Hallidie ropeway

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Andrew Smith Hallidie was a Scot who came to America to seek his fortune, with his father, in the goldfields of California. His father had been a blacksmith and an inventor, and had worked with iron rope in Scotland. Not finding much gold, Andrew Hallidie went into the blacksmithing business.

He soon was contracted to build suspension bridges. In the course of his travels around the west, Hallidie noticed that manila hemp rope was being used to haul ore buckets up from the depths, and with not much success as it was subject to weather, and wear for sand and gravel. In turn, Hallidie turned his bridge experience to building flat, woven iron ropes. These turned out to be servicable. They sold well, particularly in the Silver mines of the Comstock Lode of Virginia City, Nevada.

About 1867 Hallidie devised an aerial tram to haul ore down the mountain sides. An early one was built in Vallejo, Utah. Hallidie's system used one cable to support and haul the buckets, "Scissor chair" type towers, bolted brackets and small cubic buckets.

Hundreds of Hallidie Tramways were built in the next thirty years. Systems were built in the US, Mexico, Canada, New Zealand and Japan. If one looks carefully around the West, one can still see remnants of Hallidie systems.

Edgar Myron Kahn (1940). California Historical Society Quarterly - Andrew Smith Hallidie