May 21, 1906
Merced Evening Sun

Merced Welcomes
Opening of the
Yosemite Railroad

      The story of the inception and finally the construction of the Yosemite Valley Railroad is a very interesting one, and when passengers on today's initial train to Merced Falls glide on the rails past Snelling and past old landmarks on the Merced River, which have thus far only known the "coach and four" as the common carrier, his mind may revert back over a stirring series of events which preceded the opening of the road and made it possible.

      A railroad to Yosemite! How often have we speculated on the realization of that dream. And today the train starts. True, the destination of the train is not Yosemite, but it is going to Merced Falls, and when October rolls around, we expect the train to take us right up in the Sierra heights - up to the park line - almost in the shadow of the great valley itself.

History of Yosemite Roads.

      The lure of a Yosemite railroad has attracted several groups of capitalists during the dozen or more years past, and a number of times has the line been beautifully worked out on paper. The idea of a railroad up the Merced River canyon to the valley, however, was proceeded by a serious and nearly successful attempt to have the State build a free wagon road up the river to ?? one wonder.

      Captain A. H. Ward, the Alameda mining man, who owns big properties inside the Yosemite National Park, was the chief promoter of the free wagon road idea, who wanted it in connection with his proposed power plants on the river for mining purposes. This agitation led up to the appointment by Congress of the Mansfield Commission in 1899 to visit the scene and report on the practicability of the free wagon road. That was when Mr. N. C. Ray, chief engineer of the Yosemite Valley Railroad Company, became interested in the matter of obtaining easier access to the valley up the river canyon. Mr. Ray was a resident of Coulterville at that time, being the consulting engineer for the Merced Gold Mining Company at that point, and the Merced Board of Trade appointed him their agent to appear before the Mansfield Commission and urge the feasibility and wisdom of going ahead with the project.

N. C. Ray Entered Field.

      In 1900 Mr. Ray was elected to the California Legislature, from the Coulterville district, and in that year the Legislature, for the third time, appropriated $50,000 to build the free Yosemite wagon road, and Governor Gage vetoed the bill. Captain Ward was still persistent in his scheme for a free wagon road and the development of electric power, and he interested other Alameda County men of affairs in the idea. Thomas Prather, the Oakland banker, became interested, and one night, in 1902 telephoned from Oakland to Ray in Coulterville, "Can you build a railroad up the Merced River canyon to Yosemite?" "I can," responded Ray. The next day Ray was closeted with Prather in Oakland, and the idea of a Yosemite railroad took definite form and began to crystallize.

The Prospective Roads.

      But let us here digress and recite the previous and unsuccessful undertakings in this line. The first actual survey for a Yosemite railroad up the river canyon was made in 1894 by Mortimer McRoberts of Chicago, representing John R. Walkup and others, also of Chicago. Nothing came of it, and the maps, etc., were sold to Albert Stetson of San Francisco, son of John Stetson of the North Shore. Young Stetson prepared to finance the enterprise, and Mr. Bullock, who later started the Sierra railway, was to build the road. Stetson's tragic death by suicide put an end to these negotiations, and nothing more was heard of the Yosemite railway until W. H. H. Hart, formerly Attorney General of the State, organized the California Midland. This road was built on paper from San Francisco to Fresno, with a branch of up to the Minnaret mining district of Madera County and another branch up the Merced River canyon to Yosemite. The surveys up the river canyon were made by Engineer Dexter, whose work was followed to some extent by Mr. Ray. The California Midland "died 'a bornin," and now comes the story of the men who backed up their ideas with actual work and coin, and made it possible for this train today to get under steam with an "all aboard for Merced Falls."

Mr. Ray "Made Good."

      Thomas Prather, W. W. Garthwaite and Edison Adams, all Oakland bankers, formed a syndicate to promote the enterprise and surveys started. When the survey was completed, Prather and his associates concluded that Mr. Ray had "made good" on his railroad proposition, and accordingly the Yosemite Valley Railroad Company was incorporated in December 1902. Then the task turned from surveying to that of lobbying among the lawmakers at Washington.

The Washington Fight

      The government wouldn't construe any of its laws so as to permit any railroad to enter the National Park. That stopped the railroad twenty-five miles from the Sentinel Hotel in the valley. Colonel John P. Irish and Mr. Ray spent the winter of 1902-3 in Washington, trying to get some such construction of the existing laws, and failed. They found they couldn't cross the park, so it became necessary to move the park.

      In the fall of 1903, Congressman Needham introduced a bill in the House to change the park boundaries so as to permit the railroad to build closer to the valley. Two or three commissions came to examine the ground. The House committee favorably reported the bill, and there it died. That was in the spring of 1904. In the fall of that year, Congressman Gillette introduced a similar bill to change the park boundaries. That bill passed both houses in December, 1904, but never reached the President, notwithstanding the fact that he wrote a veto message to Needham - to the effect that the bill was objectionable because some big trees were cut out of the park, or something of that kind.

      When Congress reconvened, after the holiday recess, Gillette reintroduced the same bill, with the boundaries changed to conform to those recommended by the United States Engineering Commission, commonly known as the Major Chittenden Commission. At the same time Senator Perkins introduced the same bill in the Upper House.

A Bitter Contest.

      That bill brought on one of the hottest fights of the session. The citizens of Fresno (in the interest of their proposed road to Yosemite) and the Huntington electric interests of California, and all the attorneys of the Southern Pacific, were arrayed in bitter hostility to the bill. Congressman Needham and Senator Bard, who had been relied on to support the bill, fell down. Needham explained that his obligation to Fresno, which at the past election had supported him financially and with with votes, was greater than his obligation to Merced, which had gone against him. Bart was also wedded to the Fresno interests. Finally, the measure was taken up at a Cabinet meeting and adopted as an administration measure. Credit for the final passage of the bill belongs largely to Congressman Gillette, who stood loyally by the bill, and to Senators Perkins and Kittredge of South Dakota, who had charge of the bill in the Senate.

      The bill passed in February, 1905, and was signed by the President, but it was the following September before the permit was secured from the government to go upon the land in the forest reservation. (It should be borne in mind that the section sliced out of the park was added to the Forest Reserve.) This permit was secured in September of last year, and two weeks later they were digging dirt on the Yosemite Valley Railroad grade.

Features of the Road.

      The railroad, when completed, will be eighty miles in length, and with the exception of twelve miles after leaving Merced, follows the course of the Merced River. It runs north from Merced to the river, thence northeasterly to a point near Coulterville, and then in a general easterly direction to the terminus at the park line, which is four miles below the Cascades, or in other words, four miles from the entrance to the valley. The line is completed to Merced Falls, and the expectation is that October will mark the "driving of the last spike." The highest elevation reached is 2,200 feet, and the maximum grade is one per cent, or fifty-three feet to the mile.

      The road will cost something under $3,000,000, bonds having been floated to that amount. Construction was begun in September, 1905, and will probably be completed in October, 1906 - thirteen months' time. The average number of men employed under Contractor James H. O'Brien has been 1,700 or 1,800. A quarter of a million ties will be used, and 10,000 tons of rails. Already over a million pounds of powder has been used in blasting. Seventy-five per cent of the grading has been completed, and all of the construction material is on hand.

The Men "Behind the Guns."

      The big stockholder in the railroad is President Frank G. Drum, representing the James B. Haggin interests, the other stockholders are N. D. Rideout of the Mercantile Trust Company of San Francisco, Dr. Harry Tevis, William H. Crocker, Henry T. Scott, Thomas Prather and W. W. Garthwaite. These gentlemen constitute the board of directors. N.C. Ray is the Chief Engineer, and 0. W. Lehmer is the traffic manage.

*****

      The road is remarkable for its numerous features that will delight the tourists who visit Yosemite. As it winds its way up the canyon of the Merced, the traveler's eye will be greeted by an ever - changing panorama of scenes embracing the forest, mountains and beautiful river. A trip over the road will be a rare treat, and combined with the climax, the beautiful Yosemite itself, it will be a trip unsurpassed in scenic beauty and interest.

      The Sun presents in this issue a few pictures of scenes along the route which will afford some idea of the scenic features. We were unable, however, to get photographs much beyond Merced Falls. In a later issue we will present half-tone engravings of some of the beauty spots of the road higher in the Sierras.