Wire Rope and Bridges
Hallidie abandoned mining in 1857 and returned to San Francisco. Under the name of A. S. Hallidie & Co., he commenced the manufacture of wire rope in a building at Mason and Chestnut Streets, using the machinery from American Bar.
Hallidie was also heavily involved in bridge building. During 1861-2, he constructed bridges across the Klamath River at Weitchpeck, at Nevada City, across the American River at Folsom, and across the Bear, Trinity, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne rivers. In 1863 he built a bridge across the Fraser River, 10 miles upstream of Yale at Alexandra in British Columbia.
Also in 1863, Hallidie married Martha Elizabeth Woods. They had no children. In 1864, he became a United States citizen. In 1865, he gave up bridge building in order to devote himself entirely to his wire rope manufacturing business, which was experiencing increased demand from the silver mines on the Comstock Lode.
In 1867, Hallidie invented the Hallidie ropeway, a form of aerial tramway used for transporting ore and other material across mountainous districts, which he successfully installed a number of locations, and later patented.
Read more about this topic: Andrew Smith Hallidie
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