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Story of San Francisco Cable Cars, The Soft Cover 1973? Approx 24 pages
The Story of San Francisco Cable Cars
Soft Cover stapled
Copyright 1975
Approx 24 pages
Andrew Hallidie, born Andrew Smith in London of Scottish parents in 1836 was brought to California when his father came here to look after land interests. He adopted his surname Hallidie from his godfather Sir Andrew Hallidie. His father, an inventor and engineer, had patented in 1835 a process to make wire rope. In 1869 while walking up one of the city's hills on a foggy, winter night Andrew Hallidie saw one of the horses stumble and fall while pulling a heavily-laden horse-car. The brake slipped; the car rolled back down the hill dragging the four horses behind.
Hallidie who had already perfected cables that could withstand tremendous strain, now was dedicated to saving the lives of horses being destroyed dragging horse-cars. He had to develop a cable grip that would carry a load of passengers up and down the steep San Francisco hills. In 1872, he won a franchise to build "Hallidie's Folly", the world's first cable railway up Clay street, but it had to be in operation by August 1, 1873. It was not easy and as July drew to a close, Hallidie and his friends worked feverishly around the clock laying cable in a slot and building a steam-drive power plant.
On a cool and foggy morning, August 1, 1873, Hallidie chose to make the initial run from the top down. How better to demonstrate his complete confidence in his design. An ordinary man would have started at the bottom of the hill so that if anything went wrong he wouldn't streak down six blocks and land in a heap of wreckage. His first gripman took one look down the steep hill and refused to handle the car on this eventful day. Hallidie, himself, took hold of the grip-wheel - the original grip was tightened by a screw - and began to turn it. The car took hold and rolled smoothly over the brink and down the 20% grade at an even four miles an hour. The Clay Street Hill Railroad, the first cable line in the United States was set in operation.
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