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

BUILDING AND EXTENSION. 617
digging and blasting, its tunnelling, 26 trestling, bridging,
and track-laying, it has brought into communication
the extreme northern and southern portions of
the state, without encountering serious antagonism 27
10 One of the greatest railroad tunnels on the continent is at San Fernando,
on the line of the Southern Pacific. The work was commenced in July 1875,
and continued for more than a year, with gangs of men numbering 1,600 advancing
from each end toward the centre. The length is 6,964 feet, and the
cost of the work was about $2,000,000. One feature of the tunnel is that it
is approached at either end by a heavy up grade, and has a considerable
stream of water running constantly out of its southern end. It runs under
ridges and canons, the greatest depth being 600 feet.
* 7 One instance of bloodshed only can be recorded, and in that no blame
seems to attach to the company. About 1876 the settlers, 600 in number,
petitioned congress to restore a portion of the land grant to the public, no
railroad having been constructed on the route between Hollister, in San
Benito county, and Goshen, in Tulare co., a distance of 140 miles. They
represented that for a distance of 50 miles the route lay over a level, sandy
waste of little value, until by irrigating canals, constructed at their own expense,
it had been reclaimed and made fruitful; that subsequent to theaa
improvements the railroad company surveyed its line, and asked for patents
to the odd sections, some of which were already occupied. Congressional
committees reported some for and some against a forfeiture of the lands, and
the matter remained undetermined until 1878, eleven years after the land was
granted. In April of that year a mass meeting was called at Hanford, in this
region, where a settler's league was organized. The league expressed itself
as willing to pay the price fixed by the government for railroad lands, namely
$2.50 per acre; but declared the railroad company had no right to their homes
and improvements, nor any right to require payment for the same from
those who had made the improvements. On a demand from the league to
have their land-grader removed, the railroad company brought suits of ejectment
against settlers on its patented lands, and obtained judgment in the
U. S. circuit court in December. Previous to this decision, however, 80 or
100 men, with masks to conceal their identity, repaired to the house of Ira
Hodge, a purchaser of railroad land, five miles from Hanford, and ordering
out the family, burned down the dwelling. Another purchaser, Perry C.
Phillips, was treated in the same manner, and a settler placed in possession.
Soon after these acts a military company was formed. In July 1879 a party
of men, mounted and disguised, made a midnight visit to a house where it was
suspected that certain obnoxious persons were lodged. Their visit was taken
as a menace. In May 1880, no compromise having been affected, U. S.
Marshal Poole in undertaking to place purchasers of railroad lands in possession,
was resisted by an armed force, and a battle resulted, in which eight
persons were killed or wounded, namely James Harris, Iver Knutson, J. W.
Henderson, Archibald McGregory, Daniel Kelly, and E. Haymaker, settlers,
wounded; Walter J. Crow aud M. D. Hartt, purchasers of railroad land,
killed. It was shown at the inquest that at the time of the collision Marshal
Poole, in company with land-grader Clark, and Crow and Hartt, purchasers
of railroad lands, had set out in the street the household goods of W. B.
Braden, and were proceeding to evict other families. The coroner's jury
resolved that 'the responsibility of the shedding of innocent blood rests upon
the Southern Pacific railroad company, 1 and the feeling throughout the state
was strongly adverse to the company's course. It was shown, however, upon
the trial of those persons engaged in resisting the marshal, that the settlers
had set themselves up as the rightful owners, regardless of the patents held
W the railroad company, and had organized a military force which patrolled
th% streets on horseback, with masks over their faces; that they warned