SF&SJ RR

Notes from:

John Edmonds, The San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, an article in The Journal of Local History, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Winter 2011), pp. 4-8.

Quote from the San Mateo County Times-Gazette (1860s): "On all questions of moment, there are arguments deductible for and against the railroad. On the one side are presented the immense benefits which must naturally and of necessity occur to our county, in point of improvement and progress. The enhancement of the value of property of every class, the increase of population, extension and enlargement of business and the facilities of trade, the addition of revenue to the county and the consequent general prosperity which nothing else imaginable could, by any way possible more rapidly or surely affect than the building of this railroad."

The paper went on to say: "Those who disagree with the building of the railroad, while good neighbors, were kind people who feared advancement and preferred to, snuff brimstone in every breeze and seem to be distilling bitter from sweet--extracting poison from the rose and prefer to expect misfortune from such ventures."

A grand day in Menlo Park, October 15, 1863, "when the champagne was flowing...." One of the special guests was the 'Jefferson Cavalry,' a military company of 100 of the best citizens [of Redwood City?] who rode down to the party." This group had "become Company 'H' of the 1st California Cavalry," apparently organized on the pretext the Confederates were about to march up the Peninsula. Their real purpose seemed to be to get together for a good time.