The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Spring 1969, Volume 15, Number 2
Rita Larkin, Editor

Original Articles

An Auto Trip Through San Diego’s Back Country
By Ed Fletcher
The Jackass Mail—San Antonio and San Diego Mail Line
By Basil C. Pearce
San Diego’s Cable Railway
By Susan Haga
Documents of San Diego History—A Unique Case: Temecula Indians vs. Holman and Seaman
By Florence Shipek

Front Cover

street car

Two fourth graders were on a school-sponsored tour of Old Town when they discovered standing in the side yard by the Whaley House, an old street car, glistening from a fresh coat of fellow paint.

These two young products of the age of jet planes and rockets to the moon found the aged trolley, known as “Car No. 54,” to be as interesting as a street car has ever been to any boy.

It is made up of two of the cable cars from the bankrupt San Diego Cable Railways. (See “San Diego’s Cable Railway,” page 23 of this issue.)

Remodeling of the cars into trolleys was begun in 1902. They served the community for many years before falling into disuse.

Car 54 was rescued by the Railroad Historical Society from a menial existence in a vacant lot near Lakeside. The Society brought it to its present location for purposes of convenience while the membership restores and repairs the historical vehicle.