The cable cars were still able to traverse the steep hills better, so some of the lines were rebuilt. It only required half the investment to build and maintain, could reach more areas and was quicker. A former horsecar company, Sutter Street Railroad, developed its own version of Hallidie's patented system and began cable service in 1877, followed by California Street Cable Railroad (1878), Geary Street, Park & Ocean Railroad (1880), Presidio & Ferries Railroad (1882), Market Street Cable Railway (1883), Ferries & Cliff House Railway (1888), and Omnibus Railroad & Cable Company (1889).Īll totaled, San Francisco companies had laid down 53 miles of track stretching from the Ferry Building to the Presidio, to Golden Gate Park, to the Castro, and to the Mission.Īpril 18, 1906, the great San Francisco earthquake and the fires that raged out of control in its aftermath devastated the city.īy this time the electric streetcar, perfected in1888 by Frank Sprague, had become the vehicle of choice for city transit. Image X7307 from the SFMTA Photo Archive.Ĭlay Street Hill Railroad was the sole San Francisco cable car company for four years. Andrew Hallidie stands on the open-air cable car between two seated women. It was a tremendous success.Ĭlay Street Hill Cable Car at Clay Street and Van Ness Avenue circa October 1877. Clay Street Hill Railroad began public service on September 1, 1873.

Even though they were a day late the cable car trials received great approval. The contract to operate on city streets stated the line must be operational by August 1. It was launched on the August 2. Hallidie entered into a partnership to form the Clay Street Hill Railroad, which began construction of a cable line on Clay Street in May of 1873. He began using cable in a system he had developed to haul ore from mines and in building suspension bridges. Hallidie's father was an inventor who had a patent in Great Britain for 'wire rope' cable. His idea for a steam engine-powered, cable driven rail system was conceived in 1869, after witnessing horses being whipped while they struggled on the wet cobblestones to pull a horsecar up Jackson Street. Hallidie's cable car system would survive the great San Francisco earthquake and fires of 1906, soldier on through two World Wars and outlast political attempts to remove the cars from city steets in the late 1940s and 1950s to become the worldwide symbol of San Francisco that it is today.Īndrew Smith Hallidie tested the first cable car at 4 o'clock in the morning, August 2, 1873, on San Francisco's Clay Street. Cable cars were invented by Andrew Smith Hallidie here in San Francisco in 1873. Hallidie's cable car system was based on early mining conveyance systems and dominated the city’s transit scene for more than 30 years.

Gylt whetes the cable car