New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-16
SAN FRANCIsCO'S GROWTH.
. NEW RAILROAD TO THE OCEAN BEACH

c. Fp ,SclsCo Dec 1.-The formal opening ior
;nspectIon to-day of the Park and ocean beacn
Railroad is worthy of mention, as an lndeX Oh 'ho
rapid strides this city is taking across the oreaiy
sona dimes toward tho Pacific Its projectors are
two of the men who carried through the Cen'ra!
Pacific Railroad to completion III the lace oi
immense natural obstacles and great puonc apathy
in regard to their enterprise. Leland e'anioru anu
charles Crocker are the leaders in this new move
-, Coz ron,d transit TO the ocean beach-a move
mani which in FIVE years will double the value OF all
outlying lands and will extend the limits OF the
citv I at least two miles. They have built cable
road which is unequaed in this country for safety
speed and thorough equipment, and bulit IL through
the main business highway of the city-the local
neutrality-suspicious. the sceptics declared no caoie
read could be operated because of the press Oh
vehicles and tho crowds of fOot-passengers VINO
tbropp the chief crossings during the busy hours OF
the dav They have demonstrated that the caolo
car is the ideal form of rapid transit for any CITY III
This country. with the SINGLE exception OF New
YORK They have devised cars which move with
the ease and freedom from Earring of the hneSt rail-
road palace car with paper wheels ana 'noS n"'0
devised a cable and grip by which they Turn sharp
cprces stop "A loaded car within space OF ten feot'
and secure a speed of eight miles an hour.
GROWTH OF THE CABLE SYSTEM.
All this has not been accomplished Wlthout
since the first street cars were run with cables IN
.bis oitv The pioncer in the movement was the
CLAW Street Hill Railroad, and its success was 80
,sueedv and so greatly beyond expectation that the
rext five wears saw the construction of two ex-
tensiye cable roads-the Suffer and the California
Street lines both extending from the business part
NJ the CITY ont to Lone Mountain Cemetery, and one
with lateral branch half as long as the nam llne'
These roads opened up and made convenient OF ac-
cess residence property which formerly could DO
reached only with the greatest difficulty. They
built ND what is now called the Western Adqltlon-
the farest residence quarter from whose many hills
can lie seen the Golden Gate, the picturesque bulk
Of Mount Tamalpais and the wide sweep OF the bay
as far as Alcatraz Island.
In rapid succession-deSpite dull times ana gloomy
forebodings of commercial rivals on the north coast
and Puget Sound-have been built the Geary Street
and the Union Street cable roads, the one carrying
messengers out to the Golden Gate Park, the other
climbing Russian Hill-naccessible to all animals
but the adventurous goat-and by steam DIahch
TRANSPORTING passengers to the Preside, or Military
Reservation. within easy walking distance of Fort
Point and the Golden Gate
Thus in nine years from the time the first car
crawled up the steep incline of Clay Street Hill,
every big hill in this city but one was conquered by
the cable system. The unvanquished one Is Ieie-
graph Hill which on the water side plunges down
in sheer descent of nearly three hundred feet to the
bay below, and on the landward slopes is sparseiy
covered with houses which cling to its precipitOus
sides like lichen to q rock. 1t is crowned now by
pagoda like beer garden and the owner of the airy
shrine TO Gambrinus proposes to build cable road
nm the side of the hill and establish little pleasure
resort where one may take i'll lager and fine scenery
and get smack of the salt breath of old ocean,
This is q chimerical project. and though the fran
ebise for the road has been secured e building of it
is not looked for except by the sangune.
THE MARKET STREET SYSTEM.
The present year witnessed the beginning OF the
Market Street cable systematic most extensive IN
the city, and the one whose partial completion was
celebrated to-day. generation ago Marketst. was
a wind-swept waste filled with clouds of choking
dust and bordered by low, Onc-story structures
like those of Spanish-American town. Ten years
ago il first began fairly to feel the stimulus of the
city's rapid growth. Now it is noble business
avenue. one hundred feet wide, bordeTed for two
miles by stately buildings, and promising III lew
years to be one the handsomest streets in any city
of the country 1t ntersectS half the streets in the
city as it cuts across the town diagOnally from
southwest to northeast ending at the Oakland
Ferry Depot the actual local terminus of the Cen
t,al Pacific Railroad. 1t is bound in the near fu-
ture to be the great artery of trade cXactly'as
Broadway is in New-York to-day. Its lower part
looks like Broadway below Trinity Church; its up
per part as far out as the intersection OF Larknst
bears a strong resemblance to SNth-ave., about
-thrdst being the chief centre of the retail
dry-goods trade. the paradise of the shopper, the
fayorite promenade of the local dude" and
smasher"
IL is this great avenue which the builders Of
the new cable road selected as the base of their
operations. The main line extends ont on Market
st. and Valenciast., its next neighbor, until the
base off the coast hills on that side is reached,
distance of about three miles 1t has two branches
one on McAllister-st., the site OF the new City Hail.
mile from the ferry, and the other on llaightst' a
half mile further west both of which extend out to
the Golden Gate Park From the terminus OF the
Haight Street cable road extends the Park and
Ocean Beach Railroad, which is run by means OF a
steam dummy, to he replaced i'll time by the more
cleauly and economical cable.
A FINE PLEASURE RIDE.
The passenger who takes his seat IN the 'front.' OF
the dummy or grip-car of the Haight Street branch
of the Market Street road at the ferry has noble
ride before him. The view is unObstructed; the
motion is even and regular; the frequent stoppages
cause no annoying jar or jolt; the track Is cleared
with great promptness by all vehicles one sees the
busy life pouring up and down on either Side' out
has no share in and is not osedby it it snrpasses
in comfort and exhilaratiOn ride down town on
the coach seat Of Broadway stage The car
sweeps M the broad avenue, past the huge, mary
stored dubious Widowed, factOry-liko Palace
Hotel the ugliest as well as the largest IN the
world past the of stores with their big show
windows filled with costly goods; past the Baldwin
Hotel one Of the most imposing buildings IN the
city: past the new City Hall, dust-coyered' dull
red brick structure. of peculiar architecture,
dwared and shorn of its little beauty of stature and
proportion by the ugly, shambiing structures bullt
around it, on the historic sand-lots, which greedy
and INSCRIPTIONS city government sold ont ut auc-
ton TO the highest bidder; past this monument OF
municipal extravaganza aud official meanneSS 10
the sharp curve which marks the entrance upon