(Alfred) Clarke's Water Works photograph album, 1890-1891

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Summary

Creators:
Clarke, Alfred, 1832-1902 and Walton, James W.
Abstract:
Photograph album containing 25 albumen prints of views of Clarke's Water Works, San Francisco, taken by James W. Walton between 1890-1891. The photograph album documents Alfred Clarke's early San Francisco water company, Clarke's Water Works, located in the Glen Park and Eureka Valley neighborhoods of San Francisco.
Extent:
1.23 linear feet
Language:
English and Collection materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item, date]; (Alfred) Clarke's Water Works photograph album; California Historical Society.

Background

Scope and content:

Photograph album containing 25 albumen prints of views of Clarke's Water Works, San Francisco, taken by James W. Walton between 1890-1891. The photograph album documents Alfred Clarke's early San Francisco water company located in the Glen Park and Eureka Valley neighborhoods of San Francisco. Nearly all photographs include a printed descriptive caption detailing the location and purpose of Clarke's water projects. Photographs show and captions describe features of the water system including Blaine Engine House and Pump; the Blaine Dam and Nellie Dam; the Nellie Reservoir; and the man-made Lake Lincoln. Other natural features of the Eureka Valley and Glen Park areas documented in the photograph album include Mount Lincoln (commonly known as Mount Davidson); Mount Blaine (commonly known as Gold Mine Hill); and Lake Farragut (commonly known as Pine Lake). Clarke's mansion at Douglass Street and Caselli Avenue is also featured in the photograph album. Photograph album includes descriptive captions original to its creation and additional notes added later by the photograph album's owner, Alexander Thomas Leonard. One page of the album is missing its original photograph, although the original caption still remains. Three clippings of the San Francisco Chronicle Riptides column and a clipping of an obituary for Joseph Huff published in the San Francisco Call Bulletin are affixed to the pages in place of the missing photograph.

Biographical / historical:

Alfred Clarke arrived in San Francisco in 1850 from Ireland. After a failed attempt at striking it rich in the gold country of Nevada County, Clarke returned to San Francisco and began work with the San Francisco Police Department. He built his mansion in Eureka Valley at Douglass Street and Caselli Avenue. An ongoing fued with his neighbor, Behrend Joost, prompted him to start Clarke's Water Works in 1891, a service that supplied water to Eureka Valley residents and competed with Joost's Mountain Spring Water Company. Clarke died in San Francisco in 1902.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Alexander Thomas Leonard, M.D. to the San Francisco Historical Society; transferred to the California Historical Society.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

California Historical Society collections have been transferred to Stanford University Libraries. Collections will be unavailable as Stanford accessions them and updates records. Please contact chscollection@stanford.edu with any inquiries.

Terms of access:

Materials in this collection, which were created in 1890-1891, are in the public domain in the United States. Permission to publish or reproduce is not required.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item, date]; (Alfred) Clarke's Water Works photograph album; California Historical Society.

Location of this collection:
Department of Special Collections, Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6004, US
Contact:
(650) 725-1022
chscollection@stanford.edu
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