USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > A souvenir of Pioneer and old settler's day, Panama-Pacific exposition, October 16, 1915 > Part 2
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HAVE been asked to speak to you about "The Society of California Pioneers." ne Days of the Days of 49' 3 In doing so I cannot do better than to quote from an address made by Willard B. Farwell, President of this Society in 1864. "On the 23d day of August, 1850, when the news of the death of President Taylor was brought to San Francisco by the steamer Cali- fornia, it was suggested by some of the earliest settlers that they meet on the day of ceremonial obsequies and march in procession. A call was made to the old residents to meet and organize for that purpose, which, being responded to so generally, the Pioneers of that date became a conspicuous feature. Subsequently a notice was published in news- papers August 30, 1850, requesting all old Pioneers and resi- dents of over three years to be present at a meeting Satur- day evening, August 31st, at the office of Howard & Mellus, in Iron Warehouse on Montgomery street.
At this meeting preliminary organization of "The Society of California Pioneers" was effected and at subsequent meetings a Constitution and By-laws were adopted. The first President was Wm. D. M. Howard. Vice Presidents, Jacob R. Snyder, Samuel Brannan & Geo. Frank Lemon. Recording Secretary, Joseph L. Folsom. Corresponding Secretary, Edwin Bryant.
The first article of our Constitution states that our object is designed to be a moral, benevolent, literary and scientific Association, to cultivate social intereourse, create a fund
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for charitable purposes, to collect and preserve information connected with the early settlement and subsequent history of the country, and in all appropriate matters to perpetuate the memory of those whose sagaeity, energy and enterprise indueed them to settle in the wilderness and become the founders of a new State.
The members have ever been the most prominent and influential in the State, and as such have assisted very greatly in the development and upbuilding of this city and State. Our members have been foremost in all that per- tained to its progress and prosperity.
The early settlers of this State endured many hardships and suffered many privations in order to reach this land of promise and not all of them succeeded, for here and there on the old roads and trails the wooden Cross or Cairn record where some weary wanderer laid him down to rest. Some of us remember the early struggles and the difficulties which had to be overcome. Looking baek over 66 years that are past and recognizing the tremendous progress that this City has made and the wonderful energy, spirit of enterprise and courage that has at all times pre- vailed and that would not falter or hesitate even when vis- ited with the appalling calamity of fire in 1906, does it not make your hearts thrill with admiration that such a City has been rebuilt so much finer and more substantial than it ever was before? Let our hearts rejoice and our tongues express our thankfulness to the Supreme Ruler of the Uni- verse for our great success.
Let your thoughts go back with me to those days when the Bay of San Francisco was full of sailing ships, hun- dreds of them abandoned and useless for the time being. the sailors having all left for the diggings. Look now at our long and well constructed conerete wharves. Our mag- nificent steamers of large carrying capacity, some built here, and think of the business that must be transacted to enable them to make regular trips, and let us regret the action of our Congress which has resulted in driving from
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the Pacific Ocean such fine steamers and such excellent service as the Pacific Mail S. S. Co was maintaining.
One of our members, James Lick, was born in Fredericks- burgh, Penn., August 25, 1796. His father taught him to be a competent wood worker and cabinet maker, and he after- wards made a fortune in manufacturing furniture and pianos.
He was very favorably impressed with the work and objects of our Society. In 1860 he gave us a lot on the corner of Montgomery and Gold streets. There the first Pioneer Hall was ereeted in 1862 and there we met regu- larly for 20 years. In 1873 Mr. Liek was elected President of this Society and continued in office until 1876. In 1873 he gave us a lot on Fourth street near Market, upon which New Pioneer Hall was built in 1884 and 5. In his will he made this Society one of the residuary legatees and thus provided for and assured its continuance.
Through his thoughtfulness and benevolence we have been and are enabled to carry on the work for which we were organized. The Pioneers particularly, but also the eitizens of San Francisco and the State should ever remem- ber with a deep sense of gratitude the debt we owe to James Liek, the man who provided so generously for so many worthy charities and for scientific research.
Lest we forget, let me read you part of his will, showing how carefully and with his whole heart and soul he had thought out the further use of his money for the benefit of humanity :
1st and 2d bequest, Lick Telescope $700,000.00
3d. Protestant Orphan Asylum, S. F. 25,000.00
4th, San Jose Orphan Asylum 25,000.00
5th, Ladies' Protection and Relief Society, S. F. 25,000.00
6th, Mechanies Institute, S. F. 10,000.00
7th, S. P. Cruelty to Animals, S. F. 10,000.00
8th, Relatives' bequests
9th, Old Ladies' Home, S. F
100,000.00
10th, Free Baths, S. F 150,000.00
11th. Bronze Monument to memory of Francis
Scott Key, Author "Star Spangled Banner" 150,000.00
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12th, Group Bronze Statuary illustrative of Cali- fornia 250,000.00
13th, The Calif. School of Mechanical Arts to educate males and females in the practical arts of life 300,000.00
A total of $1,745,000.00 besides the residue of estate to The California Academy of Sciences and The Society of California Pioneers.
Look around these grounds and try to realize the great change that has taken place since this location was a piece of marsh and tide land. Here in the most artistic and beau- tiful Exposition the world has ever seen we are privileged to meet and proclaim our thankfulness and pride in the splendid display that is being made. Let ns give all honor and praise to those men, who, despite much discouragement and many, very many obstacles to overcome, have succeeded even beyond their expectations.
I extend an invitation to one and all of you who wish to do so to visit Pioneer Hall and view the life size portraits in oil of some of the men who made history in California. James Lick, the philanthropist, Col. J. A. Sutter, the man whose liberal hospitality was proverbial throughout Cali- fornia, James W. Marshall, he who discovered gold, Thos. O. Larkin, Gen. John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder who did much for San Francisco, and Commodore James D. Sloat, he who first unfurled Old Glory at Monterey ; many others there were, Junipero Serra, Samuel Brannan, Wm. T. Cole- man, Gen. Vallejo, all contributed their part to the up- building of this State. Visit us and our historian and li- brarian, Mr. Henry L. Byrne, will be pleased to answer your questions and give you such information as are con- tained in our biographies and archives.
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Mayor James Rolph, Jr.
PIONEER AND OLD SETTLERS' DAY SOUVENIR
Hon. James Rolph, Jr. Mayor of San Francisco
WELCOME FROM SAN FRANCISCO
Chairman: Mayor Rolph was on the program for an address, "Welcome from San Francisco," but was prevented by previous offi- cial engagements from being present on time. Mr. Rolph was keenly disappointed and sends us the following expression of his regard for the Pioneers and Old Settlers.
OTHING would have given me greater OLD pleasure nor higher honor than to have he Days of The je D stood before the Pioneers and Old Set- DAY NO ye df 19 tlers of California and expressed to them PIONEER ER PANAM San Francisco's welcome. Circum- OCT. 10, 1915 PA Ic E stances forbade, however, but I am thankful of this opportunity to express the sentiments which were in my heart on that day, and which I have always felt toward the men and women whose indomitable courage and initiative laid the foundations of California position and prosperity.
San Francisco can never forget her debt of gratitude to you, the Old Settlers and Pioneers. The spirit of the City today is the heritage of those stirring times when the Argo- naut braved the rounding of "The Horn", and the plains- man blazed a trail across mountains and desert in his "Prai- rie Schooner". Each period in our romantic history is written around the Pioneer. The days of '48, when gold was discovered in El Dorado County ; the old Steamer days; the days of the inception, building and completion of the transcontinental railroad by the "Big Four", Huntington, Hopkins, Stanford and Crocker; the bonanza days of the Comstock era; when the Comstock mines produced $350,- 000,000 worth of bullion in thirty years and millionaires appeared to spring up overnight.
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The Old Settler and Pioneer have been the very backbone of our advancement and civilization. Upon their sterling qualities, their foresight and their vision, we have built the splendid institutions of today. Our cities, our commerce, our industry, our farms and our firesides, are all the pro- duct of the pioneer, the results of his fortitude and labor.
To welcome Pioneers and Old Settlers of California to San Francisco is like welcoming our mothers and fathers to the old homestead. As Mayor of San Francisco, in behalf of all her people, I extend this welcome. San Francisco is hon- ored at your visit. San Francisco respects and reveres her founders. She feels toward you not alone the deepest friend- ship, but an affection and gratitude born of your lasting service to her. At the Exposition there is a monument to the Pioneer Mother. In front of the City Hall there is another monument to the Pioneers, but San Francisco herself is the greatest monument of all to your memory. Our hearts and our homes are always open to you, Pioneers and Old Settlers of the West.
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Mrs. George J. Bucknall
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Mrs. George J. Bucknall
President Women's Auxiliary The Society of California Pioneers
ADDRESS
Chairman: It is quite an honor to represent five generations of Pioneer history of California, besides the honor of being the first American child born in San Francisco. The father of the lady I am about to introduce came to California first in 1832. It is with pleas- ure I present Mrs. Geo. J. Bucknall, who will speak for the "Woman's Auxilliary of the Society of California Pioneers."
T is with mingled feelings that I find my- self today, a pioneer in the presence of ne Days jok J pioneers and members of the society that PIONEER was founded by them, invested with the 3 cf eg sul 449 privilege of bidding welcome to our 16 brothers and sisters from a section of the State that fairly teems with the ro- mance of pioneer history.
It is not for me to remind the people of San Jose of the part their beloved Garden City played in the early history of California. There is not a man or woman or child within the limits of our Golden State who does not know that San Jose was one of its early capitals, that the stars and stripes once floated from the roof of a capitol building there, within whose walls were located the administrative offices and the council chambers where the law-makers of the State assembled. San Jose, too, is situated in the heart of the Santa Clara valley, the valley of romance, perhaps, more than any other in California, made so by the romantic writers of the West who found ample material for their pens in the lives of the early Spanish landowners and the colorful stories of the old world life they lived and of the bounteous hospitality they extended to all comers. To us
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practical people of the twentieth century the story of the Santa Clara valley reads like some romance of a world far beyond the seas; yet that life was lived, and not so long ago but that here and there a faint trace of it remains. Those stately Spaniards of the long ago have gone, but they have left behind them the indescribable flavor of an age that re- sembles a beautiful picture by some old master, to gaze upon which is to become filled with the spirit of reverence.
Officially, I come before you as President of the Women's Auxiliary of the Society of California Pioneers. I was, I believe, the first child born of Anglo-Saxon parentage in San Francisco, for I first saw the light in our city by the Golden Gate in the year 1845. Naturally there is a certain sadness mingled with the pride I feel in this unusual dis- tinction, for my mental vision travels back along a vista of years, and the highway of my life is dotted with the mile- stones of memory. But I do take pride in the thought that I am one of the foundation stones of this great edifice we have built up on the shores of the Pacific; and I have an additional interest in welcoming you people of San Jose here today, for it was to your city that my own dear mother traveled to be united in wedlock to the man who was my father. This was in 1844, when a protestant clergy was un- known in this city, and as my mother-to-be was of the pro- testant faith and San Jose was the nearest place where a protestant clergyman was to be found, your city became the seene of that wedding.
So much for the personal in this, my greeting of wel- come. In the people of the Santa Clara valley the State of California recognizes a thriving and a prosperous com- munity, one that has gone ahead with rapid strides and that is today making the most of every advantage that Nature has bestowed upon that section of the country.
We welcome the people of San Jose to San Francisco. They have been loyal supporters of our glorious Exposition and on a day like this their coming is indeed appropriate. It is my keenest pleasure to extend to you, one and all, a hearty welcome.
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Mrs. Helen B. Ladd
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Mrs. Helen B. Ladd President The Pioneer Women
ADDRESS
Chairman: No one could have a more inspiring subject than "Our Pioneer Parents," and our friend Mrs. Helen B. Ladd, President of the "Pioneer Women," whose mother I knew, as one of the noblest of women, will speak for our parents.
R. Chairman, Fellow Pioneers and OLD Friends : I will occupy but a brief space the Days of time. It is said that "brevity is the soul of wit." I can insure the brevity if not the wit. To those of us who viewed Or this coast in '46 or '49, or even earlier, how great the transformation. We recall the fertile plains, miles in extent, lying as nature in prodigal profusion had laid them. With antlered herds and fierce wild bears and all the smaller of the animal kingdom roaming unmolested in their native haunts. Rugged mountain fast- ness, tenanted only by scattered Indian bands, who held their pow wows and round their camp fires enjoyed their wild incantations knowing no higher civilization, roaring cataracts, placid rivers and beautiful bays unruffled by the prow of vessels, with scattered haciendas of Spanish hidalgos and retinue; these and these only occupied the broad expanse of this beautiful country. But with the coming of a broader civilization what vast changes have been wrought. The unparalleled trials of the brave, cour- ageous pioneer fathers and the noble and devoted mothers who toiled and endured with them paved the way for the enterprise of those who have followed to reap from the mighty hills their mineral wealth, to cause the fertile fields to yield rich harvests of golden grain and countless miles of fruitful orchards to produce their luscious burdens. Rivers and bays now float upon their surfaces moving pal- aces for the comfort and convenience of travelers.
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To those who wended their weary way across the plains, with slow plodding ox teams, or sailed the hazardous voy- age around the horn, or crossed the Isthmus on a donkey's back, realize the change when the same journey may now be made with all the comforts of a Pullman car in less num- ber of days than then required months, or may now take the long ocean voyage and cross the Isthmus through the great Panama Canal. Advance in science has given to the use of man for many purposes the incalculable electric force as a common agent. The arid desert plains through a wisely devised system of irrigation have become productive fields yielding rich returns as reward for skillful labor. Mighty cities have reared proud spires heavenward which we ean remember as only missions or villages. Even Oakland was but a few small houses among spreading oaks, and our proud San Francisco a group of tents upon the sand hills bordering the greatest of bays, land locked and safe where largest vessels may float in safety in the wildest storms. Our San Francisco which a few short years since rose phoenix-like after the fierce shock and fire out of the ashes of one of the world's greatest conflagrations, has built up grander than before, a glowing tribute to the enterprise of those who, undaunted by disaster, rose grandly to the occa- sion and succeeded and has now invited the world to come to our shores and our wonderful Exposition, where among other wonders may be seen daily men who having con- quered the air, soar proudly as the eagle to lofty heights, the floral beauties of the grounds delight the eye and arouse the admiration of the beholder.
To the brains that conceived, And the hands that achieved
This crowning glory, the City of Jewels
And to him who out of the bayshore and sand dunes has made Golden Gate Park and this Fair's unequaled adorn- ment; to him whose name is this day commemorated by a large assemblage of grateful people to whose munificence the world owes gratitude for the famous Lick Observatory telescope we would give due mead of praise. And may we hope that the same invincible energy which characterized the Pioneers in overcoming seemingly insurmountable oh- stacles to progress and which opened to California and this coast untold opportunities, may be put forth for the preser- vation of some of the beauties of this Exposition for the last- ing benefit of the future.
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Mrs. Clara G. Doliver Burtchaell
PIONEER AND OLD SETTLERS' DAY SOUVENIR
" WONDERFUL SAN FRANCISCO "
Read by Mrs. Clara G. Doliver Burtchaell of Oakland
Risen from ashes! risen from dust, From broken walls and mold and rust, She sits upon her hills today, Like a new Imperial Rome ; And smiles upon her wide, blue bay, 'Tis our beloved, our own, our home- Wonderful San Francisco.
Does the stranger mourn in a distant land, Is a sister town dismayed ? Is it famine, flood, or some sore strait? The ever-ready, generous hand, .The cheering word, the first quick aid, Comes ever from her by the Golden Gate,- Wonderful San Francisco.
When she was a babe in swaddling clothes, And lay in her cradle of sand, When crime and riot around her rose, Shame and flame and a convict band, How strong and sure was the baby hand, How wise the brain, how swift the blows! Wonderful San Francisco.
When in the bloom of her gay young life, She had her hour of sorrow ; When old Earth rocked, and a fiery breath Struck at her heart like a flaming knife; When she reckoned no Tomorrow- She smiled as she looked in the face of death; Wonderful San Francisco.
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A struggle for life, that passed-like a night, And a dream was hers on the morn; A miracle dream of a City of light :- Her child that was yet unborn ; Her marvelous child as it was to be, With tower and palace, court and tree, On the barren shore of her sunlit sea, Wonderful San Francisco.
Her hands are out on the hills today, And she cries to the world "It is done ! From near and far, whoever you are, All nations under the sun, The jewels glow, the fountains play ; Come to the Blazing Star ; Ye slaves of Care, ye bonds of War, Within my flowery gates be free; Come, all the world, and be glad with me !" Wonderful San Francisco.
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Mrs. Margaret Grote Hill
PIONEER AND OLD SETTLERS' DAY SOUVENIR
Mrs. Margaret Grote Hill
President Native Daughters of the Golden West
ADDRESS
Chairman: "The Native Daughters of the Golden West," of whom any State might feel proud, need no one to speak for them, as everybody knows they are exceptionally fine specimens of our Cali- fornia products, however their honored Grand President, Mrs. Eliza- beth Grote Hill, will say a few words for them.
Days of
Lion
EE
ď 49
NA
OCT
6. 1916
PACIFIC E
HE Order of Native Daughters of the Golden West is composed of women born within the boundaries of the State of California. The members are inter- ested in every movement that makes for the betterment of our Order, our State and our country.
One definite object of the organization is to perpetuate in fond memory the glorious deeds of California's early set- tlers.
Our members are so imbued with the spirit of reverenee for the Pioneer fathers and mothers, that we have dedieated Admission Day as Pioneer Day-the day we celebrate in loving remembrance the valorous deeds and splendid achievements of the builders of this wondrous State.
Those brave, energetie and daring Pioneers, by their in- domitable will and courageous perseverance, prepared this vast western empire for the honored position that she so readily and promptly assumed as the brightest star in this great Union of States.
We fully realize that many were the trials and struggles of those early day settlers, but the enlightenment and progress that illuminated their minds and hearts brought about successful results, laid the foundation of this great commonwealth and reared for us this magnificent heritage -our well beloved California.
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Such heroic accomplishment demonstrated to the world that the California Pioneer was not alone a gold seeker but a home builder, and a history maker-thus the N. D. G. W. offer a tribute of affection to the everlasting memory of the beloved Pioneers and the early day settlers of our Native State.
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Mr. John F. Davis
PIONEER AND OLD SETTLERS' DAY SOUVENIR
John F. Davis Grand President Native Sons of the Golden West
ADDRESS
Chairman: I will now call upon the President of one of the great- est orders in the West. An order though notwithstanding their many acts of charity and activities in a thousand directions, are finding time and money with which to publish a complete history of the State of California. I present Mr. John F. Davis, President of the Native Sons of the Golden West.
LEER
R. Chairman, Old Settlers, Pioneers and Friends :
I don't know an occasion where I ever took a keener satisfaction in re- sponding as Grand President of the Na- 1015 tive Sons of the Golden West than I do upon this occasion. Not even the Ninth of September,-Admission Day -- with all its color and all its enthusiasm, was a source of greater pride. It is in such scenes as this that we find a vindication of the purposes of our Order. There come times in the life of every cause, in the career of every organization, when the onslaughts of calumny and the lukewarmness of friends make their ad- herents take stock of their principles and plans-times when there is a need of a quickening of the spirit. It was said of Antaeus, in the Old Roman mythology, that his physical strength was renewed whenever he came in contact with his Mother Earth. And so, when we look into the eager upturned faces and glowing eyes of a throng like this, we,-we too-renew our strength and devotion to the cause, and realize in every fibre of our being that it is all worth while. The emotion created by a scene like this moisten our eyes and chokes our utterance. But it was all true, after all-there was need and there was occasion for the creation of an organization whose aim and whose purpose would be to keep alive and pass on to posterity the memory of the Pioneers.
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You are the survivors of the great drama. On this plat- form and in this audience I look into the eyes of the sur- vivors of Donner Lake, and of Death Valley, and of the Bear Flag Party, and of many an incident of the tragic story of the emigrant trail. Here sits the first girl of Anglo-Saxon parents born in Yerba Buena; there sits the first baby rocked in a miner's rocker, because there was no cradle in camp. You are the survivors of the Grand Army of the energetic and the daring to which the forbears of most of us belonged. You make ns proud of that ancestry. You strengthen our resolve that the story of California's Pio- neers shall be known and perpetuated. In this venerable presence we re-dedicate ourselves to the trust. Have no fear but that the cause in our hands will be sacred. Whether our bark shall ride the waves of the future, or sink beneath them, of one thing you may rest assured : we will keep our rudder clear.
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