hubert howe bancroft - Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History ...

542 RAILROADS-CENTRAL PACIFIC SYSTEM.
reasons which will appear as I proceed. Already I
must have said enough upon the subject to Impress
upon the reader's mind the status of railway enterprises
in California during the first twenty years of
the commonwealth. Perhaps I should have more
prominently brought forward the fact that each corporation
held itself to be a link in that coming belt of
steel which was to span the continent at some period
as yet unknown, but foreordained. The sunburnt immigrant,
walking with his wife and little ones beside
his gaunt and weary oxen in mid-continent; the seatraveller
pining on ship-board, tortured with mal de
mer; the homesick bride, whose wedding trip had included
a passage of the Isthmus; the merchant whose
stock needed replenishing; and the miner fortunate
enough to be able to return home—every one, except,
of course, the men of the Pacific Mail Steamship
company, prayed for a Pacific railroad. And they
did nothing else but pray, when it is a well-known
maxim that the gods wait for a beginning before they
lend their aid.
At length, in September 1859, a Pacific railroad
convention was held in San Francisco, in Assembly
hall, on the corner of Kearney and Post streets, according
to a resolution of the legislature passed April
5th of that year." There were present at this con-
14 Resolved, by the assembly, the senate concurring, that to promote the
interest, and insure the protection and security of the people of the states of
California and Oregon, and the territories of Washington and Arizona, and
especially to consider the refusal of congress to take efficient measures for
the construction of a railroad from the Atlantic states to the Pacific, and to
adopt measures whereby the building of the said railroad can be accomplished,
it is expedient that a convention be held on the 20th day of September,
1859, at the city of San Francisco, in the state of California, composed
of delegates from the said states and territories. Resolved, that the people
of the several counties of the said states and territories are hereby especially
requested to send to said convention delegates equal to the number of
the members of the legislature of the said states and territories to which they
are entitled to represent them in said convention. Resolved, that his excellency,
the governor of this state, be requested to send copies of the foregoing
resolutions to the governors of the state of Oregon, and territories of
Washington and Arizona respectively. CaL 8tai.t 1858, 391; Pacific R. B.
Memorial to the Pr&mient of tfie U. 8., Heads o/ Devartmento, Senate and
House QJEepreserUatma,