Flanders of Portland gave the company ten blocks of land where the Union Depot now stands as an inducement to locate its Portland depot in the north of the city.
On the other hand, the east side company applied to the Portland council for aid and indorsements, and was refused; no aid was given them by citizens of Portland, and no one along their own line would take stock in their company. The people of Portland were not opposed to an east side railroad, but they were opposed to the methods the east side company were using to organize their company and get the land grant. It is true that the east side company had the larger assemblage at their "ground breaking celebration, but it was not a spontaneous gathering. It had been widely advertised and worked up in the brass band whoop-and-hurrah style of a political meeting. The Oregon Central Company broke ground for the construction of its road on April 14, 1868, two days ahead of the east side event. The ceremony took place at the point where Woods Street, in Caruthers' Addition to Portland, intersects the line where the railroad is now constructed. A brief announcement of the event was given in the local news columns of the Daily Oregonian a few hours before the ceremony took place, and thousands of the people responded and were promptly on the ground. Walter Moffatt, a public spirited citizen, contributed a wagon load of refreshments free to all, and there was an abundance of "real old Monongahela rye" for everybody to toast the enterprise and everything else, and the celebration went off with a spirit which showed which railroad company was the popular favorite. Governor Gibbs and Col. W. W. Chapman made addresses which were cheered to the echo; after which, the Daily Oregonian of the 15th describes the proceedings as follows:
