April 1996 Blazer

Salt Lake City's Zany street cars transfers

Salt Lake City's Zany Streetcar Transfers IN COMMON WlTH THE BEGINNINGS OF STREET CAR SERVICE throughout the world, Salt Lake City's first streetcars depended on animal traction. From 1872 to 1889 the lowly mule sewed as " horsepower" to operate a system that included some 14 miles of track and a total of 21 cars. The first streetcar line charged a lOcent fare. Electrification of the system began in 1889, one year after the first successful operation of an electric car line in the United States at Richmond, Virginia. Local service was then in the hands of two companies, the Salt Lake Rapid Transit and the Salt Lake City Railroad Company. Com-petitors for eleven years, the two lines finally merged into the Consolidated Railway and Power Company. A third line, the Fort Douglas Rapid Transit, was organized in 1890 but was taken over by the SLRT before operating. The trolley cars of this era marked a definite advance over the slow- moving mule car. Yet, they, too, left much to be desired in service and comfort. Open cars were the rule rather than the exception, and no provision was made for heating them in winkr. Because of the danger of frostbitten feet in very wld weather, straw was spread deeply over the car floors. Thus, in a few short blocks, a passenger's clothing might acquire the appearance to be gained from a day's visit to the Ogden Livestock Show. Roadbeds and trackage were not engineered to present- day standards of smoothness. The single- track cars then in use had a habit of centering themselves on the many humps in the tracks. Once stopped, the vehicles would refuse to move until passengers and crew unloaded and rocked the balky car over the hump. This appears to have been Iisted among the stock excuses to which wives had to listen when husbands arrived late for dinner. Despite these shortcomings, the trolley cars met a definite need and were widely used. New lines and extensions were built to keep pace with the city's growth. With the development of new routes came a need for transfer privileges. In keeping with the nationwide practice of streetcar companies, these transfer slips bore a notice that they were ' Not Transferable* to another person. Just how such a rule might be enforced has ever been a mystery to streetcar riders. It is doubtful that many riders ever gave their transfers to other patrons or that the streetcar companies lost much money from the practice. Nevertheless, local officials tried to put teeth into the " Not Transferable" rule. Salt Lake City transfer slips sported a gallery of seven faces, five men and two women. When a rider asked for a transfer, the conductor punched out the usual time and place information. In addition, he also punched the face that looked most like the patron's. Foolproof! Only an identical twin could beat that game. Let us see! , C ( more) THE HISTORY BLAZER LYEI1' S OF ITTAH'S PAST FROiIl THE Utah State ~ listoricaSl ocietjr 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City. ITT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 533- 3303 The five men pictured displayed the typical male facial hair styles of that era: clean- shaven, moustache, muttonchops, beard, and full facial hair. Passing on to the ladies, we find the emphasis turning to hats. The younger miss sported a sailor hat and the older woman a bonnet. Imagine allotting the men of today five faces while the women rate only two! And what modem bus driver would want to distinguish younger from older women! Transfers would need to assume the size of an around- the- world travel ticket to classify the range of zany hair and hat styles seen on any bus today. Rumor has it that neither the company nor the riders liked these transfers. Some of the more mature ladies of that time had young ideas and resented being thought of as oldsters. And there were complications with the males too. Mr. Muttonchops thought he was pulling a fast one when he dashed into the barbershop and reappeared clean- shaven to match his bogus transfer. Then again, there was the case of a rider who boarded a streetcar and presented a transfer punched to provide free transportation to a smooth- shaven individual. The conductor noted this and, in turn, the ample growth of stubble on the man's face. When confronted with this, the passenger insisted that he had waited so long for the car that his whiskers had grown! Whether this latter incident is true, it appears that after a reasonable trial Salt Lake City's " keep ' em honest" transfers were abandoned. Source: C. W. McCullough, " The Passing of the Streetcar," Utah Historical Quarterly 24 ( 1956). THEH ISTORBLYA ZERi s produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone [phone].