Trolley Thursday 5/13/21 - The Battle of Sebastopol Avenue

Just like most of its national and international history, America's electric railroad history is not free from the spoils and sins of war. Most wars in electric railway circles, like the quiet Cold War of the United Railroads vs. San Francisco or the intense bureaucratic battles of Chicago's Cable Car wars, are fought rather bloodlessly, usually coming down to bidding for street franchises. However, in a quiet corner of Sonoma County just 30 miles North of San Francisco, one notable clash between interurbans and steam railroads tuned swiftly violent with mud, rocks, and pre-heated boiler water as the weapons of choice. And now, dear passengers, don your helmets, lace up your boots, and grab a ballast rock to sling because, on today's Trolley Thursday, we're going to war over a frog!

  

Come On, Let's Play Monopoly!

A contemporary ad for the P&SR in later service,
advertising overnight less-than-carload service between
Sebastopol and San Francisco.
(Abandoned Rails)

On the fringes of Northern California's rich and verdant wine country sits the town of Petaluma, just 37 miles north of San Francisco. Just after the turn of the 20th century, the town housed 3,871 people and its primary source of income was through its nascent eggs and dairy industry through the Petaluma Creamery, established in 1903. Four horsecar companies (the Santa Rosa Street Railway, the Union Street Railway, the Petaluma Street Railroad, and the Central Street Railway) began running in Petaluma between 1888 and 1891 and, on June 20, 1903, all four companies were soon consolidated into the Petaluma & Santa Rosa Railway (P&SR). Funding for the consolidation was ponied up by Rudolph Spreckels, a San Franciscan nob whose father, "Sugar King" Claus Spreckels, was involved in railroads both large and small. However, despite the large capital provided, and with the added purchase of three steam ferries traveling between Petaluma and San Francisco, the P&SR was already facing stiff competition.

A California Northwestern excursion double-header heads south from Cloverdale
to Santa Rosa in this 1904 photo.
(Mendocino Model Railroad and Historical Society)

I cannot find any photos of Mr. A.W. Foster, but here is his
mansion in Willits, California. It is now called "Brooktrails".
(Mendocino Model Railroad and Historical Society)

At the time, the only railroad through Petaluma was the California Northwestern, a steam railroad helmed by president A.W. Foster. Prior to the P&SR's founding, he controlled almost all North Bay railroad transport with ownership in lines out in Willits, Duncans Mills, and Sausalito, along with a solid monopoly on local passenger and produce traffic between Petaluma and Santa Rosa over a distance of 25 miles. Foster sold the California Northwestern (CNWR) to the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) in 1902, one year before the P&SR was founded, but remained with the company during this transfer of power as president. While comfortably enjoying his seat of power, Foster soon got word that the P&SR had their first-spike ceremony at the Copeland Street landing on April 5, 1904, and was building north to Santa Rosa. Due to the interurban railway craze that characterized many cities in the early 1900s, Santa Rosa was very eager to join this technological and social zeitgeist and gave the P&SR (through its owner and consolidator, J.H. Brush) a 50-year franchise on their city transit.

Crossed Wires and Crossed Nerves

In October 1904, a P&SR "Red Car" is seen arriving at the new
Sebastopol Depot. The new powerhouse is just above the station.
(Bud Daviero, Dick Hogan, Western Sonoma County Historical Society)

To say that Foster was rather annoyed with the thought of direct competition would be an understatement; after all, this was still the Old West, and everyone knows that man with the biggest gun wins the gunfight... or in this case, the man with the most viable tracks wins. The P&SR managed to reach the town of Sebastopol on October 1904 and spent much of the winter heading towards the southwest corner of Santa Rosa, following the aforementioned Sebastopol Avenue. In order to reach the downtown area, P&SR's surveyors determined the most direct course was crossing the CNWR tracks at Sebastopol Avenue at-grade, meaning a new cross-track had to be tacked onto the steam railroad's tracks. Understandably, Foster immediately rejected any notion for the trolley to run on his tracks but instead offered, more even-handedly, to have the railroad build an underpass or overpass over his tracks to reach downtown Santa Rosa on the basis of safety. After all, he reasoned, it's better for this new railroad to have a safe crossing than to have an accident.

Track workers building up Sebastopol Road towards the west side of the CWRS tracks.
(Unknown Author)

In 1900, a California Northwestern freight train stops at
Santa Rosa. The battle took place just south of this photo.
(Mendocino Model Railroad and Historical Society)

Rudolph Spreckels would have listened to Foster, but the sugar prince already had a chip on his shoulder dealing with a long-running harassment campaign against the SP. One of these methods included bringing the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe (SP's main rival) into Richmond thanks to Claus Spreckels, and annoying the company through this one little trolley line felt like a direct hit into the old ironsides of the Sunset Limited. Foster immediately took the P&SR to court, arguing that Santa Rosa offering a fifty-year franchise to the interurban line was illegal by being a no-bid contract that left the CNWR out of the proceedings. 

As this legal battle raged on, the next two months, between January and February 1905, were spent in tense pre-hostilities. The CNWR posted armed guards by its railroad tracks to dissuade any P&SR track workers from slicing their rails off and installing a cross-track, while the P&SR was able to string wire over the CNWR and run a separate service on the east side tracks into downtown Santa Rosa. This cumbersome compromise meant that passengers wanting to go all the way into downtown had to step off of their interurban car, walk across the tracks, then get into another trolley to go into downtown. To citizens, it was less "mass transportation" and more of a "mass perambulation" as the local Santa Rosa tracks ended two blocks from the local CNWR/SP depot and six blocks from the nearest department stores at the Grace Brothers Brewery.

Victims of the Frog War

An overlaid map of the original P&SR and current CNWR/NWP line,
with the 101/12 freeway interchange at bottom center.
(Santa Rosa History)

Caught in the middle of this "frog war" (which is named after the point where two rails intersect on a cross-track or switch) were the many businesses and citizens of Santa Rosa, who were decidedly more excited for a new interurban line than they were for the steam railroad. For the citizens, the new interurban brought an end to the spotty service rendered by the horsecars, and with the added bonus of a ferry line this gave them direct access along the Golden Gate into San Francisco. 

For businesses, this direct service was also appealing as it allowed them to transport any goods that could fit in an interurban much faster and also much cheaper than the rates charged by the monopolistic steam railroad. One such business, the aforementioned Grace Brothers Brewery, was also caught in this legal "frog war" with demands to have their new spur off the steam railroad ripped out due to (among other reasons) the Spreckels supporting the progressive temperance movement in San Francisco. Brewery head Joseph T. Grace, who had paid $311 (or $9,437.93 in 2021, which is still cheap today) to install the spur, assured folks he didn't want any trouble, and was thankfully backed up by P&SR director Frank Brush (son of original line consolidator J.H. Brush). However, whether he or anyone else liked it or not, trouble was soon coming anyway.

         

WAR!

January 3, 1905. 

California Northwestern No. 30, similar to the steam
locomotives used against the P&SR in the Battle, circa 1905.
(Pat Hathaway Archives)

The first shot of the Battle of Sebastopol Avenue rang out in the form of striking hammers and hissing steel as the new double-track cross-track was constructed in Sebastopol town. After being loaded onto a flatcar, the cross-track was pushed towards the tracks by the interurban crews. Unfortunately, meeting them at the crossing location were not only the armed guards ensuring that their employer's track remained in one piece, but also two big steam locomotives armed with nozzles that could shoot both fresh, hot steam and scalding boiler water. Those nozzles were aimed very menacingly at the interurban crew, who quickly retreated before anything could happen. However, after this initial offensive failure, a CNWR conductor named Walter Holloway alerted his upper managers about another track crew hacking away at the Grace Brothers' Brewery spur that afternoon. Holloway engaged the men verbally and, thankfully, no additional violence was reported that day, but the next night over, a scene of absolute sneaky treachery occurred. 

Petaluma & Santa Rosa No. 57 near the end of its life,
with a boxcar in tow. All PS&R cars were combinations.
(Unknown Author)

P&SR No. 57, on one of its last runs into Santa Rosa, arrived west of the CNWR tracks carrying a secret construction crew. The armed guards had gone home that night, presumably on the assumption that the interurban road wouldn't try anything funny in the middle of the night. A team of four horses and two mules was waiting from a local livery stable, watching as the crew jumped out of the little wooden interurban and began laying a temporary track over the vacated crossing, made of simply wood planks. With a temporary track constructed, the horses were then tied to No. 57 and pulled the 47-foot American Car Company wooden motor car over the tracks into downtown Santa Rosa, with the passengers aboard thankful they didn't have to walk over the tracks anymore. The entire town of Santa Rosa was waiting for the streetcar to cross as hundreds crowded the site at about 12:15 in the morning. As the Press Democrat reported that night: 

There was all kinds of excitement at the Sebastopol avenue crossing last night lasting from nine o’clock until the time named when the good car “Woodworth” rested like Noah’s ark this side and safe within the city. There the people began to thin out and the crowd, estimated when the excitement was at its height, at five hundred strong, dwindled away.

Unfortunately, the CNWR read that paper too and immediately filed for a temporary injunction blocking the P&SR from building their crossing, leading to the "mass ambulation" mentioned above.

March 1, 1905.

A retouched photographic detail shows the CNWR engine
crews standing on their locomotives' running boards, hoses full
of hot-water ready to fire away.
(Santa Rosa History)

On that spring morning, the CNWR's temporary injunction was lifted and the P&SR raced to Sebastopol Avenue to build their new cross-track. Unfortunately, the CNWR crews were not informed of the lifted injunction and met the P&SR crews with violence. As the men worked on cutting the track and installing the crossings, the CNWR crews "helped" by refilling any hole they dug and throwing rocks. A.W. Foster also sent back his own secret weapons, the two steam locomotives (dubbed "Admiral Barrows' fighting ships", after CNWR Supervisor Barrows) armed with hot water hoses, to shoot at the interurban crews. One unfortunate victim of these locomotives was P&SR director Frank Brush, who attempted to block the steam railroad with his body, but ended up falling anyway after being disoriented by the steam blast. Both crews ended up playing tug-of-war with his body as the interurban crews fought the steam crews to avoid their boss becoming a hostage. Brush survived his brush with death and was eventually dragged back onto his side.

CNWR Locomotive No. 12 and another are blocking the crossing location for the P&SR,
shortly before hostilities flared on March 1, 1905.
(Western Sonoma County Historical Society)

(Press-Democrat)

Joining Foster was another CNWR train filled with 150 "waterfront thugs" to intimidate the interurban track crews into backing off, while one of the guard locomotives had a flatcar full of gravel coupled in front. Not only was this gravel used to fill in the P&SR's excavations, but it was also used as ammunition as the heavy aggregate was lobbed at the interurban crews. There was even some intense drama as one of the steam locomotives rammed into a horse cart deliberately blocking the line, smashing it up and sending the horses running off in fear through the crowd of locals who came to see the madness. Some of the locals even began lobbing mud and rocks at the steam train crews, trying to get them to back off and let their brand-new trolley cross in peace, smashing windows and injuring the engineers. As many as 1300 people gathered to clash in the street, to the cacophony of huffing locomotives, shrieking whistles, hissing steam, and crunching shovels and pickaxes. 

After two hours of the madness, the fighting came to an end as the police intervened to arrest any man caught impeding the P&SR's construction. Even A.W. Foster, a now-embattled ex-president, finally came up to officially announce his receiving of a telegram announcing the nullified injunction and that the P&SR could do business as they pleased. The four steam locomotives, now almost out of water due to wasting it shooting at the crowd, struggled to clear the way, while "Admiral" Barrows was arrested twice for his participation and also had rocks, mud, and gravel thrown at him. Later that evening, the new cross-track was finally installed and the first cars ran on their own power into downtown Santa Rosa, also going over the Grace Brothers' Brewery tracks. 

The event was later given a comical bent in Carl Fallberg's "Fiddletown & Copperopolis" comics,
showing just how ridiculous the entire situation really was.
(Carl Fallberg)

The Aftermath

A 1915 peek into one of the P&SR carhouses shows off two handsome 
wooden cars. No. 53 on the left were known as "Wind-splitter cars" 
while the No. 69 on the right were much shorter in length.
(Western Sonoma County Historical Society)

Santa Rosa welcomed their new trolley, and the 20th Century, with open arms and the interurban soon saw ever-increasing ridership against the CNWR's former monopoly. Later that year, service was extended to the town of Forestville from a new spur west out of Sebastopol on July 15, 1905. The line was supposed to extend out even further to Sonoma proper and even Napa, but the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake cancelled all of these plans and much of the late 1900s were spent in a rebuilding period, economically and physically. 

On July 28, 1913, the branchline from Liberty Junction (5 miles north of Petaluma) to Two Rock (an unincorporated community 5 miles north of Liberty) became the last line to open for the P&SR. After a swift period of diminishing returns and service loss to both automobiles and heavy rail, passenger service ended on this line on September 30, 1925. Soon after, passenger service to Santa Rosa ended in 1931 due to dwindling passenger numbers, with the tracks over Sebastopol Avenue being dismantled due to the service cutbacks.. Whatever was left was, ironically, purchased by Southern Pacific in 1932 and run under their Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) interurban and heavy-rail banner, bringing an end to 29 years of independent streetcar and interurban operations.

Veterans of a Thousand Trolley Wars

A modern view of the Sebastopol Avenue crossing, now a single-track industrial line run by NWP.
(Google Maps)

The P&SR Sebastopol powerhouse.
(NoeHill)

Today, all that is left of the Sebastopol Avenue battlefield is the same exact spot where that battle raged 116 years ago (as of this writing), where the NWP tracks cross Sebastopol Avenue to the west of the CA-12/CA-101 interchange in Santa Rosa. Despite being a little boring crossing now, not much around it ever suggests that it was home to one of the biggest railway battles in Californian history. As for the P&SR, four existing artifacts continue to carry its name deep into the 21st century, with the local depot powerhouse in Sebastopol and the railroad station in Santa Rosa still standing today. 

The Sebastopol powerhouse is now owned by the Hopmonk Tavern, while the depot is a museum, and both are a part of the National Register of Historic Places. The Santa Rosa depot is now part of the "Railroad Square" historic and cultural district, with its job being taken by the new Santa Rosa Downtown station of the modern day successor to the PS&R, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART). As for the former P&SR depot in Santa Rosa, it is now unfortunately a Chevy's Mexican Restaurant. The only surviving railroad cars of the PS&R are 1904 Holman "express motor" No. 8, now preserved by Petaluma Trolley in Sebastopol, CA, and 1904 Holman "combination baggage-coach" No. 63, which operates at the Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, CA.

Stunning yellow P&SR No. 63 is a frequent operator at the Western Railway Museum,
seen here on September 16, 2017, with Muni Type K "Iron Monster" No. 178.
(CaliforniaRailfan101)

  

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included Comstock House, who runs the Santa Rosa History blog where all of this research is cribbed from, as well as the respective photograph owners, the Petaluma Trolley Living History & Railway Museum, and the Western Railway Museum. Again, I thank Miles Callan of Interurban Era for being this month's guest editor. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself and can be found under “Motorman Reymond’s Railroad Gif Carhouse”. On Tuesday, we look at the continued history of the Northwestern Pacific's electric lines after this epic battle. For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!