Story by John Vonderlin
Email John ([email protected])
Hi Angelo (Mithos),
Thanks for your email. I’m investigating several of the things you mentioned. Your mentioning of the constant promotional efforts by the backers of the Ocean Shore Railroad reminded me of an article I grabbed from the California Newspaper Archive atcbsr.tabbec.com a while ago. It’s a classic. I’ll attach it in six Screengrabs to this email, but you might want to read it at the site. Typing “Conquest of the Peninsula” brings it up at the top of the list. If you want to use the Title Search website, as it is faster sometimes, the article is from “The San Francisco Call,” January 7th, 1906, issue. Unfortunately, this issue is 56 pages long and I was too impatient to find the actual article. So, this is the computer-recognition “Text Highlight” version, which can be quite mysterious in places.
Besides all the marketing hot air, there are a lot of names of people in here. I’m heading over to get “The Last Whistle,” from my library and am going to start a ‘Who’s Who,” list. I want to start a timeline too. What happened shortly after the Big Explosion that halted the up-to-that-point rapid progress? Why did Pescadero and San Francisco not receive all the wonders this “reporter” promised? Enjoy. John
[Image: “Conquest of the Peninsula” appeared in the 1906 San Francisco Call.]
