Southern Pacific Railroad

And that helped lead to a lot of the revolution in communications we've had since then.

And one way he did it was owning the Southern Pacific Railroad in the Rio Grande and laying the fiber along their lines because he already had a right of way to do it.

So even though the government was really ridiculous, Phil Anschutz made a killing not by trading on the government's action, but by being innovative.

I remember Quest Communications.

This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

From Civil War to World War, Part 1. early history the very early history of the railroads of this country can be passed over very briefly because the more recent history is more important for our purpose the story of the railroads of this country is almost kaleidoscopic in retrospect and therefore highly interesting in the early days before the carriers were placed under the jurisdiction and control of the interstate commerce commission the situation gave a free rein to shrewd and clever operators to use the railroads for their own ends either for the purpose of manipulation to make profits in the stock market in the manner of jay cook and jay gould or to build up a tremendously powerful structure such as e h harryman built up with the union pacific as a nucleus we have said that the story of the roads is one of constantly changing situations roads like the new haven the stock of which for many years was considered one of the sound investments in the country in the space of a very few years under the control of mr mellon was brought to such a pitiable plight that the United States authorities were forced to intervene in an attempt to correct the situation, this road formerly prosperous is today going along at a starvation rate and it would seem as though the prospect of dividends for the stockholders is exceedingly remote the boston and main another of the new england roads paid dividends on its stock uninterruptedly for a period of practically seventy years until in nineteen fourteen the same influences which wrecked the new haven involved it also to such an extent that its dividends were passed the main central another prosperous new england road which had paid dividends practically as long as the boston in maine in the early part of nineteen twenty one also passed its dividend these instances show change from prosperity to starvation which is also duplicated in the histories of the alton and the rock island but of more general and wider interest is the change from weakness and even bankruptcy to great strength this latter is the history of such splendid properties as the northern pacific the atchison the union pacific and the southern pacific all of which have thrived and grown wealthy as the new country into which they have reached has developed Again, there are some properties which have not had to learn the folly of early overexpansion or early overcapitalization, but have had a steady, healthy growth with sane financing and sane operation from the very beginning.

This group includes such great properties as the Pennsylvania, the New York Central lines, the Louisville and Nashville, and the illinois central again there is that group of roads which have started in weakness continued in weakness and now remain in weakness the erie the wabash the missouri pacific the frisco the seaboard and the mobile and ohio are types of this group roads as well as individuals do not stand still history shows that their fortunes are constantly either ascending or descending as the country has grown and population and industry have shifted the fortunes of the railroad companies have shifted in the early days one hundred miles of line was considered a maximum for efficient operation and this remained the standard up to about eighteen seventy about that time the illinois central with a mileage of perhaps seven hundred miles was considered and actually was one of the greatest railroad systems in the world we believe the figures show that until after the civil war with perhaps one or two exceptions there was no railroad in the country with a mileage of over one thousand miles It is interesting to note that the Chicago and Northwestern Road operated with only a little over 100 miles of road almost up to 1860.

By 1866, this had grown to only about 500 miles.

for the purpose of continuing to pay dividends orders to get traffic at any cost would be sent out thereby increasing the revenues of the company without putting the proper amount back into the road such tactics were charged against the atchison in eighteen ninety at the time when bering brothers were heavily interested in this property in the early nineties the b o also was said to have been guilty of deliberate falsifications of accounts by insiders in order to create a market to unload securities at high prices In the case of the B&O, for example, during seven years, dividends amounting to about $6 million had been paid out, whereas a later accounting showed that probably less than $1 million had actually been earned.

We are all familiar with the various pools that have, at one time or another, operated in railroad securities.

The famous Keene Pool of 1902-1903 which was an attempt to purchase a large block of stock of the southern pacific and by control of the directorate to force the management to stop its policy of putting money back into the property so that higher earnings would be reported and thus afford the pool the opportunity of unloading the stock on the public at increased prices there was also the famous gates pool which at the time when the l and n was about to issue five million dollars of new stock purchased a majority of the outstanding shares of this road and forced the morgan interests to repurchase this stock for them at a handsome profit the practice of padding or starving income statements has in the past been one of the most prolific sources of profit to insiders in the case of speculatively managed railroads but under the supervision of the interstate commerce commission such manipulation is now practically impossible stock-watering another practice which has at various times in the past been prevalent has been that of stock-watering or the issuance of stock for purely speculative purposes for example the erie between eighteen sixty eight and eighteen seventy two had its capital stock increased from seventeen million to seventy eight million primarily for manipulation in the market it has been said that convertible bonds were put out by this road during these years to such an extent that they were limited only by the capacity of the printing presses We have already reviewed the situation of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railway Company and its two holding companies, showing the tremendous inflation of a capital account.

The total capitalization of these three companies amounted to $1.5 billion, which was controlled by a little more than $5 million of preferred stock.

But his arrest didn't stop the violence.

Less than two weeks after that attack, on the night of August 5th, a woman named Mary Schneider was asleep at home while her husband worked a late shift for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Mary was eight months pregnant, and sometime that night, she woke up to a dark figure standing over her.

The intruder attacked her, repeatedly striking Mary in the face and head with a lamp they'd found inside the home.

No, it was kind of a combination of things lining up.

I was reading a book about the Southern Pacific operation, and it was basically a picture book, and they showed a packing district where a crew would go out and just shuffle cars amongst 10 or 12 packing plants and that's all they did all day long is pull loads and push empties and set them out to be iced and so when during an operating session i had an extra person show up one time and you know i thought well i can make a module on wheels and it can stay in my layout room and then during an operating session you know, plug in and be part or set in the laundry room.

All these things, they didn't happen at once, but, you know, that created this packing district where whoever gets that job is just moving loaded refrigerator cars out and putting empties in.

And then I, you know, made sure the track plan was challenging rather than just straight trailing or facing moves.

But his arrest didn't stop the violence.

Less than two weeks after that attack, on the night of August 5th, a woman named Mary Schneider was asleep at home while her husband worked a late shift for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Mary was eight months pregnant, and sometime that night, she woke up to a dark figure standing over her.

The intruder attacked her, repeatedly striking Mary in the face and head with a lamp they'd found inside the home.

But what makes this corridor unique is that it actually used to be a fully-fledged railroad, the Northwestern Pacific.

Jointly owned by the Southern Pacific and I believe maybe the Western Pacific, it was a fairly simple couple hundred mile long regional line going from a ferry slip at the North Bay area all the way through some of the most incredible and remote scenery in the entire state all the way up to Eureka and Arcata on the Humboldt Bay.

And it has a very special place in the hearts of many railfans, especially in the area.

not only because of the absolutely incredible scenery, but because of a homey community feel and a lot of adorable small towns that the railroad served.