USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > A history of the city of San Francisco; and incidentally of the state of California > Part 30
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California has a total area of 100,000,000 acres, including 30,000,000 held under private ownership, 20,000,000 of unoccupied federal land valuable for cultivation; only 4,000,000 under cultivation, 2,500,- 000 bearing temperate fruit trees, 300,000 bearing sub-tropical fruit trees, 400,000 English walnut and almond trees; 30,000,000 grape vines; 6,000,000 sheep; 200 gold quartz mills; 4,000 miles of mining ditches ; private property worth not less than $1,000,000,000, and an industry that adds $30,- 000,000 annually in the shape of houses, fences, roads, canals, street improvements, orchards, recla- mation dykes, and so forth, to the wealth of the state. She has besides, what is worth more than all her pecuniary treasuries, a population of about 875,000 people of the best blood and highest intelligence of
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the age; and her excellent school system and able press give assurance that her inhabitants in the future shall not be inferior to those in the present. There is a nominal state debt of $3,300,000, but $2,700,000 of this is due to certain departments of the state gov- ernment, leaving a true debt of only $600,000. The counties owe $12,000,000 of funded and floating debt, and have public buildings and other property worth considerably more.
SEC. 245. Conclusion. The first era of San Fran- cisco was that of the Indians. They lived in a low stage of savagism, and left no arts, no literature, no legend, no institutions, no durable monuments of their own designing, and no names worthy of perpetuation. The red men who occupied the site of the city and its vicinity in 1776, have, so far as we know, not a living descendant anywhere, having died out entirely from the face of the earth.
The Mission Era continued for forty-nine years, from 1776 to 1835, and was a period of ecclesiastical rule, in which the chief purposes of life were worship, self- humiliation, and quiet submission to the church au- thorities, without anxiety or even effort to keep up with the fashion, learning, or political or intellectual progress of the age. Tho Indians learned little of the arts of civilization, never adopted its spirit, and stead- ily decreased in numbers, so that, unless there had been a change in the ratio of births to deaths, the race must have died out at no distant time even if it had never been subjected to additional demoralizing influ-
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HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
ences of the Mexican revolution, secularization, the American conquest, American immigration, and the reservation system.
The Village Era began when the control of the mis- sion property, including the whole peninsula for thirty miles from the Golden Gate, was taken from the friars, and given to the civil authorities. The promise of the government that land, agricultural implements and cattle should be furnished to the Indians was not kept; the personal property disappeared in an unex- plained manner, and the red men made no application for lots or ranchos. Large tracts of land on the peninsula were granted to the Mexican residents, who lived in the pastoral condition on the produce of their neat cattle, with little labor, ambition or education. On the shore of Yerba Buena cove rose a village which was the chief shipping port of San Francisco bay under the Mexican dominion, and from the time when the stars and stripes were hoisted, the chief center of American business and influence on the western side of our continent.
Before the title of the United States to the new territory on the Pacific had been fully acknowledged, the Golden Era began. The yield of the mines rose for five years until it reached about $60,000,000. Several hundred thousand immigrants came from the shores of the Atlantic, and gave to California a popu- lation unsurpassed in enterprise and intelligence. A government was organized; the state admitted into the Union; a metropolitan city built; and commodi- ous routes of travel established, connecting San Fran-
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cisco with the mines on one side, and New York on the other. The mines being on public land, were thrown open to everybody, aliens as well as citizens, without charge; and the government would not sell homes to those who wished to buy for the purpose of settlement, so that the population became migratory as a matter of necessity, and the more numerous the miners, the more the district was impoverished.
The period from 1854 to 1859 inclusive, called here " The Golden Era in Decline," was marked by a decrease in the gold yield, which was not arrested by the discovery of the vast deposits of auriferous gravel in the dead rivers of the Sierra Nevada, the invention of the hydraulic process of washing, and its applica- tion on an immense scale, and the construction of a dozen great mining ditches, which in length, supply of water, height of aqueducts and boldness of en- gineering design might rival some of the most famous water-works of old and populous empires. The in- crease of agricultural production caused a falling off in the shipping and imports of San Francisco, and a depression in her business. The immigration to Cali- fornia across the continent, after having numbered twenty thousand as an annual average for four years after the gold discovery, became insignificantly small, and that by sea was much reduced, though the com- pletion of the Panama railroad made the trip cheaper and more comfortable than before, though a com- parison of the arrivals and departures, showed a rela- tively slight excess for the former, there was a great gain in the quality of the population, for many soli-
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HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
tary men were replaced by women and children who gave to California social attractions previously lack- ing. The political abuses which had been overlooked in more prosperous times provoked the indignation of good citizens and the vigilance committee of 1856, the wisest, justest and most prudent association ever organized to violate the law, held power for three months, punished a multitude of criminals and puri- fied the city government, which was then for fifteen years placed in charge of officials selected under rules that allowed little influence to the system of partisan spoils. The southern part of the county was cut off to make San Mateo, while "the city and county of San Francisco," as now styled in law was organized under the consolidation act. In 1858 it was reported and extensively believed that gold mines, as rich and extensive as those of the Sierra Nevada were in 1848, had been discovered in the basin of Fraser river; and so large was the migration to that region, so exten- sive the preparations of others to follow, and so depressed many branches of occupation, that in the opinion of many persons California and San Fran- cisco were about to sink, for some years at least, into subordinate places in the business of the western side of our continent. The failure of Adams & Co., and of Page, Bacon & Co., the frauds and flight of Harry Meiggs, the election of D. C. Broderick to the federal senate, and his death in a duel with D. S. Terry, who had resigned his office as chief justice of the supreme court of the state for the purpose of resenting a public insult, were other events of this era.
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GENERALITIES.
The last period in the history of San Francisco, from 1860 to 1878, is here called "The Silver Era," because of the great influence exerted on the city's business by the yield of bullion from the argentiferous deposits of Nevada. The increase of grain fields, orchards, vine- yards, dairies, sheep, irrigation ditches, manufactures, and railroads, the connection by an iron track with the Atlantic slope, the acquisition and diffusion of knowl- edge about the scenery, salubrity and climate of the state, and the general recognition of San Francisco as one of the chief centers of luxurious enjoyment con- tributed to give it a prosperity higher in many respects than it had during the flush times of placer mining.
We have thus traced the growth of San Francisco, this metropolitan prodigy, this young municipal giant, from its small and rude beginnings, through a brief career, to its present condition of magnitude and mag- nificence, through a record without its like elsewhere in the variety, multitude and startling character of its impressive incidents. The city, as it now stands, is an embodiment of the highest enlightenment of our time, one of the most brilliant products and greatest tri- umphs of the industrial art, commerce, wealth and intelligence of the nineteenth century, and a splendid illustration of the popular energy developed under the free political institutions of the United States,-insti- tutions which, seriously defective as they are in some important respects, have yet given a stimulus to en- terprise which no people under a despotic government have ever approached.
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APPENDIX.
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AUTHORITIES.
I give my authorities in this appendix rather than in foot-notes, but in many places it is implied by the nature of events and the enterprise of the newspaper press that full accounts can be found in the public journals of the day. Some of my information is obtained from my own recollections, notes and publications, and more from conversation with citizens who participated in the events described.
Among those to whom I am indebted are Mrs. Carmen Bernal, a native of San José, who came as a bride only fifteen years old, in 1819, to live at the Mission, and Mr. Charles Brown, who came to San Francisco in 1829. These are the oldest residents of San Francisco.
I must express my obligations to the chronological tables, extending from 1857 to 1877, in the directories published by H. G. Langley, and in the Sac- ramento "Union " from 1860 to 1878. Similar tables appeared from 1873 to 1877, in the "Alta Almanac."
The following is a list of books and periodicals to which I am indebted for information:
" Daily Alta California," newspaper; the " Alta California Almanac," 1868 to 1879.
"Annals of San Francisco," by Frank Soulé, J. H. Gihon and James Nisbet. This work gives a history of the city in the form of a diary from January, 1847, to June, 1854. With many defects, it contains much interest- ing information, well presented. Besides its text, it has engravings of many of the notable buildings, portraits and brief biographies of pioneers, and special chapters on the hounds, the vigilance committee of 1851, cemeteries, churches, schools, amusements, fires, fire department, hotels, and steamer days.
"Native Races of the Pacific States," by H. H. Bancroft, 1875. 5 vols.
" Daily Evening Bulletin, " newspaper.
"Men and Memories of San Francisco in the Spring of '50," by T. A. Barry and B. A. Patten, San Francisco, 1878. Personal reminiscences of men, buildings and events, with many amusing anecdotes, written in an agree- able style.
"Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, under the command of F. W. Beechey. London, 1831. Chapter XIII treats of the condition of the Mis- sions in 1826.
"Daily Morning Call," newspaper.
484
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
"Our Centennial Memoir Founding of the Missions, San Francisco de Asis in its hundredth year. The celebration of its foundation," compiled by P. J. Thomas, San Francisco, 1877.
"Daily San Francisco Chronicle," newspaper.
Two journals of this name have flourished in San Francisco; the first cs- tablished in 1855, by Frank Soulé, existed till the spring of 1858; the Chroni- cle now in existence was founded in 1865, by C. & M. H. De Young.
" Directory of San Francisco, 1857," by Samuel Colville. The introduc- tion is a good historical sketch of the city from 1S35 to 1856. The book eon- tains the names of the officers of the vigilance committee of 1856, and though this list is declared on a subsequent page to be incorrect, there are few errors in it.
"The Commercial Herald and Market Review." This is a weekly comn- mercial paper, established in 1867, and still flourishing. The number issued about the middle of January contains a comprehensive review of the com- merce and general industry of the state for the preceding year. Most of the figures published in the statistical tables on a subsequent page are taken from the "Herald."
"The Conquest of California," by J. M. Cutts, 1847. Mr. Cutts derives a large part of the material of his work from the government records at Wash- ington, and gives copies of documents not casily obtained elsewhere.
"Colonial History of San Francisco," by John W. Dwinellc. Mr. Dwi- nelle was counsel for the city in her suit for four square leagues of land in the United States courts, and in that capacity gathered much of the informa- tion here presented. He devotes most of his space to events that happened between 1835 and 1846; and gives copies of many legal documents.
"Daily Examiner," newspaper.
"First Steamship Pioneers," cdited by a committee of the association, 1874. A record of the voyage of the steamship "California" from Panama to San Francisco in February, 1849, and of the adventures of her passengers, between New York and San Francisco, and after their arrivals.
"Life Adventures and Travels in California, " by T. J. Farnham.
" A History of Upper and Lower California," by Alexander Forbes, 1839.
" A History of the Catholic Church in California," by Rev. Mr. Gleeson, 1874.
"Centennial Year Book of Alameda County," by Willian Halley, 1876, pp. 590. This volume contains a history of Oakland.
"Resources of California," by John S. Hittell. 6th edition, 1874. pp. 450. This book has comprehensive chapters on the topography, climate, salubrity, geology, botany, zoology, agriculture, mining, manufactures, com- merce and society of the state.
"Hutchings' Monthly Magazine, 1857 to 1860." This publication contains chronological lists of the notable events of San Francisco in 1859 and 1860.
"Voyage Autour du Monde, " par J. F. G. La Perouse, 1797. He speaks of the condition of the Indians at the Missions without praisc.
"Directory of San Francisco," by H. G. Langley, 1858 to 1878. Mr. Langley issued his first directory in IS5S, and followed it with new volumes at intervals of about a year. Each volume contains a chronological table of events for the previous year, and gives an estimate of the population, and new buildings, and descriptions of tho most notable improvements.
"Lights and shades in San Francisco," by B. E. Lloyd, 1876. Pp. 500. A description of prominent features of San Francisco life as seen in 1876. Stock speculation, the Palace Hotel, restaurants, the disreputable quarters, W. C. Ralston, James Lick, street railroads, tho newspapers, the hotels, the
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APPENDIX.
schools, the churches, the theatres, the clubs, the fortifications, the charities, the markets, and the cemeteries, have each their special chapter.
"Missions." A series of cleven volumes of Spanish archives in the office of the United States surveyor-general for California. The volumes contain nearly all the statistics preserved of the Mission of San Francisco.
"Missions and Colonization." Another series of volumes in the Spanish archives.
"Hotels and Hotel Life at San Francisco," by W. L. Macgregor, 1876. Pp. 45.
"Municipal Reports of the City and County of San Francisco." A series of annual reports, commencing in 1861, giving the information for cach fiscal year since. The volumes are designated in the references by mention of the year in which published. If for 1865-66, for instance, it was published in the latter year, and is styled the report of 1866. The following references to these volumes may be of service: Gas supply, 1875, appendix. Table of grades, 1874, 683; 1877, 633. Pueblo title, 1868. A list of railroad fran- chises, 1874, 659; 1877, 604. Accepted streets, 1877, 967, 1009. Montgom- ery avenue, 1873, 490. Widening Dupont street, 1877, 1025. List of city property, 1873, 518; 1877, 929. Water rates, projects and litigation, 1877, 669, Outside lands, 1868, 549; 1869, 553; 1871; 429. City officials from 1850 to 1867; 1860, 183; 1863, 285; 1867, 521.
"Exploration du Territoire de L'Oregon, des Californies, etc.," par Duflot de Mofras, 1844. This work has a good account of California as it was in 1842, but exaggerates the value of the missionary labor.
"Noticias de la Nueva California." A collection of Spanish records of the movements of the friars in Upper California, between 1769 and 1787, with much relating to the foundation of the Mission of San Francisco. Friar Palou wrote most of their book.
"The Overland Monthly," from July, 1868, to December, 1875. This magazine contains a number of carefully written articles upon San Francisco and California.
"The Pioneer Magazine," from January, 1854, to December, 1855. Be- sides several good articles on local topics, this magazine published a chrono- logical list of events for the two years of its existence.
" Daily San Francisco Evening Post." In December, 1876, the "Post " contained a valuable series of articles on the harbor of San Francisco and the work of the harbor commission, and in the fall of 1878 a series of reminis- cences by Judge McGowan.
"Provincial State Papers in Spanish Archives."
"Oration at the Annual Celebration of the Society of California Pioneers in 1860," by Edmund Randolph. A long and able address, containing much information about the carly history of California.
"The Appendix" to the journals of each session of the legislative journal contains the reports of executive officers of the state administration. The "Adjutant-general's Report for 1865" gives the list of the members of the ten regiments of California volunteers who served through the civil war, most of them west of the Rocky Mountains. The report for 1867 contains & his- tory of the California battalion which went East and served there.
" Vida de Junipero Serra," por Fray Francisco Palou. The biography of Junipero Serra, the president of missions of California from 1769 to 1784, written by Francisco Palou, his companion and friend, includes an account of the foundation of the missions.
" A Voyage Round the World," by Sir George Simpson. Simpson visited San Francisco in 1841, and gives an account of it as it was then.
486
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
" Seeking the Golden Fleece," by J. D. B. Stillman, 1877. Pp. 340. This volume gives an excellent account of the gold excitement in the Atlantic states, the adventures of a shipload of adventurers coming round Cape Horn in 1849, and life in San Francisco and the mines in 1849-50.
"History of the Public School System of California," by John Swett, 1876. Pp. 250.
"The History of California," by Franklin Tuthill, 1866. Pp. 640. A good history, and especially full in the chapter on the vigilance committee of 1856.
"The Daily Sacramento Union," newspaper.
"Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific," by George Vancouver. Van- conver visited San Francisco in 1792, and described the condition of the Presidio. Chapter XI treats of the missions, and conveys the impression that the Indians were still in a semi-savage condition.
" The United States Exploring Expedition," by George Wilkes.
REFERENCES.
Such a reference as this, " Alta, 1856, VI, 5," means "Daily Alta," IS56, sixth month, fifth day; that is, June 5, 1856. The roman numerals after the ycar indicate the number of the month, the Arabic the day. In the refer- ences to books, unless otherwise marked, the roman numerals indicate the volume and the Arabic the page.
For evidence that force was used in catching Indians for conversion, sec " Beechey," chapter XIII; "Forbes," chapter V; "Glceson;" "Vancouver," chapter XI; and " Belcher," Vol. I, Ch. V.
Dwinelle in his address at the Centennial Anniversary of the foundation of the Mission over-estimated the income.
Mofras (I, 320) and Dwinelle (44) in my opinion exaggerate the merits of the missionary labor, and the evils of secularization.
Dwinelle (26), in his "Colonial History," says there were at the Mission of San Francisco, in 1794, 724 men and women, and 189 boys and girls; in 1800, 575 men and women, and 69 boys and girls respectively; in 1815, 913 adults and 182 minors; and in 1830, 193 adults and 26 minors. These figures imply that there were never fewer than four adults for one minor, and sometimes eight. In civilized nations generally there are at least five minors for four adults. Mr. Dwinelle understands the Spanish word adultos, as given in the mission records to mean adults. But this is a mistake. Adultos there sig- nifies persons over eight years. If the proportion between adults and minors were correctly represented, the figures would prove that the influence of the missions upon the life of the Indians was much more destructive than it really was.
Full information about nearly all the land grants is given in Dwinelle's "Colonial History."
Dwinelle, on page 78 of his "Appendix" gives a list of the people living at the Mission in 1842.
The best authorities upon the conquest are "Cutts" and the "Aunals." The "Call " of March 11, 1877, gives a list of the residents of Yerba Buena at the time of the conquest.
Governmental affairs of the city from 1849 to 1854, are treated at consid- crable length, and with general accuracy in the " Annals."
Hoffman's Report contains a list of the land cases before the commission, with the areas of the claims and disposition made of them. The squatter law called an act to quiet titles was passed March 26, 1856. A copy of Gwin's supplemental land bill may be found in the "Alta," 1856, XII, 12.
487
APPENDIX.
For an account of Broderick's early career sce the "Chronicle " of June 16, 1876.
The campaign speeches of 1839, published by the "Sacramento Union," contain most of the material required for a history of the senatorial election of 1857. See speeches by Broderick, reported on the eleventh, nineteenth and twentieth of July; and on the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, tenth, eighteenth and twenty-sixth of August; by Gwin on the fifteenth, eighteenth and twen- ty-ninth of July, and on the first, second and fifteenth of Angust; by Latham on the twenty-third of July, and on the third and twelfth of Angust, and by Tilford on the fourth of August. A letter by Tilford that appeared on the twenty-second of July, and one by Gwin on the fifteenth of August, and a pamphlet by Pixley on the twenty-sixth of August, were also part of the campaign.
For the early history of the Comstock lode see a series of papers published in the "Mining and Scientific Press" for 1876 and 1877. The precise dates can be ascertained from the index published at the end of cach year.
For the early history of the Consolidated Virginia bonanza, sce "Post " 1876, I, 13.
The deeds of James Lick to his trustees are given in the " Alta Almanac " of 1875, 1876 and 1877.
A history of the press of the state and a list of nearly all the papers up to that date is given in the " Sacramento Union, " 1858, XII, 25.
For testimony in reference to Ralston's use of the money of the Bank of California, over-issne of stock, etc., see the "Bulletin " of July 27, 1876.
The following are references to comprehensive articles in various publica- tions:
History of the California Steam Navigation Co., "Bulletin," 1876, X, 11. Names of Residents of Yerba Buena in July, 1846, "Call," 1877, III, 11. Dividends of Gas and Water Companies, 1867-1876, "Bulletin," 1877, IV. List of Stars at the California Theatre, 1869-77, "Spirit of the Times," 1877, V, 5.
Blunders in the management of the public lands in California, " Alta," 1877, XII, 5.
Number of votes cast by the leading towns of California at the Presidential election, Nov. 7, 1876, " Alta Almanac," 1877, 37.
History of San Francisco Cemeteries, "Call," 1877, IV, 19; V, 13.
Notable wrecks on the coast, 1849 -- 1877, "Chronicle," 1877, IX, 23, 30.
In August and September, 1877, the "Chronicle " published a number of carefully prepared articles, giving the history and production of the leading Comstock mines.
History of the Supreme Court of California, " Alta Almanac for 1874."
History of "Morning Call," newspaper; "Call," 1878, III, 10.
History of Savings Banks of San Francisco, "Call," 1877, VII, 22. Officials of San Francisco and their pay, "Bulletin," 1877, VI, 23. Millionaires of San Francisco, " Bulletin," 1877, VII, 21.
History and condition of San Francisco churches, "Bulletin," 1877, VII, 21.
History of banking in California, "Coast Review," 1877, V. "Post," 1877, III, 30.
History of wholesale grocery business in San Francisco, "Bulletin," 1878,
I, 11.
Election frauds, "Bulletin," 1877, IX, 15.
History of Oakland water front, "Oakland Transcript," 1877, X, 26.
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HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO.
History of elections of federal senators in California, "Bulletin," 1877, XII, 10.
List of nominees at all state elections, 1849-1877, "Bulletin," 1877, XII. History of Golden Gate Park, "Bulletin," 1878, I, 26.
The governors of California since its organization as a state have been the following, with the dates of their installation: Peter H. Burnett, Dec. 20, 1849; John McDougall, Jan. 9, 1851; John Bigler, Jan. S, 1852; John Bigler, Jan. 8, 1854; J. Neely Johnson, Jan. S, 1836; John B. Weller, Jan. S, 1858; Milton S. Latham, Jan. 8, 1860; John G. Downey, Jan. 14, 1860; Leland Stanford, Jan. 8, 1862; Frederick F. Low, Dec. 2, 1863; Henry H. Haight, Dec. 5, 1867; Newton Booth, Dec. 8, 1871; Romualdo Pacheco, Feb. 27, 1875; and William Irwin, Dec. 9, 1875.
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