History of California, Volume VI, Part 87

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

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777

STREETS AND HILLS.

which with the increase of safer structures assumed a lighter and more ornamental form. 45

The business part of the city advanced into the bay for half a dozen blocks within as many years, following close upon the piling, and bearing along the sand hills from its rear to provide a more stable foundation for the substantial edifices which gradually replaced the wooden ones. 46 Attracted by the deep water and better wharves of Clark Point, and partly by the promises of North Beach, with its expanse of level ground, fair anchorage, and proximity to the bay gate, the com- mercial centre took a decidedly northward direction after 1852-3, as shown by the construction of the custom-house, in 1854-5, on Jackson and Battery streets, surrounded by the merchants' exchange and other representative buildings.47 While the crumbling slopes of Telegraph hill were made to yield under this movement, cognate and especially manufacturing in- terests continued their onslaught upon the drift hills south of California street, and rapidly levelled their way to Happy Valley. All around the fringe of dwell- ings grew denser, with increasing family ties, the fashionable ones clustering near South Park, on Third

45 An improved fire department and the extension of fire insurance gave courage to the cautious for erecting superior houses.

46 Cars laden with sand by steam-paddies were constantly rattling down the inclines along the water-front. Despite fillage the foundation was not very secure. The American theatre on Sansome st settled two inches on the inauguration night and a part of the U. S. warehouse fell in 1854. Storms occasionally made serious inroads on the loose fillage, and drove the waters over the low ground. Instance on Dec. 21, 1851, and Dec. 17, 1852, the latter causing a loss of $200,000 to vessels and buildings. Altt Cal., Nov. 4, Dec. 18, 1832; S. F. Herald, Jan. 3, 1855; S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 2, 1855. Reports on grades, in S. F. Board of Engineers, Rept, 1-27. See chapter on S. F. Although Market st was in 1852 opened between Kearny and Battery st, yet as late as 1857 high hills blocked it beyond Third st.

47 The banking-house of Lucas, Turner, & Co., and several other lead- ing firms, moved away from California st to the Jackson-st end of Mont- gomery st, in 1854-5, and erected costly houses. Sherman's reasons are given in his Mem., i. 104, etc. Pacific st was graded through the rocks at Sansome st, and extensive encroachments were made on Telegraph hill for fil- lage along its base, and for ballast to departing ships, till wheat came to serve this purpose. At Clark Point rose in 1851 three U. S. bonded warehouses of iron, part of which were buried at the close of that year by falling rocks from the hill. The discovery of a small gold quartz vein in the hill, in 1851, promised for a time to advance the grading. Morn. Post, Sept. 29, 1851.

778

ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.

street, and along Stockton street toward the slopes of Russian hill,43 and houses being freely sprinkled even beyond the circling summits and west of Leavenworth street.

It was a straggling city, however, with its dumps and blotches of hills and hillocks, of bleak spots of vacancy and ugly cuts and raised lines The archi- tecture was no less patchy, for in the centre prison- like and graceful structures alternated, interspersed with frail wooden frames and zinc and corrugated iron walls, and occasionally the hull of some hauled-up vessel; while beyond rude cabins and ungainly super- imposed stories of lodging-houses in neglected grounds varied with tasteful villas embowered in foliage, and curious houses perched high on square-cut mounds.49 For a time caution set the fashion for residences also of brick, but the winter rains, the summer fogs, and above all the cost and the startling admonition of earthquakes, soon created so general a preference for frame dwellings of all grades, as to make brick dwell- ings a rarity, and to place another mark of peculiarity upon the city. Wood affirmed its supremacy by yield- ing more readily to the growing taste for elaborate ornamentation. The distribution of races in this cos- mopolitan settlement added to the many distinctive quarters raised by fashion, by branches of trade and manufacture, the most notable being the Hispaño- American district along the south-western slope of Telegraph hill, adjoined by French and Italian colo- nies southward, and the striking Chinatown, which was fast spreading along Dupont street its densely

48 Here, between Washington st and Washington square, was the chief promenade, near the adjoining churches, and with Dupont st as the thorough- fare from the business centre. Pacific st above Stockton st was in 1853 granted to a plank-road company to be opened to Larkin st under toll. S. F. Ordin., 1853, 116.

49 The ‘antique castle' on the s. E. corner of Stockton and Sacramento sts was a three-story brick building, plastered and painted in imitation of stone- work, each block of a different color. Its history is given in S. F. Call, Nov. 18, 1878. Of the solid houses in the central part 600 were valued at over $13,000,000. Some were so frail as to fall. Sac. Transcript, May 15, 1851; S. F. Bulleter, July 22, 1856; Alta Cal., Nov. 17, 1856.

779

WATER AND GAS.

crowded and squalid interiors, relieved here and there by curious signs and façades in gold and green, and pouring forth files of strangely attired beings.

Owing to the unexpected extension of the city into the bay, and to defects in the original plan, it was afflicted with a faulty drainage, against which the prevailing west winds, however, offered a partial safe- guard. The lack of good water was another disad- vantage. The supply came for several years from two or three brooks, a number of wells,50 and from Sauza- lito,51 whence it was brought by steamboats to the reservoirs of the water company, and distributed by carts among the inhabitants.52

The requirements of the fire department for their numerous cisterns proved a strong inducement for laying pipes from Mountain Lake, but the project was delayed.53 The city suffered also for years from lack of proper street lighting. The first public oil- lamps began in October 1850 to partially relieve citi- zens from carrying lanterns as a protection against the numerous pitfalls, but it was not until three years and a half later that gas-lights appeared.54 The streets

50 The Croton, Cochituate, and Dall and Doran were the leading wells. Account of, in Alta Cal., Oct. 25, 1852; Apr. 19, 1833; July 27, 1855; Sac. Union, Aug. 25, 1855. They yielded each 15,000 to 30,000 gallons daily.

51 The old watering-place for whalers, etc.

52 In the spring of 1854 about 65 teams were thus employed. A one-horse water-cart with a good route sold for §1,500 or $1,800. Families were sup- plied at from $3 to $5 a month. The Sauzalito Water and Steam Tug Comp. organized in 1851 to furnish 200,000 gallons daily, and to tow vessels; capital, $150,000. They claimed theirs to be the only water that would keep at sea.

53 The Mountain Lake Water Co. was organized in Oct. 1851 with a capi- tal of $500,000. 'The lake, lying 33 miles west from the plaza, beyond the hills, was supplied by a large drainage and several springs. See their char- ter and prospectus of 1851-2, p. 1-14; S. F. Manual, 219; Alta Cal., Jan. 25, July 8, 1852; May 13, 1853; July 25, 1855. The company was reorganized and their time of limitation successively extended, but after starting the work in May 1853 the cost was found to exceed estimates, and the promoters held back. S. F. Ordin., 131, 204-6, 245-6, 392; S. F. Directory, 1854, 212; 1856-7, p. 191; S. F. Bulletin, Dec. 7, 1835; Sept. 22-3, Dec. 13, 1856, with allusions to a new project. The fire dept had in 1854 already 38 large cisterns.

54 The first oil-lamps were lighted in Merchant st by J. B. M. Crooks, and paid for by subscription. He took contracts from the city in 1852. S. F. Annals, 518. Montgomery st was first lighted on March 31st. Alta Cal., Apr. 1, 1851; Dec. 31, 1852; S. F. Herald, July 7, 1850; Jan. 18, 1853. Yet street lighting did not become eommon till Jan. 1853. After several projects the S. F. Gas Co. organized in 1852, with B. C. Sanders as prest, J. M. Moss, Jas Donohue, etc .; capital $150,000. Their works were begun in Nov. on

780

ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.

suffered long after from want of proper paving and cleaning. 55 The plaza remained a waste eyesore till 1854, when grading and planting changed its aspect.56 By this time communication had been facilitated by at first half-hourly omnibuses between North Beach and South Park, with two lines to the mission, which in 1856 were supplemented by one to the presidio.57 Occasional conveyances connected also with Russ gar- dens, the new pleasure resort on Sixth street, with the picturesque Lone Mountain cemetery,58 and with the fortification begun in 1854 at Fort Point, to be supported by similar works at Point San José, Alca- traz and Angel islands, all of which vied with the time-honored mission and its race-tracks and gardens in attacting especially Sunday revellers.

The progress of San Francisco was particularly marked in 1853 with the expansion of business under the increasing gold yield and general development. An excitement seized upon the entire community; real estate rose, building operations were undertaken in every direction, with costly structures in the central

Front st between Howard and Fremont sts. Posts were ordered for Dec. 1853. S. F. Ordin., 1853, 474; S. F. Directory, 1854, p. 260; 1856-7, p. 77-8; Quigley's Irish, 376. On Feb. 11, 1854, a few leading streets and buildings were first lighted. Three miles of pipes were then laid and gradually extending. The price was $15 per 1,000 ft, which in view of wages and cost of coal-sce chapter on commerce-was claimed to be 20 per cent cheaper than in N. Y. In 1856 this was reduced to $12.50, but street-lamps, which consumed one fourth of the 80,000 ft daily manufactured, continued to be charged at 32} cents each per night. S. F. Bulletin, Apr. 12, Sept. 3, Nov. 29, 1856. The bill for 11 months was $46,000. Alta Cal., June 28, 1856. Gas was, however, in use 9 months earlier. Id., May 15, 1853; Cal. Fares, etc., 1-2.

55 The first sprinkler appeared May 2, 1851, but garbage, mud, rats, and other nuisances were general. Cobble-stones were brought from Folsom in 1856. Sac. Union, June 14, 1856.

56 A contract was made for $33,450, S. F. Ordin., 1853-4, 291; but the total charged for that year was $10, 138. An iron fence was added.

57 The Market-st rail line was projected in 1854, and the Mission line be- gun in 1856, but their completion extends beyond this period. S. F. Direct., 1854-6; S. F. Bulletin, Dec. 4, 1855; Mar. 29, Apr. 1, 3, 16, 30, May 12, Sept. 15, 1856; Alta Cal., July 14, 1853; July 22, 1854; Apr. 30, 1856. The public hacks of the day included Brewster coaches worth $4,000, with silver plating and rich fittings.

58 Projected in Nov. 1853, and inaugurated May 30, 1854, with 160 acres of undulating ground. After the first interment in June it quickly became the favorite burial-place. Alta Cal., May 17, 30, 1854; S. F. Bulletin, May 6, 1864.

781

RISE AND FALL.

parts, and everybody yielded to extravagant hopes. Of more than 600 of the stone and brick buildings nearly one half were erected in course of that year, the assessed value of property increased from $18,- 500,000 to $28,900,000, and the population, including transients, was estimated toward the close of the year as high as 50,000, or fully one seventh of the total in the state. But the advance was based on fictitious values. The country was on the eve of an industrial revolution. Mining had reached its culminating point and driven workers · to agricultural pursuits, which now made themselves apparent by a home production that rapidly displaced the staple imports and carried their channels of distribution away from San Fran- cisco. So serious a blow, added to the general re- trenchment in the interior consequent upon a change from extravagant camp life and high wages to sedate self-supplying farm occupations, had a staggering effect

upon the prevailing inflation. Under the sudden decline of business the newly erected warehouses were found needless, offices were abandoned or reduced, workers were thrown out of employment. The ripples of disaster spread wider and wider, manifested by tenantless houses, declining wages and revenue, and falling values of real estate and other property.59 Additional burdens came in the growing corruption of officials, attended by dissipation of property and reve- nue, by election frauds and growing debts, following upon recent devastations by fire and criminals, the whole culminating in the commercial crisis of 1855, and in the glaring political disorders which in the suc-

59 The advance of 25 per cent and more in real estate from 1852 to 1853 was more than lost. Four small bloeks eight feet under water, between Com- mercial and Clay sts, from Davis st eastward, sold in Dec. 1853 for $1, 193,550, or an average of $8,000 to $9,000 per lot, corners as high as $16,000. A few months later they might have been bought at one half. Indeed, vacant lots became unsalable. Out of 1,000 business houses 300 were deserted. The Union hotel, renting for $6,000, was in 1855 let at $1,000. Compare statements in the journals of the period, especially Alta Cal., Jan. 19, 1833; Aug. 18, Oct. 10, Nov. 14, 1856; Sac. Union, June 21-30, Oct. 16, 1855. Prices north- ward held their own. In Hayes Valley 50-vara lots sold in Oct. 1856 for from $225 to $250.

782

ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.

ceeding year roused the people to forcibly reform the entire administration by means of a portentous vigi- lance movement.

But the crisis passed, and business assumed its normal course, with new and surer channels, regulated by a truer standard. As it regained strength, under the auspices of unfolding resources and a growing settled population, the city responded to the impulse. She reasserted her claim as the Pacific metropolis, pointing to her position at the Golden Gate outlet, to her dry-dock,60 her vast array of wharves, ware- houses,61 and other facilities; her blocks of substan- tial business structures, whence radiated extending suburbs, sustained by fast-increasing manufactures, 62 embracing half a dozen important foundries, machine and boiler works, employing several hundred men; four saw-mills, besides sash, blind, and box factories; eleven flouring mills with a capacity of 1,100 barrels

60 At Rincon Point, established in Apr. 1851.

61 Replacing the sevenscore and more of storage ships used in Oct. 1851. Annals S. F., 355. Concerning wharves, see my former chapter on S. F., and my next volume; also chapter on commerce, for shipping, etc.

62 Of five foundries, in the Happy Valley region, the Union iron-works main- tained the leading place, pioneers as they were, founded in 1849 by P. Dono- hue and brother. The Sutter iron-works and the Pacific foundry opened in 1850, the Vulcan iron-works in 1851, and the Fulton in 1855, two employing in 1856 some 30 men each, and the others from 50 to nearly 200 each. The boiler-works of Coffee and Risdon employed 40 men. Minor establishments of the above class were the Excelsior, Empire, Phoenix, and those of S. F. Kern and F. Snow, supplemented by Carem and Renther, W. H. Clarke, and Mahly & Fabra. There were also wire-works, 2 brass-foundries, a dozen tinsmiths, half a dozen each of ship and copper smiths; 4 saw-mills, 7 sash and blind factories, half a dozen turners, 2 box factories, 2 willow and wooden ware establishments; 11 flouring mills, 5 coffee and spice mills. The S. F. sugar refinery employed over 100 men. There were also a steam eracker factory and steam candy-works; a dozen and a half of breweries, among them the Philadelphia in the lead; 1 malt-maker, 2 distilleries, 3 vinegar factories, 8 soda and 6 syrup and ginger-ale manufacturers, 1 chemical work, 1 gold refinery, I metallurgical, half a dozen manufactories of soap and candles, 9 of camphene and oil, 2 of wash fluids, 5 packers; a score of coopers, two dozen wagon and carriage makers; 3 pump and block makers, 2 boat-builders, 5 sail-makers, a score of saddlers; cordage works, 5 billiard-table manufactories, 1 piano-forte maker, 1 furniture factory, a dozen and a half upholsterers, 9 carvers and gilders, 2 lapidaries, numerous goldsmiths and jewellers, 2 opticians, 1 watch-case maker, 2 sculptors, 9 engravers, S lithographers, a score of printing-offices, 1 stereotype foundry, half a dozen bookbinderies, and other establishments for supplying clothing, food, etc. The Annals S. F., 492, numerates in 1854 fully 160 hotels and public houses, 66 restaurants, 63 bakeries, 48 markets, chiefly butcher-shops, 20 baths, and 18 public stables.

783

INDUSTRIES.

daily ; a steam cracker factory ; a large sugar refinery ; a dozen and a half breweries, besides distilleries, soda and syrup works; several oil, candle, and soap works; billiard-table manufactories; a beginning in furniture inaking; and a host of establishments concerned in supplying necessities and luxuries for mining, field, and home life, a large proportion of an artistic stamp. Happy Valley, and the adjoining region south of Market street, were the centre for heavy industries. North Beach claimed also a share, while Kearny street, as the connecting link, displayed their pro- ductions in shops which for rich and striking ap- pearance were already rivalling those of eastern cities. In 1854 there were five public markets, of which two had over two dozen stalls each.

No less marked were the social features, daily strengthened in the domestic atmosphere, with its at- tendant religious and benevolent admixture. The first male organizations, for protection, had expanded into a dozen military companies, with ornamental as well as useful aims,63 supplemented by the semi-heroic fire brigades, seventeen in number, including three hook- and-ladder companies,6+ and by several clubs, with ad- juncts for gymnastic, convivial, moral, and literary purposes.65 Fraternal societies had blossomed into numerous lodges, among Free Masons, Odd Fellows, and Temperance societies, and traders and professional

63 The First Cal. Guards Co., formed in July 1849, under Naglee out of the Hounds affair, was followed in succeeding years by others under the title of rifles, lancers, cadets, blues, fusiliers, mostly of 50 men each. The first battalion parade, on July 4, 1833, embraced six S. F. companies. Annals S. F., 454, 702, et seq.

6+ As outlined in the former S. F. chapter.

65 The Union and German were among representative social clubs. There were two gymnasiums, two elubs for vocal culture, one for chess. Among literary associations were two Hebrew, one German, one catholic, one for sea- men, besides the general Athenæum and Cal. academy of Sciences and the Mercantile Library and Mechanic's Institute. Patriotic motives bound many of them, although special ones existed, as in the New England society. Among religious associations were Cal. Bible Soc. of 1849, the S. F. Tract Soc., and the Y. Men's Christ. Assoc. There were several trade associations, including one for reporters and three medical. Sons of Temperance and the Grand Temple of Honor formed two abstinence societies, each with several lodges; the lodges of the Masons and Odd Fellows, 12 and 10 respectively.

784

ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.

unions were rapidly forming. Although benevolent associations had been started in 1849 by the male com- munity, they received their encouragement mainly with the growth of families. Women, indeed, figure as promoters of two Hebrew societies and one for sea- men, besides assisting several others, particularly the two catholic and protestant orphan asylums 6 and the four hospitals, among them the United States Marine, which formed one of the imposing features of the city. These and other objects had effective cooperation from members of the society of Pioneers, founders as they were of the state. Education received their early at- tention, and from the one small beginning in 1848-9 the public schools had increased to seventeen, some of pri- mary, others of grammar and intermediate order, one high school, also one evening school, with an attend- ance of nearly 3,400, for which the average monthly expenditure was over $12,000. There were also two superior girls' schools, a Jesuit school, and the San Francisco college.67 The thirty-two congregations of the city embraced eight protestant, six catholic, and two Hebrew bodies, besides a convent for the two sisters of Mercy. Some of them worshipped in halls, but most possessed special temples, the most imposing being the catholic cathedral.63

Notwithstanding the numerous churches, the inhabi- tants were by no means devout, as may readily be understood. The reckless and exuberant spirit of the

66 Both established in 1851. Among benevolent societies were four Hebrew, one Chinese, two Irish, one Swiss, one German, and one French, the two latter with good hospitals, and three for women alone. The sisters of Mercy super- vised the city and county hospital, and the government the U. S. marine hos- pital, the latter one of the great structures of the city, costing about a quarter of a million.

67 Which aspired to a university grade. Also two Hebrew schools and some minor private establishments, besides Sunday schools in connection with churches. The attendance and cost for 1855-6, as above, was far in ex- cess of the preceding and even following year, the latter on economic grounds. The 15 Sunday school claimed 1, 150 pupils.

66 Followed by the churches of the congregationalists and presbyterians. In point of number the methodists led, with 7 congregations, whereof 1 Ger- man and 2 colored; catholics 6, presbyterians 5, including 1 Welsh and 1 Chinese; baptists 4, episcopalians and congregationalists 3 each, German Lutherans, Unitarians, and Swedenborgians 1 each.

785

ELEMENTS OF CULTURE.

mining era was too deeply engraven, with its revelry of thought and conduct. The women set the religious example, partly from sedate habit, while social allure- ments aided them. They also elevated the tone of intercourse and pastime, shamed vice away into the by-ways, lessened dissipation, and placed gayety within limits. Official ordinances against prostitution, gam- bling, and other vices were chiefly due to their influence, and female patronage gave a higher attraction to the several theatres 63 and halls, which with dramas and reunions competed against lower resorts. Habit and excitement, sustained by climatic and other influences, continued, however, to uphold the drinking-saloons, so that their number was proportionately larger here than in any other city in the world. Costly interior decorations lent them additional attractions; 70 not to mention billiard-tables,71 and other appeals to the lurking mania for gambling; the tangible pretext in free lunches, which had become the fashion since 1850,72 and established themselves as one of the marked specimens of Californian liberality; and the mental refreshments presented in numerous files of journals. Newspapers appeared as a redeeming fea- ture over many a shady trait, and to extol both the enterprise and taste of the people by their large

69 The Adelphi opened in July 1851, on Dupont st between Clay and Washington sts, 40 ft front, 65 in depth, and 31 in height. The Metropoli- tan opened Dec. 24, 1853, on Montgomery st between Washington and Jackson, and took the leading rank for size and beauty. The Jenny Lind had been converted into the city hall; the American, on the corner of San- some and Halleck sts, with a seating capacity of nearly 2,000, declined into occasional use, like the Union on Commercial st, east of Kearny st, and the three halls, San Francisco on Washington st, and Musical and Turn Verein on Bush st. The Olympia, in Armory hall, had closed. Maguire was in 1856 preparing to build a new S. F. hall for minstrels, etc.

10 Many had bought mirrors, chandeliers, cornice-work, etc., at the early forced auctions, for a mere trifle, and later competitors for public favor had to imitate the display. Religious journals are no more reliable than other fiery champions of a cause, but the Christian Advocate asserts with some jus- tice that by actual count in May 1853 there were 527 places in S. F. where liquor was sold. Of these 83 were retail drinking-saloons, 52 were whole- sale stores, 144 were restaurants, 154 were groceries, 46 were gambling- houses, and 48 fancy and dance houses. See also Alta Cal., June 8, 1832; S. F. Herald, etc.

71 Also proportionately more numerous than elsewhere.

72 Instance St Amant's humorous experience in this respect. Voy., 108-11.

HIST. CAL., VOL. VI. 50

786.

ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.

number and excellence. There were in 1856 thirteen daily periodicals, and about as many weekly issues, in half a dozen languages.73

Thus lay transformed San Francisco, from an ex- panse of sand hills, from a tented encampment, to a city unapproached by any of similar age for size and for substantial and ornamental improvements; from a community of revelling adventurers to one of high average respectability and intelligence. A choice selection of manhood from all quarters of the globe was here congregated, with enterprise and ability both well and badly directed; but as devastating fires had weeded the architectural parts of the frail and un- seemly, so vigilance movements, assisted by gold rushes and filibuster schemes, had purified society of the worst criminal elements and political cormorants, and were now raising the city to a model for order and municipal administration. The inhabitants numbered about 50,- 000,74 with a proportionately smaller floating or tran- sient population than formerly, owing to the increase of permanent settlers in the state, and to the facilities and attractions of interior towns for supplying miners as well as farmers with goods and entertainment.75 The fluctuating settlement stood now the acknowl- edged metropolis of the west, after a brief struggle with threatening vicissitudes, while the tributary country had developed from a mining field with flit- ting camps, to an important state with a steady mining industry, and a fast-unfolding agricultural and manufacturing region, which promised to rival if not

73 Of which two were French, two German, one Spanish, one Italian, one Chinese. Several were religious and Sunday papers, including a Mor- mon issue; and Hutchings' was the monthly magazine of the day. A vast number had come and gone during the preceding years, as will be shown later. The Annals S. F., 493, of 1834, claimed 12 dailies and 10 other periodicals. 74 Calculations in the Directory for 1857-8 make it 60,000, including 4,000 floating. Alta Cal., of Nov. 3, 1855, claimed 'at least' 60,000; but Sac. Union, Aug. 29, 1855, reduces the figure somewhat jealously to 40,000.

13 The cheering winter influx, and the succeeding gloom left by the spring exodus, which during the first years made many despair of the city's future, were now hardly perceptible.

787

GRAND ACHIEVEMENTS.

eclipse the foremost sections of the union, And this phenomenal progress was the achievement of half a dozen years, surpassing the wildest of those specula- tions which had incited, first the entry of the pioneers, then annexation by the United States, and finally city-building, and the founding of an empire out of the manifold resources which one after another un- folded before the unexpectant eyes of the absorbed gold-seekers. A series of surprises marked the ad- vance of the state as well as of the city-the one a wilderness bursting into bloom, the other a mart of progress purified by many fiery ordeals.76

76 Early navigators, like Ayala, Morrell, Beechey, Wilkes, the whaling and trading ship captains; writers like Dana, Forbes, Greenhow, Simpson, Bry- ant, all united in pointing to S. F. as the metropolis of the prospective west- ern empire. So Webster and Bentou had prophesied, and for this many patient, persevering pioneers had expectantly toiled. Men there are who dreamed of an empire which from here should encompass Cathay, and meet the English on the confines of India. Annals S. F., 54-5. On the other side were disbelievers, a host of them, as shown by fluctuating values of S. F. estate, by the deprecating utterance of fortunate as well as disappointed sojourners who every month turned their back upon the state, for home or for other fields. Kane, in Miscel. Stat., MS., 11. The progress of the city is well illustrated by her several directories, of which eight appeared dur- ing the period of 1851-6, beginning in Sept. 1850 with the small 12° issue of 139 pp., by Chas P. Kimball, containing somewhat over 2,500 names, and a meagre appendage of general information. It is altogether a hasty and badly arranged publication, yet of sufficient interest from being the pioneer in the field, and from its array of city founders to warrant the reprinting which it received a few years ago. The next directory did not appear till Sept. 1852, when A. W. Morgan & Co. issued an Svo of 125 pp., wrongly called the first directory of the city. It contained few more names than the preceding, although better arranged, and with a fuller appendix of general- ities, including a business list. In the following month F. A. Bonnard pub- lished a 12mo business register. The first really excellent directory was issued in Dec. 1832 by J. M. Parker. It was an Svo of 114 register pp., with about 9,000 names, prefaced by an historic sketch and an admirable plan of the city, and followed. by a valuable appendix of general information and statistics. This covered 1851-3, and the next publication by Le Count & Strong was delayed till 1854. It contained 264 pp., and while not surpassing the preceding contained much general information. In Jan. 1856 Baggett & Co. issued the S. F. Business Directory in 222 pp., prepared by Larkin & Bel- den, wholly classified under business heads. In Oct. 1856 Harris, Bogardus, & Labatt appeared with a meagre directory of 138 pp., which was eclipsed by the simultaneous publication of Colville in 308 pp., containing about 12,000 names, with historic summary and a valuable appendix. A peculiar feature of the latter consisted of fine type notes throughout the register of names, with biographic and historic information concerning persons, societies, and notable buildings. The next issue was by Langley.

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History of California, Volume VI, Part 87

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