F I R S TP R E V353NEXTLAST

Passenger Deck, Eureka Ferry
At its height, 50 million passengers a year commuted into San Francisco on ferries like this. Now in retirement, the steam-driven paddle-wheeled, Eureka, was at one time, the largest passenger ferry in the world. Capable of carrying 2,300 passengers and 120 cars, the wooden-hull, 277-foot long ship ran from Sausalito from 1922 to 1941 and then from Oakland until 1957. The double-ended ferry had a wheelhouse at each end with identical navigational controls. The eventual construction of the Golden Gate and Bay bridges drastically reduced the need for the 170 ferry fleet. Today a much smaller fleet of sleek and fast ferries still transport commuters into San Francisco from points around the Bay.
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