Cable Car Lines in the Pacific Northwest

by Joe Thompson

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From The Street Railway Journal, January, 1891. Volume VII, Number 1.

Seattle, Wash., Dec. 1, 1890. Editors Street Railway Journal:

Dear Sirs: As requested by your journal, we give you the following information concerning our road.

This company will commence the operation of its road on December 25. This, we believe, is the first road in the country where cable and electricity are both employed for the operation of the same cars. Our company owns a franchise for a cable and electric railway, starting from Occidental Square (in the heart of the city) along James Street to Broadway, and also a franchise from this point to the eastern, northern and southern city limits, each being a separate extension, and will be operated by electricity.

At the above mentioned point, namely, James and Broadway, is situated the power house, which will furnish power for the cable as well as for the electric branches. For this purpose we employ two Lane & Bodley Corliss engines, size 24 x 48 ins. each.

The cable gear is of the usual pattern and was manufactured by Hinckley, Spiers & Hayes in part, and another portion of the same by the Washington Iron Works, of Seattle, while the cable drums employed are of the Walker differential patent, and manufactured by the Walker Manufacturing Co., of Cleveland, O. The electric power will be furnished by two Edison dynamos of 150,000 watts (200 H. P.) capacity each. That part of the road from Occidental Square up James Street to the power house is so steep, being of an average grade of sixteen per cent, that it was impossible to operate same by electricity, hence this company will start its electric cars at Occidental Square, but towing them to the power house by cable, using a very small cable tow car, equipped with Phoenix patent grip; and after reaching the power house, the same electric cars will be sent on by electricity alone in the various directions, namely, northern and eastern city limits. The cable portion of the road has been constructed of concrete with cast iron yokes. The yokes were manufactured in Seattle by Washington Iron Works, and weigh 240 lbs. each.

The rail is a forty pound girder, and, with the slot rail, weighing fifty-one pounds, was manufactured in San Francisco. The entire roadbed is of concrete. The cable is one and one-fourth inches in diameter, this size being preferable, as the road is only about one and a half miles in length, and entirely straight, without a curve, and it is believed that by using so large a cable it would run from eighteen to twenty-four months without repair or replacing.

The electric cars are of an entirely new pattern, the centre portion ten feet long being closed, while at both ends there will be a space of nine feet open, making the total length of car twenty-eight feet. It is believed that a car of this kind will in this mild climate answer all purposes, both summer and winter, thus doing away with the necessity of specially using open cars.

The cars have eight wheels and some are equipped with trucks from the Tripp Manufacturing Co. of Boston, while the balance have the McGuire Manufacturing Co's. truck (Chicago).

Three different patterns of motors are used, two cars being equipped with the Edison motors, two with the Westinghouse and two with the Thomson-Houston. The company will run these three different systems for a period of thirty days, and at that time will decide which gives the best satisfaction and adopt that one.

On December 25th,it is hoped that the cable portion of the road will be operated; and one of the electrical lines is expected to be completed during January, while the other two electrical extensions will be completed in June and October of next year respectively.

E. F. Wilber, Prest.
James Street Construction Co.

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From The Street Railway Journal, April, 1891. Volume VII, Number 4.

The problem of making electric cars climb a steep hill has been puzzling the Rainier Avenue Electric Co., of Seattle, Wash., but has been solved, according to the Post published in that city, by J. P. F. Kuhlmann, the company's engineer. The hill in question is on Washington between Fifth and Eighth Streets, a distance of 800 ft. on which there is a grade of sixteen per cent. As electric power was not equal to carrying the cars up this grade, some other agency had to be found to assist it. The distance is so short that it will not warrant the expense of a regular cable road,so that some other means had to be used.

Mr. Kuhlmann proposes to use weights to counterbalance the weight of the cars, so that the electric power will be needed only to haul up the passengers. In the space between the two tracks he will place a conduit two feet wide and two feet deep. In this he will lay a narrow track of small rails, on which will run three trucks carrying weights,which together will be heavy enough to balance the empty car. These trucks will be attached to a wire rope the length of the hill and to the other end of the rope a grip will be attached, with an automatic arrangement to which the drawbar of the car can be attached. This grip will move in a slot in the middle of the track similar to that in a cable track, except that the conduit will be much smaller. The rope will run around sheave-wheels at the top and bottom of each track, the circumference of the wheels being opposite the slot in the centre of the track and opposite the pulleys in the small track. The rope will be made continuous by a tail-rope attached to the lower part of the lower ends of the weight and the grip.

When a car coming down Washington Street reaches the top of the hill at Eighth Street the draw-bar will be lowered into the slot, take up the grip by an automatic arrangement and proceed downhill, the weight of the car and the electric power combined drawing up the weight on the small track between the main tracks. On reaching the bottom of the hill at Fifth Street the car will automatically release the grip without the necessity of stopping or slackening speed, and will proceed on its way down to Railroad Avenue. The weights are attached to the ropes on both tracks, so that when the car descends it also takes down the grip on the opposite track. The distance is so short and so near the terminus that it will not be necessary to have more than one car on this incline at any one time.

On reaching the bottom of the hill on its way up the car again takes the grip, and is started by the electric power. The tail-rope starts the weights out of their rest on the level at the top of the hill, and the weights, aided by the electricity, haul up the car on the other track at a speed of six miles an hour. Automatic safety brakes are to be attached to the weights and grips, and will prevent accidents in case the rope breaks.

If it should be found necessary to run cars simultaneously on both tracks, the centre conduit can be made deeper, and one set of weights can be placed above the other, there being a separate set for each track.

The construction of the road will begin as soon as the necessary castings can be made, and will be finished in three months.

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From The Street Railway Journal, April, 1891. Volume VII, Number 4.

Seattle, Wash. -- The machinery to supply the extra power for operating the North Seattle extension of the Front Street cable railway has been ordered, and will be in place as soon as the roadbed is ready. New cables have been ordered for the Front Street cable road and the east end of the Madison Street. The former will be about 19,000 ft. long and the latter 20,100 ft. long, and they will cost between $6,000 and $7,000 each. The cable for the west end of Madison Street has been made ready to be stretched whenever the present cable gives way.

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From The Street Railway Journal, June, 1891. Volume VII, Number 6.

Seattle, Wash. -- The Yesler Avenue Cable Line is putting in a new engine, two new boilers and a 1,000,000-gall. pump.

Seattle, Wash. -- The cable for the North Seattle extension of the Front Street cable road has arrived from San Francisco. It is 19,900 ft. long and weighs 40,900 lbs. It was expected that the road would be opened by the first of this month (June).

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From The Street Railway Journal, January, 1893. Volume IX, Number 1.

The Madison Street Railway Company, of Seattle, Wash., recently removed from their line a cable which has been in operation nineteen months, and which, it has been estimated, has run 120,000 miles.

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From The Street Railway Journal, January, 1893. Volume IX, Number 1.

Reference was made in a former issue of the STREET RAILWAY JOURNAL to an ingenious system of counterweights in use on the Rainier Avenue Electric Railway, of Seattle, Wash., for assisting electric cars in the ascent of a steep grade on that line. The accompanying diagram will show the general arrangement of the system. A slotted conduit about two feet in height is constructed under the track of the railway, and in this is located an endless rope running over end sheaves at the top and base of the incline. To this rope are affixed rolling weights, B and B1, which run on a track in the conduit provided for the purpose, and at each end of the incline are air buffers for reducing any sudden jar which might be caused by the sudden stoppage of the rolling weights. These air buffers consist each of a cylinder and piston, which latter carries at its outer end a small pawl for engaging in a notch at the end of the weight. A suitable gripping device is located on the car, by which a firm hold can be kept on the cable while ascending or descending the grade.

The operation of the device will now be easily understood. When the car is about to descend the grade, as shown, the weights will be at the foot of the incline, the buffer piston within the cylinder and the pawl in the detent at the end of the lower weight. As the car pulls on the cable the weights begin to ascend, carrying with them the piston of the air buffer, and allowing the cylinder to fill with air. When the piston is fully drawn out the pawl, which connects it with the weight is automatically disengaged, thus leaving the cushions adjusted to be used as the weights descend again. As the car continues down the grade the force of the ascending weights tends to counterbalance the weight of the car, and when the latter finally reaches the bottom of the grade, the weights have been drawn to the top and are resting on the level which is formed for them and engaging the cushioning device. They remain here until a second car arrives at the foot of the incline, which, as before, connects with the cable, and starts the weights down the grade, and brings the force of the weight into play to assist in pulling the car up grade. A brake is located between the weights, and is arranged to work automatically in case the speed of the weights in ascending or descending should become excessive. The inventor of the system is J. F. P. Kuhlmann, of Seattle.

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From The Street Railway Journal, April, 1893. Volume IX, Number 4.

Butte is a French word signifying an isolated, abrupt elevation of land, and is applied to peaks that are too high to be called hills and not high enough for mountains, one sugar-loaf peak near by, to the left of the city, conferring upon it the name it bears. It is the center of one of the most remarkable mining regions of the state, and is situated most delightfully on a mountain slope overlooking the neighboring valley, where the crest of the range on two sides is studded all over with the mining and milling equipments, by means of which the rich gold, silver and copper ores in which the mountain abounds, are hoisted from its depths and separated and smelted. It is stated that there are 3,500 patented mining claims in the immediate vicinity, over 500 of which are worked, and some idea of the magnitude of the mining operation can be formed when it is learned that from 5,000 to 6,000 tons of ore are mined daily, and that the value of the annual mineral product of this city is over $26,000,000 The mines employ a force of about 4,000 men, while the mills and smelters employ almost as many more. The output of copper greatly exceeds that of other minerals, and the supply is said to be practically inexhaustible, the copper veins being from 20 to 100 ft. in width.

In the matter of schools and churches, Butte is in the forefront and although it is a mining town, these institutions are among the proudest possessions of the people.

The Butte Consolidated Railway Company, under the management of J. R. Wharton, controls all the street railway lines in the city, which embrace fifteen miles of track, one and a half miles of which is operated by cable power and the remainder by electric power. There is also a short steam dummy line. The lines carried last year 1,500,000 passengers out of a population of 35,000, averaging about forty-three rides for each person.

FIG. 17. -- CABLE POWER HOUSE -- BUTTE CONSOLIDATED RAILWAY.

The cable line was started in 1888, and was built to develop the Vogel & Whelan cable system, a bottom grip and shallow conduit being employed. The line is built along the principal street, running up and down the hill and extends in nearly a straight line to Walkerville, near the summit of the mountain. The maximum grade is 13.2 per cent. It is a three-rail road with turn-outs at suitable intervals, and although a very cheap construction, having the slot rails spiked to timbers, it is standing up remarkably well under the traffic. The speed of the rope is six miles an hour, and it is supported on carrying sheaves seven inches in diameter. The .conduit being shallow and the carrying sheaves small, the noise from the running rope is very audible on the street. Curve pulleys are about one foot in diameter and are placed very near together, and at several points over the first hill depression pulleys are employed. A portion of the line near the upper end runs over private property, and there are a number of trestle bridges which cross the ravines and gorges of the mountain. A one and one-eighth inch rope of the Hazard manufacture is employed and has a life of about eighteen months.

The cars are run in trains consisting of a grip and trailer. The middle portion of the grip is housed in with glass windows, and makes a very comfortable cab for the gripman, which is quite essential in this cold climate. The grips, and most of the trailers, were manufactured by the Brownell Car Company. The company also employs two open grip cars for summer service, which were manufactured by the Woeber Brothers.

At the lower terminal of the line a turntable is employed, and tracks are drawn together and so arranged that the grip is first run on to the table and turned partially around, when it takes the rope and is drawn a short distance up the track. The trailer is then run on the table by gravity, turned, and the grip drops back and couples to it. At the upper end there is a double crossover on a steep grade. The grip, after reaching the end of the line, is uncoupled from the trailer and drops down over the first crossover and halts, when the trailer is let down by gravity over the second crossover and is coupled on. The trains are operated in winter on a ten minute headway. All the turnouts are located on the down track and on the grades, so that at each the rope is dropped, and the train passes over by gravity. This avoids the necessity of providing curve pulleys for leading the rope to one side. The grip dies are made of metris metal, and have a life of from twenty-five to thirty days.

The cable power station is located about half way on the side of the mountain, as shown in Fig. 17. It consists of the boiler room, engine room and car house. The rope is driven by the S method, two drums with interlocking gear being employed, around which the rope makes one wrap, and which are driven by thirty inch pinions on the main shaft, which mesh into the gear on the outside of the first drum, as shown in Fig. 18. This method of drive, it is claimed, is giving very good satisfaction. Only one engine is employed, and this is a 125 H. p., manufactured by the E. P. Allis Company. The steam is generated in two boilers of eighty horse power each, manufactured at the Ames Iron Works, of Oswego, N. Y. The tension weight is graduated, extra cast iron plates being held in position on shelves from which they are lifted or returned as the car runs out or in. A total weight of about eight tons is employed. Sometimes when all the load is on the down grade the rope drives the engine, no steam being required.

FIG. 18. -- INTERIOR OF CABLE POWER HOUSE -- BUTTE CONSOLIDATED RAILWAY.

The pay of conductors, pilots and trackmen is $3 per day. These rates are miners' wages and are regulated by the labor organizations. The company has been very fortunate in securing a very good class of men, some of whom have been in the employ of the company ever since the lines were started. The manager finds, however, that, when his men get a little careless, by laying off or discharging one or two, it straightens up the whole force.

The usual rate of fare is ten cents. On short sections of the cable road it is five cents and a five cent fare morning and evening is made for the workingmen. In the opinion of the manager, a uniform fare of five cents over all the lines would bring a greater revenue to to the company than the present rates, and probably a trial of this rate will be made in the near future.

At the steam railway station the conductor leaves his car and goes on a platform where he announces that the street cars are in waiting and that they pass the principal hotels. By this means a great deal of transient patronage is secured. The cars are warmed with the Standard stove, which is giving excellent service. Local inspectors are chiefly employed, but sometimes, men sent out from Thiels Detective Agency, of Portland, are engaged.

The portable register manufactured by the International Register Company, of Chicago, is employed. Slack Coal costs $3.65 per ton delivered to the electric power house and $3.90 per ton at the cable power house, it being necessary to haul it to the latter station by wagons.

From the tower of the Spokane Review building an excellent panoramic view is had of this "Magic City," located near the border of the lovely Spokane Valley which is like an amphitheatre regularly scooped out, and bordered by low, pine clad hills picturesquely broken up by cliffs of basaltic rock, and backed by high ranges of snow clad mountains to the north and east. Just back of the city, and up which the city is climbing, is a high ridge which is strewn all over with numerous basaltic boulders interspersed with a luxuriant growth of pines, and which is coming to be the favorite residence portion of the city. Here and there, where the space between the rocks will allow.stand beautiful homes, from which vantage ground a full sweep of the entire valley is had. The surface of these dark colored boulders, which in some cases are as large as a house, is seamed and rent into an infinite number of irregular shapes, which are so wedged and interlocked that the contour of the boulder is preserved, but which appear to be so loosely united as to be readily broken up by the use of a hammer or pick.

The chief practical feature of this charming valley is the Spokane (pronounced spo-can) River which has its source in the Coeur d'Alene Lake, a sheet of water thirty-two miles distant, covering an area of seventy square miles. From this lake it flows through gravelly plains until it reaches the very heart of the city where it encounters irregular masses of basaltic rock by which it is broken up into numerous distinct channels, with numerous falls and whirlpools. These again unite in a single channel and dash furiously down a series of cascades with a descent of 130 ft., from the foot of which the river flows away into a dark and tortuous canyon until it is lost to sight, a mile below.

FIG. 25. -- SPOKANE FALLS AND RAILWAY POWER STATION.

From the Monroe Street Bridge (Fig. 25), which is 160 ft. above the river bed, a most delightful view is had of these magnificient falls which, it is claimed, have an available force of 36,000 H. P., a dower which any city might envy.eter, and carries a seventeen inch pulley which revolves at a speed of 1,000 revolutions per minute. The shaft pinion is belted to a thirty-eight inch pulley on the countershaft and from the countershaft by means of a twenty inch pulley, power is transmitted by a belt to an eight foot pulley on a second shaft, which, by means of a twenty inch, staggered gear pinion, drives the first winding drum, the winding drums not being geared together.

But the expectations of its citizens, as to the future greatness of this city, are not based upon the water power alone, but because it is the metropolis of an inland empire embracing Washington, northwestern Oregon, southern Idaho, western Montana and southern British Columbia, having a population of 250,000 people, and a wealth of mineral, agricultural, grazing, timber and climatic resources which are as matchless as her water power.

The city has a present population of about 30,000 and, in addition to being delightfully located and an important railroad center, it will outrank many Eastern cities in the line of public improvements, business blocks, bank buildings, school and church edifices.

Most of the street railways of the city are controlled by the Washington Water Power Company, the same parties composing the Spokane Street Railway Company, under which name the lines are operated, Wm. S. Norman being general manager, and which embrace twenty-five miles of track, twenty-two of which are operated by electricity and three by cable, and which last year received a patronage of 1,680,959 people. Both Edison and Thomson-Houston motors are employed. There are also three other companies which operate suburban lines, one known as the Spokane & Montrose Motor Company, which employs four cars with both Thomson-Houston and Short motors; the City Park Transit Company, which operates five motor cars, and the Arlington Heights Street Railway Company. All the lines combined carried the entire population about seventy-onetimes. The power for operating all the lines is supplied by the Washington Water Power Company. All the generators and the cable line are driven by water power. The power station is located on the right bank of the Spokane River, below the falls (as shown in Fig. 25) which is reached by wooden stairs built against the almost perpendicular banks of the river. The water is taken from the dam at the second falls and is conveyed in a pair of seven foot steel penstocks a distance of 500 ft., and which are shown above and in the rear of the power station, the total fall from the dam being seventy feet.

The power station is a brick structure, 60 X 120 ft., and two stories in height. The penstocks are led along the first floor near the center of the building side by side, and the Victor horizontal turbines, which are manufactured by Stilwell & Bierce Company, of Dayton, O. -- a type of which is illustrated in Fig. 26, by which the power is generated -- are connected by branches to the right and left, and the axles of the wheels are twenty feet above the tail race. The vacuum fall produces the same power as if the wheels were placed at the lower level. The generators for the street railway work are driven by twin wheels seventeen and a half inches in diameter, having a capacity of 400 H.P. The outer shell is about six feet in diameter, and the discharge pipes are three feet each. The cable winding drums, which are also located on first floor of the power station, are driven by means of belting and countershafts by a fifteen and a half inch twin wheel, the shaft of which is two and a half inches in diameter, and carries a seventeen inch pulley which revolves at a speed of 1,000 revolutions per minute. The shaft pinion is belted to a thirty-eight inch pulley on the countershaft and from the countershaft by means of a twenty inch pulley, power is transmitted by a belt to an eight foot pulley on a second shaft, which, by means of a twenty inch, staggered gear pinion, drives the first winding drum, the winding drums not being geared together.

The tension run is placed at right angles to and in the rear of the power station, and the ropes, supported by suitable sheaves, are led along under the suspension bridge to the right, and up the bluff a distance of 500 or 600 ft, where they are led into a conduit, a seven-eighths inch rope being employed. Two sets of winding drums are provided, both mounted on the same shaft, but only one rope is driven, as that portion of the cable line on which the second rope was employed, has been changed to electric traction. When the cable lines were first built both ropes were driven from a small station located on the opposite side of the river from the present plant, the penstock for operating which still remains and is shown to the left of Fig. 26.

The entire wheel equipment of the station is 2,000 H. P., there being eleven pairs of turbines; one of these is a 400 H. p., twin, horizontal wheel, three are 300 H. P., and there are seven pairs of ten inch wheels of 160 H. P. eacli. The maximum capacity of the two penstocks is 2,700 H. P. A Snow governor is employed on the wheels that drive the light generator, but this is not found sensitive enough to regulate the power wheels, and a governor manufactured by A. W. Woodward, of Rockford, 111., has been installed. This governor employs a set of friction disks which transmit the power from a running shaft to a controlling valve. This governor, we are told, is giving better satisfaction than anything heretofore tried, but it does not fully meet the difficulties.

All the wheel cases in this station are provided with pipes and by-pressure valves, by means of which the cases can be filled, thus relieving the pressure on the gates so that they can be easily opened for starting. The cases are also provided with pipes for the escape of the air when they are being filled, and the main penstocks are provided with stands which serve as air chambers to relieve the shock when the flow of the water is checked.

The conductors and pilots are paid twenty-two and a half cents per hour; track laborers $2 per day. There is no sliding scale of wages. The company has had no strikes.

The cable line is a double track road, and was built in 1889, under Howard C. Holmes, of San Francisco, as chief engineer. A portion of the line is on a grade of 7 1/2 per cent. Traffic being light, only two cars are employed. This, we believe, is the only cable road in the country that is operated by water power.

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From The Street Railway Journal, May, 1893. Volume IX, Number 5.

Portland is known as the metropolis of the Pacific Northwest. It is the commercial center of a large section which is rich in all that earth can produce, and is fortunate in having an exceptionally favorable climate. The city is situated on the Willamette River, twelve miles above its junction with the Columbia at the head of navigation for deep sea vessels of both rivers, and enjoys an extensive shipping trade with American coast cities and with foreign countries. The river is a harbor and highway at once, the harbor being five miles in length, from 1,000 to 1,500 ft. in width and from forty to sixty feet in depth. The city is distant sixty miles due east from the Pacific Coast, but by the Columbia is 110 miles to the ocean.

The city has the form of a crescent and skirts the base of the heights at the west, around which the river sweeps in a long bend. In its growth it has spread across the river to the east and up and down on the west bank and embraces within its limits forty square miles. The two portions are united by a number of bridges which are, in fact, the continuation of streets and over which the street cars pass, giving ready access to all outlying districts. The heights back of the city have an elevation of about 500 ft., and the slopes and crest are dotted all over by beautiful homes, some of which seem to be perched on almost inaccessible points, but from which a charming view is had (when it does not rain) of the Willamette Valley, the peninsula formed by the two rivers, the Columbia being about ten or twelve miles distant, and the two mountains, Hood and St. Helens, situated, respectively, sixty and 100 miles to the east and north. These mountains are the pride of Portland, both are snow capped, symmetrical in form, and as there are no foothills to dwarf their proportions, they seem to rise to an enormous height, having an altitude of 11,225 and 9,759 ft. respectively. At some mysterious bidding they seem to have arranged themselves as silent sentinels standing guard over the destinies of this great empire, while they show what can be done in the way of mountain making.

Portland, although two degrees farther north than its namesake on the Atlantic Coast, has, owing to its proximity to the ocean, and the influence of the Japan Gulf current which breaks upon the coast, a temperature as mild as that found from 600 to 1,000 miles farther south on the Eastern coast. The mean annual temperature is fifty-three degrees, which is the same as the average for the United States. Snow seldom falls and the ground never freezes more than a few inches in depth. The rainy season usually lasts from November to March, and the average annual precipitation is 49.34 ins. The present year, however, has been an. exception, and the rainfall continued well into April. The statement that it rains continuously in this locality is a libel on the country, for we can testify that during our stay of six weeks on this portion of the coast, there were three pleasant days.

Some of the minor characteristics of Portland are wood, mud, furnished rooms and Chinamen; of the latter there are 15,000 in the city. The major characteristics are its magnificent homes, imposing business blocks of stone and brick, fine public buildings, handsome churches, commodious school buildings and its noted hotel, the Portland. The population to which the street railways cater is about 80,000, and these lines on the 114 miles of track (averaging one and two-fifths miles to the thousand) carried the entire population about 175 times in 1892. The bulk of the traffic is handled on the lines of three companies, known as the City & Suburban Railway Company, Portland Cable Railway Company and the Portland Consolidated Street Railway Company, each of which, together with the newer lines, will be described in turn.

The cable line operated by this company is a double track road with a three and a half foot gauge, embracing seven and a half miles of track, including two branches, one on Jefferson Street, recently constructed, which runs to the City Park, but which is operated only in summer. A second, on Alder Street, which runs between the main line on Fifth Street and the river, the main rope being deflected to operate the cars on this branch. It was opened for traffic in February, 1890, but, being unfortunately located, has never enjoyed a very liberal patronage, the number of people carried last year only amounting to 1,260,000. The road was built by the Pacific Cable Construction Company, of San Francisco, under the direction of J. M. Thompson, engineer. The road is now operated under the management of F. I. Fuller, who is also acting as receiver. There are a number of curves on the main line, and where the grade is suitable the cars round the curves by gravity, which results in considerable saving on the rope. Depression pulleys are also employed at several points, and these consist of two six inch grooved wheels which are mounted near the end of a long lever, which is pivoted and held in position by a weight, but which is pushed to one side by the grip shank as it passes.

FIG. 8. -- POWER HOUSE AND 20 PER CENT. INCLINE -- CITY CABLE RAILWAY CO., PORTLAND.

The line has many interesting features both as to construction and operation. The yokes, illustrated in Fig. 7, are of wrought iron, and the conduit walls are of concrete, six inches in thickness. On some of the latter construction, however, the concrete walls were considerably strengthened. Although there is little frost in this climate, considerable trouble is had from slot closing in cold weather, so that it is frequently necessary to wedge open the slot to provide space for the grip shank. The original carrying pulleys were about eight inches in diameter, and were mounted in the conduit without any pulley vaults. More recently, however, twelve-inch pulleys have been employed, but it is the intention of the manager to substitute ten inch pulleys, as the accumulation of water in low places, during wet weather, retards the operation of the large wheels.

FIG. 9. -- WOODEN TRESTLE, 20 PER CENT. GRADE -- CITY CABLE RAILWAY CO., PORTLAND.

On Chapman Street the road scales a high bluff by means of a high trestle 1,300 ft. in length with a grade of 20 per cent. (Fig. 9), and continues above the trestle for a considerable distance over steps ranging from 12 to 20 per cent., making a rise of 450 ft. in a distance of 2,600 ft., the terminal being 600 ft. above the river. From the highest point the road turns to the right and runs along the mountain for a considerable distance to the terminal, where is located a turntable on which the cars are turned by hand for the return trip. It was the intention of the original promoters to continue the line to the top of the mountain some little distance beyond, but the section has never been completed.

The cars, twenty-three in number, are all eight wheel combination, one of which has an open section at both ends. The cars are carefully designed and tastefully finished, and were manufactured by the S. C. H. & A. Works, Stockton, Cal. (Fig. 9). The deck lights are in two rows, the lower being constructed with stained glass in fixed frames, while the upper has ordinary glass with ventilating sash. The curtains are housed in a hood or circular moulding, and the end lights are composed of circular reflectors. The hoods, as will be noted from Fig. 9, are provided with a water ledge and eaves pipe which carries off the rain water and prevents it from dripping upon the platforms.

A bottom grip is employed, which was invented by Mr. McLellan, one of the employes of the company. The jaw is twelve inches in length, and grip dies of wrought iron are employed which have a life of about three weeks. The grip is operated by hand levers from the open portion of the car and is provided with an adjustable mechanism which always insures a firm hold on the rope. The grip has operated with great satisfaction and has never failed even on the heavy grades.

FIG. 10. -- CONTINUOUS ROPE TRANSMISSION -- CABLE POWER STATION, PORTLAND.

The power station (Fig. 8) is located at the bottom of the incline, and is a wooden structure 110 x 152 ft., including the car house. The power equipment consists of two Hamilton-Corliss engines of 300 H. P. each, built by Hoover, Owens & Rentschler Company, of Hamilton, O. Both the engines are coupled to the main shaft, but only one of them is employed at a time, the crank rod being uncoupled on the idle engine. The power is transmitted to the driving drums by means of a continuous cotton rope belt with a tension arrangement located as shown (Fig. 10). The drums are not geared together. The rope drive is working in a very satisfactory manner and never has given any trouble except at one time when a new splice was made. The new piece of rope being larger than the remaining portion, gained on the other strands, and the tension weights having been allowed to run down, the slack was not taken up promptly enough, so that the rope dropped out of the groove. It is noted in connection with this drive that the ropes operate equally well after the tension weights have run down, emphasizing the fact that continuous rope drives require but little, if any, tension after the stretch is once taken out of the rope. A force pump, for the purpose of lifting water to the heights above, is operated by means of gears from the main shaft and is located in the station.

Three Lang lay cables, one and one-eighth inches in diameter and aggregating 4,300 ft. in length are employed, and were manufactured by the Washburn & Moen Company. The rope is driven at a speed of eight and a half miles per hour and has a life from eight to twelve months, the longest section having the longest life. The cars are run of a four minute headway in summer and six minutes in winter. The fare is five cents, and the wages of the gripmen and conductors are $2.50 per day for twelve hours' work. The fares are registered by a Beadle alarm punch and trip slip.

The station is provided with a convenient repair shop which is equipped with a number of iron working tools, including a wheel boring machine and a wheel press. The power is supplied by a small steam engine which also runs the generator from which the station is lighted.

A double boiler equipment is provided, consisting of four tubular boilers grouped in two batteries of 300 H. P. each, which were installed by the Joshua Hendy Machine Works, of San Francisco. Wood, for the most part, is employed for fuel, although grates are provided, on which coal can be burned, when necessary. Wood is found to be cheaper, however, by $15 per day, than coal which costs $5.50 per ton. The wood is the Douglas fir, or what is known as Oregon pine, and makes a very excellent fuel. It is cut in four foot lengths, and costs, delivered, $3.25 per cord. Wood is used as fuel in all of the principal manufacturing establishments in the city, and also for house heating purposes.

One of the battery boilers in this station is equipped with a Jones underfeed mechanical stoker which is designed for use when coal is burned. This device not only provides for conveniently handling the fuel, but by means of an underfeed, provides that a fresh fire is always maintained on the upper surface next to the boilers; and by requiring the escaping gas from the fresh fuel to pass through the heated portion, all the heat producing elements are consumed, and it obviates the necessity of opening the furnace door. In the operation of this stoker the coal is fed into a hopper in front of the furnace, whence it drops into a retort, and is forced into the firebox by means of a steam piston, having a fifteen inch stroke, which works in a cylinder just under the floor. The retort consists of a semi-cylinder sloping upwards, so that by the action of the piston the coal is forced upwards, and falls over tuyer pipes upon the grates which are located upon each side of the retort. Air, under pressure, is then admitted through the tuyer pipes, so that the gas liberated from the green fuel is mixed with the incoming air, and passes through the burning fuel above. These stokers are manufactured by the Union Iron Works, of Portland, and they can be installed for about $600 per boiler. The company has recently filled an order for thirty furnaces, for use in the General Electric Company's lighting plant in San Francisco. The device is also applicable to furnaces employing wood fuel, and a model of this kind will be described in another connection.

FIG. 15 -- CAR DESCENDING 16 PER CENT. GRADE BY MEANS OF COUNTER WEIGHT -- CITY &. WEST PORTLAND PARK MOTOR COMPANY.

... There is one interesting feature in connection with the electric section already completed, and this is the employment of a gravity car which is designed to assist the motor car in ascending and descending a 12 per cent, grade on which the tracks are laid for a distance of about 500 ft. This is a single track road, and the surface of the street on the incline is finished like that for a cable road. In the construction a trench is excavated to a depth of about four feet, the full width of the track, in the bottom of which is placed a narrow gauge track, supported on ties, on the ends of which are placed timbers which support the ties for the surface track and slot rails. This virtually makes a double track conduit in which is placed an endless wire rope supported on small carrying pulleys, and which loops over vertical terminal pulleys, one of which is mounted on a tension car for the purpose of taking up the stretch of the rope. Attached to the rope in the lower conduit is an iron car with small trucks, which is loaded with old iron or rocks, so that it equals the weight of a motor car. An iron shank, which extends above the slot, is attached to the rope in the upper conduit, but at the opposite end of the line from the balance car. The balance car being at the foot of an incline down which an approaching motor car is about to pass, the car is made to engage with the shank, and in its descent moves the rope which hauls the balance car to the upper terminal. The balance car is then locked in position until another motor car is to ascend a grade, when being properly attached to the shank, the balance car is unlocked, and in its descent assists in hauling the motor car up the incline, and also acts as a safety device. The terminals are provided with long air cylinders, to the pistons of which are attached suitable bumpers, upon which the motor car is cushioned in order to relieve the shock of stopping and starting. The device is said to be working in a very satisfactory manner, and is employed on a number of other lines on the Pacific Coast, and will be described in another connection.

FIG. 16. -- UPPER END OF COUNTER WEIGHT SYSTEM, SHOWING CONDUIT CONSTRUCTION -- CITY &. WEST PORTLAND PARK MOTOR COMPANY.

This is known as the City of Destiny, and the residents claim that in a very few years it will lead all the other cities of the Pacific Northwest. The city limits embrace twenty-four square miles, and it is delightfully situated along the shores and on a bluff overlooking Commencement Bay, an arm of Puget Sound, one of the grandest inland bodies of water in the world. From Tacoma it is eighty-four miles due west of the Pacific Coast, but by water through the channels of Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca, it is 142 miles. The outlook from Point Defiance, which is the northern terminus of the promontory 01 which the city stands, and which has been chosen for the fine residence district, is superb, embracing both water and mountain views and including the Cascade range of mountains, sixty-five miles to the east and southeast, with its towering, snow capped peaks, including Mt. Tacoma. This has an altitude of 14,444 ft. and with its massive foothills forms a fitting background to the picture which may be regarded as nature's masterpiece, while to the front across the Sound and to the north extends, as far as the eye can trace, the rugged, snow covered Olympic Mountain.

By rail the city is 3,278 miles from New York and is the Western terminal of the Northern Pacific Railroad and other lines, so that here the ocean commerce from Asia and South American ports, which enters the great harbor of Puget Sound, meets the railroads by which it is conveyed to the East and South. This is not only a port of entry, but a distributing point as well for the great wheat, lumber and mineral section which borders on Puget Sound. Lumber is the principal product of the Sound region, and Tacoma has twenty saw mills with an annual output of 300,000,000 ft. of sawed lumber. Most of this timber is Douglas fir, and the trees grow to an enormous size, logs from five to eight feet in diameter being very common. A stick of timber four feet square and 120 ft. in length was recently shipped to Chicago for exhibition at the World's Fair, and timbers two feet square and 120 ft. long are frequently produced on special orders.

operates forty-eight miles of track, on two miles of which cable traction is employed and on the balance electric power, and the lines are operated under the supervision of S. H. Pierce.

FIG. 17. -- POWER HOUSE OF TACOMA RAILWAY & MOTOR COMPANY -- TACOMA.

The power for operating all the lines of the city is generated at a single station, controlled by this company and which is located on A Street at the foot of 13th Street (Fig. 17). A charge of $5 per car per day is made for the power supplied to the Point Defiance lines. The power equipment of the station consists of four engines, one of 150 H. P. for driving the cable line, and which is one of the original Corliss engines, having been in service as a saw mill engine more than thirty years. There are also two tandem compound engines of 750 H. P. each, which were built by the Frick Engine Company, of Waynesboro, Pa., and one 300 H. P., high pressure engine built by the Stearns Manufacturing Company, of Erie, Pa.

The main shaft of the compound engine is in a line with the cable shaft to which it may be coupled when necessary. Power for driving the cable drums is transmitted from the pinion of the main shaft, by means of sixteen two-inch ropes, to a large wheel on the shaft of one of the winding drums which are not geared together, but which are equipped with Walker differential rings, and drive the cable with a speed of nine miles per hour. The flywheel on the cable shaft weighs about seven tons, but in the original construction two additional flywheels, weighing seven and a half tons each, were coupled to the main shaft, one on each side of the pinion. Not long since, however, the hub of one of the flywheels broke, when it was discovered that the metal was crystalized, and the superintendent concluded that the flywheels were not acting in harmony, and that the crystalization had been produced by the jerking of one against the other, so he had them both removed, when the plant was found to work more satisfactorily, and the cable had a more steady movement than when the three flywheels were in service.

FIG. 18. -- CABLE LINE ON ELEVENTH STREET -- TACOMA.

The cable line, operated by this company, was opened for traffic in August, 1891, and makes a loop up and down the hill, on 11th and 13th Streets, a number of the grades being as high as 14 per cent. (Fig. 18). Five combination cars, of Pullman make, are run. These are painted a dark color, and have wire dashboards. Dark colored cars, however, are not in favor with the management, and it is proposed to repaint the entire rolling stock in the near future, and finish the cars in light colors. This cable line is one of the best built on the Pacific Coast, and was constructed under the supervision of the late W. B. Knight, of Kansas City, E. Saxton, of Washington, being the contractor.

The fare within the city limits is five cents, but on the line to Steilacoom, from the Steilacoom power house near the city limits, it is twenty-five cents, or forty-five cents for the round trip from the city. Transfer tickets are issued between the electric and cable lines, and are bound in pads of about 100, having one or more advertisements of local firms printed on the back. The advertising firms provide the tickets free of charge to the railroad companies. In issuing these tickets the conductor tears the ticket across the face to indicate the hour and minute, and, in place of the straightedge commonly used, he is provided with a clamp ruler which he adjusts to suit the time of the transfer points, so when he is ready to issue the tickets he can tear off any number, even in the dark, without looking to see the time, making it much more handy to issue tickets than when the punch is employed. The stubs remain on the pad, and can be returned to the office. Since this type of ticket and method of issue was employed by the company, the number of tickets has been reduced by about 4,000 per day. Passes are issued to the city officials; policemen in uniform ride free, as also do the mail carriers when carrying their pouches. Passes are also issued to all employes of the company, including the barn and track men, on which they can ride at any time, but are required to show their passes on all occasions. Tickets are sold in lots of twenty one for $1. Transfers are not rung up. Some trouble was experienced by an improper use of transfers by conductors when they were required to register them, but since they are of no value to the conductors their use has not been abused very much. On the electric cars the Lewis & Fowler register is employed, but on the combination cars the Meaker portable register is carried by the conductors. The portable register is employed, because it is not convenient for the conductors to see the dial of the stationary register when he is in the open portion of the combination car.

...

In the operation of the lines it is found that it costs about the same to operate the electric and cable cars. The life of the ropes of the cable line is from six months to a year.

This is known as the Queen City of the Sound and was named after Se-at-tle, a Suquamish Indian chief who ruled the tribes of this region for fifty years. The city is located on the eastern shore of Elliot Bay, a land-locked arm of Puget Sound, which has an area of about twenty miles, and provides safe anchorage for the largest seagoing vessels.

The streets are regularly laid out up and down and along the slopes of the high promontory upon which it is built and over which it is spreading to the eastward four or five miles to the shores of Lake Washington, a magnificent body of water, twenty miles in length, and from two to five miles in breadth. The shores of the lake nearly parallel those of the Sound, so that the city has two water fronts. The waters of Lake Washington are of great depth, and the mean level is twenty feet above high water in the Sound. There are, besides, two other lakes within the city limits, one known as Lake Union, having an area of two and a half miles, and Green Lake, which is four miles in circumference. There is a project on foot to connect Lake Washington with the waters of the Sound, by means of a ship canal and locks, by way of Lake Union. This will allow sea-going vessels an opportunity to harbor in fresh water when necessary.

Lumbering is the principal industry of this region, and last year the saw mills of Seattle produced $3,000,000 worth of sawn lumber. The city boasts of her commodious homes, while the business blocks and public buildings equal, in design and finish, those in the largest cities of the country. The mountains looming up about the city add a charm to the situation which is unrivaled by any city of the Sound. The principal peak is Mount Rainier, the same which the people of Tacoma have named after their own city, much to the disgust of the people of Seattle.

The principal business streets are paved with fir planking, this being a cheap material in this region, costing only $6 per thousand. This is one of the best favored cities in the country in the matter of rapid transit, having 102 miles of street railway track, or about one and seventenths miles to each one thousand inhabitants, and over which the population were carried last year about 174 times. The street railway systems of the city embrace seventy-two miles of electric lines and thirty miles of cable, and are controlled by nine companies as follows:

The lines of this company, which are under the management of W. B. Goodrich and Superintendent S. Gibson, embrace seven and a half miles of double track cable line on Madison Street, and which starts from Front Street, near the ferry landing, and runs up the heights on Madison Street in nearly a straight line to Lake Washington, where it terminates at a park and the steamboat landing, some of the grades being as high as 19 per cent., and an electric road known as the South Seattle Electric Line, which connects with the cable cars at the foot of Commercial Street and crosses the tide flats on piles and trestle work a distance of five miles, and which is operated by the Thomson-Houston system.

The cable road is a narrow gauge line having a forty-five pound rail, and was constructed by the Pacific Cable Construction Company, J. M. Thompson being engineer.

The power station (Fig. 23) is nearly midway of the line, and in front of it is a turntable on which the cars are run in and out of the station or turned back from this point. There is also a turntable at each of the terminals, which is operated by power from the terminal sheave. The power equipment consists of two 250 H. P. HamiltonCorliss engines which are coupled to the same shaft, but may be operated independently. The power is transmitted to the winding drums by a continuous rope belt, only one of each set being driven, and these are on the same shaft with the receiving pulley. The two ropes are, respectively, 20,100 ft. and 19,800 ft. in length, the town section being run at ten miles an hour and the lake end at twelve miles an hour. The ropes are of the Washburn & Moen manufacture, and are purchased from the San Francisco agent of this company The ropes are one and one-eighth inches in diameter, constructed with six strands, and are guaranteed for a life of eighteen months. A side grip is employed, and the grip dies, last from six weeks to three months, depending upon the weather and the age of the rope. The grips are provided with a chafing plate, which is fastened in front of the shank, and which is about eight inches in length and two and a half inches wide. When worn it can be reversed. This plate takes all the slot wear, so that the shanks proper do not wear out, some being run as long as three years.

The cars are mostly of the combination type, thirty feet in length, and were built by the S. C. H. & A. Works, of Stockton, Cal. There are also a number of open cars with cross seats and center aisle and in winter the cars are provided with a temporary glass front supported in a framework, which the gripmen have put on at their own expense, the cost being about $10. The company does considerable business in handling freight, and a freight car is run over the line three times a day, being hauled by one of the regular trains, the freight being delivered to stores along the line and to the steamboat landing at the lake. The charges for heavy freight are $1 per ton, and the charge for small packages is five, ten, fifteen to twenty-five cents, depending on the size.

The company utilizes its cars for advertising purposes to a greater extent than almost any line we have found. Cards are not only posted in the usual place under the ceiling, but are also hung in the heading, being fastened to the rafters, and each two adjoining cards looped with ribbon at the bottom. Large placards are also hung in the windows on each side, and narrow cards are placed above the windows, also against the end panels of the seats and on signboards suspended from the body outside the trucks. The income from this method of advertising is, doubtless, quite considerable, but the practice cannot be said to add to the beauty of the cars.

All fares are five cents; no transfers are given. School tickets are sold for half price. Messenger boys ride on tickets provided by the telegraph companies, which are received by the railroad company and afterwards redeemed at the office of the messenger service. Policemen in uniform ride free. Mail carriers with their pouches are carried free. No passes are granted to the city officials or the directors of the company. All employes, including the barnmen, ride on their badges at any time, the badges of the barnmen being somewhat different from those of the trainmen.

FIG. 19. -- MADISON STREET CABLE RAILWAY -- SEATTLE.

The pay of conductors and gripmen is twenty-two cents per hour, and the time is reckoned from the time the train starts. They are not allowed anything for the time required for cleaning, taking out and putting up their cars. They are required to report for duty fifteen minutes before leaving time, and they have to sweep their cars and keep their windows clean. The new style of Meaker portable register is employed. Ex-steam-railroad men, in the opinion of the manager, do not make desirable employes, neither do men who have been working a long time for other companies. The managers prefer to break in new men. A bond of $25 is required, and the conductor is required to sign a contract agreeing, among other things, to give seven days' notice of his intention to leave the service of the company, or forfeit the $25 deposited, to be responsible for properly under his care, and attend to his duties with his utmost care and skill. The employes have formed a benevolent association, and each member is entitled to $10 per week in case of sickness or disability. The railroad company is not interested in this association.

At the time of the original construction, the lake end of the route was through new territory, and it was necessary to cut out the forest trees to make room for the line. The company, however, secured considerable territory on the lake front, which it has improved. The grounds have been carefully laid out, shade trees planted, and a large pavilion erected, which is leased for concert and restaurant purposes. There is also a greenhouse with a fine stock of plants, and a number of boat houses have been erected; a bathing pavilion, and a number of attractions have been provided, including a baseball ground near by, as a means of inducing traffic, and frequently, on Sundays, as many as 20,000 people are carried. The company is insured in the Employes' Liability Insurance Company, of New York, for which it pays a certain per cent, on gross receipts.

The lines of this company embrace ten and three-quarters miles of single track electric railway, and one and three quarters miles of double track cable, over grades varying from 3 to 18 per cent., and are operated under the management of E. F. Whittler, president, and E. B. Hussey, general superintendent.

It was the intention, when the lines were originally constructed, to tow the electric cars up and down hill behind the grip cars, but in attempting to do this it was found difficult to operate the motors in harmony with the cable, so that the drawheads were broken, and passengers became frightened, and it became necessary to abandon the project, so that now passengers have to transfer at the junction.

Two types of cable grip cars are employed. The summer cars are fourteen feet in length, and have the seats facing out, but curved at the ends, making an oval shaped car. The roof is supported by ornamental metal posts, and there is a waterboard all around, roof drainage being provided through the end posts. The winter cars are of the changeable type, but are run as closed cars in the winter, the gripman being housed in a pit at the middle of the car. This car was of local design, and was built by Rohlfs & Schoder, of Seattle. The doors are constructed with glass in both the upper and lower panels, so that the gripman can see the track in front. The seats being filled, the passage through the car is very difficult, on account of the room taken up by the railing about the gripman. It is said that passengers soon become accustomed to the arrangement, and those who are to leave the car between the terminals take the end seats, so that they do not disturb the other passengers in getting out.

The grip lever is reversible, so that cars are run in either direction, and are not turned at the terminals, crossover switches being provided. The lower grip jaw is twenty-one inches in length and the upper fifteen inches. These are now made of refined iron and last about a week. Formerly wrought Norway iron was employed for this purpose. The grip shanks last about a year. There being no curves in the line, they do not wear rapidly.

...

The power equipment, which is located in the basement, as before noted, consists of two 300 H. P. Corliss engines, manufactured by Lane & Bodley, of Cincinnati. The Pond Engineering Company, of St. Louis, designed the plant, and it was built under the supervision of the president of the company. The engines may be coupled to the same shaft by removing the connecting rod. Only one, however, is run at a time. The cable winding drums and the generators are driven from the same shaft by means of a continuous rope transmission, the shaft being provided with a rope pinion and two large rope pulleys placed one on each side of the pinion. From the pinion a continuous two inch rope is led, with seventeen wraps, over a large pulley on the shaft of one of the cable drums which are not geared together, and from each of the large flywheels two inch continuous ropes, making thirteen wraps each, transmit the power to six foot pulleys on the countershaft. Each of the three ropes has independent tension wheels, and that for the cable drum is loaded with a weight of 1,500 lbs. From the countershaft the power is transmitted, by means of continuous ropes, to two Edison 150 K. W. generators and one Thomson-Houston generator of 180 K. W., each of these ropes being also provided with tension apparatus, and loaded with a weight of from 1,000 to 2,000 lbs., the length of the rope influencing the weight. Manilla ropes, which are manufactured by the Portland Cordage Company, of Portland, Ore., are employed.

The cable is run at seven and a half miles an hour, and formerly a one and a quarter inch rope was employed, but since the effort to tow the electric cars was abandoned a one and one eighth inch rope is employed. The first rope had a life of about eleven months. The present rope is composed of six strands of twenty-five wires each, six of them being very fine. The nineteen large wires are laid nine over one and nine over nine, with the small wires interwoven. The tension apparatus is provided at each end of the line, this being considered necessary on account of the steep grades.

Tubular boilers are employed. Both wood and coal are employed as fuel. The wood costs $1.50 per cord, delivered, and coal $2.50 per ton, the latter being obtained from the Black Diamond mines, about ten miles distant from the city. It is thought that the coal is slightly cheaper than wood. City water is used for the boilers. An effort, however, was made to secure artesian water, but after driving a well 700 ft. deep, the project was abandoned.

Trainmen are paid twenty-three cents an hour. The gripmen, after a certain period of service, receive twenty-four cents an hour. Track laborers receive $1.75 a day, and the foreman $2 a day; the head blacksmith $3 a day; the second blacksmith $2.50, and the head car builder $3 a day. A head ropeman is employed, and in splicing he is assisted by some of the gripmen who have been trained for the work, and for which they receive extra pay.

The regular fare is five cents, and transfers are issued between the cable and electric lines, and the tickets are provided by a local firm who has its business card printed on the back. The expense of the tickets is about $1 for each three months. These are printed in three colors, with the date and in large type, and are about two and a quarter by four inches, and are bound in pads of 100 each. School tickets are sold for $1 a month, which entitles the holder to ride twice a day on school days only. Transfer tickets are not registered, but the conductors are required to turn them in in the rotation in which they were received. This serves as a check, and if tickets are not found in regular order it indicates that they have received them when they ought not to. Employes of the company are provided with passes which have a blank sheet attached, and which the conductor is required to punch on every trip. Even the president and superintendent are required to present their passes the same as employes. No passes are issued to city officials. Policemen, in full uniform, ride free, as also do mail carriers, when carrying their pouches, and firemen in uniform. Employes' families are not allowed to ride free. This was tried, however, on one line of the city, and on Sundays and holidays it was found that the families of employes filled up the cars to the exclusion of the paying passengers. The International portable register is employed. Only one conductor, however, is employed for three cars. A conductor takes the car at the station, and after riding to a certain point meets the incoming car and collects the fares. In summer, however, one conductor is employed to two cars.

FIGS. 21, 22, 23 AND 24. -- POWERHOUSES OF SEATTLE STREET RAILWAYS. Grant Street Electric Power Station. Madison Street Cable Power Station. Front Street Cable Power Station. Pine Street Electric Power Station.

This company now controls the lines which have heretofore been operated under the name of the Seattle Consolidated Street Railway Company, Green Lake Electric Railway Company, Front Street Cable Railway Company, South Seattle Cable Railway Company and Rainier Railway & Power Company, and embraces thirty-three miles of electric lines and ten miles of cable, the system being under the management of D. T. Denny & Sons, with C. S. Clark as superintendent. The company has recently moved into new offices on the corner of Pike and Third Streets.

...

It is the intention of the company to erect one large central station near the mills on Lake Union, so as to operate the lines both of the electric and cable lines from one station, the present plan being to install an electric motor for operating the cable winding machinery. In this new plant compound condensing engines will be employed.

A cable line is operated from the power house on Front Street, from which two ropes are driven, the two sections of line being formerly known as the North Seattle Cable and South Front Street Cable Railway. The plant was designed and constructed by the California Engineering Company, and the power equipment of the cable station consists of two 150 H. P. Frick-Corliss engines, manufactured in Waynesboro, Pa., which may be coupled to the same shaft. The power is transmitted from a six foot pinion on the engine shaft, by a continuous rope belt, to two sixteen foot wood-rimmed pulleys, mounted one each on the shaft of the cable winding drums, so that both drums are driven by the same rope.

An idler is placed near the pinion over which two wraps of the rope are led, which provides space for carrying the second set of wraps past the first to the second driving pulley. One rope is led over an idler and tension pulley attached to the ceiling, to which about 500 lbs. weight of tension is attached. A two inch Manilla rope is employed, and the method of drive is operating very satisfactorily. In the original construction, however, a four foot pinion with ten foot driving drums was employed, but on this the ropes slipped to such a degree as to set fire to the grooves. No difficulty, however, has been experienced since the size of the driving pulleys was increased. In the opinion of the engineer the idler now employed is not necessary, and he thinks the plant would work equally well without it. The speed of the rope is ten miles an hour, and the two sections of rope are 19,600 ft. and 11,000 ft., respectively. A Lang lay type of rope, manufactured by the Washburn & Moen Company, is employed, and the ropes have a life of about twelve months. In the making of this rope, care is exercised that the wires are all drawn in one direction, and in laying up, the twist of the wire, the twist of the strands and the placing of the cable in the conduit are all one way. The conduit on Front Street was constructed with yokes made from old T rails and angle iron, and is about twenty-seven inches deep. That for the North Seattle, which runs to Queen Ann Hill, is all of timber, however, and the method of construction is shown in Fig. 25. The foundation is made of 12 X 12 in. timbers laid across the street to the width of both tracks. Upon this are placed three sections of 12 X 12 in. timbers, and above this stringers, 8x12 in., which support the rails, with two inch planking which forms the walls of the conduit, and supports the surface plank upon which are fastened strips of strap iron to form the slot. This makes a very cheap construction, but unfortunately, not a very durable one. The cable line is operated by grip cars and trailers, and there is also an equipment of combination cars.

This company operates five miles of narrow gauge cable line, at present under the management of O. S. Buckbee. It is a loop line on which cars are run left handed over grades as high as 15 percent., and the terminals are near Front Street in the city and at Leschi Park on Lake Washington, where are provided the usual attractions for inducing traffic, including a greenhouse, bathing pavilion, dancing pavilion and a managerie of carefully selected animals. The line was started in September, 1888, and is probably the cheapest construction of a cable line in the world, the rails weighing only sixteen pounds to the yard, and the yokes placed eight feet apart with a sheet iron lining for the conduit, the conduit being only thirteen feet deep. The rails are spiked to stringers, and the slot rail consists of strap iron supported also on stringers. The line was built by the Pacific Construction Company, of San Francisco. No drainage is provided, and the diameter of the carrying pulley is about eight inches. The line is operated with open grip cars and trailers, and the trains are run on a headway of from four and a half to ten minutes. The cars are manufactured by the John Hamilton Company, of San Francisco, and by the S. C. H. & A. Works, of Stockton, Cal. A Broderick & Bascom rope is employed, and has a life of from twelve to thirteen months. Several different types of trucks and wheels of different diameters are employed. Turntables are provided at the terminals, and in one street corner of the city in place of a curve, the direction of the cars is changed by means of a turntable upon which the trainmen first push the motor and afterwards the trailer. This method is adopted to avoid the danger of rounding a curve in a busy portion of the city.

The power station is located on the side of a bluff some distance above the lake. Why it was not placed on the shore of the lake, the present manager is not able to explain. As it is, the fuel has to be hauled up from the lake by means of an incline railroad and the water pumped for a considerable distance. The power house is approached from the top of the bluff by a high trestle structure and in its interior construction is very conveniently arranged.

The power equipment of the cable station consists of one Allis-Corliss engine of 250 H. P. and one Hamilton-Corliss of 200 H. p. and two batteries of tubular boilers. The power is transmitted from the four foot pinion on the engine shaft by means of continuous rope belt to driving pulleys on the shafts of the winding drums, both drums being driven. In this transmission no idler is employed, the second set of ropes being led at a slight angle past the first pulley. The tension arrangement consists of a traveling pulley suspended in the well by the rope which passes over two vertical sheaves in the rear of the station; one tension weight of about 450 lbs. is employed. The ropes make six wraps and five wraps respectively on the two driving drums, six wraps being employed on the drum nearest to the engine shaft. The fuel is slack coal, which costs $2 per ton delivered.

Conductors are paid $2.50 per day and gripmen $2.75, trackmen $2.50. The fare is five cents, and no transfers are issued; school tickets, however, are sold at half price. No passes are issued except to employes, which they are obliged to show every trip. The Meaker portable register is employed.

The repair shops at the station are provided with a very complete equipment of iron working tools, including a drill press, lathe, planer and wheel press. Both the repair shop and engine room are kept in an exceptionally neat manner. It is probable the entire line will be reconstructed the coming season.

This company, which is under the management of T. Ewing and J. H. Watson, operates two miles of single track of narrow gauge loop line at West Seattle, which is built upon a promontory on the opposite side of the bay, two miles from the city proper and is reached by ferry. The road is built along the side of a bluff next to the water and runs upon the tableland to the power station which is located near the Sound on the west side of the plateau, making fourteen curves in all. The road was constructed by the Pacific Construction Company, and is excellently well built. Combination cars are employed, which were built by the S. C. H. & A. Works, of Stockton, Cal. Only one car, however, is run in the winter time. It makes hourly trips, the line being shut down while the car waits for the ferryboat.

The power station is a handsome wooden structure, and the power equipment consists of one Wheelock 100 H. p. engine with the engine shaft geared direct to one of the winding drums, which is provided with wooden teeth, one drum only being driven. The drums are equipped with Walker differential rings and are mounted upon the foundation frame by adjustable bearings, one set of which is provided with set screws. Steam is provided by two tubular boilers, which were built for the California Engineering Company, this company having designed the plant. A one and one-eighth inch rope of the Hazard Manufacturing Company make is employed. It is about 11,500 ft. in length and has a life of about two years. Wood is employed for fuel, which costs $2 per cord delivered. Fare is five cents; commutation tickets, however, are sold to residents, sixty-two trips for $3, including the ferry to Seattle.

One interesting feature of this line is a balance car construction, similar to that described in connection with one of the Portland lines, and was devised by J. P. F. Kuhlman, by means of which the electric cars are easily operated over a 1,000 ft. line which is on a grade of from 7 to 17 per cent., 300 ft. of which is 16.85 Per cent., 300 ft 12 per cent, and the balance 7 per cent. The balance cars consist of two iron cars having a weight of about seven tons. The construction of this section is somewhat different from that before described, as the conduit is placed at one side of the middle, the balance car occupying the main portion of the space between the rails. The attachment is readily made to the cable of the balance car. Current is used in both ascending and descending, and the balance car not only assists, but also answers as a safety device. In this line the air cylinders are not provided at the top of the grade, but about fifty feet of the top is on level ground where the balance car remains without being locked. The cars are not only run readily over this grade, but frequently haul a heavily loaded freight car.

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From The Street Railway Journal, May, 1893. Volume IX, Number 5.

Seattle, Wash. -- D. T. Denny & Sons have purchased the Front Street cable line for the sum of $1,250,000. The line is three and a half miles iong, with double track.

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