Description
Contains original and blueprint engineering drawings of cable car lines, electric railways, railroads, and other related drawings.
Cable car drawings include drawings of the complete workings for 7 cable car lines for Market Street Cable Railway Co. Railroad
drawings include drawings of bridges and profiles of sections of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. The collection also includes
L.M. Clement's reference materials and some of R.M. Clement's personal papers.
Background
Lewis Metzler Clement, known as L.M. Clement, was born in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, on August 12, 1837. Clement
earned an engineering degree from Montréal's McGill University. Clement began his career with the railroads as a shipping
clerk with the Central Ohio Railroad, eventually moving to St. Louis where he worked for E.R. Blanchard, General Freight Agenet
of the Ohio and Mississippi Railway Company. In January 1863, Clement decided to leave St. Louis to seek his fortune in California.
With a recommendation from Blanchard, he was able to secure a position from Theodore Dehone Judah, Chief Engineer of the Central
Pacific Railroad, as Judah's assistant in the surveying and building of the first railroad eastward across the Sierra Nevada
Mountains. With Judah's death, Clement was made Assistant Chief Engineer and eventually the Acting Chief Engineer.Russell Montague Clement, known as R.M. Clement, son of Lewis Metzler Clement, was born March 30, 1865 in a camp along the
Central Pacific Railroad line. Russell studied civil engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1889.
He worked for both the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Pacific Improvement Company and later served as the City Engineer
for Oakland, California. R.M. Clement died in 1958.The Market Street Railroad Company, incorporated in 1857 was the first street railway system in San Francisco with tracks
going down Market Street. Originally operated with steam dummy's pulling the cars, they were switched to horse drawn cars
in 1867 after complaints from residents.
Extent
Number of containers: 8 boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 36 oversize folders, 4 v. and 2 oversize v.
Linear feet: 5.5
Restrictions
Copyright has been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must
be submitted in writing to the appropriate curator or the Head of Public Services for forwarding. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright.