l () il | -'<l goods— -tents, awnings, wagon covers, irri-
; gating lios;-, sporting and hunting clothing of every description.
F^-^li^r^^l^^^^^l'i Our machine hands are experts paid by the clay, and the conse-
quciice i-~ <>ur goods ;ire the iK-st on the market, and we can offer
Factory =to= User Prices.
ij % HKHflgi^ headquarters F °R v
#IRRIGATING BOOTS, GLOVES, SHIRTS,
CAMPING, HUNTING AND SPORTING
GOODS.
ORDER YOUR GOODS FROM US BY MAIL.
SEND FOR ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE.
II HHIE 1 METAL CO.
- WHOLESALE ONLY —
OUR QUARANTEE<^^^^^>OF EXCELLENCE
Builders' Hardware and Supplies,
Irrigating, Mining and Grading Tools,
*■■ — Fencing Material and Blacksmiths' Supplies-^*
WE HAVE A COMPLETE STOCK
LOS ANGELES phone, private exchange 92 CALIFORNIA
IMPERIAL PIIKSS
for v moment believe that the people of
San Diego are through with this matter.
The fact that the t'h el ps- Dodge people
were ready to tuke it up and that the
Southern Pacific people were ready to
fight it, furnishes the bent recommenda
tion the road has, and you will see the
San Diego and Eastern in junction
with the Imperial and Gulf and the
Nowhere and Whitherward herein Im
perial within two years. The road i.s go
ing to be built.
"You remember the famous speech of
Daniel Webster at Rochester, do yc,u
not? Well, Daniel had been giving him
self up to his one groat weakness, and
when he appeared on the rostrum he
wan hardly in condition to face an aud
ience. But, nevertheless, he launched
forth on his favorite thenie/and when he
had grown eloquent he said: 'The na
tional debt must be paid,' and thrusting
his hand into his pocket, he added: 'and
it shall be paid, if I have to pay it my
self.' I was in San Diego a few hours
the other day, stopping over on my way
from Timbuct >o to Sha lghai, and I can
tell you .the per pie of that city have
caught something < f the spirit of Dan
iel Wj'.Htur. T.i (/ \\ >w th it the road
simply must be built or their town is ir
retrievably lost, and they will come v
good deal nearer building the road than
Webster did to pa j'ing olf the national
debt."
Just then the chef appeared with a
Mologna sausage in one hand and a ham
sandwich in the other, and the reporter
excused himself and left the genial rail
road magnate to enjoy his sumptuous
repast in private.
Almonds in Arizona
To the Editor: — I notice in a recent
issue of your paper in answering "Sub
scriber" from Tancred on almond grow
ing, you say none are grown except in
California. We Arizonians are <|iiite
proud that we can grow them in the
Salt River, valley. There are quite a
number of orchards in this valley. This
is my fourth year in charge of the or
chard owned by J. M. Locke, of Cincin
nati, O.^ It is a good paying property. —
F. 11. Simmons, Mesa, Ariz.
We are glad to know it and hope the
future will be satisfactory also. — Pacific
Rural Press.
A Salt River fanner invited a real
estate agent to prepare an advertise!
inent of his place uh for sale. The agent
prepared the notice and read it to the
farmer^ whereupon the latter declared :
"I believe I'll not sell. 1 have been
looking for just such a place all my life,
and did not know I had it." — Phoenix
Democrat;
