Rambling observations on books, history, movies, transit, obsolete technology, baseball, and anything else that crosses my mind.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Taking a Break. 2019 -- September 30, 2019
I find that I need to take another break. Some regular items like the cat pictures will continue unabated.
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Thank You, Boch -- September 29, 2019
Today Bruce Bochy managed his last game for the Giants. The Dodgers won, but there were wonderful tributes to Bochy at the ballpark and on video.
See Twice as Much of the West -- September 29, 2019
Friday, September 27, 2019
What the High Cost of Living is Bringing Us To -- September 27, 2019
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Monday, September 23, 2019
Top Liner Rag -- September 23, 2019
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Friday, September 20, 2019
Youth Strike 4 Climate -- September 20, 2019
Thursday, September 19, 2019
400th Anniversary of the Voyage of the Mayflower -- September 19, 2019
www.listal.com |
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Bruce Bochy 2000 -- September 18, 2019
Congratulations to Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who won his 2000th game as a manager when the Giants beat the Red Sox at Fenway Park 11-3.
Before the game, Carl Yastrzemski threw out the first pitch to his grandson, Mike, who is making a good impression with the Giants.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Which the Skipper Could Throw Beneath the Wheels -- September 17, 2019
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Ric Ocasek, RIP -- September 15, 2019
Comic Book -- Dick Tracy -- September 15, 2019
www.coverbrowser.com |
Friday, September 13, 2019
Eddie Money, RIP -- September 13, 2019
Pulp -- Argosy -- September 13, 2019
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
09/11 -- September 11, 2019
The alarm went off at 05:29. I switched the radio from FM to AM and tuned into KCBS. They reported that an airplane had hit the World Trade Center. Thinking of the bomber that hit the Empire State Building, I said it had to be an accident.
After I got dressed, I went downstairs and turned on the television, which I very rarely do in the morning, and they said another airplane had the other tower. Then I thought it couldn't be an accident, but I didn't understand how hijackers could force a pilot to fly his airplane into a building. Later on we learned that the hijackers had been flying the planes.
There weren't as many people as usual on the bus to work. I think I heard about the plane that hit the Pentagon while I was there. My manager told us that we could go home if we wanted to. My wife was working and my daughter was in school, so I didn't see a reason to leave.
We couldn't get any news on the internet, but I plugged in my radio and we all listened.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Admission Day 2019 -- September 9, 2019
Sunday, September 8, 2019
Transcontinental Railway Completed -- September 8, 2019
Daily Alta California, 08-September-1869 |
THE WESTERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
Passengers on the train for Stockton and Sacramento over the Western Pacific Railroad, yesterday morning, left this city at seven o'clock reached Stockton at 12 noon; left at 12:15 and arrived at Sacramento at 1:37. The train consisted of four passenger cars, and when it left the ferry pier carried about forty passengers, but when it reached Sacramento it was crowded, a large number of passengers having been picked up en route. Beyond San Leandro, going toward Stockton, the track is laid so hurriedly that fast running time cannot now be made, of course, but the work of putting down the ballast is going rapidly forward and trains will soon make as good time this side of Stockton as between that city and Sacramento - 48 miles -- which is now run in an hour and twenty-two minutes. The road from Stockton to Sacramento is in splendid condition, and the rest of the road will soon be as good, when fast time will be made. Next week passengers bound East overland will leave this city and proceed directly to the junction of the Central Pacific Railroad, without stopping at Sacramento. Passengers from Sacramento, bound East, will be taken up to Brighton, where the overland train will be made up. The trains leave this city regularly every morning at 7 and 3:30 P.M. The train from Sacramento (leaving that city at 3:30 P.M.) arrived here at 10:30 last night.
Daily Alta California, 08-September-1869 |
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Aerial Lights Seen Flitting in San Fernando Valley -- September 7, 2019
San Francisco Call, 30-November-1896 |
There were many sightings of unidentified flying objects in the United States during the late 1890s. I wonder what people saw. John L Davie, a Populist, was Mayor of Oakland from March, 1895 to March, 1897.
This is our ninth report from the San Francisco Call.
18-November-1895: "Claim They Saw a Flying Airship" http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/02/claim-they-saw-flying-airship-february.html
23-November-1896: "The Great Airship That is Startling the People of Many Cities" http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-great-airship-that-is-startling.html
24-November-1896: "The Apparition of the Air"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-apparition-of-air-april-7-2019.html
25-November-1896: "Mission of the Aerial Ship"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/03/mission-of-aerial-ship-march-7-2019.html
26-November-1896: "The Mystery Again Seen at the Capital"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-mystery-again-seen-at-capital-may.html
27-November-1896: "It Is to Be Used to Destroy the City of Havana"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/06/it-is-to-be-used-to-destroy-city-of.html
28-November-1896: "Attaches a Balloon to the Warship of the Air"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/07/attaches-balloon-to-warship-of-air-july.html
29-November-1896: "Viewing the Mysterious Aerial Lights From the Dome of the State Capitol"
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/08/viewing-mysterious-aerial-lights-from.html
HART'S ROUTE
CONFIRMED
Aerial Lights Seen Flitting
in San Fernando
Valley.
SIMILAR PHENOMENON
SEEN IN ALAMEDA.
Brief Review of the Remarkable
Developments of the Past
Week.
SAGE REFLECTIONS MADE BY
MAYOR DAVIE.
Sees No Cause for Surprise in the
Claim That Aerial Navigation
Is Possible.
It is now about ten days since the first report regarding the elusive and mysterious aerial lights came from Sacramento. Since then developments in reference to them have been rapid and sensational, but mystery still surrounds the object and the human agency that are said to be responsible for ther appearance.
At this time the history of the myth, phenomenon, airship or whatever it may prove to be, will bear a brief review. This is given that the readers of THE CALL may the more readily and intelligently grasp the present situation.
Incredulity, deep and general, greeted the first report which credited the lights to an aerial voyager. Next it was announced that George D. Collins, an attorney of this City, was the legal representative of the inventor and manipulator of the wonder of the starlit sky. This honor Mr. Collins did not disavow, but was unconquerably obdurate when it came to a question of disclosing the name of his client, the location where the marvel was put together, or the place where it found exemption from the eyes of the curious.
The knowledge that this interesting information was lodged in his legal custody caused him to be besieged by newspaper reporters, speculators, investors, cranks and a horde of curiosity-seekers. Under the pressure thus put upon his time and patience, be made numerous statements relative to the matter that was absorbing public attention and his connection therewith.
Unfortunately these statements, as published in the various newspapers, did not fit together quite as accurately as a scientifically constructed edifice should. Among other things he allowed it to be inferred that a Dr. E. H. Benjamin had aided in the construction of the invention.
Meanwhile reports continued to come to hand daily of strange and luminous visions. Men well and most favorably known in scientific, official, professional, business and educational circles claimed to have seen these nocturnal visitations of moving lights at great altitudes. None, however, appear to have secured a clear view of the body to which it was supposed these aerial lights were attached, though most observers of the phenomenon stood ready to assert that they were guided in their course athwart the horizon by human power. Sacramento, Oakland and San Jose furnished the most frequent and startling descriptions of the mystery,
Suddenly came the news that ex-Attorney-General W. H. H. Hart had been substituted for Mr. Collins as the legal custodian of the secrets and destinies of the reputed airship.
This was followed by the announcement, on the authority of General Hart, that the airship mystery was only incidental to a full-fledged and extraordinary filibustering scheme for the capture or destruction of Havana, the stronghold of the Spanish authorities in Cuba, by the use of dynamite. He further informed the startled public that the aerial warship to be used in this enterprise would be designed to carry half a ton of dynamite, in addition to its necessary appurtenances and crew. He also, over his own signature, averred that two airships were now in readiness to sail the ethereal blue, and that another, on modified and improved plans, was in course of construction. As soon as this last-mentioned craft was completed and the crew made thoroughly acquainted with its handling it was to take flight, he said, to Havana, there to aid the Cubans in their struggle for independence.
For his advocacy of the use of dynamite General Hart was taken to task by the Bulletin, which was tentatively abetted by the Examiner. This attack elicited a spirited and martial-toned rejoinder. The fear in the public mind now is that the scene of war may be transferred from the carnage-stained fields of Cuba to the unoffending columns of the local newspapers.
Shortly after the name of Dr. E. H. Benjamin appeared in connection with the mystery of the air he disappeared from his lodgings at 633 Ellis street, where he had lived for two years, leaving nothing more than a carefully locked trunk behind. Yesterday morning he called for his bag and then "flew the coop," as the detectives phrase it, leaving no trace as to his future movements, but on the contrary taking precautions to cover his tracks.
Saturday night reputable people of Alameda aver that they saw the floating lights, and an electrician states it bore all the characteristics of an electric light.
Anderson, a town about ten miles south of Redding, lays claim to the honor of a visit from the aerial nondescript on Saturday night.
Mayor Davie contributes some pertinent philosophical reflections to the literature of the topic of the day.
Dispatches from Los Angeles last night state that the strange lights have been seen in the neighborhood for the past few days.
General Hart had something further to say yesterday on the use of dynamite in war.
"In the event that an airship could be made to destroy a city," he said, "that in itself would firmly establish the peace of the civilized world. It would be realized that it would be no use to fight against such means. The very fact that such a thing could be done would bring about universal peace. The result would be that the nations would resort to arbitration in all matters of international differences. It would no longer be a matter who has the biggest cannon and who can shoot the farthest. There would be no use for navies or fortifications, and thus would be brought about absolute peace."
He also took occasion to explain that the 120-mile flight referred to in yesterday's CALL was made with the larger airship. The smaller one, he added, is capable of moving much more rapidly. By going with the atmospheric currents and using the electric power at the same time, he claimed, it can attain a speed of forty to fifty miles an hour.
One point that has been noticed is that Attorney Hart intimated several days ago that the course of the airship would be southerly and dispatches confirmatory of this were last night received from Los Angles.
OVER ALAMEDA.
The Mysterious Lights Made Their
Appearance on Saturday
Night Last.
Alameda had another spell of excitement over the airship on Saturday night, when the mysterious light that has been puzzling residents of the towns about the bay made its appearance over the southern portion of the Encinal city.
Shortly after dark the family of a gentleman living at Versailles station, while observing the heavens from the southern windows of the house saw a big white light suddenly appear high in the air about over Bay Farm Island. It seemed to flare out in a second as though something that had obscured it had suddenly been removed. All watched with breathless interest while it rose, passing rapidly westward meanwhile to a greater height, where it seemed to pause for an instant. It then turned toward the south and passed on in that direction.
It appeared about the size of a man's head when first seen, but grew smaller and smaller until it passed out of sight. The time that elapsed between the first appearance and the disappearance was about twenty minutes, and all agreed that it seemed to lurch from side to side as it went southward.
A gentleman visiting at the house, who has had considerable to do with electric light power, and who saw the aerial mystery, is convinced that it could have been nothing else than an electric light of great power.
ANDERSON IN LINE.
Her Citizens Claim to Have Seen
the Aerial Mystery In Its
Flight.
REDDING, Cal., Nov. 29. -- Anderson, located about ten miles south of Redding, is either in line with other cities of the coast or else her citizens have the same "night owl" proclivities, for it is current talk that the aerial monster passed over Anderson last evening about 20 minutes past 8. Her citizens claim to have seen the stranger in its flight.
It was first observed from the corner of East Center and Ferry streets by a reputable citizen noticing a peculiar light in the westward. He called the attention of others to the seeming phenomenon, and quite a crowd collected. It was generally conceded that this must he the long-talked-of airship. Its course was south and west, and the lights soon disappeared in the south. The light was large and brilliant and seemed to move in a steady course.
AN ORAL REVERIE.
Mayor Davie Says Some Pointed
Things About a Current
Topic of Interest.
OAKLAND, Cal., Nov. 29. -- Mayor Davie has seen a phase of human inconsistency during the past week that has amused him. It is best told in his own words:
"Whether there be an airship cruising nightly over this neighborhood," said his Honor to a little group of friends yesterday, "is only a secondary matter with me at this time. If there be not one now, I am convinced that the problem of aerial navigation will soon be solved. What is now interesting me is the peculiarities of some newspapers and some newspaper readers.
"Early Sunday, as you all know, we find on our doorsteps small libraries which are called daily newspapers. We look through them and find that a good portion of them is occupied with the marvelous things that scientists perfect and prophesy. During the past few months this has been more the case than ever before. The newspapers publish all these things as facts, profess to believe them, and the majority of their renders accept them as truth. Being somewhat of a scientist myself, I am led to believe in many things that now appear improbable. But I have a precedent for it.
"A year ago if any one had told me that they could produce a ray of light that would photograph my watch through a wooden box would I have been called an ass for doubting him? Yet I have seen this very thing done. We have all read of the progress of aeronautics, and yet when a thousand reputable citizens declare that they have seen some kind of a machine navigating the skies, and believe their eyesight as proof that some one has done what the newspapers have told us for years is only a matter of time, most of those papers try to make us believe that they have been fooling us with their probabilities, and that their stories of scientific prophecies are all fool stories.
"Several years ago there was an old inventor named Dr. Seering who lived in this city. One day I hear a conversation between him and the late Walter Blair, who built the Piedmont cable road. Seering told Blair not to think of putting his fortune into an expensive trench in the ground as in a short time electric-cars would be running all over Oakland. Blair laughed at the idea, put his trench in the ground and put his fortune into it, and electricity was substituted on his system after the road had been sold by the Sheriff.
Dr. Seering fell dead on the street here about two years ago, but a few weeks before his death he told me that with aluminum and electricity an airship would soon be a certainty. I don't say this as proof that there is a successful airship now in use, but I will say that if I were to read in to-morrow's paper absolute proof that one has been constructed, I should not be any more surprised than Walter Blair was after he saw his mistake."
SOUTH OF TEHACHAPI.
The Aerial Wonder Appears to the
People of San Fernando
Valley.
LOS ANGELES, Cal., Nov. 29. -- The operator of the California airship seems to find the climatic conditions south of Tehachapi very favorable for the evolutions of his bird-like machine.
Persons whose occupations keep them up late into the night relate experiences of having seen strange and peculiar lights during the past three nights moving about near the summit of the mountains or crossing the valleys at a rapid rate.
These visitations have heretofore been witnessed by only a few persons, but to-night scores of residents of East Los Angeles saw the flitting light in the direction of Pasadena moving along the foothills toward Santa Monica.
A CALL correspondent took great pains this evening to verify the reports about the lights, and is now thoroughly satisfied that some very unusual spectacle was seen by a large number of persons, all of whom gave substantially the same description of what they saw, and there can no longer be any question but that some figure of huge outline and carrying a light has been seen, in the San Fernando Valley and along the foothills extending from the valley to Santa Monica.
Motorman Millsap of the Downey avenue car line, which runs into East Los Angeles, gave the best description among the many interviewed. He is quite sure that what he saw is an aerial machine operated by a human being.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Perilous Trip of the Sloop Mack -- September 5, 2019
San Francisco Call, 13-April-1896 |
TWO IN AN OPEN BOAT.
Perilous Trip of the Sloop Mack
All the Way From San
Luis Obispo.
SOME VERY NARROW ESCAPES.
An Encounter With the Gale That
Wrecked the Blairmore Off
Pigeon Point.
R. S. Eaton and C. Church, two young men from Morro, a little town a few miles north of San Luis Obispo, have just finished a noteworthy and very perilous feat in navigation.
In a twenty-foot sloop, only three feet deep, but illy fitted up for even small cruises in the bay, these adventurous young men sailed from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco, arriving here yesterday after a series of perilous and exciting adventures.
The purpose of this 200 miles voyage by sea, in what is practically an open boat, was to gain neither notoriety nor a wager. Church, the older of the two, is a married man with three children. He had met with reverses at home; work and money alike were scarce, so he set out to seek -- if not his fortune, at least a living -- in the new gold fields of Alaska. He, expects to do boating for hire in the northern waters, and perhaps some prospecting on the side.
Lacking the necessary funds with which to purchase a boat, and being a good mechanic, he built the present craft at Morro and sailed her to this port, where she will be shipped to Alaska on the steamer Albion, which sails Thursday.
His companion came along simply to help him out on the trip, and will return home by the next steamer.
The boat, which is named the Mack, is 20 feet overall, 18 feet on the water line, 6 feet beam, 3 feet deep and is fitted with a steel centerboard 4 feet high and 5 feet long.
She is staunchly built, her entire frame being of oak, and her only upper works consists of a curbing 10 inches high, which extends from a few feet forward nearly aft, making her practically an open boat. For ballast she carries pig iron placed beneath the floor.
Her spread of canvas is as follows: Boom 19 1/2 feet, hoist 12 feet, gaff 8 feet and a small working jib.
What makes the trip all the more remarkable is the fact that the boat bad no sooner taken her initial dip into the water from the stocks than the mast was stepped, sails bent, provisions stored and the men were off on their risky trip. They rowed a mile out from land, when sail was hoisted for the first time. They had yet to learn how she would act under her spread of canvas and whether she was tight or leaky, but they adjusted their compass, got the charts out and were ready to meet the worst -- which was not long in coming.
The first day out they encountered a stiff northwester that tossed the little boat about like a feather in the wind, but she managed to maintain her equilibrium, and, as the storm became more boisterous, they squared away and made for port San Simeon, which they reached in safety.
They made no more stops after leaving San Simeon until they reached Monterey Bay, where they put in and replenished their stock of provisions.
After leaving Monterey Bay their troubles began afresh and wore enough to quail the nerve of the bravest.
While scudding along under full sail, to a stiff breeze, the throw halyard carried away and the mainsail became useless. To remedy this it was necessary to climb the slender mast and reef a new rope through the block.
While one of the men was aloft fixing the tackle a heavy swell struck the side of the boat, and, the man's weight on the mast caused the craft to careen over until she became almost filled with water.
The sun was sinking in the horizon and in the distance were the outlines of a steamer bearing down on them.
They had no lanterns aboard to signal to the vessel, and their sail was out of order. Darkness was rapidly approaching and the lights of the steamer kept getting nearer and nearer.
They whipped out their oars and commenced rowing for dear life to get out of the course of the steamer, but they were badly handicapped by their boat being full of water, and when the steamer passed them she was not more than 200 feet away.
"It was a close shave," said Eaton, in speaking of the trip yesterday, "but we were placed in a still more perilous position later on.
"When off Pigeon Point we ran into the storm that sunk the Blairmore in the bay. "We had only the jib set, and a 200 pound rock attached to a long rope was payed out to keep the boat up to the wind. It was very squally and the waves were as big as mountains and seemed to be coming in three or four different directions.
"They kept continually breaking over the boat, and our bedding and ourselves were soaking wet. The boat was rapidly filling. Then all of a sudden three huge waves, each coming in a different. direction, met underneath the boat and fairly raised it out of the water. She dropped with a thud down between two waves, but owing to the centerboard she still maintained her upright position.
"It was a trying ordeal, but we both kept our heads, and by careful maneuvering we came through in safety.
"No, neither of us ever sailed along the coast before. We steered by our compass, and got our bearings by comparing our charts with places on land in the daytime, and at night we could tell where we were by the lighthouses along the coast. It was my first trip to sea, but Church is quite a navigator, having sailed on the lakes and around San Luis Obispo. We cooked on an oil-stove, and one handled the boat while the other slept.
"We were five days in making the trip, and in the daytime kept close inshore and at night we steered well off to be out of reach of any snags.
"All the way up it was exceedingly cold, and at times we became so benumbed that we couldn't pull on a rope."
The little boat is now lying in the placid waters of Mission Bay, and resembles very much a small fishing-boat.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Monday, September 2, 2019
Ardenwood Railfair 2019 -- September 2, 2019
Yesterday we went to the 20th annual Washington Township Railroad Fair at Ardenwood Farm in Fremont. The weather was hot, so we didn't stay very long. Turnout was lower this year, perhaps because of the heat. We saw 1890 Porter 0-4-0 Ann Marie push a flatcar carrying an agricultural plow. Ann Marie could not pull a passenger train for the public again this year because of issues about some state rules. They hope to resolve the situation for next year. Ann Marie made some runs back and forth near Ardenwood Station. Kids love the chance to ride a train and don't care what is pulling it.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
September, 2019 Version of the Cable Car Home Page -- September 1, 2019
Los Angeles Herald, 29-March-1901 |
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
It includes some new items:
1. Picture of the Month: A view of the planned Angels Flight in Los Angeles (Source: Los Angeles Herald, March 29, 1901).
2. On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: A ten and twenty year update about Angels Flight, including some newspaper items
Ten years ago this month (September, 2009):
1. Picture of the Month: An early Angels Flight advertising flier, including a photo of Colonel JW Eddy, who built the line and operated it
2. On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: More about the Angels Flight, including photos from Joe Lacey, tickets, and an old flier, and several contemporary newspaper articles:
3. On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: Two contemporary newspaper articles about the Mount Lowe incline
4. On the Motorized Cable Cars page: A strange-looking double decker
5. Added News item about a new animated video, "Cubbie the Cable Car"
6. Added link for MunsonWorks, a manufacturer of inclined elevators
Twenty years ago this month (September, 1999):
1. Picture of the Month: Angel's Flight.
2. Roll out Los Angeles area funiculars/Angel's Flight on the Other California Cities page
3. Add link to new site from the Friends of the Cable Car Museum
4. Add cable car sudden stop to news & bibliography
Coming in October, 2019: On the Los Angeles area funiculars page: Ten and twenty year updates about Court Flight and the Catalina inclines
125 years ago, on 19-September-1944, a cable tramway began running between King and Ocean Streets, Sydney, New South Wales.
The Cable Car Home Page now has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CableCarHomePage/
Joe Thompson
The Cable Car Home Page (updated 01-September-2019)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/
San Francisco Bay Ferryboats (updated 31-January-2019)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ferry/
Park Trains and Tourist Trains (updated 31-July-2019)
http://www.cable-car-guy.com/ptrain/
The Pneumatic Rolling-Sphere Carrier Delusion (updated spasmodically)
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com
The Big V Riot Squad (new blog)
http://bigvriotsquad.blogspot.com/