Title:

Spring Valley Water Company Construction Views Photograph Albums, 1918 July 19 - 1929 September 10

Creator/Contributor:

Fanning, George E., creator, photographer.

Three brown leather-bound photograph albums contain 232 gelatin silver prints with handwritten captions and dates in silver. The photographs record Spring Valley Water Company projects between 1918 and 1929 to expand San Francisco's water system to newly developed districts and improve the existing infrastructure to enable future construction and expansion. Some of the photographs were used in Spring Valley's quarterly magazine, "San Francisco Water," published between 1922 and 1930 when the company was purchased by the City and County of San Francisco. The photographs document workers performing a variety of jobs, including pipe-laying, pipe-fitting, welding, trench-digging and heavy-equipment operation. Album 1: CONSTRUCTION VIEWS CITY DISTRIBUTING SYSTEM BOOK NO. 1 includes 106 photographs with captions and dates. The groups of photographs document the installation of brickwork and boilers at City Pumps, construction of the steel-and-concrete-reinforced division wall and the Francisco Street Reservoir, San Andreas Pipeline trench and pipe work underneath San Jose Ave. at Geneva, pipe repair in the Olympic Salt Water System, a proposed tank site in Lincoln Park, the partial collapse of the long wharf at Lake Merced and subsequent repair work, trench digging and pipe lowering on Faxon Ave. near Lakeview, pipe replacement at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, and the water temple in Sunol designed by Willis Polk. The album also contains photo documentation of a break in a water main below the junction of Haight and Market Streets on December 28, 1920, including underground photos of the damaged pipework and bracing and one above-ground photo that shows the intersection, trolley cars, and pedestrians. The captions under the photos dated January 6, 1921, place blame for the Spring Valley Water Company pipe break on improper construction of the Haight Street electric car line tracks. Album 2: CONSTRUCTION VIEWS CITY DISTRIBUTING SYSTEM BOOK NO. 2 includes 72 photographs with captions and dates. The photographs document the installation of pipe on Portola Drive, the views and building of an outlet tower and tunnel; views, slope, excavation, construction, and interior/roof views of the Stanford Heights Reservoir; pipe work on Diamond St. near Bosworth and on Diamond St. near Circular Ave.; ditch-digging and pipe work on Corbett Road; backfilling pipe on Granada near Grafton Ave.; the pipe termination point at the Corona Heights tank; excavation, slope, wall, and new fill at the U.M. reservoir; and the Lincoln Park tank project, including photos of the finished tank. Album 3: CONSTRUCTION VIEWS CITY DISTRIBUTING SYSTEM BOOK NO. 3 includes 54 photographs with captions and dates. Photographs in this album document pipe work on 6th Avenue between Judah and Lincoln Way, 7th Avenue at Noriega Street, Masonic Avenue near Golden Gate Avenue; views of the Stanford Heights Reservoir; pipe connections at 4th Avenue at Fulton; pipe work at California Street and Divisadero; pipelines through Golden Gate Park; pipe connections at 7th Avenue at Moraga, 7th Avenue at Lawton, 7th Avenue at Kirkham; dredging and testing in the Islais Creek Channel; pipe work, repair, and testing at 4th Street and Channel Street; trench-digging on Masonic Avenue near Golden Gate Avenue; trench-digging on Ocean Avenue and Ashton; the Lake Honda transmission line at Capitol Avenue and Trift and at Lakeview Avenue; pipeline on Masonic at Hayes; pipes at and interior views of Central Pumps; and a project at the College Hill Branch of the Bernal Cut.

Date:

1918 (issued)

Subject:

Spring Valley Water Company (San Francisco, Calif.)

San Francisco (Calif.). -- Water Dept.

Water Supply -- California -- San Francisco

Reservoirs -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area

Golden Gate Park (San Francisco, Calif.) -- Pictorial works

Sunset District (San Francisco, Calif.) -- History -- Pictorial works

The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.

George E. Fanning was the official photographer for Spring Valley Water Company (SVWC). He took at least some, and likely all, of the photos in these albums. Fanning was born in North Dakota but spent almost all of his life in San Francisco, graduating from Mission High School and joining the SVWC as a draftsman in the engineering department in 1910. In 1912, he was promoted to lead the company's new photography department. He did all the photographing of water department projects and photostating of records and other important documents, and he was responsible for maintaining those records in his office. One of Fanning's most notable achievements was the photography for the Pipe and Gate Book, which contained photographs of all the pipe and gate valves of the water works on a map of the entire city and county of San Francisco; the book was used extensively by Water Department employees and Fanning was the only photographer to have done the work. After SVWC's acquisition by the City and County of San Francisco in 1930, Fanning continued to lead the Water Department photography department. He died in 1961. George A. Elliott, whose initials and last name are embossed on the cover of each album, was the chief engineer of SVWC during the entire time period in which these photos were taken. He was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1880 and received a degree in engineering from the University of Colorado in 1904. Elliott worked for the General Electric Company, Pacific Gas and Electric, and the Great Western Power Company before joining SVWC in 1909 as superintendent of city distribution. He was appointed chief engineer in 1914, was promoted to vice president in 1925, and in 1928, he reached the position of general manager/vice president/chief engineer, in charge of all departments. Under his tenure, SVWC built service connections and distribution mains and increased the overall water supply to meet the needs of the rapidly growing city of San Francisco; some of the photographs in these albums are examples of such work. He carried the company through the implementation of universal residential metering, saving ten million gallons of water daily and improving water-pressure conditions for users throughout the city. In his later years Elliott was also a consulting engineer for the San Jose Water Works and on the board of California engineers that investigated the conservation and coordinated use of water resources across the state. Elliott was a president of the American Water Works Association. He died in 1934.

Spring Valley Water Company Construction Views Photograph Albums, 1918 - 1929, San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library.

The collection is in English.

All requests for permission to publish from the album must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.

Gift

Researchers are encouraged to explore over 100 images by George Fanning in the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Digital Collection available online through the San Francisco Public Library.

Type:

Photograph albums

3 albums

English

Origin:

No place, unknown, or undetermined

The collection is available for use during San Francisco History Center hours, with photographs available during Photo Desk hours. Collections that are stored offsite should be requested 48 hours in advance.

All requests for permission to publish from the album must be submitted in writing to the Photo Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items.