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San Diego's Fifth Street looking north from K Street in the 1870s. Throughout this decade the city would live in hope of obtaining a railroad link to the East coast.
E. W. Morse felt the railroad was San Diego's only hope, "almost life or death to us."
Ephraim Morse near Otay Mesa about 1900.
A. E. Horton, the "Father" of modern San Diego, gave land for railroad use -- but, only after being prodded by Morse.
George B. Hensley's 1873 Map of San Diego. Texas Pacific Railroad lands appear at the center, top.
The ornate Horton House hotel opened in October of 1870 in anticipation of a hoped for boom in San Diego's economy.
San Diego businessman Louis Rose reportedly offered railroad promoters all
the land they wanted, if the terminus of the proposed rail line was his San Diego development of "Roseville."
THE PHOTOGRAPHS are courtesy of the San Diego Historical Society's Title Insurance and Trust Collection. The map on pages 264-265 is from the SDHS Research Archives.
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