Motor Boating in San Francisco [1905]

The 45-ft. power boat Union, built for and engined by the Union Gas Engine Company, is said to have made a record of 19.83 miles an hour against the tide, or about 23 miles with the tide. The boat is constructed on up-to-date lines, and is one of a very few of its class at San Francisco, where the conditions are not always ideal for pleasure boats. A 4-cylinder, 45 h.p. Union gas engine furnished the motive power. New works are in course of construction for this company in Oakland, Cal., giving increased facilities for manufacturing.

William Cryer is building a gasolene boat for Frank Joaquin, who will employ her for Alaska trading purposes. The machinery will be built by the Atlas Gas Engine Company, this city.

An 85 h.p. gas engine towboat for use on San Francisco Bay will be constructed for James Wilder, the machinery to by built by the Atlas Gas Engine Company.

The Santa Fe Railroad Company is having a speedy power boat constructed at Vallejo, Cal., by boatbuilder Nutz. She will make two round trips daily between Antioch, Cal., and numerous landings along the Sacramento River. Passengers will thus be transferred to and from the overland Santa Fe trains at Antioch. The Atlas Gas Engine Company, O. N. Owens, manager, guarantees that the 4-cylinder, 85 h.p. engine that is being built for the boat will give a speed of 18 miles an hour.

Marshall Harris, of the American Dredging Company, San Francisco, is the owner of the new power boat, P.D.Q., which has developed considerable speed as a tender for the company's dredges on the bay and the rivers emptying into it. She has a 4-cylinder, 45 h.p. Atlas engine. The length of the boat is 42 ft. on the water line, and her breadth is 5 1/2 ft.

Steamer Columbia, which will be used for towing on San Francisco Bay, has been completed at Johnson's Boat Shop, on the creek at Oakland, Cal. She is 30 ft. long, 8 ft. breadth, and about 4 ft. deep. The Columbia Machine Works built and installed in this vessel, a 35 h.p., 2-cylinder gas engine of a new type.

R. M. Creswell, the mail contractor who transports passengers between San Diego, Cal., and Fort Rosecrans in the gasolene boat Point Loma, recently outraced Dolphin and other vessels on this 6-mile run. Point Loma is 52 ft. long, 8 ft. wide, and 4 ft. deep. She is equipped with an Atlas 4-cylinder, 50 h.p. engine weighing about 2,000 pounds.

The Imperial gas Engine Company, which bought out the Economist Gas Engine Company, has commenced the manufacture of marine engines. A new type of gas engine is being brought out.

The gasolene launch Ryer Island, recently constructed in San Francisco by William Cryer, for the Ryer Island Company, is to be used in towing the company's dredges about the Ryer Island Reclamation District No. 15, in the Sacramento River. The dimensions of the boat are: Length, 45 ft.; breadth, 10 ft., and depth, 5 ft. She has a 57 h.p. Atlas gasolene engine, and cost $6,000. There are on board accommodations for 12 passengers, the boat being fitted with all modern conveniences.

J. R. Stirratt, of Seattle, has secured a location on the water front at Ballard, Wash., where he will build launches and equip them with engines.

[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page. —LF]

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