Note 483 — Chapter XVIII

Indenture dated July 8, 1895. The lease was to expire May 1, 1945. Five years after the lease was signed, however, the State Harbor Commission declared it terminated because of the failure of the railway company to make agreed improvements. A new indenture was then signed by the parties under date of November 21, 1900. By this document the state slightly increased the area leased to the railway company, and extended the term to December 1, 1950. For its part, the railway agreed to construct a definite length of sea-wall along the front of the leased property, and to spend $50,000 annually for six years on improvements. It is interesting to observe that while the new lease, like the old, was non-assignable, the restriction in the indenture of 1900 did not apply to any assignment or transfer that might occur at the expiration of the Valley company’s corporate life through foreclosure of its bonded indebtedness, nor to any sale, transfer, or assignment to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railway Company. The Santa Fé road, successor to the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railway, purchased additional property adjacent to and south of China Basin, but its terminals are still on the land leased from the state. This includes the company’s freight ferry lands, its freight houses, and most of its yard tracks in San Francisco. See on this matter the annual reports of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railroad, and also the San Francisco Examiner, November 15, 1898.