18731776 Club
A gripman balks at the hill; Hallidie takes the cable car down himself
The Clay Street Hill Railroad opens a day late, but San Francisco's first cable line runs without incident.
San Francisco's hills broke horses. Draft animals hauling streetcars up Jackson Street routinely collapsed on the grade, and Nob Hill's slopes made much of the city unreachable by rail. On September 1, 1873, the Clay Street Hill Railroad opened along Clay Street, running roughly between Kearny and Jones streets, hauling passenger cars up a 348-foot rise in six blocks using a steam-driven cable and mechanical grips instead of horses. Within a year it was carrying 3,000 riders a day…
