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Show Old memories flare as trolley car line celebrates 100 yrs. f fir L4T J ! JllW- ,i-, , in I " J . - r- , --. :. Bj DONETA GATHERUM v SALT LAKtCTTY-In August, 1889, the first electric trolley car rolled op Salt Lake City's First South to 13th East and began regular operations. Electric trolleys ' were a natural development for Salt Lake City, the fifth city in the nation ' to have electric power. -Walter P. Read, general manager of "the newly formed Salt Lake City Railway and Francis W. Armstrong, president of the company converted . four routes already in operation uJ-ing uJ-ing mules into one electrified line. -A trial run was made on Aug. 8, 1899. Trolley cars were an immediate success. By 1893,- the Salt Lake City Railroad had a fleet of 63 trolley cars operating on more than 42 miles of track laid on the unpav-ed unpav-ed streets of the city. Service to Centerville was opened open-ed in December 1913. Ves Harrison wrote in his Centerville Historical Society article dated Nov. 30, 1988, "As I remember, the line ran up Salt Lake City's Main Street to North Nor-th Temple, turned west to old First West, then continued north to Beck Street, past, the old St Mark's Hospital, thence north into Davis' County on the old State Highway to North Salt Lake,' where it veered onto Orchard Drive It continued north tt First South in Bountiful, then down Main Street and on the Centerville and its terminus at Chase Lane." - ; .The Davis County route was number 25-It connected with Salt Lake route number 22 which ended in the Holiday area. The sucess of trolley service in Davis County was immediate. By The success of rear engine gasoline gaso-line busses caused the demise of the trolley system in Salt Lake City. By 1941 only three main routes were still being used. Due to a gasoline shortage during World War II, the trolleys continued to operate through Aug. 19, 1945 when all electric cars were replaced by buses. March, 1914 plans were being made for expansion. The March 5, 1914 . issue of the Clipper said; "Tentative plans are already drawn for two proposed routes (trolley),' , and the Utah Light and Railway Company will spend $1,500,000 to connect Salt Lake and Ogden with an interurban line to be an extension of 4he present line running to -Centerville. , Only five miles of the line will be ; finished this year-the extension fron Centerville to Fatmington- but in next year's budget, money for the entire road will be included and Salt Lake and Ogden will be connected con-nected with another interurban line during 1915, making four railroads between the two cities." The article continued by describing the proposed propos-ed routes. One paralleled the Bamberger line fairly closely. The other route, about four miles longer, serviced' Syracuse, Roy and Hooper. What happened to the proposal is not known. It could probably be correctly assumed that Competition from the Bamberger Railroad which already offered interurban service between Salt Lake and Ogden was so great that the trolley company proposal died. , Mr. Harrison's article contained this interesting quote from the Centerville Town Board minutes of May 28, 1915, "Town Board member Joseph E. Williams spoke of the necessity of requiring Utah Light and Railway Company to give warnings.. He said they were becoming very careless and that there had been several accidents lately." Students from Centerville, North Salt Lake, Bountiful and South Bountiful rode the streetcar to Bountiful Junior High. Frequently, the teenagers would walk home from school rather than wait for the streetcar. . Mr. Harrison's article contained this anecdote, "A group of young friends worked a scheme against the l v Tig1, f I " Jr Wlv'feWV To prevent schemes like this that defrauded the trolley company, an artistic approach was used on transfer slips. Each slip displayed a series of five male and two female caricatures. When a transfer was requested, the conductor punched the face that most closely matched the patron's appearance. The men were easy to select by the variety of facial hair in the drawings--The Smoothie (close shaven); Handlebar Mustache; Muttonchops i (low sideburns); Uncle Ezra i (feather duster on chin); or House of David (full crop of hair). The women were young or older, j Centerville resident, William H. j Streeper set aside a piece of his ground near the end of the car line for a vegetable garden for streetcar operators and their families. The first substitution of buses for street cars was made in 1926. The trolley line to Centerville was abandoned aban-doned and a bus line replaced it. In 1934 bus service was cut back to Bountiful, leaving Centerville to be serviced solely by the Bamberger. Other alterations in service were also made, reducing the number of I trips made into Bountiful to about II one every hour. In 1938 all service to Bounttful was discontinued. Trolley service to south Davis County opened in 1913, terminating termin-ating at Chase Lane in Centerville. Top two photos were taken in early 1920's at end of line while", bottom photo is snow scene inValVerda. . streetcar line:, it cost a nickel to ride the trolley to Bountiful. One bf the boys would flag the streetcar, get on . and pay his fare. While the trolley was stopped five or six of his chums' . would hop on the rear cowcatche and hitch a free ride to.Bountifu where they'd go to the poolhall. |
