[168] 15 United States Statutes 187 (1868).
[169] San Francisco Bulletin, March 14, 1868.
[170] United States v. Southern Pacific, Defendant’s Exhibit No. 23. Neither Huntington nor Stanford signed the articles of association of 1870 as holders of stock of the consolidating companies. This may merely mean, however, that the stock of these companies was placed under other names for purposes of convenience.
[171] The change of route was authorized by Congressional resolution, dated June 28, 1870 (16 United States Statutes 382 [1870].) It should be observed that the so-called Mussel Slough “massacre” resulted from a dispute over the ownership of land south of Hanford, Tulare County, which lay along the line of railroad as designated in 1867, but not along that proposed in 1865. It appears that a number of persons settled upon and improved tracts near Hanford before the railroad applied for patent to land in this vicinity, but after the Southern Pacific had filed the map showing its intended route with the Commissioner of the General Land Office in 1867, and after lands along this route had been withdrawn.
When the railroad secured title it offered to sell this occupied land to the parties who had settled upon it, but at prices which were much above those current for unimproved farm land. That is to say, the railroad asked from $11 to $35 an acre, instead of the customary $2.50 to $5 an acre. The settlers understood from this that the company was trying to make them pay for improvements which they themselves had made, and resorted to active opposition. In 1876 the settlers petitioned Congress to restore a portion of the land grant in question to the public domain, on the ground that no railroad had ever been constructed along it.
In 1881 the railroad attempted to take forcible possession of two pieces of the disputed land. There was resistance, and in the shooting which followed, eight men were killed, including six settlers. This was the “massacre.” There seems to be no question but that the railroad possessed legal title to the Tulare County property. The weakness of its position lay in the fact that it was attempting to build a railroad in one place and to secure a land grant in another—a procedure never contemplated by Congress, and one not unlikely to lead to hostile legislation. Eventually the railroad title was sustained, and the land sold by the company, though at reduced prices.
[172] 16 United States Statutes 573 (1871).
[173] See on this matter Colton case, p. 1621, Crocker to Colton, February 12, 1875.
[174] Guinn, “A History of California,” pp. 254, 276.
[175] Ninth Census of the United States, 1870.