Ferries & Cliff House Railway

by Joe Thompson

Powell Street car outbound near Post, before 1900 (Source: [group 6:112b], Jesse Brown Cook Scrapbooks Documenting San Francisco History and Law Enforcement, ca. 1895-1936, BANC PIC 1996.003--fALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley). May, 1998 Picture of the Month.

line: Powell/Mason

opened: 28-Mar-1888. Powell Street from Market to Jackson, Jackson from Powell to Mason. Mason from Jackson to Montgomery Street (now Columbus). Columbus from Mason to Taylor. Taylor from Columbus to Bay (near Fisherman's Wharf).

powerhouse: Washington & Mason.

grip: Eppelsheimer bottom grip, lever-operated

gauge: 3'6"

cars: single-ended California cars, and open cars. Cars originally had a single front-facing seat on each side.

turntables: single track.

crossings:

Intersection	Company	Status
Mason/Union	PF	inferior
Powell/Clay	CSH/FCH	inferior
Powell/Sacramento	FCH	inferior
Powell/California	CSC	inferior
Powell/Sutter	SSR	inferior
Powell/Post	ORR	superior
Powell/Geary	GSPO	inferior
Powell/Ellis	ORR	superior

line: Washington/Jackson

opened: 05-Apr-1888. Powell Street from Market to Jackson, Jackson from Powell to Central (now Presidio), Central to California. Eastbound: Steiner from Jackson to Washington. Washington to Powell.

cut back: 1906. Looped back at Steiner.

powerhouse: Washington & Mason.

grip: Eppelsheimer bottom grip, lever-operated

gauge: 3'6"

cars: Same as Powell/Mason.

turntables: single track.

crossings:

Intersection	Company	Status
Washington/Polk	SSR	inferior
Jackson/Polk	SSR	inferior
Washington/Hyde	CSC	superior
Jackson/Hyde	CSC	superior
Powell/Clay	CSH/FCH	inferior
Powell/Sacramento	FCH	inferior
Powell/California	CSC	inferior
Powell/Sutter	SSR	inferior
Powell/Post	ORR	superior
Powell/Geary	GSPO	inferior
Powell/Ellis	ORR	superior

line: Sacramento/Clay

opened: 1892. Clay Street from Ferry to Larkin, Larkin from Clay to Sacramento, Sacramento from Larkin to Central (now Presidio). Eastbound: Sacramento from Central to East Street (now Embarcadero).

extended: 15-Feb-1894. Sacramento from Central to First Avenue (now Arguello) Arguello to Lake. Lake to 6th Avenue. 6th to Fulton at Golden Gate Park. This extension was made to reach the Midwinter Fair. It used an extension of the MSR McAllister cable.

cut back: 1902. To Walnut.

cut back: 1907. To Fillmore. After the Earthquake and Fire of 18-April-1906, service was restored in 1907. One way portions reversed, East on Clay, West on Sacramento. Loop at Ferry. Tradition has it that this was done so that customers could reach the Fairmont Hotel from the Ferries without walking uphill. More likely, it was so cars would not run against traffic at the Embarcadero.

powerhouse: Washington & Mason.

grip: Eppelsheimer bottom grip, lever-operated

gauge: 3'6"

cars: Same as Powell/Mason.

cars (after 1906): double-ended California cars. See below for details.

turntables: single track. After 1906, shared trackage in Ferry Loop.

crossings:

Intersection	Company	Status
Sacramento/Polk	SSR	inferior
Sacramento/Hyde	CSC	superior
Clay/Hyde	CSC	superior
Clay/Powell	CSH/FCH	superior
Sacramento/Powell	FCH	superior

notes: This system had a split personality. The original lines on Mason and Washington/Jackson went nowhere near the Ferries or the Cliffhouse. In fact, the original cars that ran on Powell were lettered "Powell Street Railway".

Truth in advertising came into effect with the building of the Sacramento/Clay line and the connecting steam dummy lines. Read about the company's connecting steam dummy service in "When Steam Ran on The Streets of San Francisco, Part I," by Walter Rice and Emiliano Echeverria.

Howard C Holmes designed the company's lines and powerhouse (Source: The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Supplement I, 1910).

Some contemporary newspaper articles:

• "Articles of Incorporation were filed yesterday by the Powell street Railroad Company." (Daily Alta California, Friday, December 10, 1886)
• "Articles of incorporation of the Ferries and Cliff House Railway Company were filed yesterday with the County Clerk." (Daily Alta California, Friday, December 16, 1887)
• "...by the Powell-street Railway Company, in which they deed all their property, franchises and rights to the Ferries and Cliff House Railway Company..." (Daily Alta California, Friday, January 6, 1888)
• "...assumes the bonds of the Powell-st Railwuy Co..." (Daily Alta California, Friday, January 6, 1888)
• "The cable ... 19,000 feet long, was successfully, laid yesterday morning." (Daily Alta California, Saturday, March 24, 1888)
• "The new cable to take the place of the wornout rope on the Powell street branch of the Ferries and Cliff House Railway was hauled up to the engine-house by thirty-two horses Saturday." (Daily Alta California, Monday, May 21, 1888)
• "The new safety slot brake on the Powell Street Railroad in San Francisco has proved a perfect success..." (Sausalito News, Friday, December 7, 1888)

Read an 1897 article about a collision between a Powell Street cable car and an Ellis Street electric car: Collision at Ellis and Powell. June, 2022 Picture of the Month.

There have been proposals to extend the terminal of the Mason Street line from Bay to Fisherman's Wharf. When the line was built, it ran to the waterfront, but landfill has extended the waterfront three blocks.

Walter Rice's essay Is It "Mahoney" or "Mahony?" explores a mystery about the brothers Jeremiah and John J Mahony, who built the original Powell Street cars. Thanks to Robert Bailey, we now know the answer.

The Sacramento/Clay line replaced the Clay Street Hill Cable Railroad.

The Sacramento/Clay line was replaced by buses on 15-Feb-1942.

Read "Market Street Railway's Efforts to Curtail Its Cable Car System", two contemporary newspaper articles about the Market Street Railway's struggle to abandon the Sacramento/Clay line and the Castro cable line, with an introduction by Walter Rice

Sacramento/Clay dash sign. From the collection of Val Lupiz.

Powell/Mason dash sign. From the collection of Val Lupiz.

Washington/Jackson dash sign. From the collection of Val Lupiz.

The Washington/Jackson line was replaced by the Powell/Hyde line.

The system was almost completely destroyed by the earthquake and fire of 18-Apr-1906. The cars which currently run on the Powell Street lines survived because they were in a barn at Sacramento & Walnut. The three-story powerhouse was levelled and was rebuilt as a two-story building. The powerhouse was rebuilt again in the mid 1980's.

The crossing at Powell and California is controlled by a manned signal tower. Read Emiliano J Echeverria's article about the tower.

"The Song of the Powell Street Grip", was originally printed in the Market Street Railway's house publication The Inside Track, March 1923. It was reprinted in San Francisco's Powell Street Cable Cars by Emiliano Echeverria and Walter Rice, Arcadia Publishing Co. October 2005.

Sacramento/Clay cars reached the car barn by 2 blocks of track on Stockton from Sacramento to Washington.

The FCH operated a steam dummy line from the end of the Sacramento/Clay line, out California Street from Presidio to about 33rd Avenue, through a tunnel, and around the cliffs on private right-of-way to a terminal at 47th and Point Lobos, near Sutro Heights and the Cliff House. There was a branch on 7th Avenue to Fulton, at Golden Gate Park. The small wooden station building still exists in the park.

FCH roundouse at California and Laurel, 1895 (Present site of Laurel Village) (Source: [group 4:33a], Jesse Brown Cook Scrapbooks Documenting San Francisco History and Law Enforcement, ca. 1895-1936, BANC PIC 1996.003--fALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley).	FCH locomotive at California and Laurel water tank, 1895 (Source: [group 4:34a], Jesse Brown Cook Scrapbooks Documenting San Francisco History and Law Enforcement, ca. 1895-1936, BANC PIC 1996.003--fALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley).
FCH tunnel near California and 33rd Avenue, 1895 (Source: [group 4:33b], Jesse Brown Cook Scrapbooks Documenting San Francisco History and Law Enforcement, ca. 1895-1936, BANC PIC 1996.003--fALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley).	FCH (Powell Street Railway) station at Golden Gate Park (7th & Fulton). The structure still exists (Source: Recreation and Park Department Archives).
FCH wreck on Land's End right of way (Source: [group 4:32], Jesse Brown Cook Scrapbooks Documenting San Francisco History and Law Enforcement, ca. 1895-1936, BANC PIC 1996.003--fALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley).	Another view of the same wreck (Source: [group 4:31], Jesse Brown Cook Scrapbooks Documenting San Francisco History and Law Enforcement, ca. 1895-1936, BANC PIC 1996.003--fALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley).

The line around the cliffs was electrified in 1905 as part of the 1 California streetcar line. The cliff portion was abandoned due to land slides on 07-Feb-1925. A trail covers parts of the line. Along the trail, and visible from the Land's End parking lot, are the foundations of a small station building.

Ferries and Cliff House roundhouse at California and Laurel. California Street on the left. Locust would be above the top of the image and Laurel below the bottom (Source: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, San Francisco, 1899-1900, Vol 4, Sheet 399).

The Library of Congress' American Memory Project has a film taken from the front of a steam train heading East from Land's End towards California Street, to connect with the Sacramento Clay line.

Powell Street car inbound near Geary, before 1900. Another inbound car is visible farther up the hill (Source: [group 3:25], Roy D. Graves Pictorial Collection, ca. 1850-ca. 1968, BANC PIC 1905.17500--ALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.).

Former Sacramento/Clay Car 19, in storage at the Washington/Mason car barn. December 2003. Photo by Joe Thompson. August, 2020 Picture of the Month.

Muni inherited all 12 post-1906 Sacramento Clay cars. Muni sold them to various people and organizations. I have been able to determine the fates of seven cars:

• Car 16, was on display on the roof of the Emporium department store for many years. Val Golding reports on the cable car email list that it was broken up for parts which are in storage.
• Car 18. Converted to a motorized cable car by Gridley Realty, along with several former California Street cars.
• Car 19. Preserved in the Washington/Mason barn since the museum opened, but never on display because of its size and weight. In 1997-1998 it was refurbished. Attempts to take it out into the street failed because the running boards obstructed the trucks on the sharp curve leaving the barn. Cable Car Maintenance Manager Arne Hansen and Division Superintendent Brent Jones had adjustments made so that the running boards would not obstruct the trucks. Early in the morning of 20-July-2019, a wrecker pushed car 19 over the California Street line. There were no problems with clearances. Early in the morning of 26-July-2019, gripman Val Lupiz operated the car over the California line. This was the first time the car had operated under cable traction since the Sacramento/Clay line was abandoned in 1942. Val has named the car "Big 19" to distinguish it from Powell Street car 19.
• Car 20. Stored at the Western Railway Museum at Rio Vista Junction. It had been a ticket booth at Fisherman's Wharf, had been used for something at Lake Tahoe, and wound up sitting in a wrecking yard in Medford, Oregon.
• Car 21. Converted to a motorized cable car with one open end cut off. Owned in the early 1950's by Gus and Harold Geister of the Marin Truck & Storage Company.
• Car 22. A car that had been used on the Peninsula as a flower shed. The owner displayed potted plants in the open ends and used the closed section as a work shop. It was at the Western Railway Museum in the late 1960's or early 1970's, but previous ill treatment had already caused it to deteriorate beyond repair.
• Car 25. Converted to a motorized cable car by Gridley Realty, along with several former California Street cars.

MSR Sacramento/Clay car on Sacramento at Grant. This was the line, built by the FCH, that replaced the original Clay Street Hill line. The original caption says 1920 but the cars look more like those of the Thirties [group 2:19], Roy D. Graves Pictorial Collection, ca. 1850-ca. 1968, BANC PIC 1905.17500--ALB, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Sep, 1998 Picture of the Month.

Washington/Mason powerhouse in 1899. Mason is at the bottom of the map and Washington is to the left. (Source: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, San Francisco, 1899-1900, Vol 1, Sheet 53).

Washington/Mason powerhouse and carbarn before 1906. Notice the third floor, which was not restored after the Earthquake and Fire. (Source: San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, AAC-7827).

Washington/Mason powerhouse after 1906. Mason is at the top of the map and Washington is to the right. (Source: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, San Francisco, 1913-1950, Vol 1, Sheet 57).

Washington and Mason in 1967. (Source: San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, AAC-8149).

Market Street Railway's carhouse on Sacramento between Central and Walnut in 1899. The 26 Powell Street cable cars that survived the 1906 Earthquake and Fire were stored here. On the left is the carhouse used by the Ferries and Cliff House's steam trains (Source: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, San Francisco, 1899-1900, Vol 4, Sheet 395).

Sacramento/Central carbarn in later years when it was used for storage and a company gymnasium (Source: San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, AAC-8385).

The Baldwin Hotel, which stood at Powell and Market, about 1888. We see the Powell and Market turntable in the foreground. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp37.00580-L.jpg). February, 2021 Picture of the Month.

Lucky Baldwin's Hotel and Theater stood at Powell and Market Streets from 1878 until 1898. The building caught fire and burned early in the morning of 23-November-1898. Read about the hotel's connection to Sherlock Holmes on my movie blog:
Sherlock Holmes Looks Exactly Like William Gillette

The Baldwin Hotel, which stood at Powell and Market, caught fire on 23-November-1898. Note the firefighters putting water on the fire. Market Street cable cars are seen in the foreground. (Source: OpenSFHistory / wnp32.0283.jpg).

This video, taken on 22-March-2007, shows car 17, built in 1887, running outbound from Geary to Post, passing the Saint Francis Hotel. Click arrow button to play video. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.) See more videos on my Cable Car Video page.

Hello Central, Give Me Howard Holmes Here are the listings for Howard C Holmes, who designed the Ferries and Cliff Railway and became Chief Engineer of the Ferry Building from the February, 1903 Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company San Francisco phone directory: Main 1868. Holmes, Howard C., Chief Engnr. S.F. Dry Dock Co., Ferry Bldg. Baker 956. Same [Holmes, Howard C.], r. 2522 Green. Dedicated volunteers at San Francisco Genealogy typed in every page of the book.

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