For years before 1891 it was presumed by the citizens of Alameda that the Central Pacific Railroad Company owned a big strip through Railroad avenue and that therefore no improvement there could be taken into consideration by the municipality. Upon examination by a lawyer it was learned that the company had no franchise, because there was no municipality when the tract was laid. Attorney Taylor informed the trustees that the avenue was an open street and that the railroad company need not be consulted concerning its improvement. Late in October, 1891, the Southern Pacific Company definitely concluded, to the great delight of the citizens, to build at once an electric road on Telegraph avenue to take the place of the horse car line there.

The construction of the Oakland, San Leandro and Haywards electric railroad in 1891-92 was followed by a marvelous change in the territory between the terminals. Several small towns sprang into existence. Whole farms were thrown into market by the real estate dealers who sold thousands of lots and acre tracts and reaped bountiful harvests. San Leandro grew rapidly and soon doubled in population. Haywards extended its limits, laid out new streets. Everywhere on that line growth appeared.

The horse car service rapidly disappeared. The Consolidated Piedmont Cable Company had transformed its horse lines into cable lines. The Telegraph avenue horse car line was converted into an electric line. The Consolidated company adopted and developed an electric street railroad system which was followed by enormous growth in the northern part. The Fourteenth street branch was operated as an electric feeder of the main cable system. The Haywards electric line was succeeded by wonderful growth. The Oakland Consolidated Company was expanding and uniting with other lines. No city in the state showed such stupendous growth and improvement in street railroad construction as Oakland during this eventful year. All the "back country" was threatened by the car invasion.

Cars on the new electric railroad of the East Oakland Company on Eighth street began to run regularly in November, 1892. The road was popularly called the Sessions and Vandercook line. The road ran from Broadway and Eighth streets eastward across the north arm of the estuary to near the Clinton station and thence northward past Peralta Heights, Lake Merritt Park and Lake View to East Oakland Heights and another branch ran out on Commerce street to Eighteenth where transfers were given to the Highland Park and Fruit Vale systems.

In 1893 F. M. Smith bought from other parties the franchise for an electric street railway on Twelfth street from Broadway to West Oakland and soon afterward bought a controlling interest in the Oakland Consolidated system which included the Grove street, Shattuck avenue, Lorin, West Eighth street and Sixteenth street lines. Soon afterward the whole system was conveyed to the Realty Syndicate. A little later the Highland Park and Fruitvale electric road was annexed, and then came the Piedmont and Mountain View line, the Alameda electric line, the California railway which extended to Mills College and finally all others in the county. The Oakland Street Railway Company, a branch of the Southern Pacific syndicate sold its San Pablo and Telegraph avenue lines to the Realty syndicate in February, 1901. It was not until the death of C. P. Huntington that the last of the lines passed to the syndicate. The last act was the

purchase in August, 1901, of the Oakland, San Leandro and Haywards electric line. Late in 1901 the Oakland and San Jose railway was incorporated by the syndicate, which at this time held seven-tenths of the capital stock of the Oakland Transit Company which operated 120 miles of street railroad in the three cities and elsewhere. It was necessary for the syndicate to change the road beds and the gauge from narrow to broad. The street lines and their extensions were built to aid the syndicate's realty sales in the cities and their suburbs, and Piedmont, Berkeley and their adjacencies began to grow as never before, and many other sections equally desirable were in a measure neglected. However, the syndicate was not narrow in its methods, but bought large tracts in all the suburbs, sold many lots, built many homes and promptly supplied such sections with satisfactory street railway facilities. In a statement issued in October, 1901, the syndicate was shown to own a frontage of 285,474 feet which had cost $2,282,129, or $7.99 a front foot, and to have sold a frontage of 10,670 feet at an average price of $18.02 per front foot. In their purchases were the Laundry Farm quarries of paving rock, where large quantities of pyrites ore containing sulphur, copper, gold, silver and iron was obtained. In the hills bought were valuable water supplies which were utilized. The Piedmont Springs had been known for many

years.

As early as 1893 Oakland had the most complete electric street railway system in the United States and nearly every mile was built in two years. There were lines on Seventh, Eighth, Twelfth and Fourteenth, Grove, San Pablo, Telegraph, Broadway in part, to Alameda, Piedmont, Fruit Vale and Haywards. Half a dozen others were projected or commenced. In May, 1893, the Alameda, Oakland and Piedmont line was changed from a horse road to an electric one and there was great rejoicing. It had been long called the "Bobtailed Car Line."

The administration of Mayor Pardee took a pronounced and vigorous stand against the claims and pretentions of the Southern Pacific Company in June, 1893. Finally, under orders from the mayor, a strong force of police took possession of the company's wharf at the foot of Broadway, tore up the rails, threw out all the Southern Pacific Company's property and kept possession for the city. The railway company promptly brought injunction proceedings, and later suit in the United States court to restrain the city from interfering with the Broadway wharf. When this case came on for trial in San Francisco H. W. Carpentier was one of the witnesses for the company. At that time he was sixty-nine years old. In this case the array of lawyers was powerful. For the company were W. F. Herrin, H. S. Brown, A. A. Moore, J. C. Martin, J. E. Foulds and for the city J. A. Johnson, H. A. Powell, W. R. Davis, E. P. Pringle and Mr. Hill. The piles were finally sold at auction by the city authorities.

In 1893 the Davie Ferry and Transportation Company established a rival line with the boats Rosalie and Alvira. It was called the People's Ferry and was designed to secure cheaper rates. Soon the Southern Pacific improved its service and reduced the fare between San Francisco and Oakland to ten cents. A big mass meeting of 2,000 citizens declared the company was trying to kill competition-wanted a monopoly of its own. The Davie line was instrumental in forcing the other company to reduce rates and afford better service, but was not well sustained by the people and in a short time was tied up by creditors.

In October, 1893, a large force of men under the direction of Mayor Pardee pulled out many piles recently driven by the Southern Pacific railway on the new mole. This act was in response to the proceedings of the council which declared the existence of the piles a nuisance. The railway company promptly secured an injunction from Judge Henshaw, but the same night the council obtained an order vacating the injunction, whereupon the pulling of the piles was resumed. They were brought to the city and heaped up on the city hall lots.

In November, 1893, the Piedmont Consolidated Cable Company passed into the hands of a receiver. The Oakland and San Francisco Terminal Company was incorporated in November, 1893. This was an outgrowth of progress and not of hostility to any existing system of transportation. In December, 1893 Mayor Pardee vetoed the Dow Anti-Gate ordinance which prohibited the use of gates on railroad passenger cars. In 1894 the Oakland Terminal railway, of which F. M. Smith was president, embraced the following lines: The Grove Street road and its branches; Twelfth Street electric; Alameda and Piedmont electric; Laundry Farm (steam) railroad; control of the California and Nevada (narrow gauge and steam) railroad and others. On October 2, 1894, the smoking car on the rear of the Narrow-gauge train jumped the tracks on the south side of the Webster street bridge and plunged into the bay; two or three persons were killed and several injured.

The San Joaquin Valley railroad received great stimulus early in 1895 by the large subscriptions of the Spreckels-$700,000. Berkeley from the start favored the construction of the valley railroad. Land for a terminus at West Berkeley was offered with the right of way along the water front and with piers and wharves. A meeting of the citizens pledged a donation of $50,000 in consideration that Berkeley should be chosen as the terminus. This progressive step set a spur in the side of Oakland. Mayor Pardee promptly appointed a citizens' committee to work for the terminus in Oakland. The mayor's committee called for subscriptions to be paid to secure the terminus. The subscriptions were not a bonus, but aid to a legitimate enterprise that would give Oakland a competing. railway line. By February 20, 1895, $103,500 was subscribed by Oakland capitalists to secure the terminus, the heaviest subscribers being F. R. Delger, $15,000; James Moffitt, $10,000; Oakland Bank of Savings, $10,000; Oakland Gas Company, $10,000; Adams estate, $10,000. The subscriptions for the valley road amounted to $187,350 by March 9, 1895.

On March 19, 1895, the Piedmont Consolidated Cable Company's entire property was sold at auction for $82,000 to Charles R. Bishop, vice president of the Bank of California; his bid was the only one.

In January, 1896, Egbert Stone and several men began to deposit rails near the Plaza in San Leandro with the avowed intention of building a double track for the Oakland, San Leandro and Haywards electric line. Marshal Geisenhofer asked them to desist on the ground that they had no authority to lay a second track through the town. The marshal finally began to remove the rails. A large crowd gathered, the fire bell was rung; shots were fired to attract a crowd, blows were struck and several arrests were made. The company claimed the right to two tracks.

In April, 1898, came the announcement of the consolidation of the Southern Pacific, Northern, California Pacific and the Northern California railways. In