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for a distance of about 20 feet. Temporary timbers were
placed as soon as the excavations were made; permanent
timbers of Oregon cedar would be placed later. The lower
half of the tunnel was dug by another crew of workers,
the dirt being carried away by two-horse cars running
on laid track. Day and night the work went on in 8-hour
shifts, the Chinese being paid $1.00 per day and the white
carpenters and mechanics receiving $2.60 a day for a
12..;hour shift. A city of tents was located near the south
end of the tunnel mouth for the workers.
The site of the northern end of the tunnel just south
of the present town of Newhall, had to be abandoned due
to the oil-soaked rock causing caveins. Frates chose
higher ground.
After the northern mouth of the tunnel was opened in
June 1875, steam pumps helped to keep the tunnel from
flooding with water.
Frates previous experience with the Central Pacific
stood him well with his many problems including incline
shafts, sand in the water holding up the pumps' work
and delaying further tunneling until the pumps could be
overhauled. All this rather belied the remark made by
Leland Stanford that it was "too damned dry in southern
California for any such catastrophe." Caveins still
occured.
For a time the southern terminus of the railroad was
at the new little town of San Fernando. The first train
from Los Angeles reached San Fernando on April 20,
1874, shortly after the town had been founded by Charles
Maclay, a former state senator from Santa Clara County
and an ex-Methodist missionary. Excursion trains ran
daily from the city, the passengers being given lunch at
the Mission before going on to bid for lots.
Eulogio F. de Celis and his brothers, Jose Manuel and
Pastor, had deeded a parcel of land to the railroad on
August 9, 1873 (in consideration of $1.00), on the express
1
condition that the site "be used only for a depot and
other railroad purposes, construction of a building for
proper operation of the railroad." At a later period,
Maclay and his partners, George and B®jamin Porter,

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