The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 16, 1900, Page 9

FRO™M PLEASIRE B, [ alks. but Not ever in pla in parables L—,\\\/@ oN 4B\ vet Descending by a concealed stairway from the interior of the house e found a bottom m there ip with rches Mam: » one spot as more of t in all Ca his gnarly ance ston knew that as soon as the rall- i was completed across the continent ere would be an influx of Eastern and . n capitalists, and he wished to them suitably, that they might persuaded to invest here. « stables of Belmont there ¥ om eighty to a hundred good as could be bought, and mornings there would often aches sent out loaded rope r E be more readi In the big st on Sunday with guests nothing of two-seat- 1y buggies ddle horses. “Raleton helpad bufld roads ail over his part of the and the solid stone bedded highwavs which he prepared for public use are still the delight of bicyclists automoblilers who perhaps never of the name of the man who con- ted the boulevards that have made Mateo and Santa Clara such favorite outing grounds. I r.p;:re” of the house is a large Turk- jeh bath building, tiled as are the mosques Arabfa. Unknown to most of those who were guests, and even to many regu- Jar inmates of the house, was a subterra- nean lake on which floated a little boat. tor, which runs by water power from a lake in the mountain. The following is an extract from a let- ter describing a visit to the place in Ral- ston's time: * * * “I had heard many wonderful stories of the Ralston home and of the magnificent entertalnments there from my older sisters, who were forever men- tioning Belmont as Cinderella's sisters did the party at the prince’s palace. Mr. Ralston never took the train to Belmont. “There were several reasons. One was that he did not like the raflroad peopl he sent all of his freight by steamer, ha: ing bought a wharf for that purpose. Then it wasTinconvenient to arrange his business to suit the exactions of a time table; but, most of all, his reason was that he could beat the train any way, and besides there was the glorious fun of coaching. “On this particular occaslon the coach had gathered us up, a party of ten, and called for Mr. Ralston at the bank last of L “He took the reins bhimself and the driver had barely time to spring into a seat on the rear before we were off with a rush, for it was his purpose to go out the Mission plank road and start with the train as it street. “In those days wind blew and sand flew in San Francisco as it never does now and Mr. Ralston made the excuse as we were going ‘out Mission street that he would whip up a little and get us out of the bad weather, for our drive was going us through more than one change ate. T old plank rcad rumbled and ewayed underneath us and the flying sand cut our faces, even through our heavy veils. When we came to the end of the sand and the plank road the train was whistling behind us and Mr. Ralston whipped up a little more, as he called 1t, As a matter of fact, the horses needed 1o whipping, all they wanted was the chgnce, and they seemed willing to do the golng. After we got to the top of the and in sight of the ocean our speed in increased. it seemed as though of the road was excuse for cannot trot fast enough they can run,’ the way that our gen- tleman driver looked at fraveling gaits: it made no difference :o him how a horse cled so that he got there. We made two changes of teams and the last one tcok us over roads which were bullt for the purpose, with easy turns and well crowned surface. We lost a little on the train, as it madefup time on > straight reaches, and when it stopped station we would be up with it again, yung out of the long straight road avenue which led to Belmont, we crossed mot a hundred feet ahead of the train, which was slowing down as It came into the station. nother. minute and we were clipping past the tree branches that over- hung the driveway. A beautiful hazy val- ley with a blue mountain rim around it, opened aw; on our left, and just below the road a heavy black smoke rolled up from the private gas works that set the Belmont house ablaze with light. “We drew up under the porte-cochere and bundied down hastuly, for the horses were shaking off great flaky masses of foam and lather and the grooms were anxlous to get them in the stables to cool, “Once in the house it was a succession of surprises and delights that did not cease until I left, “The motherly housekeeper had my things brought up to my room, which was on the third floor, overlonking a terrace of orange’trees. A 'cool buth to freshen me from the dust of the ride, and then dressed for dinner, I delighted myself for an _nour in looking at marbles, bronzes and ofl paintings which filled the great lower floor. D were some twenty 't so large were the rooms, so attentive the walters, and abov. the powerful jersonality of the ho: pervading that all seemed to blend and concentrate until it was like the smallest and coziest of family affairs. “The dinner, the waiters and chef had all been brought from tI thatsmorn- ing, as was the custom when there was any sort of a function. While everything' was elaborate, it was apparently simple and so smoothiy regulated that there was none of the stiffness which usually domi- nates. An orchestra was placed in the mezzanine floor of the reception hall and filled the house with its music. ““After dinner there were more arrivals in ‘carriages of guests from nelghboring v at San Mateo and Redwood. n the meantime the great partitions between the billiard and dining rooms and the reception hall had been raised and the doors opened between corridors and music room, so that we could dance round and round the main fpor of the house; something over a block the distance was. Some of the time we were under the bright glare of the myriad prismed giass chandeliers, then gliding into the semi- darkness of the corridors. where the moon half screened by the big magnolias out- side threw- patchy lights on the polished floors; from there again back Into the grand music Toom, whose mirrored sides showed reflections back and forth until the repeated figures vanished in the dis- tance. I had many partners that even- ing. Most of them had traveled, and while they had_seen more elegance or greater size in European residences, cas- tles or courts, yet never before such a combination of homelike comfort. spa- cious apartments and architectural ele- persons at 4 ance. g".‘\t midnight a supper was served in the art gallery, while dancing still continued us. be:prg;kmg down from the curved balcony rafls there passed a continuous stream of gorgeously costumed women and men in evening dress or uniforms, all dancing, whirling unceasingly and repeated in mir- rors on every side, the only figures in re- pose belng here and there a marble statue on jt; destal, serenely contemplating the actvity with which in their lifelike- ness they seemed ready to take part. “Before 1 o'clock all but the inmates of the house Jaa gepariea una we were soon at rest in our rooms, for there was to be a coaching party to the ocean the next day and an early start was to be made. “Breakfast Sunday morning was served after the European custom just we happened to\ drop in. The gentiemen walted on the ladlos and the dSiehttally unconventional recailing of the experience of the night before crystallized that beau- tiful dgeam into a mass of realistic mem- ories which will never be effaced from the mind of one of us as long as we live. “After breakfast came the four-in- hands, and away went the Jjolliest party 1 had ever seen brought together, for a drive and to the ocean, where they were to have a light lunch taken in hampers, returning in time for dinner. “For myself 1 preferred to stay and in- vestigate the house and grounds, which I felt as though l_nevr:r I wished to leave.” There is a charm about the place which comes over every one, and yet with it all there is a fatality pursuing, such as that which destroys so many beautiful women. o fve o1 the piace without being tempted to strange and eccentric adventures. It makes the workaday world seem unreal merely to wander through the pillared halls; to walk from room to room, through openings where the walls have disappeared up into the b house Is full of surprises and my teries. Lift a trap door under a stalrway and see a lake beneath you with cavern- ous arches stretching away into the darkness, and then to feel the floors and wails jar and tremble as some valve Is opened and a thundering torrent of water 1s poured into it from the lake on the mountain. ; The search for water in this dry canyon BELMONT HeUsSE AND _DEER PARK Was the greatest undertaking upon whien Ralston entered. At first he had tried small wells and springs which falled. After that a tremendous cavern was ex- cavated in the mountain side back of the house and lined with masonry. All of the rainwater from the roof was led into this, but stiil the supply was insufficient. A diamond drill from the mines was then set to work in the valley near his private gas works in front of the house. At a great depth. and before water ~was reached, the arill struck a ledge of jasper Which resisted all efferts and finally It roke off, useless. A shaft was then sunk and from the bottom of it a_tunnel run across the can- von and extended far under the mountains on either side. No waler was found, and the tunnel is still there to mystify some future geologist. His final and successful plan was to buy a mountain tract across the valley and build a large stone dam, fifty feet high, which created an artificial lake that has given a perpetual supply ever since. From here the water is led acr the valley in a six-inch main to the subter- ranean lakes and reservoirs around and under the house, and aiso to smaller ones on the hill above. A separate system of fire plugs all over the buildings and on the roofs are directly connected with the high pressure of the water from the mountain, and In addition a large steam fire pump was located next to the Turkish bath, in which steam was kept up continually. ‘The stables cover zbout a third of an acre and are built of cut stone, with solid timber floors six inches thick ‘which wouid not even creak if »n elephant walked over them. The gas works, reservoir and stable each cost forty thousand dollars, and are B00d as new, as in fact are all of the Im- Tovements on the place, from the main ouse down to th or locks; everythin was built to last for all time. g Whil owned Belmont he en- tinuously. e par- from the quiet times ht Boh ns were driven rig) down by himsel when a few in his private coach to meet a theatrical troupe who were already tained and entertaining there, affairs, such as the times E yed San Fran- cisco society en masse to banquet with Admiral Fa Ralstop. w cident, dic a_re treatment given him by his old associates at the time of ension of the Bank of California elmont place fell into the hands of Sharon and from th.t time on to his death the magn entertainments w. doub Sharon w ments by of social mont during his tf e ran the whole gamut of the so. from Mammy Plea ant and Sarah Althea Hill to General Grant and Earl Dufferin, Governor Gener- al of Can Down the toboggan of time the house has come with o ¢ from the glorious days when gay soubrettes were put into champagne baths, on through the latep years, when as a young ladies’ seminary midnight ladder parties gave rise to burg- lar stories, until now, oor old house, sold for a song, less even than some poets’ songs have brought, It goes with all ity mirrors, bronzes and of! paintings to shel. ter the human wrecks whose mental lights have failed. . -3