File:San Francisco's ocean trade, past and future; a story of the deep water service of San Francisco, 1848 to 1911. Effect the Panama canal will have upon it (1911) (14579431877).jpg

Identifier: sanfranciscosoce01wrig (find matches)
Title: San Francisco's ocean trade, past and future; a story of the deep water service of San Francisco, 1848 to 1911. Effect the Panama canal will have upon it
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Wright, Benjamin Cooper
Subjects: Shipping
Publisher: San Francisco, A. Carlisle & co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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steamer to Mission Bay, and waiting for the usually strong ebb tide to get busy, the steamer was started for the .test trial along the water front and toward the Golden Gate. Being in ballast, it is said that she went by the trial commission with all the. speed of a railway train under a full head of steam. Of course, Mr. Wainwright took the steamer. He immediately secured a charter for her to make a trip to the Gold Bluff mines for $6,000, but it took her a month to complete the trip usually made in three days. Panama Railroad. For the first six years after the gold discovery had been made public, the crossing of the Isthmus between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was attended with many risks and hardships and at much expense. An early effort was made to minimize these obstacles. A route across the Isthmus was located by Colonel Hughes,and the engineering was conducted by Colonel Totten. The extreme length of this route between Aspinwall on the Atlantic side and Panama on the Pacific was 49 miles.
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IMAGE: The Tenyo Maru of the Toyo Kisen Kaisha - San Franciscos Ocean Trade—Past and Future 45 As soon as these preliminaries were completed, a company was incorporated in Albany, N. Y., on April 7, 1849, to build a railroad on the survey made. Work was begun in 1850, and at one time as many as 5,000 men were employed. The cost of the enterprise was estimated at $5,000,000, but the actual outlay was $7,500,000. The road was opened on January 28, 1855. For the first few years the transportation averaged 31,000 passengers,66,000 tons freight and $55,000,000 in gold per annum, netting an income of $1,300,000 at an expense of $350,000. The completion of this road was an important event,and meant very much to the Pacific Coast and indirectly to the whole country. The improvement was a costly one, both in treasure and in the sacrifice of life in its construction, on account of inhospitable climate and unsanitary conditions. The mortality among those engaged in the work was fearful. Before the road was finished a po

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