History of California, Volume VI, Part 22

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 816

USA > California > History of California, Volume VI > Part 22

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34 By Larkin, Santillan, Sherrebeck, Limantour, and others, which, how- ever, did not appear at this early date, when the tide-water question excited the only real fear. Land titles are fully considered in a special chapter. By order of the governor, Feb. 19, 1850, the sale of municipal lands was fordid- den till the legislature should decide. S. F., Minutes Legisl. Assembly, 14, 229. 35 See preceding vol. v.

36 See A. Wheeler's Report of 1850, and his Land Titles in S. F. of 1852, for observations on survey and lists of sales and grants made up to 1850; also Pac. News, Nov. 27, 1849; Alta, etc.

37 It was surveyed by A. R. Flint. Hunter Bros were the agents in S. F. Or. Sketches, MS., 2; Buffum's Suc Months, 156.

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FLIMSY CONSTRUCTION.

would not yield treasures forever; then what should pay for the clothing and provisions shipped hither from distant ports, which had to furnish almost every- thing needful for sustaining life, even bread? Surely not the hides, horns, and tallow secured from the rapidly disappearing herds.

There was, consequently, little inducement to pre- pare anything but the flimsiest accommodation for the inflowing population and increasing trade, Then there was an excitement and hurry everywhere preva- lent, and the cost of material and labor was excessive. Every day saw a marked change in the city's expansion ; and as winter approached and rain set in, the central part underwent a rapid transformation, under the effort to replace canvas frames with somewhat firmer wooden walls. It is assumed that at least a thousand sheds and houses were erected in the latter half of 1849,38 at a cost that would have provided accommodation for a fivefold larger community on the Atlantic coast.

Stretching its youthful limbs in the gusty air, San Francisco grew apace, covering the drift sand which was soon to be tied down by civilization, carving the slopes into home sites for climbing habitations till they reached the crests, levelling the hills by blasting out ballast for returning vessels, or material for filling in behind the rapidly advancing piling in the cove.

The topography of the city, with sharply rising

38 Buffum's Six Months, 121. Taylor estimates the habitations in Aug., including tents, at 500, with a population of 6,000, and that the town increases daily by from fifteen to thirty houses; its skirts rapidly approaching the sum- mits of the hills. Eldorado, i. 59, 203. His 'houses ' must be understood as embracing at least canvas structures. The streets were encroaching on Happy Valley, and the harbor was lined with boats, tents, and warehouses to Rincon Point. As many as 40 buildings have risen within 48 hours. ' Framed houses were often put up and enclosed in 24 hours.' McCollum's Cal., 60. Muslin was used instead of plaster. Adven. of Capt. Wife, 27-8. A most valuable account of the building of the city in 1849 and subsequent years is given in the Statement, MS., 4 et seq., of H. F. Williams, who opened a carpenter-shop in 1849 on the east side of Montgomery st, between Jackson and Washington, and figured long as builder and contractor. He paid $12 a day in Nov. to any one who could handle a saw and hammer. Buildings now costing $2,500 were then contracted for at $21,000. Details are also given in Sutton's Early Exper., MS .; Bauer's Stat., MS., 5; Larkin's Doc., vi. 51, etc .; Sand vich Is. News, ii. 193, etc .; S. F. Picayune, Sept. 11, 1850; Cal. Courier, dec. 11, 1850; S. F. Herald, June 20, 1850, etc.

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SAN FRANCISCO

hills so close upon the established centre of popula- tion, interposed a barrier against business structures, while the shallow waters of the bay invited to the projection of wharves, which again led to the erection of buildings alongside and between them. In levelling for interior streets the bay offered the best dumping- place, and the test once satisfactorily made, sand ridges scores of feet in height came tumbling down into the cove under the combined onslaught of steam- excavators, railroads, and pile-drivers. In 1849 Mont- gomery street skirted the water; a little more than a year later it ran through the heart of the town. 39

The only real encroachment upon the water domain in 1848 was in the construction of two short wharves, at Clay and Broadway streets.40 In May 1849 Alcalde Leavenworth projected Central or Long Wharf, along Commercial street, which before the end of the year extended 800 feet, and became noted as the noisy resort of pedlers and Cheap John shops. Steamers and sea-going vessels began to unload at it, and buildings sprang up rapidly along the new avenue. Its successful progress started a number of rival enter- prises upon every street along the front, from Market and California streets to Broadway and beyond. 41

39 ' Within another year one half of the city will stand on soil wrested from the sea,' exclaim the S. F. Courier and Sac. Transcript, Oct. 14, 1850. Thus were overcome difficulties not unlike those encountered in placing St Peters- burg upon her delta, Amsterdam upon her marshes, and Venice upon her island cluster. During the winter 1850-1 over 1,000 people dwelt upon the water in buildings resting on piles, and in hulks of vessels.

40 This wet-nursing began iu 1847 by city appropriation, assisted by W. S. Clark. See my preceding vol., v. 655-6, 679. Many pioneers think that because a favorite landing-place was upon some rocks, at Pacific and Sansome sts, there were no wharves. The lagoon at Jackson st, which had been partly filled, offered an inlet for boats. There were also other landings. Crosby's Stat., MS., 12; Schenck's Vig., MS., 14; Miscel. Stats., MS., 21; and note 5 of this chapter.

41 Central wharf, owned by a joint-stock company, of which the most prominent members were Mellus & Howard, Cross, Hobson, & Co., Jas C. Ward, J. L. Folsom, De Witt & Harrison, Sam Brannan, Theo. Shillaber, etc., began at Leidesdorff st, and was originally 800 ft long. Beiug seriously dam- aged by the fire of June 1850, it was repaired, and by Oct. extended to a length of 2,000 ft, affording depth of water sufficient to allow the Pacific Mail steamers to lie alongside. The cost was over $180,000. Details in Schenck's Vig., MS., 14; Fay's Facts, MS., 2; S. F. Bull., Jan. 23, 1867. C. V. Gilles- pie was prest. Alta, Dec. 12, 1849. Before the beginning of the winter of 1850-1, Market-st wh. corporation property, already looming as a wholesale

197

WHARVES AND STREETS.

They added nearly two miles to the roadway of the city, at an outlay of more than a million dollars, which, however, yielded a large return to the projectors, mostly private firms. A few belonged to the munici- pality, which soon absorbed the rest, as the progress of filling in and building up alongside and between converted them into public streets, and caused the for- mation of a new network of wharves.

In the rush of speculation and extension, in which the energy and success of a few led the rest, the several sections of the city were left comparatively neglected, partly because so many thought it useless to waste improvements during a probably brief stay. Streets, for instance, remained unpaved, without side- walks and even ungraded. The pueblo government had before the gold excitement done a little work upon portions of a few central thoroughfares, yet Montgomery street was still in a crude condition and higher on one side than on the other.42 During the dry summer this mattered little, for dust and sand would in any case come whirling in clouds from the surrounding hills, but in winter the aspect changed. The season 1849-50 proved unusually watery.43 Build-

centre, Cal. Courier, Aug. 7, 1850, extended 600 ft into the cove; California- st wh., substantially built, was 400 ft long by 32 ft wide; Howison's pier, connected by a railway with Sacramento st, was 1,100 ft long, with a width of 40 ft, and a depth of water of 14 ft at high tide. Barry and Patten, Men and Mem., 17, confound this with Sacramento-st wh., owned by Stevenson & Parker, 800 ft long, extending from Sansome st to Davis. Clay-st wh. was being rapidly carried out over 1,000 ft, with a width of 40 ft, and started from a mole or staging at Sherman & Ruckle's store, says Grimshaw, Narr., MS., 14; Washington-st wh. was 275 ft long; Jackson-st wh., 552 ft, ended at Front st in 13 ft of water. The well-built Pacific-st wh. extended over 500 ft (probably to be completed to 800 ft) by 60 ft in width; Broadway wh., 250 ft long by 40 ft, was the landing-place of the Sacramento steamers. Barnes' Or. and Cal., MS., 19; Henshaw's Stat., MS., 2. Cunningham's wh., between Vallejo and Green sts, was 375 ft by 33 ft, with a right-angle extension of 330 ft by 30 ft, at a depth of 25 ft. The Green-st or Law's wh. was under construction, and at North Beach a 1,700-ft wharf from foot of Taylor st was projected. See, further, Annals S. F., 291-3; Davis' Glimpses, MS., 265- 78; Bauer's Stat., MS., 2; Earl's Stat., MS., 1-10; Lawson's Autobiog., MS., 16-17; Bartlett's Stut., MS., 2; Pac. News, May 2, Aug. 27, 1850; S. F. Pica- yune, Aug. 19, Nov. 11, 1850; S. F. Herald, Oct. 22, 1850. Howison's wh., valued at $200,000, was offered at lottery, tickets $100. Cal. Courier, Sept. 26, 1850.

42 For work done in 1847-8, see my preceding vol., v. 654-5.

43 The rains began on Nov. 13th and terminated in March, falling during

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SAN FRANCISCO.

ings were flooded, and traffic converted the streets into swamps, their virgin surface trodden into ruts and rivers of mud. In places they were impassable, and so deep that man and beast sank almost out of sight. Many animals were left to their fate to suffocate in the mire, and even human bodies were found ingulfed in Montgomery street.44

Driven by necessity, owners and shop-keepers sought to remedy the evil-for the municipal fund was scanty -by forming sidewalks and crossings with whatever material that could be obtained, but in a manner which frequently served to wall the liquid mud into lakes. The common brush filling proved unstable traps in which to entangle the feet of horses. The cost of ma- terial and labor did not encourage more perfect meas- ures. It so happened that with the inflow of shipments many cargoes contained goods in excess of the demand, such as tobacco, iron, sheet-lead, cement, beans, salt beef, and the cost of storage being greater than their actual or prospective value, they could be turned to no better use than for fillage. Thus entire lines of sidewalks were constructed of expensive merchandise in bales and boxes, which frequently decayed, to the injury of health.45 The . absence of lamps rendered

71 days, or half the time. S. F. Direct., 1852, 12. Lower lying buildings were flooded. Sutton's Stat., MS., 7.

# Schmiedell, Stat., MS., 5-6, mentions one man who was suffocated in the mud. Another witness refers to three such cases, due probably to intoxi- cation. See also Hittell's S. F., 134; S. F. Bull., Jan. 23, 1867. ' I have seen mules stumble in the street and drown in the liquid mud,' writes Gen. Sherman, Mem., i. 67. At the corner of Clay and Kearny sts stood posted the warning: 'This street is impassable, not even jackassable!' Upham's Notes, 268. At some crossings 'soundings' varied from two to five feet. Shaw's Golden Dreams, 47.

15 A sidewalk was made from Montgomery st to the mail steamer office ' of boxes of 1st class Virginia tobacco, containing 100 lbs. each, that would be worth 75 cts a pound.' Cole's Vig., MS., 3. Tons of wire sieves, iron, rolls of sheet lead, cement, and barrels of beef were sunk in the mud. Tobacco was found to be the cheapest material for small building foundations. Neall's Vig., MS., 16; Fay's Facts, MS., 3. Foundations subsequently were sometimes worth more than the house. Some Chile beans sunk for a crossing on Broadway would have made a fortune for the owner a few weeks later. Garniss' Early Days, MS., 14; Lambertie, Voy., MS., 202-3. There were a few planked sidewalks. Sutton's Stat., MS., 7; Cal. Past and Present, 149-50; Bartlett's Stat., MS., 7; Schenck's Vig., MS., 16.

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GRADING AND SEWERS.

progress dangerous at night,46 and the narrowness of the path led to many a precipitation into the mud, whence the irate victims would arise ready to fight the first thing he met. Long boots and water-proof suits were then common.

The experiences of the winter led in 1850 to more substantial improvements. The municipal government adopted a system of grades, under which energetic work was done; so much so that before the following winter, which was excessively dry, the central parts of the town might be regarded as practically graded and planked, a portion being provided with sewers.47 With the rapid construction of saw-mills on the coast, sup- plemented by the large importation of lumber from Oregon, this article became so abundant and cheap as to restrict to small proportions the use of stone ma- terial for streets.

In the adoption of grades the local government had been hasty ; for three years later a new system had to be adopted, partly to conform to the gradual exten- sion of the city into the bay. This involved the

46 Pac. News, of May 9, 1850, complains that Kearny st is left to darkness. Lights were not introduced till the spring of 1851. S. F. Directory, 1852, 18. # Montgomery, Kearny, and Dupont sts, from Broadway to Sacramento, and even to California st, were so far to receive sewers. The grading and planking extended in 1832 from the junction of Battery and Market sts diag- onally to Sacramento and Dupont sts, and from Dupont and Broadway to the bay, covering nearly all the intermediate district, except the land portion of Broadway and Pacific. See Barker's plan in S. F. Directory of 1832. The S. F. Annals, 296, leaves a wrong impression of progress by the beginning of Nov. 1850, by stating that these improvements were now being executed within the section embraced between the diagonal line running from Market and Battery to Stockton and Clay sts on the south, and the line stretching from Dupont and Broadway straight to the bay, besides odd sections on the north-west to Taylor st, and northward about Ohio, Water, and Francisco sts. See S. F. Herald, June 23, July 31, Oct. 29, 1850; Alta Cal., Dec. 21, 1850, and other numbers. La Motte, Stat., MS., 1-2, did some grading. Larkin's Doc., vii. 219; Cal. Courier, Sept. 3, 14, 21, 27, Dec. 2, 5, 1850; S. F Picayune, Aug. 19, Sept. 6, 9, Oct. 10, 23, 1850. There was a bridge over the lagoon at Jackson and Kearny sts, observes Pac. News, Dec. 20, 1849, June 5, 1820, whose editor boasts that no city in the union 'presents a greater extent of planked streets. Over 40,000 feet, or above 73 miles of streets have been graded; 19,800 feet have been planked;' and more planking contracted for The city paid one third of the expense, levying for the remainder on the property facing the streets concerned. The first sidewalk, of stringers and barrel-staves, was laid on the south side of Clay st between Montgomery and Kearny, says Williams, Stat., MS., 4-5. King of William laid the first brick sidewalk. Cal. Courier, July 23, 1850.

SAN FRANCISCO.

200

lifting of entire blocks of heavy brick houses in the business centre, and elsewhere to elaborate cutting and filling with substructure and inconvenient approaches. The expense of the work was absolutely appalling; the more so as much of it had been needless, and the re- sult on the whole miserably inadequate and disfigur- ing.48

In San Francisco was much bad planning.49 Vioget's pencillings were without much regard for configura- tion, or for the pathways outlined by nature and early trafficking toward the presidio and mission. O'Far- rell's later extension was no better.50 Both rejected the old-fashioned adaptation to locality, with terraced slopes suited to the site. Terraces and winding as- cents would have rendered available and fashionable many of the slopes which for lack of such approaches were abandoned to rookeries or left tenantless. More- over, while selecting and holding obstinately to the bare rigidity of right angles they distorted the plan from the beginning. The two proposed main streets, instead of being made greater avenues for traffic and dominant factors in the extension of the city by stretch- ing them between Telegraph and Russian hills to the

48 The new grade, prepared by M. Hoadley and W. P. Humphreys, was adopted on Aug. 26, 1850, and although afterward modified, involved heavy cost by raising former levels as much as five feet, especially on business streets where brick buildings had been erected. Here in lower lying parts changes were imperative. Nearly 1,000 brick buildings have been raised, some of large extent. On hill sites greater latitude was allowed. The requirement of the plan for vertical cuts of 200 feet into Telegraph hill at the intersection of Montgomery and Kearny with Greenwich and Filbert, and of corresponding depths elsewhere, could not be entertained, for the cost would have been in some cases 50 times more than the value of the lots. Elsewhere cuttings of over 50 feet were frequently adopted, although not always enforced. The demand for ballast and filling material tended to obviate the main difficulty- the expense-as in the case of Telegraph hill. With aid of the steam-exca- vator, or paddy, as this supplanter of Irish labor has been dubbed, which could swing round with a hogshead of sand at every scoop, a truck car could be filled in a few minutes from most of the hills. It has been estimated that an average of nine feet of cutting and filling has been done upon 3,000 acres of the San Francisco site, implying the transfer of nearly 22,000,000 cubic yards of sand.

" The plea that a large city was not thought of in 1839 is valid only to a certain extent.

50 The conformation to the change made was largely undertaken during the winter 1849-50. Williams' Stut., MS., 3. For surveys and defects, see my preceding vol. v.

201

STRAINED EFFORTS.

then promising expanse of North Beach, and so form- ing a rectangle to the southern main, Market street, they were circumscribed, and allowed to terminate aimlessly in the impassable Telegraph hill. This pri- mary error, whose remedy was too late attempted in the costly opening of Montgomery avenue, had a marked effect on the city in distributing its business and so- cial centres, in encroaching upon the rights and com- forts of property owners, and in the lavish squandering of millions. Then, again, the streets were made too narrow, resulting in the decadence of many otherwise advantageous quarters, while some were altered only at an immense outlay for widening. Add to this such abnormities as alternating huge ditches and em- bankments with lines of houses left perched at vary- ing altitudes upon the brow of cliffs, sustained by unsightly props, and accessible only by dizzy stair-

ways. True, the extension into the bay in a measure required the levelling of hills, and so reduced the ab- surdity; on the other hand, this advance into the waters rendered worse a defective drainage system, so much so that, notwithstanding the change of levels, the health and convenience of the city would be seri- ously endangered but for the ruling west winds. This remedy, however, is nearly as bad as the disease, in the way of comfort at least.51

The errors and mishaps connected with San Fran- cisco are greatly due to haste and overdoing. One half of the activity would have accomplished twice the result. Fortunes were spent in building hastily and inefficiently; seas were scoured for bargains when there were better ones at home; the Sierra was

51 Several writers have commented on different features of the plan, which Player Frowd, Six Months, 23, terms 'a monument of the folly .. . to improve natural scenery.' Hubner, Ramble, 145-7, and Upton, in Overland Mo., ii. 131, join with others in condemning the disregard for natural features. In the Annals S. F., 160-1, was placed a protest against the monotony of the square, and the lack of public parks and gardens. The inequality of streets was the more striking when it is seen that the central streets, from east to west, were only 60 feet wide, while those south of Market, a comparative suburb, were over 80 feet, with variations in other quarters.

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SAN FRANCISCO.

beaten for gold which flowed of its own accord to the door of the steady trader ; a pittance set aside for land would have made rich the defeated wrestler with for- tune. Anything, however, but to quietly wait; wealth must be obtained, and now, and that by rushing hither and thither in search of it, by scheming, strug- gling, and if needs be dying for it.

One bitter fruit of the improvident haste of the city-builders was early forthcoming in a series of dis- astrous conflagrations, which stamped San Francisco as one of the most combustible of cities, the houses being as inflammable as the temper of the inhabi- tants. 52

52 The first of the series took place early on Christmas eve, 1849, after one of those nights of revelry characterizing the flush days. It started in Deni- son's Exchange, in the midst of the gambling district, on the east side of the plaza, next to the Parker house, the flames being observed about 6 A. M., Dec. 24th. Premonitory warnings had been given in the burning of the Shades hotel in Jan. 1849, and the ship Philadelphia in June, as she was about to sail. S. F. Directory, 1852, 10. Although the weather was calm, the flames spread to the rear and sides among the tinder walls that filled the block, till the greater part of it presented a mass of flame. So scorching was the heat that houses on the opposite side of the street, and even beyond, threatened to ignite. Fortunately the idea occurred to cover them with blankets, which were kept freely saturated. One merchant paid one dollar a bucket for water to this end; others bespattered their walls with mud. Conspicuous among the fire fighters was David Broderick, a New York fireman now rising to political prominence. Buckets and blankets might have availed little, how- ever, but for the prompt order to pull down and blow up a line of houses, and so cut off food for the flames. The greater part of the block between Wash- ington and Clay streets and Kearny and Montgomery streets was destroyed, involving the loss of a million and a quarter of dollars. Stanley's Specch, 1854. Nearly 50 houses fell, all save a fringe on Clay and Montgomery sts, then perhaps the most important block in town. Bayard Taylor, who witnessed the fire, gives a detailed account in Eldorado, ii. 71-4. Upham, Notes, 266, and Neall, Vig., MS., 14-15, add some incidents; and Pac. News, Dec. 25-29, 1849, Jan. 1, 1850, supplies among the journals some graphic versions. The Eldorado, Parker house, Deuison's Exchange, U. S. coffee house, were among the noted resorts swept away. Polynesian, vi. 142; Hunt's Mag., xxxi. 114. While the fire was still smouldering, its victims could be seen busily planning for new buildings. Within a few days many of the destroyed resorts had been replaced with structures better than their predecessors. Toward the end of Jan. 1850, not a vestige remained of the fire. Cornwall contracted to raise the Exchange within 15 days, or forfeit $500 for every day in excess of the term. He succeeded. Williams' Rec., MS., 13.

The second great fire broke out on May 4, 1850, close to the former starting point, and swept away within seven hours the three blocks between Montgomery and Dupont sts, bounded by Jackson and Clay sts and the north and east sides of Portsmouth square, consuming 300 houses and other prop- erty, to the value of over four millions. Stanley, Speech, 1854, says $4,250,000; others have $3,000,000 to $4,000,000; Pac. News, May 4, 15, 1850, 85,000,000. One life was lost. Larkin's Doc., vii. 206. Dubois' bank and Burgoyne & Co. s

203

GREAT CONFLAGRATIONS.

Such a succession of disasters might well have crushed any community, and croakers were not want-

house alone escaped in the Clay-st block; and northward only a row fringing Jackson above Montgomery st. S. F. Directory, 1852, 15. The flames were stayed, especially on Dupont st, by the voluntary tearing down of many build- ings. S. F. Annals, 274, with diagram. Details in Pac. News, May 4-9, 1850; Alta Cul., May 27, June 6, 1850. The conduct of certain criminals confirmed the belief in incendiarism, and a reward of $5,000 led to several arrests, but nothing could be proved. The fire started at 4 A. M., on May 4th, in the U. S. Exchange, a rickety gambling-place. In S. F. Herald, June 15, 1850, it is stated that 200 houses were burned, with a loss of three millions. As on the previous occasion, thousands of curious spectators gathered to the sound of the fire bells to add their clamor to the uproar. Appeals to the crowd for aid met with no hearty response, unless attended by money, as Taylor, Eldo- rado, 75, observed in Dec. 1849. A number were engaged at $3 an hour; $60 was paid for a cartload of water. Shaw's Golden Dreams, 179. A crowd of men who claimed to have assisted at the fire raised almost a riot on being re- fused compensation by the city council. This august body was profoundly moved, and ordinances were passed obliging all, under penalty, to render ail on such occasions when called upon. Precautionary measures were also adopted, and impulse was given to the development of the fire department started after the first calamity-such as digging wells, forming reservoirs, ordering every householder to keep six buckets of water prepared for emer- gencies, and the like. Annals S. F., 276. It is claimed that in ten days more than half the burned district was rebuilt.

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History of California, Volume VI, Part 22

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe Publication date: 1885-1890 Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers Number of Pages: 816

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe
Publication date: 1885-1890
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : The History Company, publishers
Number of Pages: 816