Jan 19, 2025
'mirror lake at yosemite,' carleton watkins, 1872.
seen from Morocco
seen from Morocco
seen from Germany
seen from Canada
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Italy
seen from Senegal
seen from Australia
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Belgium
seen from United States
seen from Australia
'mirror lake at yosemite,' carleton watkins, 1872.
Trees in Calaveras Grove and Views of Yosemite, California, Carleton E. Watkins, circa 1878
California Gentleman - 1839–1855
Attributed to Carleton Watkins (American, 1829 - 1916)
• Portrait of a Boy with Gold-Mining Toys.
Artist/Photographer: Carleton Watkins (United States, 1829-1916); James M. Ford (United States, 1827-ca. 1877)
Date: March–September 1854
Medium: Daguerreotype, hand-colored
Carleton Watkins - La Jolla, Pacific Coast, near San Diego, 1880.
"Clay St. West of Kearny SF 1873 - First Cable Car in the World" In this elevated view west on Clay Street to the Clay St. Cable RR cable car at Kearny Street Terminus, Portsmouth Square can be seen on the right. Signage for the R. Cutlar Dentist, H. Traube watchmaker and jeweler at left. This photo is a detail from Carleton Watkins' stereo card number 2368 (Variant) under the original title: "Clay St. Hill R.R., San Francisco, Cal. Run by A.S. Hallidie's patent Endless Steel Wire Rope and Gripping Attachment. Overcomes an Elevation of 307 feet in a length of 2800 feet. Worst grade, one foot in six" (from the Marilyn Blaisdell Collection).
Chinatown at the Advent of the Cable Car
This year San Francisco marks the sesquicentennial of its cable car system. In the late 19th century, San Francisco experienced rapid urbanization and faced the challenge of its hilly terrain. Traditional horse-drawn streetcars struggled to navigate the steep inclines, necessitating an innovative transportation solution.
In the predawn hours of August 2, 1873, Andrew Smith Hallidie introduced the first successful cable car system in the world. The cable cars utilized an underground cable mechanism to propel the cars along tracks, overcoming the city's hilly landscape. This new mode of transportation revolutionized urban mobility and played a pivotal role in San Francisco's development.
Historian Phil Choy wrote about the Clay Street cable car terminus at Portsmouth Square as follows:
“Following Andrew S. Hallidie’s successful test-run of the first cable car on August [2], 1873, horse-drawn cars were replaced with a cable car on Clay Street. Thereafter, the Chinese called Clay Street ‘Mo Mah Lie Ch’eh,’ which literally means ‘no-horse-drawn-car’ [冇馬拉車; canto: “mou5 maa5 laai1 ce1″]. Starting from the top of Leavenworth Street, the line ended at a turntable at the bottom of Clay and Kearny Streets, to send the car back up the hill.”
California and Montgomery streets, c. 1889. Photographer unknown (from the Martin Behrman Negative Collection / Courtesy of the Golden Gate NRA, Park Archives). The view is west on California across Montgomery, as an Omnibus Railway Co. horsecar #11 passes the Parrott Building, or Parrott Block (1852, Architect Stephen Williams) seen in background. A Chinese man is walking south at the northeast corner of the intersection. The signs for the offices of Equitable Life and Dr. William F. McNutt at 405 Montgomery are visible at right.
The introduction of cable cars in San Francisco had a profound impact on the Chinese community. Several cable car lines conveniently passed through Chinatown, allowing Chinese residents to access transportation. The cable cars provided a reliable means of travel for the community, connecting them to other neighborhoods and employment opportunities initially for domestic workers serving the mansions atop Nob Hill and eventually throughout the city.
Clay Street Cable Car, c. 1873. Photograph by Carleton Watkins and published as “Pacific Coast. 2369″ and by Taber Photo (from the Marilyn Blaisdell collection). In this startling image, patrons and car operators can be seen posing on or alongside cable cars on Clay near Jones Street, except for at least two Chinese men seated in the car at left. Their faces were lost to history because one man placed his hat over his face, while the other inclined his head to avoid the camera’s lens. Watkins' image may be the only extant image showing urban pioneer Chinese actually riding an early cable car, possibly to their jobs as domestic servants for the mansions on Nob Hill.
Watkins' stereo card bears the legend: “Clay Street Hill R.R., San Francisco, Cal. Run by A.S. Hallidie's patent Endless Steel Wire Rope and Gripping Attachment. Overcomes an Elevation of 307 feet in a length of 2800 feet. Worst grade, one foot in six. 2369” Photograph by Carleton E. Watkins (from the collection of the San Francisco Public Library).
“At the Corner of Dupont and Jackson Streets” c. 1896 -1906. Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division). A cable car on the Jackson Street line can be seen at right. “Two girls wearing embroidered holiday wear are crossing the street,” as historian Jack Tchen wrote in his book about Genthe’s Chinatown photos. “The store behind them is a ‘Chinese and Japanese Curios’ store located at 924 Dupont Street, southwest corner. The good-quality, expensive vases in the window display and the sign in English indicate that the store catered especially to tourists. Some such stores were owned by Japanese, but the main reason that both Chinese and Japanese goods were sold in the same store was that the general public could not distinguish between the two cultures.”
(NOTE: Both Genthe’s identification of the intersection of Dupont and Jackson streets and Tchen’s location of the address at 924 Dupont appear INCORRECT for several reasons: (1) Genthe’s photo of the upslope depicts the west or odd-numbered side of the street, and the intersection’s southwest corner; (2) Prior to 1906, the building bearing an address of 943 Dupont occupied the southwest corner of the intersection with Jackson Street;(3) business directories of the time indicated that the Tong Yuen Lai confectionary operated at the 943 address during the 1890’s (and by the 1905 publication of the Chinatown phone directory, the Jong Mee Cigar Store had either co-located or operated solely at the address); (4) local transit historian Emiliano Echeverria observes that Jackson Street served as a horse-drawn streetcar line but such tracks were removed "and 1894 was when they were removed,” which preceded Genthe’s photographic work in San Francisco; (5) the storefront of, and its occupancy by, a curios store at the southwest corner of the intersection of Sacramento and Dupont streets was apparent as confirmed by the city’s July 1885 Chinatown map locating a “C[hinese] merchandise & pawn store” at 625 Dupont Street; (6) the storefront is a closematch to the one seen at the intersection of Dupont and Sacramento streets appearing in the upper-left background of Genthe’s photo “Carrying New Year Presents” (included below); and (7) business and phone directories from 1883 through 1905 showed the Quong Wah Lee & Co. at the 625 Dupont Street address and classified by the Langley directory of 1883 as selling “Fancy Goods - Chinese and Japanese.”
“B 3096 Clay Street Hill, Chinatown, San Francisco” c. 1886. Photograph by Isaiah West Taber (from the Marilyn Blaisdell Collection). In this view east on the south side of Clay Street, and just above Dupont, the trees of Portsmouth Square can in the distance at left, a horsecar can be seen on Kearny and an original Clay Street cable car. The large billboard for Globe Business College and Conservatory of Music in distance. The large vertical sign in Chinese denotes an herbalist or apothecary store.
The view east on Clay Street, c. 1888. (Photographer unknown from the collection of the California Historical Society). A cable car is in the process of crossing Dupont Street and heading west up the hill. The balconies of the Yoot Hong Low restaurant appear at left.
“161 Street Scene in Chinatown,” no date. Photographer unknown (from a private French collection). A cable car can be seen traveling west on Clay passing Stockton Street.
“Chinese Quarter, San Francisco, Cal.” c. 1891. Photograph by A.J. McDonald (from a private collection). A cable car is seen passing the 800-block of Clay Street between Dupont St. and Waverly Place. The decorated balconies of the Yoot Hong Low restaurant can be seen at center.
“B 2807 Lotta’s Fountain, and junction of Market, Kearny a& Geary Streets, S.F.” c. late 1880s. Photograph by Isaiah West Taber (from a private collection). A Market Street Cable Rail car appears in the right foreground. Two Chinese men can be seen in the background at left on the sidewalk between the two lampposts and under the Philadelphia Lager sign.
“Carrying New Year Presents” c. 1900-1905. Photograph by Arnold Genthe (from the Genthe photograph collection, The Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division). A cable car can be seen on the hill just behind the head of the young woman in the photo. She appears to have been a servant to the family of prominent merchant Lew Kan. The boy in the photo is Lew Bing Yuen, the older son, who also appears in Genthe’s well-known photo “Children of the High Class.”
The cable cars lines had played a significant role in fostering economic growth within Chinatown before the earthquake and fire of 1906 that destroyed the neighborhood. After the transformation of post-1906 Chinatown into the “Oriental City,” this urban transit network remained crucial to the neighborhood’s integration with the citywide economy. Tourists and locals utilized the cable car system, and Chinese-owned businesses along, and in proximity to, the cable car lines experienced increased patronage. This urban mobility represented by the cable car system, even after its reduction to only two lines, has sustained the Chinese community from it pioneer beginnings to this day.
“San Francisco Cable Car Lines at the Fullest Extent of Operation (1890s)” (courtesy of the Cable Car Museum). As the Cable Car Museum advises here, “Clay Street Hill Railroad was the sole cable car company for 4 years. 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.” At its peak, the San Francisco companies had laid “53 miles of track stretching from the Ferry Building to the Presidio, to Golden Gate Park, to the Castro, to the Mission.”
Published in Germany under the title “The Plaza, near Chinatown, San Francisco, U.S.A.” c. 1890. Photographer unknown (from the Marilyn Blaisdell Collection). In this northwesterly view toward the 700-block of Washington Street, a man walks a child through Portsmouth Square, and a cable car can be seen in the background. By the 1890s, a cable car line had been built on Washington Street, running along the northern edge of the square.
For the Chinese families who began to populate the eastern slopes of Nob and Russian Hills (and the garment workers in the small sewing factories along Pacific Avenue west of Stockton Street), the cable cars served as their principal transit system until the establishment of bus routes such as the Pacific Avenue shuttle (championed by Phil Chin and his Chinatown Transportation Improvement Project crew a half-century ago), and now known as the no. 12 Folsom/Pacific line.
A group of women (at least one of whom has bound feet) disembarks from a cable car in 1908. Photographer unknown (from the collection of the Chinese Historical Society of America). For women with bound feet (including great grandmothers on both sides of my family), the cars represented not only convenience but a necessary travel option for the residents navigating the hilly topography of San Francisco Chinatown.
The clang of cable car bells and the snap of the cable in the tracks remain an integral part of the soundtrack for the several generations of Chinese children who grew up in the greater Chinatown area.
Cable cars symbolized the vital role of urban transportation in fostering connections and opportunities -- providing convenient travel options for the residents of Chinatown, maintaining the neighborhood’s economy during hard times, and tying the segregated Chinese community to the larger city.
“Convergence of Cultures” oil painting by Mian Situ.
[updated 2025-1-17]
Carleton E. Watkins - A Pasadena pet, 1877-1880
Cape Horn near Celilo
Carleton Watkins, 1867