The Southern Pacific Los Angeles Times, 26 Dec. 1886
The Southern Pacific [San Diego Union, Dec. 23, 1886]
Col. A.B. Hotchkiss, the railroad attorney was in town yesterday. When seen by a Union representative, the Colonel stated that the object of his visit was to make a legal inspection of the titles to certain lands, through which a railroad from Santa Ana to this city would run. Concerning the visit of the Crocker party to this part of the State, he said that the coming of the officials to this city was but a question of time. They were called from Santa Ana to San Francisco by business of great importance, but would, at no great distance in the future, return and come "overland" in wagons from Santa Ana, taking the proposed route of the railroad, and making an inspection of its practicability and the worth and availability of the country through which it would pass. If the route now thought to be the best should not meet with approval, a better one will be fixed upon. The Colonel says that "a finger of the great Southern Pacific hand is surely going to be placed on the advantages afforded by San Diego Bay, and that, it is going to be done before the business and resources of the country are entirely secured by a rival. He thinks it not at all improbable that the road may constructed from Dos Palmas, though the heart of the country to Oceanside, and thence down the coast to this port, thus making the shortest transcontinental route in the United States. The Colonel will return to Colton today.
- - v - -