Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/307

 OREGON AND CALIFORNIA RAILROAD 269 With this summary view of the construction finance of the East Side road under Elliott, we turn out atten- tion to the finance of the West Side Company. 2. West Side Company. We have seen that as far as actual cash subscriptions were concerned, the West Side Company was but little better than the East Side. Although the West Side Com- pany did not subscribe for a great amount of stock in itself as had the East Side Company, Gaston, in order to bring the corporation into legal existence so they could elect officers, had subscribed to $2,500,000 worth of stock. Financially Gaston was in about the same class with Elliott. He had had to pay for the printing of the Barry survey with his services as editor of the Oregon States- man. So far as actual cash subscription was concerned one company was little better than the other except that in this subscripiton Gaston was assuming the liability which the East Side Company had attempted to evade by having the company subscribe to its own stock. But the assuming of liability by Gaston meant little since he was not financially in position to be held for the amount sub- scribed. In order to finance the project, then, it was obvious that little could be done without an immediate bond issue. Accordingly on June 1, 1868, Gaston as president of the company and E. W. % Haines, as secretary of the company, were authorized to issue two hundred thousand dollars worth of bonds. 43 Edwin Russell, manager of the Portland branch of the Bank of British Columbia, was authorized to sell $50(T,000 worth of the bonds in London "at not less than sixty cents on the dollar." 44 At the same time Gaston and Haines were authorized to sell "bonds in 43 Minutes O. C. R. R. Co., of Portland. In O. & C. R. R. Vol IX, page 4355. 44 Ibid, page 4376. vs. U. S., «i