The Southern Pacific Railroad and Settlement in Southern California

Abstract

In the East settlement promoted railroad construction. In the West railroads promoted settlement. Excellent studies 2 have been made of the colonizing activities of two outstanding western roads, the Northern Pacific and the Santa Fe, but little attention has been given to one of the West's most influential companies, the Southern Pacific railroad of California. It is the purpose of this paper to present the methods employed by the Southern Pacific to stimulate immigration to southern California ' from 1875 to 1890. From 1876, when its main line was opened between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the company energetically promoted settlement in southern California. The railroad's large land grant and the scarcity of population made this necessary. The Southern Pacific engaged in an intensive advertising campaign and supported agents in the United States and abroad. Its promotion plans affected the distribution of population and the development of certain specific localities. There are no statistics to show how many people came to southern California as a direct result of the company's propaganda, but the success of the program is evident in the more than two hundred and fifty per cent increase in population in the region between i88o and I89o.