Good Evening, Everybody !!!
Tonight we conclude my story about Southern Pacific's "Oakland Pier" (aka Oakland Mole) ..I hope you enjoy another history lesson on what used to be a very intricate and important operation on the Western Division... So let's get started...

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Southern Pacific's "Oakland Pier" ... **The MOLE that Moved the West** PART 3. (Conclusion)

Fire Protection

As was previously mentioned, the wharves were fully protected by the fire tug "Ajax" and by a high-duty saltwater system. Fire is the # 1 enemy of any railroad facility, be it a small depot or a major terminus or a large classification yard and adjoining shops and offices. The Oakland Mole was no exception and it was utterly important that the highest level of fire protection be afforded this Oakland landmark because of the amount of wood used in its construction together with the amount of creosote impregnated pilings used to build the wharves, the ferry slips and the base that the ornate train sheds rested upon.

West Oakland yard was very large in size and contained many buildings for uses ranging from the Stores Department, to Bridge & Building, Tin Shop, Scale Shop, medical dispensary and on and on. And of course, all made of very combustible wood.

Located at Oakland Pier, near one of the old auto ferry slips, was a one-story peaked roof building with a tall, black smokestack rising from the top center of the roof. Inside this building were two very large horizontal stationary steam boilers that were oil fired. And in another area of this building was a large belt-driven air compressor and a number of steam-operated duplex pumps. This was the Pump House, which had an attendant on duty 24-hours per day, seven days per week. It had a variety of purposes related to Oakland Pier and West Oakland yard. It provided a source of Bunker-C crude oil for ferryboat fuel and hot and cold fresh water to all needed parts of the Mole, as well as steam lines and compressed air lines to the various tracks inside the great sheds and to the ferry slips.

Scattered around the Mole property as well as around West Oakland yard were fire hydrants placed in various strategic locations. Both the hydrants at West Oakland as well as the hydrants at the Mole were fed by some of the pumps at the Pump House. The Southern Pacific used salt water, pumped from the Bay, for its hydrant system. The hydrants were not connected to the City of Oakland fresh water supply. The mains feeding these hydrants were kept at a very high pressure. The SP employee on duty in the Pump House as the attendant, was referred to as the "Pumper" . He had a very important function along with a lot of responsibility.
The Pumper had a simple wood desk with a lamp and a phone and some office supplies located along the West wall of the pump house at about the mid-point.
Mounted high up on the wall above the pumper's desk was a large brass gong about fourteen inches in diameter. Below that was an old fashioned telegraphic "pen register" with paper tape. All Southern Pacific employees were required to help fight fires wherever they occurred. There was an extremely loud horn that was mounted on the roof of the West Oakland Roundhouse. It would activate whenever anyone pulled the lever on the fire alarm box. To say that it was loud is an understatement. When it sounded, you thought that Shasta Dam had collapsed.
That horn could be heard for miles. The horn blasts were coded like an old magneto phone.. a series of long and short blasts. These fire codes were recorded on that paper tape via the "pen register" in the pump house and the horn code blasts at the Roundhouse were repeated at the Pier on that large brass gong.
Every employee carried a card in their wallet that identified the fire location as tapped out by the horn and thence knew instantly as to where the fire was. When I first visited the pump house in the early 1950s, "Thad Dickes" was the Pumper. He was a very nice gentleman and took his work seriously. His hobby was building scale, miniature steam locomotives and he became a member of the Golden Gate Live Steamers in Oakland.

The Bakery

There was a two-story wooden building at Oakland Pier that was located just outside the main entrance to the big train sheds. This was the Southern Pacific Bakery that handled all pastry requirements for the Western Division. Whether it be cakes, pies, breads, biscuits, rolls, buns, chocolate eclairs or any other tasty delight, the "bake shop" at the Mole, as it was commonly referred to, was there to produce hundreds of these items for the dining cars of various trains as well as for the restaurants on the ferryboats. Another item made up at the bake shop were sandwiches and box lunches for troop trains during the War years. One of the most requested items on the dining cars was the "Southern Pacific Salad Bowl", a huge assortment of greens topped off with special home-made Thousand Island dressing.
However, there was yet another item that was highly requested on the trains and ferries that was enjoyed for many years by the traveling public. This was home-made 'Raisin Bread', made fresh daily at the Oakland Pier Bakery. Both the taste and aroma of that particular bread was heavenly. You could smell it being baked all around the Mole while waiting for your train or boat. My late grandfather was employed by the Southern Pacific for some thirty-six years. Every now and then he would bring home two fresh loaves of raisin bread, still warm, to share with his family. I was a part of that family and can attest to that particular bread's reputation.

Oakland Pier Coffee Shop

Just a few feet inside the main entrance to the Mole, there was a coffee shop located right next to the long ramp that took ferryboat commuters upstairs to the large waiting room. It was usually staffed by two friendly African-American ladies. The coffee shop was not that big and was essentially a long counter with several stools for patrons. The menu was typical for the coffee shops of the day. Breakfast items, burgers, hot dogs, sweets, colas, shakes and so forth. Their hot dogs made a lasting impression with this writer. But in general, it was a friendly spot where commuters or long distance passengers could enjoy a quick "something to eat" to tie them over until they reached their final destinations.

Four railroads shared those giant wooden train sheds once upon a time. The Southern Pacific, Western Pacific, Santa Fe and SP's "Oakland, Alameda & Berkeley" electric suburban trains (OA&B) . (later becoming the 'IER'-Interurban Electric Railroad) . The Mole had a certain "aura"-- a "mystique"-- a truly magical and amazing place to see and be a part of, on any mainline railroad.

It entertained its patrons with a conglomeration of various "smells" found no where else: Salt air, hot oil, steam, the Bakery, low tide conditions of the Bay waters and on and on. Along with this were the various noises found only around that great enduring lady known to so many as Oakland Mole : whistles, horns, sea gulls, waves lapping at the pilings and rocks of the Mole, ferryboats arriving and casting off again, the noise of hurried feet running for their train or boat, the noise of various trains arriving and departing, the voice of the Station Master on the PA system with his various annoucements and continuing each day.

Oakland Pier remained active until October 5, 1960, as a terminal and servicing facility for Southern Pacific trains, twenty-seven months after the last passenger ferry crossed the bay to San Francisco's Ferry Building. After that date, it sat abandoned and unused for some three years until it met its fate at the hands of demolition crews. But for some seventy-eight years, the trains ran and human beings crossed paths with each other as their journeys dictated.

Oakland Pier Memories

January 22, 2012 was the 130th Anniversary of the opening of Oakland Pier.
Nothing resembling "what was" is even at the site anymore, which was at the foot of 7th Street in West Oakland. Only one item, the famous Oakland Pier Interlocking Tower, was preserved and moved to a public park within the Port of Oakland container terminal.

My late grandfather was Victor T. Shattock who, after emigrating from Alberta, Canada in 1923, was hired by the Southern Pacific as a Water Service Mechanic.
He was assigned to an SP Outfit Car (# 417) and roamed the Division as a glorified railroad 'plumber'. Around 1930, after moving to East Oakland, Victor was appointed "Pumper" at Oakland Pier. During some of the lonely nights he was on duty in the Pump House, he befriended a little mouse who would peek out from a crack in the wall of the old building, and he fed it some bits of cheese and bread crumbs. The interaction between human and rodent must have been quite entertaining to say the least, but it helped make lonely nights go by more quickly.

A few years later, Thad Dickes became the Pumper and my grandfather was promoted to Foreman of the entire Water Service Department of the Western Division. His office was at the Tin Shop, near the roundhouse. As a young boy, who was raised by my grandparents, I often accompanied him to his job on the Southern Pacific and got to learn steam railroading first hand. One of the many places he took me to was Oakland Pier, including the Pump House, so I could see where he used to work. The large stationary steam boilers used to really scare me because of the sights and sounds they made. My grandfather was widely known on the Southern Pacific, not only because of being a 'live steam' modeler with a steam railroad in the basement of his home, but also because he was a railroad Union officer and Division Grievance Chairman for the Western Division.

Once, while visiting the Pump House at the Mole, I asked my grandfather if I could go over to the coffee shop to buy myself a coke. He gave me permission (I was probably about seven years old) and cautioned me about watching for "moving trains". When I arrived at the coffee shop and ordered my glass of coke, one of the darling ladies behind the counter, asked if I would like one of their hot dogs too. I told her I didn't have enough money. She said the hot dog would be free and when I asked why, she stated in her Southern drawl "cuz I was misster Shattock's child" !
I will never forget that episode in my life at the Mole-- ever !!
I used to go out the back door of the Pump House and stand against the fence watching the crabs come up out of the water onto the rocks below.

Another time, our telephone in East Oakland rang at about 1:00 AM. It was an urgent "callout" for my grandfather because a pipe had broken somewhere and flooded the "Bake Shop" at the Mole. After getting dressed and ready to go, he woke me up in my room and asked if I would like to go with him. Would I ??
I sure would and infact, did so ! My grandmother (Maude) was NOT pleased at all, taking the young boy out in the middle of the night.
When we arrived at the Bake Shop, we didn't see a flood, just a wet floor. It was during this time that I looked under the sink and saw this huge insect crawling along a pipe. It was a cockroach ! A darn BIG cockroach.

Another time, my grandfather told me of the times they had to go underneath the Mole to make repairs on plumbing of various kinds, crawling around some of the pilings. Many times, the fleas from Rats would be buzzing around and sometimes you would shine your flashlight and see a pair of eyes looking at you, before suddenly scurrying away.
One of the old-timers I met at Oakland Pier years ago told me about the rats and cockroaches they were always fighting. Then he said, "Sonny, we have rats as big as cats and cockroaches as big as canaries" . I have never forgotten that saying to this day.

The trains I rode into and out of Oakland Pier as a young boy are etched in my mind forever: The Senator, the Pocket, the Shasta Daylight, the Overland Limited, San Jose local # 255 and a few others. The cab-rides on steam locomotives from Oakland Pier to West Oakland yard were a thrill only a young boy would understand.

My beloved Oakland Pier was an integral part of my youth. It was an amazing place for a young boy to see and learn things in life from being there. It is now approaching the Fall of the year 2011. I turned 65 years of age in November, 2011.
It has been over fifty-three years since I last went out the backdoor of the Pump House to see the "crabs crawling on the rocks at low tide" or to look across at those old Victorian-era train sheds and wonder if any trains were arriving. This was my World growing up in a railroad yard, in my youth, in my native Oakland, California.
It was a place that I'll always cherish and be thankful I was able to see in operation before it was swept away forever. It is gone but not forgotten !
One of the greatest railroad stations in the United States ---
"Southern Pacific's Oakland Pier" ------ "The MOLE that Moved the West" !!

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Bibliography / Source of material for story:

Southern Pacific Bulletin -- October, 1920
Southern Pacific Bulletin -- December, 1925
Southern Pacific Bulletin -- February, 1923
Southern Pacific Bulletin -- March, 1921
California State Board of Health -- Monthly Bulletin -- August, 1921
Personal Memories, J.B. Watts, Chief Dispatcher -- Oakland Pier
Personal Memories, Thad Dickes, Pumper -- Oakland Pier
Personal Memories, Marshall E. Morse, Engineering Dept -- Oakland Pier
Personal Memories, Alice Perkins, SP Bulletin Reporter -- Oakland Pier
Personal Memories, Irene Evans Gogna, Clerk-SP Signal Office -- West Oakland
Personal Memories, Victor T. Shattock, Water Service Foreman -- West Oakland
Personal Memories, Kenneth V. Shattock, Grandson of Victor Shattock --native of Oakland, CA
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There you are folks. Thank you for allowing me to tell this story!

KEN SHATTOCK (KRK)

Note: Your comments are graciously solicited !!