Come winter, come rain, and in some parts of Santa Rosa, come mud in the streets so deep that it could sink your car or buggy up to the axle. The only good part of this story is that a friendly electric trolleyman pulled the Brenards’ wagon out of the muck. Such an accident was not all that unusual for this part of town; an automobile likewise sank up to its axle a year before.

(This is the last in a mini series on the abysmal quality of Santa Rosa streets in 1906; read more here and here.)

BAD STREET IS PUBLIC MENACE

Accident Narrowly Averted on Sebastopol Avenue While Wagon Mires in Mud

Thursday night about nine o’clock, there came near being a very serious and possibly fatal accident at the crossing of the Northwestern tracks on Sebastopol avenue. Mr. and Mrs. Brenard, who reside on Second street, were returning home with a load of wood and just as they had crossed the railroad, the wagon mired in the street, up to the axle, just as an electric car was coming along and the horses became frightened at the car, nearly causing a serious accident.

Mrs. Brenard undertook to jump from the wagon in her fright and landing in the mud, also mired to her knees. The road bed is very narrow along the electric track there, and Mr. Brenard says he did not see his danger until it was too late, and at that place it was impossible for a wagon to turn around, even were the road such that a turn could be made. They waited there fully half an hour, and finally an electric car came along and hitching onto the wagon, pulled it out of the mud.

The City Council has been wrestling with the problem at the crossing of the electric tracks and the steam road for many months and recently at a meeting Councilman Reynolds offered a suggestion that the steam officials be interviewed, with an idea of getting their permission to allow the electric tracks being moved ten feet further north and thus widening the street on one side, and the placing the electric track at the edge of the street curb. This would be a good means of obliviating the present serious condition there, and such a step should be undertaken at once, before there is a loss of life and property from the unsafe conditions which now exist.

– Santa Rosa Republican, February 16, 1906

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Here’s another reason why Santa Rosa streets were in poor shape; cowboys could still drive cattle herds through town in the early 20th century.

But in 1906, the town passed new rules that cattle, pigs, and sheep could only rumble down specified parts of College Ave. and Cleveland Ave. Unfortunately, the City Council neglected to specify how the animals would get to the designated routes from the Southern Pacific stockyard on North Street, leading a local cattleman to quip that he’d have to airlift his cows.

OBJECT TO THE NEW ORDINANCE

Claim an Airship Will be Necessary to Get Cattle to Slaughter House

The stringent ordinance which was passed by the City Council at their last meeting regulating the driving of live stock through the streets of the city is meeting with considerable opposition from the stock sellers and buyers, for they can see no way, under the provisions of the ordinance, to get in or out of the city, with their cattle, sheep, or hogs when they dispose of them in the local market or at a distance. Under the provisions of the ordinance live stock can be driven on Cleveland avenue from College avenue on the north to the city limits and on College avenue from Cleveland avenue to the city limits on the west.

In conversation with P. H. Noonan, the largest stock shipper and buyer in this section, a reporter learned yesterday that Mr. Noonan does not relish the provisions of the ordinance at all. At present he sees no way, except possibly by means of an air ship, to get live stock from the Southern Pacific depot to the slaughter house, or from any point outside of the city. If some reasonable way can be provided whereby stock can be taken to the slaughter house and corrals, Mr. Noonan would much rather not drive cattle fresh from the Nevada hills, for instance, through the streets recognizing as he does the element of danger undertaken. The first remedy Mr. Noonan suggests is the removal of the Southern Pacific corrals outside of the city limits. The next remedy he would urge is the providing of a road as near the city limits on the west as possible, with a bridge across Santa Rosa creek at some convenient place.

– Press Democrat, February 28, 1906

READY TO MOVE CATTLE CORRALS
CHAIRMAN REYNOLDS OF STREET COMMITTEE RECEIVES WORD FROM SOUTHERN PACIFIC
Corrals and Oil Tanks Will be Located Outside of the City Limits When North Street is Opened

The Southern Pacific Company has formally notified Chairman W. D. Reynolds of the Street Committee that it is ready to move its cattle yards and oil tanks outside the city limits as soon as North street is opened so that teams will be able to reach the new location. The Company also urges that the matter be attended to if possible before the winter rains set in.

The new location of the Southern Pacific tanks and corrals will be on the Company’s property at the head of North street, and the change about to be made is in conformity with the ordinance passed some time since The tracks [sic] will be raised so as to allow the oil cars to run alongside the tanks and empty themselves by gravity, and the corrals will be constructed in permanent style.

– Press Democrat, September 23, 1905

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