ANDREW SMITH HALLIDIE

 

Andrew Smith Hallidie. While his home was in San Francisco for nearly half a century, and while he gave in full measure of his powers and abilities to the city, the real fame of Andrew Smith Hallidie belongs to the world, as did his achievement in practical science and mechanical invention. He was one of the great contributors to the volume of invention and mechanical progress that marked the last half of the nineteenth century. San Francisco esteems him the more because in what was perhaps his greatest invention. The application of the cable system to railway transportation, he made the first successful application in his home city. San Francisco justly claims the first cable railway system of the world.

On Sutter Street, between Montgomery and Kearney, is the Hallidie Building, on which has been fixed a tablet by the regents of the University of California, with the following inscription:

"Hallidie Building, named in honor of Andrew Smith Hallidie, born in London, England, March 16, 1836; died in San Francisco April 24, 1900. Creator of our cable railway. Twice member of the Board of Freeholders, chosen to frame a charter for this city. Regent of the University from the first meeting of the board on June 9, 1868, to the day of his death. During the last twenty-six years, devoted chairman of its Finance Committee. Builder, Citizen, Regent, a Man of Integrity."

He was a son of Andrew and Julia (Johnstone) Smith, but later he adopted, and the adoption was formally approved by the California Legislature, the family name Hallidie, in honor of his god-father and uncle, Sir Andrew Hallidie, a Scotch physician. His father, Andrew Smith, was born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland, and was also distinguished for his inventive genius. Before he left England he took out patents which then cost between $1,500 and $2,000. His most important invention was the making of ropes and cables from iron and steel wire. He took out his first patent on this process in 1835. Wire ropes and cables have effected great changes in many branches of industry, and such a cable, of course, was the essential feature of a cable railroad.

In 1852 the Hallidies, father and son, came to California. Andrew Smith Hallidie prospected in the mining district, and along with mining, continued the study in practice of engineering. He did much surveying and bridge building, and also conducted a small blacksmith and machine shop. In 1855, at the age of nineteen, he designed and built a wire suspension aqueduct of 220 feet span across the middle fork of the American River, for conveying water in an open flume three feet wide by two feet deep for use in the mines. Making use of his father’s invention, he extemporized in June, 1856, machinery for making wire rope, thus producing the first cable made on the Pacific slope. The next year he established a manufactory for wire ropes in San Francisco. He designed and built a great number of bridges, chiefly wire suspension bridges, in the period from 1858 to 1868, including one or more over the Fraser River in British Columbia. He took out his first patent for his invention of a rigid suspension bridge in 1867. In the same year he invented a method of transporting freight across mountainous and rugged districts by an endless overhead moving rope, a contrivance subsequently known as the "Hallidie ropeway."

It was largely the development of this idea that led up to his achievement of a cable railroad. He matured his plans for such a railway in 1871. The suggestion for such means of pulling street cars was given him in San Francisco, where horses frequently stumbled and fell in dragging the street cars up the heavy grades in that city. His cable road was constructed on Clay Street. The difficulty of constructing such a line was due less to the technical problems involved, than to the hesitation of capital to invest in such an unproved enterprise. The three men who shared with him jointly the financial expense involved were Joseph Britton, Henry L. Davis and James Moffit. Each contributed something over $20,000 and on August 1, 1873, the first steel street car was propelled by the cable railroad system. While some features of his system were appropriated and patented by others, the real credit for inaugurating a practical system of transportation by cable belongs to him. During the next twenty years, until the beginning of the electrical railway age, there was great development of the cable railway system, and nearly every large modern city in the world had some mileage of cable railway.

When one recalls the hilltops and the immense waste of vacant drifting sand, hardly worth paying taxes on, that are now embraced in the most valuable residential sections of San Francisco, some idea can be gathered of the significance of Hallidie’s enterprise. The construction of the cable line was followed by the great real estate upheaval that brought sudden wealth to thousands of holders of what seemed the most unpromising property in the world. He made more millionaires than the Comstock, opened up possibilities before undreamed of. It has fallen to the lot of few men to leave such a lasting reward of usefulness.

From his many inventions, upwards of a hundred in number, Mr. Hallidie achieved the position of a man of wealth. His success in business was accompanied by a generous public spirit that was particularly directed toward educational progress and the general welfare of his home city. He was especially interested in municipal politics, taking an active part in many reform movements. He was a partisan for non-partisan principles, and was firm in following out right at whatever loss of personal friendships. Mr. Hallidie was a man of scrupulous integrity, avoiding even the appearance of wrong doing. He made it a point that in no instance should any society or institution with which he was associated as officer or trustee purchase goods of his firm. If the University of California or the Mechanics’ Institute required anything in the way of wire, they must buy of his competitors and not of the California Wire Works. The time he gave to public affairs was very great. As head of the Finance Committee of the University of California he brought to bear the same thorough and patient thoughts that he did to his own business, and the services he rendered cannot be overestimated. A conservative and careful man, what he did was much, while what he prevented was probably more. During the period from the appointment of President Wheeler to the time of his installation, Regent Hallidie acted as president of the university.

He was deeply interested in the expressions of manual training, and gave much time and thought to his duties with the California School of Mechanical Art and the Wilmerding Trade School. Of the Mechanics’ Institute of San Francisco he served as president from 1868 to 1878 and from 1893 to 1896. During that period he received and entertained the Engineers Association, the Horticultural Association, and many individual notables visiting San Francisco. The Mechanics Institute, through his personal efforts, planned the celebration of the day the last spike was driven by the Central Pacific Railway. For many years he was a trustee of the Free Public Library of San Francisco, and was a member of two Boards of Freeholders to frame a charter. He was a member of the American Society of Inventors, the American Geographical Society of New York, the California Academy of Science, and many other scientific organizations. His contributions to magazines and newspapers were numerous and extensive. The commercial associations in California delegated him in December, 1884, to visit Mexico and present a congratulatory address to President Diaz.

Mr. Hallidie was a man of domestic tastes and enjoyed the hospitality he was able to extend. He was at home in his library, and his books were his closest friends. His taste for mechanics was very strong and he encouraged it in others. He never joined any secret fraternities, but was a member of several social clubs in San Francisco. He acted as president of eight industrial exhibitions in the city. These services constituted a great volume of labor in behalf of his home community, but he was never a candidate for a salaried public office.

In November, 1868, Mr. Hallidie married Miss Martha Elizabeth Woods, daughter of David Woods, of Sacramento. She was born in Quincy, Illinois, and was a child when brought to California. Her father came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, making the trip with Governor Woods of Illinois. He was a pioneer cabinet maker and contractor in the City of Sacramento, taking up that occupation after a trial at mining. David Woods was a descendant of an old American family of Revolutionary stock and English descent. His grandfather was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Mrs. Martha E. Hallidie resides in Berkeley.

 

Transcribed by Elaine Sturdevant