The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 4, 1902, Page 1

VOLUME XCL SAN FRANCISCO, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1902 CENTRAL PACIFIC ROAD I PLACER COUNTY TO GREAT BALE 5 SWEEPING THE COASTS, Death and Dicaster in the Wak : of Atlan- tic Storms. Bodies Are Washed Ashore on | the Eastern End of Lorg Island. From the English Chennel Also Come Reports of a Serics of ‘Wrecks | and Mishaps Among ipping. | The gale which sts of Long Isi- than twen- | ss of life are confined Long Island, bedies was not eastern end of several It shore t their lives came been either on tug Richmond, g Block Island without New York to Newport tug Cuba, which passed 1 two hours later and which Conn., yesterday for was returning with- When leaving port the Rich- e barges and the Cuba two, ews the shore in the vicin- L. L, life-saving sta- came ashore east of was thrashing Forge River station ser bodies was re- the same point. he New d jater from of the American merchantman ship, which went | Seamen Are in Peril. | | | li-rigged Lons Beach, L. I.. shoals earty | were peril all day. Late Yé-! say they are still on the though the danger of | [ lcssened owing to the of the storm. A westerly | g at the rate of seventy | Schepp struck, at | morning. The men rew Rhoades’ life-sav- e to the east, dragged scene of the wreck, | daybreak, and | g over her bow 1000 feet from with ever breskers. Near!y was twisted or broken s on deck parent efforts to The he crew could fe- | 's efforts wer tried to launch o, proved impos- Vessels Blown Ashore. ! L A, Feb ~-The wind storm gan yesterday afternoon re a velocity -of fift s g New Jersey | - ; of & | Delaware | and | South Jersey nts indicate coast that sed to the gale Two ves- and aground in miles below steamer Claver- fifty sh c ports for New York, Brigantine shoals yes- fast. The wind sea e, and ¢ g the last has been swung il she now lies nd. Wrecking an hours she by the elements ur adside on, deep in the s th her. schooner ‘Edith L. Allen, which e Guring the night on the same ] within a short distance of the Clav- i fast in the sand. The r, which was bound from Bruns- wick for New York with lumber, was mis- ghts of the Claverdale and were around her, and be- ptain saw his mistake the Al- are w the ed bottom. es to the Maritime Exchange say tish steamer Europe, from Liverpool a, is reported aground in 2y, six miles below Reedy Isl- the British steamer Drummond, hia for St. Thomas, is re- the mud in Delaware Bay. Wrecks in English Channel. LONDON, Feb. 3.—After tossing help- lessly in the English Channel for sixty- five hours the Dover-Ostend passenger faric Henrlette was towed into Ostend this morning. The gale is abating. In view of the severity of the weather the number of casualties thus far reported is compara- tively small. News has just been received that the steam trawler Anlaby, with a crew of twelve men, belonging to Hull, had been Jost in & snowstorm off Iceland. The first officer of the French lhiyl Chanaral was landed at Falmouth to-dax, and, an from P ported fast steamer »ck to-night what ves- | | anxtety | strongly CHIEF ENGINEER HOOD CONFIRMS NEWS THAT IS OF LEADING INTEREST TO MANY COMMUN| Great Uncertainty Exists Concerning Exact Plan of the Reconstructors —_— Mountaineers ‘Say Their Means Helped Original Builders Over G ades T TLLIAM HOOD, chief engineer of the Central Pacific Raflroad, is authority for the statement that certain California towns now on the line of the road in Placer County will be left off the line when the road is short- ened and putupon easler grades. When asked to mention tre towns Mr. Hood said that he was not | authorized to particularize at this time. This reticence will be the source of great when the confirmation of fears entertained by the people of Placer County is thus received from the head of the construction department of the Central Pacific road. Mr. Hood was asked particularly last evening whether the great shipping towns of Auburn, Pen- ryn, Newcastle and Loomis would be af- fected. He returned the same answer, namely, that he could not give out any definite information. The people of the entire county of Placer from Auburn up to the boundary line of Nevada County have recently been greatly stirred by the appearance in the foothill region of a party of surveyors, who have been driven down from the high Sierra by the winter weather and swho are utilizing their time in running lines over the foothills. Already, according to the people of Placer County, a line has been run from Newcastle to Loomis, a distance of about nine miles. The surVeyors are as non- committal as their official chief in this city, and whether the line they have indi- cated will be the final one they are not in a position or at liberty to declare. Discussion Is Warm. At Auburn discussion s at fever heat, and the topic of all citizens is the prob- | able direction that the Central Pacific may be made to take. There is no fear in Auburn that the pleasant city of fruit PREPARING TO LEAVE WNS OFF THE OVERLAND LINE IES UPON THE SIERRAN SLOPES Surveyors Forsake Sum- mit to Work in Region of the Fruited Foothills | Storms of Winter Compel Workers in the Field to Seek Lower Levels - - - T - = : - = OVER IN THE GREAT ENTERPRISE WHICH VITALLY CONCERNS THE CITIZENS OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SECTIONS OF CALIFORNIA, AND THE PRESENT RAIL OVERLAND ROUTE AND SCENES IN LEADING COMMUNITIES OF THE FOOTHILLS. = — will be left off entirely, but there is an expectation that the road will leave the present grade and go to what is known as the “old town.”” Now the railroad sta- tion is up on the tep of a ridge, and its location has been a large factor in build- ing up the vicinity with handsome resi- dences and some stores. The top of the ridge is about 150 feet above the old town. For some years ‘“old town” and “new town” were the sources of very animated discussion in Auburn. Whatever change is made in the line now will be of not less interest. ° Auburn is well down the grade, very far below the elevation of the station at the Summit, the latter being approximately 7000 feet above the level of the sea. The importance to the entire county of any radical change may be appreciated from the fact that the four towns of Au- burn, Penryn, Newcastle and Loomis ship to the East one-fourth of all the fresh deciduous fruits that annually go out of the State of California, and from the oth- er fact that the Central Pacific road is the only one throughout the entire length of the county that gives the people of that region through rail connection with the outside world. Placer County Helped. When the Central Pacific road was un- der construction the original intention was to go over the Sierras by way of Placerville. When there was some ques- tion concerning rights of way the people of Placer County rose to the importance of the occasion and gave to the railroad people what they wanted to encourage them to put their rails over the present route. ‘Seemingly that route was insured to the people of the county for all time. That any of the towns that have heard daily the whistles and bells of the over- land trains should some time be relegated to silence and isolation has never, seem- ingly, until now entered the minds of any. Yesterday The Call ascertained that such relegation is the intention of the - present road. From time to time the plans of the Central Pacific have been foreshadowed in the press dispatches to this paper from the East. rebuilders of the Central Pacific is the shortening of the route as much as pos- ¢ible, and the sum of $20,000,000 is men- tioned in the dispatches as the estimate “entertained in New York that will be required to make the Central overland line as straight and as easy to operate &s possible. Bridging the Great Salt Lake with trestles and tunneling through the mountains between Nevada and Cali- fornia, the total length of the tunnels running into many miles, are among tlie costly measures that have been sug- gested and sanctioned by the new man- owners of the Central Pacific Among the purposes of the: \nal course. They will be surprised agers of the road. In the straightening of the route and the lowering of the grade lies the threat to mountain com- munities. People Will Protest. ‘With this timely and friendly warning from The Call to the people of Placer County concerning what is intended, some measures may be put on foot to ascertain more definitely than the rail- road people now care to make public Just what communities are to be deprived of overland facilities and how all others are likely to be affected. It is extremely probable that the appearance of these facts in' The Call will result in an active crusade for definite information, consid- ering how vital. the matter is to many people whose money has been invested in ‘ands, timber, summer resorts in the high Sierras, business blocks and in many other 'ways, under the natural supposition that the historic line of the '60’'s would never depart from its origi- as much as the people of the Saeramento Valley would be if the Sacramento River over night should take a new bed to itself and leave towns and citles now on its banks as inland places. The accompanying illustration shows the present sinuous path of the Central Pacific Railroad over the Sierras. The bends and twists in it are due to the grades which at places now amoun:i to 4 maximum-of 116 feet to the mile. The understood purpose of Harriman is to re- duce the maximum to 85 feet to the mile. The people of Colfax and of the several communities situated higher up in the mountains are naturally watching ' the advance of the surveying parties with mingled emotions, but each will maint®in hope that it will not be damasged, al- though it is morally certain that some will be side-tracked and off the line of the future. Have Visited Summit. The surveyors have been on the sum- mit, and reports from them are undoubt- edly in the offices of the Southern Pa- cific Company in this city concerning much of the contiguous line. Not much more can be accomplished at the higher altitudes while the winter lasts. The work in the foothills will be all in the same general direction. One of the aims of Harriman and his. associates is to do away with the snowsheds as ‘much as possible. To do this of course the road must seek lower altitudes than it now runs over. Little apprehension is felt by the peo- ple in the lower altitudes of Placer County. More is experienced in the high- er altitudes. The towns and stations along the Central Pacific line in Placer County include -Roseville, Rocklin, Loomis, Penryn, Newcastle, Auburn, Clipper Gap, Applegate, Colfax, Califor- nia Mills, Dutch Flat, Alta, Towles, Shady Run, Blue Canyon and Cisco. While no one appears to have any def- inite information concerning the exact route that will be pursued when the sur- veys are completed, with the exception of the railroad people, who will not talk, there is an impression among the people of Placer County that the line may sink to the level of Donner Lake, which is now far below the railroad. From now on the developments will be- highly interesting to thousands of citizens of Placer Coun- ty particularly and generallv to the peo- ple of the entire State. L i s e SR EAPSP RS M AR S SO M RO S S SIS MM MO M MU R 2R R R A o s e picked up after being twelve hours in the | BEARERS OF RANSOM He is the sole survivor of the crew of twenty-two men of the vessel, which was capsized off Ushant. The Chanaral left Nantes, France, January 20, and encoun- tered a heavy gale, during which three of her boats were smashed. The same night her ballast shifted and the ship capsized. The mate and five men had in the mean- while launched the remaining boat, but this also was capsized and the five men were drowned. The mate clung to the boat’s keel and righted her. The boat was afterward overturned several times, but the mate held on to her and was ‘water. He is in a critical condition. The bark wrecked off the Scilly Islands last evening and supposed to bé a Ger- man vessel turns out to have been the Ttalian bark Lofaro. Ski Racing at Holemekelen. CHRISTIANTA, Norway, Feb. 8.—About 25,000 spectators, including many foreign- ers, among whom were several Americans, witnessed the =ki racing at Holémekelen. Gjoelme made the longest leap, 29% me- ters, i i ABANDON THEIR TASK Returning to Constantinople to Make New Arrangements for Miss _ ' Stone’s Release. LONDON, Feb. 3.—According to dis- patches from Constantinople, thé drago- man of the American Legation and party have been obliged‘to abandon for the present their attempt to secure the re- lease of Miss Stone. and are returning to | held by the Knickerbocker Athletic Glub Cnnstununoplg for the purpose of making new arrangements, | It is reasserted that the agreement witn the brigands was satisfactorily completed, ! but it was impossible to fix a place for the payment of the ransom money. The brigands were suspicious, evidently be- lieving they would not be allowed to get away with the money. : S ' Makes a World’s Record. Athletic Association made a new world's record by throwing the 56-pound weight from a stand a distance of 28 feet 6 inches, which beats the best previous record of James S. Mitchell by thirtéen inches. e g Coaling Stations on Canal. WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.—It is under- stood to be the purpose of the State De- NEW YORK, Feb. 3.—At the annual |Partment to make the cession of proper midwinter carnival of athletic sports, in Madison Square Garden to-night, John Flandgan of the Greater New York Irish coaling statlons on the isthmus a condi- tion of undertaking to build an isthmian canal. This is one of the factors that will be taken into consideration in making the ' final choice of routes. PRICE FIVE CENTS. - RETIREMENT OF GEN, MILES 15 RUMORED Army’s Commander Is Said to Seek Private Life. Secret Conference With the President Gives Rise to Various Surmises. Chief Executive Also Devotes Some Time to Important Witnesses in the Schley Con- troversy. Special Dispatch- to The Call. CALL BUREAU, 1406 G STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.—There was a conference at the White House to-day between the President and Lieutenant General Miles, about which the utmost secrecy prevails, as Miles and the White House officials decline to discuss it. Several days ago Miles requested the President to make an appointment to see him privately, and it was not umtfl to- day, when the President received Miles in the Cabinet room, that he learned what the latter wanted to say. It was rumored this afternoon that Miles had requested the President to retire him under the provision permitting an officer to retire on his own application after thir- ty years’ service. This, however, is au- thoritatively denied., and the only indica- tion it related in any way to the visit some weeks ago, at the time Miles was reprimanded, is that to-day's talk was partly personal, and did not refer entire- ly to official matters before the War De- partment. Interested in Army Plans. One army officer said the President be- ing much interested in the preparation of plans for mimic warfare between the army and navy forces, Miles had gone to him to_suggest that the general board mow In Washington to determine the ques- tion of army posts, which has practically concluded its work, be directed to work out & plan for the training of troops to embark and disembark on transports. The President expressed in his annual message a belief that troops could be placed in camp, marched from one point _ to another, there embarked on transports and taken to some other point, disem- barked and marched to another camp. As the general board had before it the selec- tion of sites for four great military camps of instruction, it is said Miles, who is president of the board, probably went 12 the White House to discuss that subject with the President. No explanation is offered as to why Miles would do this when the board al- ways receives its instructions from the Secretary of War. Then, too, the board has practically completed its work and is ‘now engaged in the preparation of its re- port to the Secretary. This report will | state the sites selected for camps, one in the East, one in the South, ome in West and one on the Paeific Coast. the Considers Schley’s Apeal. President Roosevelt devoted nearly the entire day to the consideration of the case of Rear Admiral Schley. He had a con- ference with Secretary of the Navy Long: Rear Admiral Evans, who commanded the Iowa at the battle of Santiago; Rear Admiral Taylor, who commanded the In- diana; Captain Clark, who commanded the Oregon, and Commander Richard Wainwright, who commanded the Glou- cester. The President saw these officials in the Cabinet room for several hours. He took them to luncheon with him, whers the discussion was continued, and thecy remained with him for an hour or so after leaving the table. The President is de- sirous of taking action on this case and having it known as speedily as possibie. He desired to talk with the commanders of various ships that participated in the battle with Rear Admiral Schley, and clear up in his own mind any doubts that have lodged there because of the conflict- ing character of the testimony. It is stated that when the President does reach a decision a full statement will be made public through the office of the Secretury of the Navy. ey MILES’ SLEIGH OVERTURNED. General Mests With an Accident ‘While Driving Fast Trotter. WASHINGTON, Feb. 3.—While driving his fast trotter Gold Pebble on the White lot General Miles met with an accident, his sleigh coillding with the rear of an- other and being overturned. General Miles was thrown to the ground, but clung to the reins and managed to eon- trol the frightened animal, although he was dragged about fifty yards over the icy ground. The cutter was then righted and the general drove away. To-night he was suffering no 11l effects from the acci= dent. Workmen Are Injured by a Blast. NEW YORK, Feb. 3—Two men were severely wounded this afterncon by a heavy blast of dynamite from the site of the old A. T. Stewart man- sion, Thirty-fourth street and Fifth ave- nue. The men hurt are Morris Harnett, a watchman employed by a firm of build- ers, whose skull was fractured, and Ferdinand Holly, a furniture designer, who was painfully cut in the thigh by a plece of fiying rock. A building fore- man who had charge of the blast was ar- Tested,