Mayor Mott gets the Waterfront back!
But when the railroads began to battle each other, Oakland had a popular and capable leader, Mayor Mott. He used this dispute between the railroads to convince E.E. Calvin, a vice president of the Southern Pacific, to accept a legitimate and generous fifty year free lease in exchange for returning Oakland's waterfront back to the City of Oakland.* Oakland once again possessed the unquestionable title to 10,000 acres of waterfront land which had been stolen for sixty years.
The lost wealth of the waterfront's early years will never be regained, nor will the millions in legal expenses spent to get it back. The Central and Southern Pacific Railroads made off like bandits reaping inhumane profits from their monopoly of Oakland's waterfront between 1868 and 1910. In the game of railroad vs. railroad, they both eventually got eaten by Union Pacific, currently the largest railroad in the country, by a long shot.
The oppression of the 19th century monopolists carries on into the the 21st century, and the fight for equity continues to rage.
* Bagwell p 189
But when the railroads began to battle each other, Oakland had a popular and capable leader, Mayor Mott. He used this dispute between the railroads to convince E.E. Calvin, a vice president of the Southern Pacific, to accept a legitimate and generous fifty year free lease in exchange for returning Oakland's waterfront back to the City of Oakland.* Oakland once again possessed the unquestionable title to 10,000 acres of waterfront land which had been stolen for sixty years.
The lost wealth of the waterfront's early years will never be regained, nor will the millions in legal expenses spent to get it back. The Central and Southern Pacific Railroads made off like bandits reaping inhumane profits from their monopoly of Oakland's waterfront between 1868 and 1910. In the game of railroad vs. railroad, they both eventually got eaten by Union Pacific, currently the largest railroad in the country, by a long shot.
The oppression of the 19th century monopolists carries on into the the 21st century, and the fight for equity continues to rage.
* Bagwell p 189