Key System Mole and Ferry Terminal - Oakland

18-AA-19-026 ⁶

c.1930 ¹⁰

The Key System Mole and Ferry Terminal (1903-1939) was an earthen pier and trestle extending from Oakland far out into the Bay, to facilitate passenger train/ferry connections for the Key System. At its terminus about ⅔ of the way to Yerba Buena Island, it widened into a huge ferry terminal built on wooden trestles. It was shaped somewhat like a key, so the name "Key Route" was used for the new service.

Today, a portion of the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge is built alongside the original route; the original eastern span was even closer.

The ferry terminal went into operation in October 1903. At the time, most of route was on a wooden trestle, some of it purchased from the California and Nevada Railroad. Because of high demand, the terminal was expanded several times after it first opened. Over time the route was filled in, creating the mole. By 1916, all but a 3,800 foot section had been filled. The tracks were rerouted to allow for a planned loop through the terminal area. ^1,9

1905 map excerpt

The 1918 Vander Naillen map shows both the older straight route (marked as abandoned) and newer route on the mole with curves before the ferry terminal. Later maps and the photo above show most of the older route removed, but a short length of it still attached near the curves, possibly as a storage spur.

1918 map excerpt

May 1933 ²

A January 21, 1933, fire damaged 150 feet of this pier, interrupting service for several days. A little over three months later, on the night of May 6, 1933, a much bigger blaze caused by “a mysterious explosion” caused further damage to the Key System Mole, destroying 22 stored streetcars, the 5-year-old ferryboat Peralta then valued at $1.25 million (reportedly the Bay’s fastest ferryboat), and offices, storage tracks and two main slips at the end of the pier. Key System officials estimated their rolling-stock losses at $725,000 and pier/terminal damage (a total loss) at over $1.25M. Total property damage thus exceeded $3M (≅$52M 2013 dollars). The cause of the suspicious explosion and fire was never determined, but firemen were reportedly “hampered in their efforts to combat the blaze when electric lighting and power circuits to the pier were cut off. Telephone communication lines also were severed.” ²

Thankfully for the Key System, one ferry slip and the trestle itself escaped damage, as did three ferry boats and approximately 60 cars. Three days after the fire, the Key System resumed operations on the Mole for some of its lines, with the others requiring passengers to transfer to the Southern Pacific's lines. By January of 1934 they had constructed a new, fire-resistant terminal building. ⁷

Clyde Sunderland photo, 1934 ⁷1934 ⁷1934 ⁷1934 ⁷

The Bay Bridge was completed in 1936, reducing ferry traffic. In 1939, the Key System trains started running on the lower deck of the bridge, removing the original purpose of the mole and the ferry terminal. The ferries continued to be used for a few more years to transport visitors to the 1939-1940 World's Fair on Treasure Island, but they sailed from San Francisco. ⁹

1938 map excerpt