That  San  Mateo  county,  under  the  influence
of  high  fares,  has  been  forced  to  the  rear  in
the  procession  of  progress,  by  which  it  is  on
all  sides  surrounded,  cannot  be  controverted.
"With  the  coming  of  the  electric  road,  now  a
certainty,  for  which  a  franchise  was  wisely
granted  by  the  Board  of  Supervisors,  all  this
will  be  changed.  The  franchise  calls  for  20
cents  fare  from  Redwood  City  to  San  Fran-
cisco, being  just  one-fourth  the  price  now
asked  by  the  only  means  of  transportation  at
the  command  of  the  people.  This  road  has
already  crossed  over  the  border  and  is  push-
ing its  way  to  the  interior  of  the  county,
and  unlocks  the  gate  which  has  heretofore
barred  the  progress  of  the  county,  and  gives
it  an  even  chance  with  its  neighbors  over  the
bay  who  have  long  had  rapid  and  cheap  com-
munication with  the  metropolis.
LAND  AND  LIVE-STOCK.
As  a  matter  of  curiosity,  we  transcril)e  for
comparison  some  typical  values  of  land  and
live-stock  as  fixed  by  M.  A.  Parkhurst,
deputy  assessor,  in  the  year  1853,  when  this
county  was  a  municipal  district  of  San  Fran-
cisco.
The  San  Miguel  rancho,  containing  4,800
acres,  was  assessed  to  Jose  Jesus  de  Noe  at
$10  per  acre;  total  $48,000.  Fifty  vara  lots
on  the  same  tract  near  the  mission  were  as-
sessed at  $125  each.  This  grant  was  near
the  mission  and  the  owner  once  wrote  a  de-
scription of  the  animals  he  met  in  traveling
from  Yerba  Buena  to  his  ranch.
