Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Wednesday Search Challenge (2/5/14): What wreck is this?

Last Saturday I went for a run in the North Bay along the shoreline.  Along the way I ran past a big pile of iron and steel sticking up out of the water in the strait.  



Being a curious sort of fellow, I took a picture with my phone and kept going on my run, knowing that later I could figure out what it was all about.  

Sure enough, I was able to figure this out without difficulty.  Can you?  

Today's questions are: 


1.  What's the story of this wreck?  (What was it?  Did it have a name?  Why is it here?)  
2.  Can you find a picture of it (whatever it was) taken BEFORE it turned into a ruin?   
3.  Can you find a newspaper article about how this wreck came to be?   (Extra credit)   

When you post your answer in the comment stream, be sure to tell us HOW you found the answer. What queries did you do?  What search terms worked? (And which did NOT work?)  

Tell us about your search process, so we all can learn. 


Search on!  

58 comments:

  1. I had only five minutes to try and solve this but I managed to do most of the job.

    The EXIF shows me the geocoords. I decided to try my luck on Wikimapia, because this is the kind of object that is usually referenced by some fellow with Wiki mania. There it is:

    1. The wreck of the Garden City.
    This is what remains of a steam ferry called Garden City. It was built in 1879, and burned in the early 1980's.
    http://wikimapia.org/26258105/The-wreck-of-the-Garden-City
    They also link to Wikipedia, where there's a full account of its history and why it's there.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_Coast_Railroad#Garden_City

    2. [ "garden city" steam ferry ] in Google Images gave me plenty of images. I had seen on the Wikipedia article that the first picture was of another boat, so this is tricky. The fourth image in the search results page is our boat in 1980, already rotting there. The blog post showing it ( http://www.doryadams.com/2011/04/abandoned-things-garden-city.html ) has a comment by a reader who links to his own picture of the boat in 1974, in a slightly better condition: http://maui-mike.smugmug.com/OtherDestinations-1/Going-Home-California/i-C74rHqg
    In such short time, I couldn't find an image of it back in the days when she was still rolling.

    3. The same image search shows plenty of images of newspaper articles. No time to check their relevancy at the moment.

    Nice challenge, thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1. Southern Pacific Ferry Boat “Garden City” that burned to the waterline in 1983.
    2. http://maui-mike.smugmug.com/OtherDestinations-1/Going-Home-California/i-C74rHqg

    ReplyDelete
  3. Extra credit:
    http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19840724&id=ty1SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AjYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4039,4384277

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can never remember where I need to go to get the exif info online. My search started with [ exif online ]
    Right clicked on your picture and selected Copy Image URL and then pasted it in Jeffrey's Exif Viewer
    That gave a link to Google Maps and took me a place near Eckley Pier.
    Using the EXPLORE pictures at the bottom to see if anyone else had posted pictures and labeled it. One of the pictures said "Contra Costa" and I went down that for a few minutes before going back to the Google Map page to try again.
    Zooming in and out slowly shows different pictures and one showed the name "Garden City" ferry.

    [ railroad ferry 'Garden City' ] to South Pacific Coast Railroad
    The Wikipedia article talks about how the Garden City hit a pier on Christmas morning in 1921. Then was moored by Eckley Pier and used as a fishing resort or it was part of a fishing resort because I read somewhere that it had a dancehall. So I think I have enough info to go looking for a picture and then the news story from the Christmas morning.

    Image search [ "Garden City" ferry ] to find Derelict Ferry Boat of Carquinez Strait: The Garden City and also on this page Hint: CMD-F [garden city] on that page to find a picture from a book by John Signor.
    Tried searching for the book by John Signor but it has no preview available in Google Books.

    Searched using advanced in Google News for [ "garden city" ferry ] and a lot variations all around the date 12/25/1921. Nothing.

    Backed up to regular Google Search to [ newspaper archives "san francisco" ] to the Library of Congress site Newspaper Archives, Indexes & Morgues. Scanning that list reminded that the actual search tool I wanted wasn't Google News Advanced search options but this one http://news.google.com/newspapers.
    [ "Garden city" ferry site:news.google.com/newspapers ] Got me Ferby Boat Burned. Google's spelling, not mine.

    So the Garden City ferry was used for transportation by the railroad until it was retired around 1929. The it was moored near Eckley Pier and used for a fishing resort. In 1983 during a fire in the Port Costa area of California, the Garden City caught fire from the sparks and burned to the water level. Your picture shows what remains after that fire.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's the wreck of the "The Garden City"

    1. Looked at the metadata for your picture.
    2. Found that it was very close to Eckley Pier. Searched "eckley pier shipwreck" which took me to http://theprivatenaturalist.wordpress.com/tag/shipwrecks-of-san-francisco-bay/
    3. From wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_Coast_Railroad#Garden_City
    4. used google images tab to search "garden city ferry san francisco" got a ton of pictures

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good Morning, Dr. Russell, fellow SearchResearchers

    Searched

    Image search and trim image search. No Result

    Coordinates in Google Maps. Found image that says answer. Remains of the railroad ferry "Garden City".

    ["Garden City" railroad ferry California] in images and in web.

    Garden City

    Derelict Ferry Boat of Carquinez Strait: The Garden City

    Excellent page with history, images, links and information. A1

    Answers

    1. What's the story of this wreck? (What was it? Did it have a name? Why is it here?)
    "Garden City". It was a ferry that transported freight cars and passengers. Launched on June 20 1879. She was anchored in 1929 at the old Eckly Pier. After that served as a sport-fishing resort until early 1970's. Became wreck after fire of 1983. Source: A1

    After reading newspapers, the Ferry broke free of its moorings with the fire, floated down on fire and eventually burned up. Its remnants drifted away.

    2. Can you find a picture of it (whatever it was) taken BEFORE it turned into a ruin?

    Garden City image

    Another image

    Image from book Ferries of San Francisco Bay Book also mentions the fire and has images after it on page 28.


    3. Can you find a newspaper article about how this wreck came to be?

    [[Garden City ferry fire site:news.google.com]

    Port Costa fire is contained by firefighters

    Woman Sought Arson-caused Fires Destroy Ferry

    ReplyDelete
  7. First time player, so here's the steps I went through:
    - Since I'm interested in Google Image Search, I tried something a bit experimental, dragging the original image to the 'Find Similar Images' feature. Unfortunately this didn't work at all well. The original image was first in the results, but then every other image was a generic water scene: https://www.google.com/search?tbs=simg:CAESXRpbCxCo1NgEGgQIAQgJDAsQsIynCBoyCjAIARIKpASVB_10D_1AOUBxog9JggNqfkuHbZYvp2rzayt_1p1j2tMSnCFtD22-3x2goUMCxCOrv4IGgoKCAgBEgQI6TM2DA&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=EmryUqm4MJL9oATSoYGYCg&ved=0CE4Qsw4&biw=1409&bih=779

    - Next, I wanted to get a bit more context on the geography. Even though I live in San Francisco, I wasn't sure exactly where 'North Bay' covered. I thought your public social network pages might give me more context based on where you live, so I could add more specific place terms to my search. A search for "Daniel M Russell Google Plus" brought me to your Plus page, and while the living location (Palo Alto) didn't help me, the extra caption on your blog post mentioning the Carquinez Strait near Crockett was a big clue. https://plus.google.com/+DanRussell/posts

    - Searching for "Wreck Carquinez Strait" gave me some hits, especially the third result on the "Wreck of the Solano" - https://www.google.com/search?q=wreck+carquinez+strait&oq=wreck+carquinez+strait&aqs=chrome..69i57.8389j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8 , http://cprr.org/Museum/Solano/

    - I couldn't find any good pictures of the wreck on that page, so I ended up doing an image search for "wreck of the solano", which didn't give any good pictures either. https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1409&bih=779&q=wreck+of+the+solano&oq=wreck+of+the+solano&gs_l=img.3...1003.4886.0.5142.19.9.0.10.10.0.61.489.9.9.0....0...1ac.1.34.img..4.15.511.x7jM2Eir3bE

    - That made me think that maybe I was headed down a blind alley. A wreck that close to a hiking trail was bound to have a lot of photos taken of it, so if none were showing up for the Solano, maybe I had the wrong name. I noticed that "wreck" was treated as a synonym for "crash" by the original search, by the highlighting of "crash" on several of the titles. Since I wanted only nautical wrecks, I tried narrowing things down by doing a search for "shipwreck carquinez strait": https://www.google.com/search?q=shipwreck+carquinez+strait

    - The fourth result, from Everytrail, looked promising, but the picture itself didn't match: http://www.everytrail.com/view_picture.php?picture_id=2182427

    - The title of the second result, "Shipwrecks of San Francisco Bay", sounded too generic, but when I checked it out, it looked more promising. It focused on a single wreck, and while it didn't have a photo embedded, it did link to a Flickr photo. http://theprivatenaturalist.wordpress.com/tag/shipwrecks-of-san-francisco-bay/

    - The Flickr photo was taken from a different angle, but clearly matched, with the round structures at the back and a collapsed mast: http://www.flickr.com/photos/v63/118934923/in/photostream

    - The page itself contained a lot of the answers, but surprisingly I couldn't find anything for "garden city ferry fire" on Google News. As I'm posting this, I see other people did, so maybe I'm just missing the results? https://www.google.com/search?q=1983+crockett+fire&oq=1983+crockett+fire&aqs=chrome..69i57.5299j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=119&ie=UTF-8#filter=0&q=garden+city+ferry+fire&tbm=nws

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pete -- Wonderful search! Hope to have you back again next week.

      Delete
    2. in case you missed it in the bustle - looked at Mr. Warden's blog and saw this nice little write-up and thought it was worth pointing out since it is kinda in your neighborhood and might be of interest…
      AG, Presidio
      Presidio Trust
      also, another GC view - from the flickr source Mr. Warden cited - at lower tide… good detail, from 8 years ago…
      Mondy photo
      more arty view
      will we be hearing about social intelligence? this direction, linked to Glass?
      Cambridge/Harvard.

      Delete
  8. nicely - and swiftly - done by all… especially liked Ramón's newspaper finds with fire cause and pic of the Garden City smoldering. Liked this backside view (from the pier?) as a compliment to Dan's angle -
    reverse angle
    also found a pic of her under steam here:
    GC
    and as she set in 1980 -
    entropy
    more pics -
    active & inactive
    interesting area - wandered down and checked the C&H mill - lots of history -
    C&H
    more sugar
    modern ferry use -
    Google ferry
    maybe this could be the Garden City's new neighbor?
    0010

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Remmij - Great image with the "reverse angle". Good find.

      Delete
    2. probably way more than anyone wants to know about train ferries - a compadre of the Garden City, the Solano - also a victim of fire… worth the time if the interest exists. A good reminder of how quickly and completely the past can erase.
      Huell Howser
      Solano
      model
      Bill & Tom Rubarth, Jim Turner
      link between CPRR & Stanford, Berkeley and the train ferry Solano:
      Artur Brown,Sr.

      Delete
    3. I too like the "reverse angle." Hadn't seen that one, Remmij.

      Delete
    4. Remiij -- FWIW, I was tempted to include the C&H factory (which has its own long and interesting history) as part of the question, but decided against it. Maybe another day...

      Delete
  9. image dragged into Jeffreys Exif Viewwr shows your snap taken beside Eckley Pier just off the Bull Valley Trail. THe object is helpfully tagged as Garden City Wreckage. 30 seconds to here.


    Now what exactly are you asking?
    1. What's the story of this wreck? (What was it? Did it have a name? Why is it here?)
    SEARCH [garden city wreckage] which finds
    http://theprivatenaturalist.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/derelict-ferry-boat-of-carquinez
    This has a snap of the ferry
    Here is another closer up as the wreck: http://www.flickr.com/photos/v63/118936365/in/photostream/
    and another: http://nwprr.net/photo/incoming-ferry-southern-pacific-co-s-screw-steamer-berkeley-2?commentId=3290209%3AComment%3A58927&xg_source=activity And yet another on the next page

    Wikipedia SOUTH PACIFIC COAST RAILROAD has this Garden City was built with a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge track on the main deck to carry freight cars to San Francisco; but she could also carry passengers as a relief ferry when either of the other two ferries needed repairs. Southern Pacific used Garden City as a relief boat for their auto ferry run on the old "creek route". Garden City stayed on the "creek route" as a passenger ferry when auto ferry service was shifted to the Oakland pier.[10]
    Garden City attempted an eastbound bay crossing during a full gale on Christmas morning, 1921... Southern Pacific retired Garden City the following year; but traffic remained so heavy through the 1920s that the boat was repeatedly pulled out of retirement for temporary service when other boats needed repair. After her last run in 1929, the old ferry was moored as a fishing resort in Eckley, California. Eckley is gone, the site now being part of Carquinez Straight Regional Shoreline park, and the remains of the Garden City are easily visible from the park's Eckley fishing pie.

    A brush fire in 1983 burned her up. apparently

    2. Can you find a picture of it (whatever it was) taken BEFORE it turned into a ruin?
    See above
    3. Can you find a newspaper article about how this wreck came to be? (Extra credit)
    Can't make CDNC divulge this; nor any other source. However I did find this irrelevant source in New YOrk for a fire in 1883. Published December 14 1883

    jon who took too long to get to this point of about half an hour

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello Mr Russel,

    I did about the same research as my fellow searcher Señor Ramón González but some details were tricky:
    I first downloaded the image, then openend it in Preview (on Mac), looked in the inspector for GPS coordinates: 38°0'0" N, 122°0'0" W. Well than not by any sea. Strange.

    Jeffrey's Exif Viewer gave me a much better answer: Eckley Pier. I went there with GMaps and clicked to view the image strip at the bottom. The third image was your wreck: "Remains of the railroad ferry 'Garden City' ".

    Then wikipedia and ["garden city" ferry] in boks gave lots of details and pictures. I could then answer questions 1 & 2. But looking for [garden city ferry fire] choosing the 'News" tab ('Actualités' on google.fr) gave absolutely nothing relevant (all the results were in english, not french, but had nothing to do with the 1983 fire). I had to perform the search in the "Web" tab, forcing it on news.google.com: [garden city ferry fire site:news.google.com] to get the good results, as Mr González.

    Two big lessons here:
    - Don't trust the inspector in Preview on Mac, the GPS coordinates look a little rounded (going to check this soon)
    - (If you're in a country other than the USA ?) google news won't give all the results, you have to be more specific, forcing the search on news.google.com. Almost the same thing happened on the 'Drought' search two weeks ago on the 'Books' search domain. I was unable to find the book by Lynn B. Ingram with the search [ dendrochronology California drought paleoclimate ] in books or even [ dendrochronology California drought paleoclimate site:books.google.com] but the search [Lynn B. Ingram] returned the book as first result.
    I know I already asked for this, but please Mr Russel could you give us some details on the country specific results in the different Google search domains? It'd be a great help for non US searchers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, Passager.

      I found the same that you mention. I live in Mexico and when I searched the newspaper using Google News, I couldn't find anything at all. I like you did, use then site:news.google.com Maybe its because they are old news or maybe another thing.

      For what I understand about your question, Google domains help to get better results for the place in which everyone of us lives. That is, I get results for Mexico because results in Australia couldn't be very useful. In my case, I use google.com in English and when I want to search for something very specific of my country or city, I add "mexico" other way that I don't use a lot is change search engine on Chrome -it allows to have multiple search engines with hot words to change them with only one tab-.

      I'm sure Dr. Russell answer will be much better than mine -maybe even I didn't understood your question- and hope it helps you.

      Greetings, Passager and thanks for sharing with us your findings.

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Ramón. You're right. Results vary a great deal, country-by-country. You can always force your searches to be "run through the US" by using www.google.com/NCR (no, I don't know what NCR stands for... I've asked around, I don't think anyone remembers!). In any case, that SHOULD make your searches local to the US, and you should get news and Books to show up the way I write about it.

      In the special case of Books, though, different countries have different restrictions (and access) on their books. It's an artifact of an earlier time, but we still have to enforce whatever the local regulatory system says we should do. As a side-effect, I might sometimes give a link to a Book that is not readable in your country. (France seems to be particularly restrictive, while Australia seems less so.) Sorry about that. We live in an odd regulatory world.

      Delete
    3. NCR = "no country redirect" ? http://googlesystem.blogspot.co.nz/2011/04/googles-new-link-for-bypassing-country.html
      Pam
      Wellington NZ

      Delete
    4. Thanks to you, Dr. Russell. I always have thought NCR is No Country Related or something like that, never tried to search the real meaning, so it's good to know that nobody remembers.

      I'll search with the new post that you share with us.

      Delete
    5. Thanks, Pam. I guess I knew that at one point, but it got lost in the sands of time.

      Delete
  11. Regarding the issue of searching the news Fred I believe has given us the correct explanation. I don't believe your location has a bearing since I'm not in the US either. If you look at the results we got using "garden city ferry fire site:news.google.com" the url shows us results from "news.google.com/newspapers".

    Back in June 2013 Dr. Russell gave us the update on google newspapers -

    "Searching through newspaper archives is a bit like emerald mining--you can get rich, if only you know where the gems are hidden.

    Some recent changes have made Google's newspaper archive a bit more hidden than it should be. So I wanted to let you know how to find the (still up and running!) Google newspaper archives. Sure, you can search for it, but the best result is a bit hidden, so let me give it you up front and easily accessible.

    http://news.google.com/newspapers

    This is the link you want to bookmark or remember." I forgot this tip but now we will all remember.

    Another tip- Using the Californian Digital Newspaper Collection- I discovered that if you click on "Browse by date" that from 1922 to 1999 there are no newspapers listed. Hopefully in time this will be added but now I know it isn't a complete collection which is why I couldn't find the 1983 fire in any papers at this site.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right Rosemary, searching in news.google.com/newspapers gives the right answer (and as you can see in the adress bar, does an explicit search using site:newsgoogle.com/newspapers: www.google.com/search?hl=fr&q=garden%20city%20ferry%20fire%20site:news.google.com/newspapers&source=newspapers)
      But the problem remains for the search in Books.

      Delete
    2. Sorry Ramón, the comment for Rosemary went on you! But I think she's got the right answer, I forgot that tip Mr Russel gave us back in June.
      But as for the Books…

      Delete
    3. Rosemary -- The Californian Digital Newspaper Collection ( http://cdnc.ucr.edu/ ) IS a great resource. But as Passager points out, there's a huge gap in coverage from 1922 to 1999. You can see the "Browse by Date" page for CDNC at http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=cl&cl=CL2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN------

      Which is why you can't find any news of the fire in that collection. You've got to go elsewhere (e.g., News.Google.com/newspapers )

      Delete
  12. I went over my 4096 count on my first posting and was forced to delete a few links but I'd like add back the link for the book I mentioned which has some good photos. I also seem to have some issues with book links and pdfs so I hope this is accepted Ferries of San Francisco Bay by Paul C. Trimble.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've posted my answer twice already. I am sorry if all of a sudden you get three posts. All my other comments seem to be getting through. One more time and I have edited it based on my subsequent comments regarding the CDNC (limited timer periods of newspapers) and Google Newspaper Archives.

      My first approach didn't pan out but it's worth reviewing I think. Using the Exif data tool I opened the image to get the specific location. I see that we now have a new menu 'Geolocation' giving us a map/satellite image automatically. Nice tool. You may not see the co-ordinates listed in the data anymore but when you open Google Maps you see the coordinates from history listed. It places the location on Bull Valley Trail Crockett Ca. The coordinates are 38.039709 -122.144623. While looking at the map I note the name of the Strait is Carquienez Strait and decide to search- Query [carquienez strait wreck] I find a promising result "the Solano" a railroad ferry and query this result finding an interesting website The Railroad Ferry Steamer "Solano". The article from April 1890 states it belonged to the Central Pacific Railway was used in the Straits of Carquinez. Looks good with lots of images and history. If you scroll down to the satellite image of the route this ferry traveled it becomes apparent quickly that based on the image Dr. Dan took it is not in the right location. The route of the Solano is shown crossing over from Benicia to Port Costa. This while interesting can't be the wreck we are searching for.
      So back to the location this image was taken and using Maps along with 'Street View' I travel Carquinez Scenic Drive attempting to duplicate the angle used to capture the image. Impossible to capture a good view because of trees and not being able to get down to water level which is the angle the picture is taken. So back to the map and zoomed in to find "Eckley Pier".
      I didn't have access to Google Earth & therefore I wasn't able to access the 'Information Layer' (I used in our previous Model Airplane Runway Challenge) but I remembered Wikimapia often has similar information.
      Query at Wikimapia ["eckley pier"] and indeed the area has been marked off with the label "Wreck of the Garden City". With the name it is easy to find results and links but not quite as easy as I assumed.
      Query ["wreck of the Garden City" carquinez strait] The blog The Private Naturalist has an image & information regarding the ferry. We find out it was built in 1879 and a fire in 1983 that left the metal wreck we see today. From Wikipedia we find Ferries of San Francisco and South Pacific Coast Railway. We get a detailed list of ferries including the Garden City confirming construction 1879 and retired in 1929. I discover Golden Gate Bridge reduced the need of many ferries at least until the population grew so much that some ferries were brought back into service.

      I used the California Digital Newspaper Collection but I couldn’t find any articles until I realized that I needed to use ‘images’. So with Advanced Search I experimented and once I clicked on ‘Search Summaries’ and changed it from ‘text’ to ‘images’ I then got lots of results. I hope Dr. Dan can explain why ‘text’ search didn’t work. Good tool once I understood how it worked. There are several stories about The Garden City including running aground, running into another ferry in fog, a woman jumping overboard, and a worker being killed. These articles are before 1922.

      A book Ferries of San Francisco Bay by Paul C. Trimble provides before & after images plus details about its use as a dance hall, restaurant, bar and fishing resort.

      Delete
  13. I had thought this would once again be useful but I can't get it to spit out what er require. Can you?

    California Digital Newspaper Collection

    http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc

    jon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. See comment below. Basically, there's a gap in their coverage.

      Delete
  14. The arsonist aspect of the 1983 fire was of interest to me so I searched papers to see if the person was caught. The Rodeo fire chief's son was responsible and pleaded guilty. He was sent for psychological testing. His father was to retire the next month.

    http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1345&dat=19850314&id=9ANMAAAAIBAJ&sjid=svkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6246,3112715

    Here's an article that indicates his father turned in his son for the crime after admitting he was responsible.

    http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19840726&id=zZsyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0-gFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6754,4971864

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rosemary -- Another subplot I'd missed. Excellent sleuthing.

      Delete
  15. So I don't have to remember news.google.com/newspapers I set up a search engine so now I type 'news' in the search box and it takes me directly to the archives. I did the same kind of search engine for scholar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Rosemary. I just copied you. Now what's that quote about "Imitation is...?"

      Delete
    2. Thanks RoseMary for the tips. Yes, I remember Dr. Russell post, that is why searched using site. It is a great tip the one you share with us. I'll add it too.

      Very interesting too the posts in this challenge, the Solano, extensions and search engines in Google. It is like Dr. Russell says, we are all learning. Thanks everyone !

      Remmij, it is fantastic how you find always results related to the challenge that increases the knowledge and allow us to see interesting stuff. Your results are like six degrees of separation with every week challenge!



      Delete
    3. Ramón - this is off this topic, but thought you might be interested in this - a picture is worth a 1000² words… sometimes -
      CA drought
      NOAA, 1/14/14
      "“We are on track for having the worst drought in 500 years,” said B. Lynn Ingram, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Berkeley."
      500 years?
      plus side:more parking spaces

      Delete
  16. Handy Chrome extension: This extension allows you to see an image EXIF data thanks to Jeffrey's Exif viewer. Right-click on an image or a link to display EXIF data.
    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jeffreys-exif-viewer/glpbdeclgjmeoojlmhpamjddandmplki

    ReplyDelete
  17. More pictures taken before it turned into a ruin:
    http://www.pacificng.com/imglib/main.php?g2_itemId=4084&g2_imageViewsIndex=1
    http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Fullscreen.ics?ark=ark:/13030/kt7x0nd5vf/z1&&brand=calisphere#

    A remarkable story: John B. Nisson, assistant engineer of the creek route ferry-boat Garden City, was killed by being struck by the paddle wheel of the boat while making an inspection.
    http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19020224.2.51

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow. I'd totally missed that story. Thanks for the find, Hans!

      Delete
    2. a railroad man taken out by a paddlewheel - OSHA would have had a field day.
      an "emerald" of a find as Dr.D & Rosemary might say…
      Liked the images you found - captures the flavor of the docks with the masted ships and wagons - handy to have the "Garden City" moniker on the wheelhouse -; although, for some reason looking at photos like that is starting to creep me out knowing that every living thing depicted is long dead… akin to looking at U.S. Civil war pictures by Mathew Brady.
      or the 1906 SF earthquake pics
      On a lighter note: in the course of this search, ran across a term I was unfamiliar with - mole - that was related to the ferry operation:
      aka SP Mole
      Alemeda example
      another thing I noticed in the photos you found was the type of steam engine employed by the GC - the large A frame(s)
      is the indicator of a walking beam design (⌘-F walking beam) - the Solano had two.
      again, evocative finds - nice searching.

      Delete
    3. " For a couple of trips contusion reigned, and frequently when a man ordered a chop he got a steak, ana when he ordered whisicy straight he was just a-* likely as not to get rum or brandy. "
      a couple other stories that may have slipped by - ferry travel sounds like it was exciting - the 2nd link akin to BART travel?
      service woes
      ferry women packing heat - very libertarian approach
      thanks Hans and Rosemary for the point to the CDNC… makes me want to ride the ferries - a little life spice.

      Delete
  18. So following Dr. Russell's lead from his post today - [ "eckley pier" "historical society" ] and saw mention of [ contra costa historical society ]
    Contra Costa Historical Society

    Ferry Pier and other waterfront structures

    Eckley Fishing Resort

    Train and ferryboat

    Ferry "Garden City" in 1979 (could use some TLC)

    Remains of "Garden City" passenger ferry

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  19. Did a search for [ eckley "fishing resort" "historical society" ] to

    Port Costa By John V. Robinson, Veronica Crane

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    Replies
    1. Fred - nice find showing the GC in her second incarnation as a dance/party/meeting/proto-socialnetworking platform and product showcase floating world environment ala Google's barge fleet - everything that is old is new again… the Eckley fishing resort was/is? a happening location - even now there is no fishing license required and sturgeon can be snagged… liked the way the cars were parked, ready to become mini reefs at the failure of a parking brake.

      Crockett Pier ( Eckley Pier ) the GC remains would be to the right…

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  20. Well if my answer won't get through I can entertain you with a good video about The Garden City

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QteE8ccjiwM

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  21. Around Crockett By James V. Easterday, Daniella M. Easterday
    Interesting book with historical pictures showing the building of the Carquinez bridge & development (or lack of) in the area. The Garden City Ferry is mentioned but only in passing because the bridge eliminated the need for the ferry.

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    1. a treasure trove find RM - had no idea that was the final link in the international highway connecting Canada, U.S. and Mexico — the kayak vid is a timely, up-close look too - very recent: 12/13 - cool view, thanks.
      (page 17) interesting details on the construction methods too.
      new Crockett interchange
      page 13 here: (cost figures are of note)
      Carquinez Bridge

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  22. a major reason the piers and ship remains are deteriorating - a consequence of the lack of fresh water due to the drought
    and the resulting higher salinity levels that create a favorable environment…
    (also a computer term)
    oh, and for some, a delicacy - teredo

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  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  24. Based on the "library/museum" suggestion I've had another look and visited the Berkeley Library. I used the map looking for the names of communities closest to the former Eckley. I kept branching out until I found a site that had information available online. I must admit that I need to spend more time finding my way around large online libraries.
    I did find a a href="http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/search~S1?/dHarbors++California++San+Francisco+Bay+Area./dharbors+california+san+francisco+bay+area/-3%2C-1%2C0%2CB/frameset&FF=dharbors+california+san+francisco+bay+area+history&3%2C%2C3"> rather quickly at Berkeley with an ebook a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822035078054;view=1up;seq=112"> "San Francisco Bay [electronic resource] : a pictorial maritime history / by John Haskell Kemble" with a really good collection of photos for the time period. This tells me that in all likelihood if I spent more time at Berkeley and HathiTrust I would find more information.


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  25. I Right-clicked on photo and copied URL into Jeffrey's Exif Viewer, where I found the clue "Eckley Pier". I then searched for "shipwreck at eckley pier" and lucked out: the first search result was a blog post on The Private Naturalist entitled "Derelict Ferry Boat of Carquinez Strait: The Garden City". Lots of detailed history and some photos pre-fire.

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  26. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Remmij I found my posting error but in the meantime you have posted the book which I got through Berkeley Library >HathiTrust sites.

      Your point is well taken in that we are all using different OSs, different browsers, different hardware/mobile devices.

      Delete
  27. To extract the EXIF geocoords data, on Chrome, I just right-clicked the image and chose Image Properties from the menu. I wondered why was everyone talking about some external tool when I realized I myself must have installed an extension. In fact, this well integrated menu option I have on Chrome is indeed an extension but not Jeffrey's. It works so well it might be worth mentioning. It's called "Image Properties Context Menu" (you can get it here) and the developer credits EXIF Data extractor to Jacob Seidelin - http://blog.nihilogic.dk

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    Replies
    1. thanks for the clarification - good to know what tools are being used - makes a difference on what and how things are accessible; e.g., the different country redirects used by Google or different browsers or generations of OSs…
      I'm trying out Jeffrey's EXIF button in the bookmark bar of /Safari… pulls EXIF data that Preview doesn't seem to - weird.
      Curious about Dan's "Fileviewer" - might be this one?
      one click
      on the right, works with Firefox too

      Delete
  28. want to say how cool i think this is. nicely executed.
    for what its worth, tinyeye, the reverse image search tool returned with no results.
    full disclosure: i'd already read this and the comments a few hours back. was cruising reddit and saw it in a link bar. thought i'd give it a whirl.
    cool idea. thanks for sharing.

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