HISTORY OF ASTORIA RAILROAD 239
than April 1, 1895, and to complete the line (to Goble) before October 30, 1896, and spend $50,000 a month. But shortly before April 1, 1895, Hammond returned to Astoria and de- manded in addition free right of way from Goble to Flavel, sixty-six miles; elimination of the $50,000 a month require- ment, and three years for construction. These new terms were granted with a readiness that surprised him. The subsidy, including 3,000 acres of land at Astoria and 1,500 acres at Flavel, was made complete by the Astorians July 23, 1895, and Hammond announced from Portland in reply that he would at once go to Astoria and begin construction. He praised the energy of Astoria citizens in these words (Oregonian, July 23, 1895) : "The people of Astoria every one of them can stand up and feel that their individual work secured the road. I never saw such patriotism and energy. They deserve a rail- road if any community ever did." To celebrate the comple- tion of the subsidy a public demonstration was held at Astoria July 25, at which Hammond said (Oregonian, July 26-27, 1895) : "We propose to give you value received when this rail- road is built. It will be second to none on the Coast." A special excursion was run from Portland to Astoria on the steamer "Telephone" by U. B. Scott and L. B. Seeley.
Construction began in August. The engineers were T. H. Curtis and J. C. Jameson. In July, 1894, Hammond bought the Seashore road, which he finished to Astoria, August 3, 1896. Hammond's associates in the preliminaries Bonner and Stanton, Kimball and J. T. Campbell backed out, leaving him alone (Oregonian, December 4, 1894). Later he enlisted the aid of Thomas H. Hubbard and Collis P. Huntington. The company was called the Astoria & Columbia River Rail- road. Hammond negotiated with the Northern Pacific a 99- year lease of the latter's tracks between Goble and Portland.
The "last spike" was driven April 3, 1898, near Clatskanie, and April 11, 1898, the subsidy committee rode over the line to Goble and returned to Astoria. They unanimously voted that Hammond had fulfilled his agreement and was entitled to the subsidy. Members of the committee in the party were :
