The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1910-02-21
JUNKET ENDS With
Wild AUTO RIDE
Supervisors Have Sensational
Race in Return From Spring
Valley Properties

Bewildered by the immensely of the
Spring Valley water company hold
ings and elated over having partici-
pated in a sensa tional automobile run,
the city officials who left the super
visors' headquarters in Eddy street
Saturday morning al o'clock returned
home at $40 o'clock last night
After viewing the artesian wells at
Pieasanton the start was made for San
Francisco yesterday, and then began
an exciting phase of the automobile
run. AT breakneck speed the five ma
chimes plunged along the highways,
developing terrific speed as soon as
they had cleared the soft road lead
ing from Pleasanton to the main road
into Hayward The widest dash of
all was along the boulevard Over this
model stretch of road the cars flew
at speed ranging from so to 60 miles
an hour 1t was a race for the 6
o'clock creek boat, and the cars won.
CITY NEEDS PLANT
1t was a trip planned by the Spring
Valley officials to give the supervisors
an idea of the company's holdings
which would guide them in the task
of fixing water rates for the next fis-
cal year. 1t not only caused the ma
jority of Mayor p H. McCarthy's board
of supervisors to assert that he had
made mistake in opposing the pur-
chase of the plant by the city at the re-
cent bond election, but it convinced
them that the acquisition of the prop
erty as a complement to the Hetch
Hetch project was necessary in assur-
ing to San Francisco a sufficient sup
ply of water for all time.
Fully rested after the first davis
trip, which took them through the pic
turesque peninsular properties, the
party left the hotel Vendome in San
Jose at 8 o'clock yesterday morning.
The five automobiles whisked by the
orchards OF the rich Santa Clara val
ley with here and there tree in bios
som, telling of the approach of spring.
and were soon negotiating the tor
tuous grades of the Calaveras road
made particularly dangerous by the
heavy mist of the early morning Time
and again the heavy cars sl<idded on
the narrow grades and were in immi-
nent danger of plunging down the
canyon, but the skillful chauffeurs COW
cred this part of the 10 mile trip,
as well as the rest of it, without any
mishap other than one puncture.
VIEW RESERVOIR SITE
On reaching the summit the officials
had their first view of the vast reser-
voir site sometimes referred to as the
CalaveraS COW pastures. Work was lust
being begun on a dam at the time of the
earthquake that would convert the
company's fertile acres in the valley
of this great watershed into a lake
that would have a greater capacity
than the Crystal Springs lakes on the
peninsula.
Ter discovered that this great val
ley had been a prehistoric lake He
found natures own dam of rock had
been swept away centuries ago He
at that time realized the great posi-
bilities of the valley as a reservoir
site, and had his company buy out the
farmers in it in 1875 after San Fran
cisco had turned down the proposition
The earthquake made 1t impossible for
the water company to spend the So
100000 necessary to build the dam
which would give storage capacity
of 3O,00O,000 gallons.
Without taking the time to view the
Arroyo Hondo, the San Antonio and the
Arroyo Valley holdings, the partv
raced on to the subterranean gravel
beds in the Sunol and the Pleasanton
valleys. The average daily yield. with
out use of surface reservoirs, is 14,OOO.-
600 gallons, drawn through large sub
terranean filter galleries under the
Sunol valley from total tributary
watershed of about 500 square miles.
Powerful centrifugal pumps lift the
water from wells in the Pleasanton
gravel beds. The company has more
than 100 wells. but only &c have been
connected This water flows on to the
Sunol aqueduct and then across the
bay to the Belmont pumping plant.
where it is raised to the great stor-
age lakes.
AT the close of the luncheon served
in the company's cottage at Sunol.
President Michael Casey of the board
of public works expressed the appre-
citation of the city officials for the
cosrtesies extended by the company on
the trip.