CHAPTER XXXVII.

RAILROADS.

[From Thompson & West's History of Nevada 1881, With Illustrations And Biographical Sketches Of Its Prominent Men And Pioneers, pp. 359-372]

Part 2

EUREKA AND PALISADE RAILROAD.

            The above-named road, by a track ninety miles in length, connects the two towns after which it is named. The company was organized on the nineteenth of November, 1873, with the following gentlemen for Directors:—Erastus Woodruff, William H. Ennor, Monroe Salisbury, John T. Gilmer, C. H. Hempstead, and J. R. Withington.

            Their capital stock was $1,000,000, the amount being doubled in September, 1876.

            In 1874 the franchise passed into the hands of Edgar and D. O. Mills, who, in the latter part of the same year sold one-half of it to William Sharon, A. K. P. Harmon, John Shaw, Isaac L. Requa, and Thomas Bell, and these gentlemen constitute the company as it now exists. This corporation constructed the road at a cost of $1,355,346.78, and paid for right of way, lands and buildings, $89,078.98, and equipped it at a further expense of $112,190.97, making a total expense for the property as it now stands of $1,556,616.73. For rolling-stock, etc., see general table.

RAILROADS.            285

            In 1875 they purchased the Ruby Hill Road at a cost of $75,000, and constructed additional branches to it at a further expense of $75,000, which adds about six and one-half miles to their line.   At present their tonnage of freight is not equal to what it has been in the past. The amount for one year prior to May 1, 1880, was as follows:

Tons Grain                                          2,094.73

" Flour                                                916.84

" Lumber                                             8,688.83

" Coal                                                  5,926.98

" Merchandise                                     8,266.74

'Total tons by railroad to Eureka         25,894.12

                                    from "              15,832.70

Total tons freight to and from Eureka 41,726.82

            The average passenger rate is nine and one-half cents per mile, and the average rate of freight is twenty cents a mile per ton; through rates ranging from five and one-half to over eighteen cents.          

            The principal freights going north from Eureka over this road are lead, bullion, hides and wool.

            From Eureka it connects by teams with Belmont, Tybo, Morey, Hot Creek, Tem Piute, Pioche, Hamilton, Mineral City, Ward, and Osceola. On the line of the road is the company's farm of 1,000 acres of land enclosed, from which is cut about 600 tons of hay yearly, and the company keeps a total average number of sixty-eight men employed. There are sixteen way-stations on the line, the most populous of which are Alpha, twenty-five inhabitants, with one store, and Pine, with twenty-eight residents and a store.

            The present officers of the company are Edgar Mills, President; E. T. Oatman, Secretary; T. F. Lawer, General Freight, Passenger and Ticket Agent; P. Evarts, General Superintendent.

            The company's shops are at Palisade, their Central Pacific terminus on the north, where the rolling-stock is repaired. J. P. Rugg is the Master Mechanic, and A. S. Longley, Master Car-builder. The former was at one time in charge of the machinery of the Combination, Crown Point, and Belcher shaft; and the latter built some of the first cars for the company in whose employ he is now working. T. F, Lawer, the General Freight, Passenger and Ticket Agent, entered the employ of the company originally as an office-boy.

REPORT OF THE E. AND P. RAILROAD FOR 1880.

Capital stock                                                                            $2,000,000 00

Capital paid up.                                                                       1,090,375 00

Amount paid for lands in construction                                   17,246 76

Cost of construction.                                                              1,355,346 78

Cost of buildings                                                                     71,832 22

Cost of engines                                                                        40,314 22

Cost of cars                                                                              71,876 75

Amount of indebtedness (outstanding bonds)                         928,289 52

Amount due the company                                                      388,297 79

Amount received for transportation of passengers, freight, property, mails, express, and from all other sources                                                                                          444,532 38

Current expenses                                                                    196,299 44

Number and amount of dividends (11 paid monthly).            $285,000 00

Tons of freight transported                                                     36,805.09

Number of engine houses                                                      2

Number of shops                                                                     1

Number of engines                                                                5

Number of coaches                                                                2

Number of cabooses                                                               2

Number of express and baggage cars                                      2

Number of box cars                                                                21

Number of flat-cars                                                                95

Number of hand-cars                                                             10

Total profits for 1880                                                              $248,232 94

Per cent. of profits on investment                                           15 3/10

SPECIAL FREIGHT RATES BETWEEN PALISADE AND EUREKA.

Base metal                                                                              $10 50 per ton

Brick                                                                                       12 00 per ton

Coal (Cumberland)                                                                12 00 per ton

Coal (Rocky Mountain)                                                          7 00 per ton

Coke                                                                                       7 00 per ton

Flour                                                                                       16 00 per ton

Flue dust                                                                                  4 00 per ton

Grain and mill stuff                                                               12 00 per ton

Hay, baled                                                                              16 00 per ton

Ice                                                                                           15 00 per ton

Iron (pig or scrap)                                                                   12 00 per ton

Lead                                                                                        8 00 per ton

Lath, shingles and shakes                                                       16 00 per ton

Lumber                                                                                  19 00 per M.

Ore                                                                                          5 00 per ton

Potatoes                                                                                  12 00 per ton

Wool (compressed in bales, 1.7 lbs. to a cubic foot)               10 00 per ton

BETWEEN WAY-STATIONS AND EUREKA.

Charcoal, from Bradleys, Blackburns and points between      27 1/2c per 100 lbs.

Charcoal, from Alpha and Oak and points between              22 1/2c per 100 lbs.

Charcoal from Summit and Horse Shoe.                               18 3/4c per 100 lbs.

Charcoal, from Garden Pass and Old Fourth                         12 1/2c per 100 lbs.

Charcoal from Diamond                                                        10c per 100 lbs.

Hay (baled), from Evans and Parrys                                         $15 00 per ton

Hay (baled), from Hay Ranch                                                  14 00 per ton

Wood, from Alpha and Summit and points between            $4 00 per cord

Wood, from between Summit and Garden Pass                     3 00 per cord

Wood, from Old Fourth and Diamond                                  2 50 per cord

            Fifty (50) cents per ton will be charged for loading and transferring base metal.

            Brick, charcoal, coal, flue dust, hay, lumber, lath, ore, shingles, shakes and wood, to be loaded and unloaded by shipper, or at their expense.

            Empty packages returned free. The following named, having been used to transport property to a general market, will be returned free, provided they are properly marked and directed, and the company is released from all liability for loss or damage to the same, and provided they are removed promptly from the freight station. If receipts are demanded, regular rates will be charged. When destined to points off the line of this road, charges to prepay over connecting lines to destination must be collected by the receiving agent:—

286      HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA.

            Beer kegs, butter and egg boxes, fruit boxes and baskets, ice blankets, coal, meat and ore sacks, soda and beer bottles in cases, and milk cans.

            Quicksilver flasks and gasoline tanks will be returned at one-half first-class rates, actual weight.

            Agents must be particular to see that this privilege is not granted to parties not entitled to it, and must explain on the way-bill upon whose account the property is returned.

THROUGH PASSENGER RATES BETWEEN EUREKA AND THE FOLLOWING POINTS.

            San Francisco.                        $45 75

            San Jose                                  45 75

            Stockton                                 43 75

            Sacramento                            41 75

            Marysville                                42 85

            Colfax                                     38 10

            Reno                                       29 00

            Virginia City                           32 00

            Winnemucca                          16 25

            Battle Mountain                      11 75

            Elko                                         10 50

            Ogden                                    31 00

TRAIN RATES BETWEEN EUREKA AND THE FOLLOWING POINTS.

            Palisade                                    $8 40

            Alpha and Pine                      3 50

            Cedar                                     3 25

            Oak                                        3 00

            Between all other points conductors collect at the rate of ten (10) cents per mile for each adult.

            The only transportation on the Ruby Hill Railroad is ore from the mines to the different reduction works in Eureka, for which fifty cents or one dollar per ton is charged, according to distance.

RUBY HILL RAILROAD FOR 1880.

Capital stock                                                    $150,000 00

Capital paid up                                               150,000 00

Paid for lands in construction                        3,006 00

Cost of construction                                        111,547 50

Cost of buildings.                                            3,000 00

Cost of engines                                               14,642 50

Cost of cars                                                     17,810 00

Amount of indebtedness        

Amount due the company                              10,258 70

Amount rec' d for transportation of fr'ght,    106,544 30

Current expenses.                                          25,803 12

No. and amt of dividends, 9 (pd monthly)      75,000 00

Tons of freight transported                             93,377

Number of engines                                         2

Number of ore cars                                         30

Number of hand-cars                                      1

Total net profits for 1880                              $80,741 18

Per cent. of profits on investment a trifle over 53.

LAKE TAHOE NARROW-GAUGE RAILROAD.

            This road was built in 1875 by H. M. Yerrington and D. L. Bliss to freight lumber and wood from Lake Tahoe at Glenbrook to the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountain, from where the freight is run in a V flume to Carson City. The road is eight and three-fourths miles in length, and was graded at a cost of about $30,000 to the mile. Steel rails of thirty-five pounds per yard was used in laying the track. For equipment see general table. It has 480 feet of tunnel; the two heaviest grades are 165 and 200.75 feet to the mile, and the average is 130.

            In passing up the steep mountain from the lake the road makes a long half-curve in going to the east, and comes to an abrupt terminus like the point of the letter Z, From this point it runs back along the same face of the mountain 6,000 feet, going up continuously until it again terminates, this time upon a trestle-work built out over the lake so high that it makes one shudder to look down upon the water below, and from where is presented a scenic effect surpassed in few places in America. Again it traverses the same side of the mountain, still going up until an elevation is reached that carries it out to the east over the summit, having passed back and forth three times to reach that point along the face of a mountain so steep that a stone started at the top would roll to the bottom of it.

            There are three engines on this road weighing twenty-three tons each, with thirteen-inch bore, sixteen-inch stroke, six connected forty-inch drivers, and Bissel trucks of two wheels. Either of those little giants will take seventy tons of freight upon cars up those grades at a speed often miles per hour.

            The expense of running the road is about $3,000 per month. The transportation expense over the road is seventy-five cents per thousand feet for lumber, and forty-five cents per cord for wood. There has been but one accident, and that was in 1877, when a tourist fell off the cars and was killed. In the summer there are about thirty men on the company pay-rolls; in the spring, however, it requires sometimes a large force to keep the track in repair. The ties are six by eight and six feet long; the cars are extra heavy and capable of carrying from sixteen to eighteen tons each. The office at Glenbrook is connected by telephone with Carson City.

            John Bartholomew was the first Superintendent, and was succeeded in 1877 by the present efficient and gentlemanly incumbent, John T. Rogers. The Master Mechanic, George Lindsay, has filled that position for the company since its organization, and is the right man in the right place. The company's shops contain all the appliances, except a foundry, necessary for either locomotive or steamboat repairs. The present owner of the road is the Carson and Lake Tahoe Wood, Lumber and Fluming Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Nevada.

PIOCHE AND BULLIONVILLE RAILROAD.

            This company was organized January 6, 1872, and their incorporation papers were filed with the Secretary of State on the following twelfth of February.

            Under the management of General A. L. Page the road was constructed, connecting the two points indicated by its name, which lie twenty-one and one-half miles apart. Work thereon was commenced in the summer of 1872, and the first grading was completed on the twenty-second of February, 1873.

RAILROADS.                        287

            There was some trouble and bad work in the first grading of the road, concerning which the Pioche Record, in April, 1873, says: "There is no honesty in longer disguising the fact that the Bullionville Narrow-Gauge Road is a failure." It adds: "The rails are too frail, and the grading in places is not safe. A new survey is being made and the work of constructing a good serviceable railroad between here and Bullionville is now being prosecuted sensibly and in earnest." Heavier rails were soon procured, and on the fifth of May their first locomotive was fired up, and in the early part of June the improved road was completed. This short line was constructed for the purpose of carrying ore from the mines of Pioche to the mills at Bullionville, was built and managed chiefly by General Page, since deceased, and for a few years transacted a fair business, but with the exhaustion of the Raymond and Ely, and Meadow Valley mines its resources failed and it fell into disuse.

CARSON AND COLORADO RAILROAD.

            The rich mines of the southwest, at Belleville and Candelaria, a well as those of the eastern border of California, are inviting fields for railroad enterprise; and to supply the freight and passenger necessities of the extensive region the Carson and Colorado Railroad Company was formed; its incorporation dating May 10, 1880. Work was immediately commenced, the initial point being Mound House, on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad; and the road, as far as Hawthorne, a distance of 100 miles, was completed and opened for business on the eighteenth of April, 1881. The line is expected soon to be extended to Candelaria, fifty-three miles farther, and eventually to the Colorado River. Over this road passengers and freight are taken for Aurora, twenty-six miles distant from Hawthorne, southwest; to Bodie, in California, thirty-seven miles; to Belleville, forty-five miles; and to Candelaria, fifty-three miles, southeast.

            This line is a three-foot narrow-gauge, laid with steel rails and redwood ties, and equipped with new and first-class rolling-stock. The route is an interesting one, crossing the Carson River at Dayton (six miles from Mound House), the location of several ore reduction works, and distant three miles from Sutro, at mouth of the Sutro Tunnel.

            From Dayton the line follows the Carson River to Churchill Canon; thence into Mason Valley, a large and productive farming district, through which runs the Walker River; thence following the Walker River, crossing the same twice to Walker Lake, which is twenty-five miles in length, and from five to nine miles in width; and along the shore of Walker Lake to Hawthorne, located four miles from the southern end of the lake.

            The following are the names of, and distances to, the various stations along the road, starting from Mound House:—

            Dayton                        6 miles

            Clifton                         18 miles

            Fort Churchill            26 miles

            Washout                      28 miles

            Wabuska                      38 miles

            Cleaver                        42 miles

            Mason                                     45 miles

            Rio Vista                    54 miles

            Reservation                58 miles

            Schurz                         65 miles

            Gillis                           78 miles

            Hawthorne.                100 miles

            Financial statement, May 31, 1880—Capital stock, $6,000,000.

            Directors—S. P. Smith, San Francisco, California; B. C. Whitman, Virginia; H. M. Yerrington, Carson City; D. L. Bliss, Carson City ; D. A. Bender, Carson City; W. D. Tobey, Carson City; H. L. Tickner, Carson City.

            Officers—H. M. Yerrington, President and Superintendent; Robert J. Laws, Assistant Superintendent; James Oliver, Chief Engineer; D. A. Bender, Secretary. Principal office and address, Carson City, Nevada.

            The surveys and line have long been established to Candelaria, much of which is graded, and several miles laid with iron. Southeasterly from Hawthorne, along the line of the road, stretches a sandy and barren waste for eleven miles, when a hilly region is reached, continuing southeast fourteen miles farther, when the direction turns due south. On this road the rates of pay for employes are, engineers $110 per month, conductors $90, firemen $75, and brakemen $70.

SALT LAKE AND WESTERN RAILROAD.

            On the seventeenth of June, 1881, the articles of incorporation of the Salt Lake and Western Railroad Company were filed in the office of the Secretary of State at Carson, with the names of Boliver Roberts, James Little, and Perly Williams as Directors, who deposited $50,000 with the Controller as an earnest of their purpose. The design is to build a road from Salt Lake or from the Southern Utah or other road, through the southern part of the State, either by way of Eureka or Pahranagat, the route being not yet defined, and joining the California Central, making a through road independent of the Central Pacific. The Carson Appeal of June 18th says: "The proposition to build the road grew out of trouble between the Union Pacific and Central Pacific. Sydney Dillon and Jay Gould are backing the enterprise, and propose to build a competitive line from Utah to San Francisco, and cripple the power of the Central Pacific to rob the State of Nevada. The road will be pushed forward with millions of capital, and it means better times for Nevada.

NEVADA SOUTHERN RAILROAD.

            The line of the road is from Ledlie Station (N. C. R. R.), to Cloverdale, eighty miles. Gauge, three feet. Rail, thirty-five pounds.

288      HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA.

            This company was organized February 25, 1880, to extend the line of the Nevada Central Railroad Company. The line is located, and construction is commenced.

            Financial statement, May 31, 1880—Capital stock paid in, $80,000.

            Directors (elected February 28, 1880)—J. H. Ledlie, Utica, New York; Andrew Nichols, Austin; C. P. Soule, Austin; Lyman Bridges, Battle Mountain; Francis Bridges, Battle Mountain; J. W. McWilliams, Battle Mountain; P. W. Johnson, Battle Mountain ; R. L. S. Hall, New York City, New York; J. D. Negus, Chicago, Illinois.

            Officers—James H. Ledlie, President, Utica, New York; Andrew Nichols, Vice-President, Austin; R, L. S. Hall, Treasurer, New York City, New York; Lyman Bridges, Chief Engineer, Battle Mountain ; J. D. Negus, Secretary, Chicago, Illinois.

NEVADA NORTHERN RAILROAD.

            The line of the road is from Battle Mountain, Nevada, to the Idaho Line, 120 miles. Gauge three feet. Rail, thirty-five pounds. This company was organized February 25, 1880, and a portion of the line is expected to be opened the current year. It connects with the Nevada Central Railroad.

            Financial statement, May 31, 1880.—Capital stock paid in, $150,000. Surveys are being made northward to the Columbia River.

            Directors—R. L. S. Hall, New York City; P. W. Johnson, Lyman Bridges, J. W. McWilliams, L. D. Huntsman, L. S. Foster, Battle Mountain ; J. H, Ledlie, Utica, New York; J. D. Negus, Chicago, Illinois; Andrew Nichols, Austin.

            Officers--R. L. S. Hall, President and Treasurer, New York City; J. E. Negus, Secretary, Chicago, Illinois; Lyman Bridges, Chief Engineer, Battle Mountain. Principal office and address, Battle Mountain, Nevada.

NEVADA AND OREGON RAILROAD.

            The charter line of the road is from Aurora, via Bodie, California, Carson City and Reno, Nevada, Honey Lake Valley, Madeline Plains, Pit River and Goose Lake, California, to Oregon Line, 342 miles. Branch to Virginia City, seventeen miles; branch in Plumas County, California, fifty-five miles. Total length, with branches, 414 miles. Gauge, three feet. Rail, thirty-five pounds.

            Company organized June 1, 1880. Construction commenced December 22, 1880, at Reno, going northward. Colonel Thomas Moore, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, has the contract for the construction and equipment of the road, and it is expected to be completed to Beckwourth, in California, before the expiration of the year 1881.

            Financial statement—Bonded debt, $10,000 per mile.

            Directors—A. J. Hatch, George L. Wood, James McMechan, C. A. Bragg, John Sunderland, R. L. Fulton, C. P. Soule.

            Officers—A. J. Hatch, President, Reno; Geo. L. Wood, Vice-President, San Francisco, California ; John Sunderland, Treasurer, Reno; T. S. Coffin, Secretary, Reno; H. G. McClellan, Chief Engineer of Construction, Reno. Principal place of business, Reno, Nevada.

EUREKA AND COLORADO RAILROAD.

            This company was organized in February, 1881, to build, as its name implies, from Eureka, at the terminus of the Palisade and Eureka Railroad, southeastwardly to the Colorado River. During the summer of 1881 surveys were made, contracts were let, and grading prosecuted from Eureka to Robinson Canon, in White Pine County. This being an extension of the Palisade and Eureka, is under the same management.

RENO AND QUINCY RAILROAD.

            The Plumas, California, National, in July, 1881, announced that arrangements had been made for constructing a narrow-gauge railroad between the town of Quincy, Plumas County, California, to Reno, on the Central Pacific, and that the Central Pacific Company would assist the enterprise with funds to insure its completion.

HUMBOLDT AND COLORADO RAILROAD.

            On the twenty-eighth of May, 1868, a company was formed in Austin, Lander County, for the purpose of building a railroad from the Humboldt River to the Colorado. The following were named as the officers: Len Wines, President; Samuel Barclay, Secretary; John A. Paxton, Treasurer; and the Board of Directors as follows: Len Wines, W. S. Gage, John A. Paxton, L. B. Moore, I. C. Bateman, David E. Buel, George F. Dinsmore, James M. Dawley, Charles O. Barker, of Austin; Dr. Gould, of Colorado; A..K. Grim, of San Francisco; Charles Crocker, of Sacramento; Able Bennett and J. S. Christie, of New York.

            This company was organized under the Act of the Legislature of Nevada, entitled "An Act to Provide for the Incorporation of Railroad Companies," &c., and the certificate filed in the office of the Secretary of State declares that the company shall continue in existence for fifty years.

            The initial point of the road was to have been near Gravelly Ford, on the Humboldt River, from which point it was supposed a road would also be constructed into Oregon, thus connecting the Columbia and Colorado Rivers, as well as the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the medium of the Central and Union Pacific Railroads. It was also to connect at the Colorado River with the line of one of the contemplated roads over the southern route.

            The projectors bad a bill before Congress for the right of way and the usual grant of lands along the route. The bill provided that the company must construct and maintain a line of telegraph along, the road; begin work within two years from the time of the passage of the Act, and stipulated that at least ten miles of the road should be finished each succeed-

RAILROADS.            289

ing year until 1880, when it must be completed. But the bill never became a law and the project collapsed.

EASTERN NEVADA RAILROAD.

            January 20, 1871, the Eastern Nevada Railroad Company was incorporated with W. J. Forbes, D. T. Elmore, E. B. Mott, Herman Sadler and others as incorporators. The road was to run from Elko on the Central Pacific, to Hamilton, White Pine County, a distance of 120 miles. An Act was passed permitting White Pine County to grant a subsidy of $250,000 in bonds, which was done conditionally upon the construction of the road. The period was one of excitement and prosperity, with a great amount of travel through the region, to Eureka, Hamilton, Treasure City, Robinson, Mineral City, and Pioche, and the prospect bid very fair for the success of the enterprise. Messrs. Elmore and Mott visited England to procure capital to carry on the work; failing in this, together with the rise of Eureka and the changing of the route of travel through that place to Palisade, caused the abandonment of the plan, after two years' struggle and bright prospects of the instigators of the enterprise.

290      HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEVADA.

THE FUTURE LAND QUESTION.

            From the foregoing, and from the history, so familiar to all, of the strategy, cunning and selfishness of the Central and Southern Pacific Railroad Companies in California, deductions may be drawn that portend serious troubles to the most worthy citizens of this State. The great grant of land includes much that is valuable, and much that is worthless. Alternate sections remain as Government land or have passed to individual ownership. The well-being of the State requires that all shall be utilized. Settlers are encouraged by the railroad company to occupy and improve the land, but are refused any title, or agreement of terms upon which they may rely in the future. The prospect opens before them of a repetition of the Mussel Slough War of California, with its murders, ejectments and imprisonments, its ruinous litigations, exorbitant rates for improvements made and property created by the purchaser, and at last to see one's rightful possessions owned and occupied by another. Such appears the plan and hope of the railroad corporation, ever so subtle, so far-reaching, so grasping, so powerful, and so merciless. To swell the countless millions already acquired by the Directors is their sole object. By withholding the land titles and oppressing the settlers, the latter may beg of Congress to retake the land and remunerate the railroad company. Such a petition from the company would be but little noticed, but from a great number of suffering citizens it would be heard, and wide-spread sympathy would be created. There are nuts in the fire which the railroad monkey would make the citizens cat draw out. By oppressing the possessors of the good soil, a vast amount of worthless land may be sold to the Government. Thus the seven million acres of land east of the Sierra to which the railroad company is entitled could be turned into immediate cash or its equivalent in bonds, a consummation it is supposed that they most devoutly wish, and for which they would force the oppressed people of Nevada to most devoutly pray.

BANISHING AN OFFENDING CITIZEN.

            The following letter is a fair indication of the rule or ruin policy of concentrated railroad capital, bearing the evidence of truth, and signed and vouched for by the writer whose name it bears. It discloses an occurrence, that if permitted by the citizens of Nevada to be repeated, will lead to a species of servile bondage on their part that would be intolerable to those not born with the instincts of peonage.

THE DALLES, Oregon, April 12, 1881.

            DEAR SIRS: By an oversight I have neglected to answer your favor of February 26th, asking for facts in regard to my experience with the railroad companies in Nevada. The newspapers in Nevada pretty thoroughly "ventilated" the subject at the time of my election to the Ninth Legislature. I was acting as agent for Reinhart & Co., in the grain business in Eureka, and received a good salary. I also owned one-half of the Eureka Daily Leader. A year or so prior to my engaging in the newspaper business and the grain business, I was agent for the E. &P.R. R. Co., and when I quit the company's employ was on the best of terms with all of the officers of the company. The most important issue before the people of Nevada, at the election in 1879, was that of reduction of fares and freights, and a number of good Republicans opposed me on account of the friendship which existed between me and all of the railroad officers, and I repeatedly assured the people that I would do all I could if elected to pass a law to prevent extortionate freight charges and discriminations in rates, etc. The railroad company did not, to my knowledge, try to prevent the election of any member pledged to oppose these charges, and it was not until the meeting of the Legislature, that the corporations commenced their work.

            I was interviewed by Mr. Yerrington the first week, who talked to me as if it was fully agreed that would stand in for the railroad companies, and when I told him that I proposed to stand by the platform and try to do as I had pledged myself to do, then he commenced his arguments, and the hired tools of the companies were sent after me. It was intimated that I would be placed in a position to make money by not taking an active part in opposing them, and after trying all means they attempted to bluff me, and threatened to injure me in business, etc., and misrepresented me in every way, and put up jobs to get me into trouble. One by one the members commenced to "fall down," and those who were loudest in their denunciation of the thieving corporations at the beginning of the session were the first to yield to the influences set to work to capture them, and the consequence was the companies were victorious, and got away with everything they desired. After the Legislature adjourned, the officers of the E. & P. R. R. Co. commenced to carry their threats of ruining me into execution. Edgar Mills, President of the E. & P. R., notified Mr. Reinhart that unless I was discharged at once, that the E. & P. Co. would start an opposition grain business in Eureka, and break them up. At the same time Mr. Reinhart was informed that they desired to put a man in my place and furnish bonds that their man would attend to the business honestly. The man was R. P. Dayton, Senator from Lincoln, who voted for the railroad companies on every proposition, and was always ready to, assist them, hence their desire to reward him and to keep him for use at the next session, as he was a hold-over.

            Well, I was discharged and Dayton installed, but I still had my newspaper, and I went and asked Evarts, Superintendent of the E. & P., if he intended to follow me up, or if he was satisfied with procuring my discharge from R. & Co. He would give me no satisfaction, and intimated that they intended to run me out of the State as an example to any other presumptuous American who dared to oppose their wishes; and immediately they commenced to injure my paper, and continued to do so until I was compelled to sell out and leave the State, or be ruined. Knowing that it was only a matter of a very short time that they would either "bust" me, or get me involved in difficulties, 1 concluded to try the shotgun plan on a few of them, but was dissuaded from doing so foolish a thing, which would only bring my family in trouble. I left the State. I've stated nothing but plain facts, which can be fully verified. I am willing to "abide my time," and am fully convinced that before a great many years the people

HISTORY OF JOURNALISM IN NEVADA.           291

will apply a remedy that will shake the world, and the quicker it comes the better.

            I know the inside workings of the railroad companies. I know that members of the Ninth Legislature were bought, body and soul, and money was paid for votes almost openly. One member who held out for a long time against them, finally told me he intended to make what he could out of it, as they (the Co's) were going to win anyway, and advised me to do the same. He afterwards voted with the friends of the Co's. But all this is too well known by any resident of Nevada.

            I remain yours truly,    F. E. Fisk.

            The history of Fisk's banishment from Nevada, brings home with resistless force, the following from a speech by General Garfield, delivered a few years since. Said he:

            It is painfully evident from the experience of the last few years that the efforts of the States to regulate their railroads have amounted to but little more than feeble annoyance. * * In these contests the corporations have become conscious of their strength and have entered upon the work of controlling the States. Already they have captured several of the oldest and strongest of them ; and these discrowned sovereigns now follow in chains the triumphal chariot of their conquerors. And this does not imply that merely the officers and representatives of States have been subjected to the railways, but that the corporations have grasped the sources and fountains of power, and CONTROL THE CHOICE OF BOTH OFFICERS AND REPRESENTATIVES.