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{{coord, 37.796, -122.329, region:US, display=title
The Alameda Mole was a transit and transportation facility in
"Civil wrongs: personal injury law in the late 19th century"
''Law & Social Inquiry'', vol. 12, iss. 2-3, pp. 351–378, April 1987, p. 374. The Alameda Mole was used by: (i) local trolley cars (such as the Red Line), (ii) ferries to
Antique postcard photos of Alameda from alamedainfo.comAntique image of San Francisco Bay, with East Bay moles visible
Piers in California Buildings and structures in Alameda, California Transportation buildings and structures in Alameda County, California Railway stations in Alameda County, California Former railway stations in California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1878 1878 establishments in California Ferry terminals in the San Francisco Bay Area Demolished railway stations in the United States
The Alameda Mole was a transit and transportation facility in Alameda, California
Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...
for ferries landing in the East Bay of San Francisco from 1878 to the 1930s. It was located on the west end of Alameda, and later became part of the Alameda Naval Air Station
Naval Air Station Alameda (NAS Alameda) was a United States Navy Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay.
NAS Alameda had two runways: 13–31 measuring and 07-25 measuring . Two helicopter pads and a control tower wer ...
. It was one of four neighbouring moles Moles can refer to:
* Moles de Xert, a mountain range in the Baix Maestrat comarca, Valencian Community, Spain
* The Moles (Australian band)
*The Moles, alter ego of Scottish band Simon Dupree and the Big Sound
People
*Abraham Moles, French engin ...
. The others were the Oakland Mole, the WP Mole (Western Pacific), and the Key System Mole. The purpose of the mole was to extend tracks of rail-based transportation lines beyond the shallow mud flats along the shore of the East Bay into water deep enough to accommodate the passenger and rail ferries to San Francisco.
History
The mole was originally built by the South Pacific Coast Railroad in 1876-1878 to serve as the northern terminal of itsnarrow-gauge
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...
railroad to Santa Cruz. The Southern Pacific acquired the mole by lease in 1887. The mole burned to the water on November 20, 1902 and was rebuilt larger and farther out into the bay. It was dual gauged (both narrow and standard gauge) starting in 1898 and fully standard gauged after 1906.
Oakland's worst railroad disaster of the nineteenth century occurred on the Alameda Mole on May 30, 1890. A Southern Pacific Railroad passenger train headed for Oakland fell into the estuary after failing to stop for the open drawbridge at Webster Street. The drawbridge had been opened to allow a ship to pass. Thirteen people were killed and many injured.Lawrence M. Friedman
Lawrence Meir Friedman (born April 2, 1930) is an American Legal education, law professor, historian of American legal history, and author of nonfiction and fiction books. He has been a member of the faculty at Stanford Law School since 1968.
Bi ...
"Civil wrongs: personal injury law in the late 19th century"
''Law & Social Inquiry'', vol. 12, iss. 2-3, pp. 351–378, April 1987, p. 374. The Alameda Mole was used by: (i) local trolley cars (such as the Red Line), (ii) ferries to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, (iii) regular trains running in a horseshoe pattern (dubbed the Horseshoe Line) to the Oakland Mole, (iv) local steam commuter lines of the Southern Pacific Railroad (initially, the narrow gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad — later the standard gauge Southern Pacific Railroad) which were later transformed into the East Bay Electric Lines
The East Bay Electric Lines were a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad that operated electric interurban-type trains in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.Tufveson.Ford (1977). Beginning in 1862, the SP and its predecessors opera ...
. Southern Pacific's electrified trains were not streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
s, but full-sized railroad cars which connected to the mainland by bridges at Webster Street and Fruitvale. The trains ran to both the Oakland Mole and the Alameda Mole.
In the 1930s Pan American Airways
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
established a seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...
port along the fill that led to the Alameda Mole. This was the original home base for the China Clipper
''China Clipper'' (NC14716) was the first of three Martin M-130 four-engine flying boats built for Pan American Airways and was used to inaugurate the first commercial transpacific airmail service from San Francisco to Manila on November 22, 193 ...
. With the advent of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, a vast stretch of the marshy area southwest of the Alameda Mole was filled and the Naval Air Station Alameda established. This major Naval facility included a large airfield and docks for several aircraft carriers
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a n ...
. It closed in 1997.
See also
*Alameda Terminal
Alameda Terminal (a.k.a. Alameda Wharf) was a railroad station and ferry wharf at the foot and west of present-day Pacific Avenue and Main Street in Alameda, California, on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay with ferry service to San Fran ...
* Ferries of San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay in California has been served by ferries of all types for over 150 years. John Reed established a sailboat ferry service in 1826. Although the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge l ...
* Oakland Long Wharf
The Oakland Long Wharf was an 11,000-foot railroad wharf and ferry pier along the east shore of San Francisco Bay located at the foot of Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Oakland Long Wharf was built, beginning 1868, by the Central Pacific Rail ...
Notes
External links
Antique postcard photos of Alameda from alamedainfo.com
Piers in California Buildings and structures in Alameda, California Transportation buildings and structures in Alameda County, California Railway stations in Alameda County, California Former railway stations in California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1878 1878 establishments in California Ferry terminals in the San Francisco Bay Area Demolished railway stations in the United States