HISTORY OF ASTORIA RAILROAD 231
which seemed subsidiaries of the unseen railroad that was seeking an outlet by the Yaquina route the Albany & Astoria Railway, J. L. Cowan, president, for which surveys were car- ried on in the summer of 1890 under W. B. Barr (Oregonian, November 17, 1889), and the Salem, Astoria & Eastern Rail- way, headed at Salem by H. W. Cottle, E. M. Waite, Squire Farrar, William England, H. J. Minthorn, J. H. Albert, J. A. Baker, J. O. Wilson. For a Tillamook connection, the Astoria Seashore & Eastern was incorporated March 15, 1890, by W. H. Smith, Oliver Stewart, E. C. Jeffers, D. N. Stewart and George Eckler. Each of these companies had flimsy backing; the Albany and the Salem schemes came to naught; the Yaquina road soon went into bankruptcy and Reid's Astoria Company shortly fell into financial difficulties and halted. Reid had failed to bring in the "outside capital ;" he could not "float" the bonds in New York, and his Scotch friends of Dundee had had enough experience in the "narrow gauge."
First of Reid's efforts was enlistment of Huntington in the enterprise. Nearly three years had elapsed since Huntington acquired the Oregon & California lines in Oregon and the Southern Pacific chief was interested in Reid's proposals and took a six months' option after May 6, 1890, to buy the Astoria & South Coast. His terms were : The Astorians to pay off the $175,000 claims against their company and turn it over to him, together with a $200,000 bonus, terminal facili- ties at Astoria and the Seaside branch line (finished by Reid in July, 1890, between Young's Bay and Seaside) ; Hunting- ton was to put up a preliminary $60,000 to complete the Sea- side line. The six months were to enable him to make survey of the route and verify the Astoria estimates of cost. Hunt- ington attended the negotiations at Astoria in May, 1890. The agreement dated May 6 (text in Oregonian, May 24, 1901, page 5), was signed by Huntington and by Reid, as president of the Astoria & South Coast, but was not confirmed by the directors of Reid's Company, and the deal fell through. It looked as if, before this juncture, a builder had appeared, Huntington, who would bring to Astoria what that town had
