Andrew Smith Hallidie tested San Francisco’s first cable car on Clay Street on 2 August 1873, a 5,197‑foot climb that would redefine city transport.
The 3‑inch‑circumference steel rope spanned 11,000 feet and ran in iron tubes beneath the street, driven by a stationary engine that kept it moving at six miles per hour for 17½ hours a day.
Cars began pulling every five minutes, starting at Kearny and Clay, and climbed a vertical rise of 307 feet, with the steepest grade at 1 in 6.15/100.
Within a year the Clay Street Hill Railroad launched daily service on 1 September 1873, and by 1883 the city boasted 53 miles of cable track stretching from the Ferry Building to the Presidio and Golden Gate Park.
Electric streetcars soon outpaced the cable system, but the hills kept the old mode alive, and in 1947 Mayor Lapham’s push to dismantle the lines sparked a public campaign that ultimately preserved the Powell Street line under Measure 10.
Today, Mrs. Lian Ramirez still remembers the first cable car as a miracle, saying that the smooth ride up the hill saved her hours of laundry work and brought her neighbors together for a shared commute.