USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume I > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
The ignorance concerning the Bay of San Francisco among those who lived on its shores in the first years of the nineteenth century was of the densest. The maritime instinct was wholly lacking in the small community made up of the in- mates of the mission and the garrison of the presidio. Its members were appar- ently as unfamiliar with the surroundings of the inland body of water and the opportunities it presented of opening a vast expanse of territory by its superior facilities for communication as they were with the discoveries made after they had entered the country.
In November, 1826, when the British ship "Blossom" entered the harbor of San Francisco, its captain compared notes with the observations of Vancouver, who had been in the bay 33 years earlier. The only change observed by Captain Beechey was that everything presented an appearance of decay. The dilapidated condition of the fort particularly impressed him, but not more than the uncompro- mising ignorance of the missionaries, who still believed the lying account of Mal- donado, who professed to have sailed through the center of the continent, and who would not believe his statement that the Tahatian group of islands had been dis- covered, because they could not find them laid down on charts made in 1782.
Ignorance Concerning the Bay
Maritime Instinct Lacking
Few Changes ìn Thirty- three Years
121
122
SAN FRANCISCO
No wonder that Captain Beechey was moved to write that the Bay of San Fran- cisco was in the hands of people who made no use of it, and who were not merely ignorant of its value but were unwilling to learn. Alfred Robinson, who anchored in the cove three years later than Beechey's visit, was equally unfavorably im- pressed. He landed at North Point with a small party, purposing to make a visit to the mission. Horses were provided for them and they rode through a dense thicket, occasionally running across cayotes and seeing plenty of bear tracks. After a circuitous ride of several miles over a narrow trail through brush whose over- hanging branches endangered their heads, they reached Dolores, whose dark and tiled roofs they thought compared with "the black and cheerless scenery" sur- rounding the establishment.
Missionaries Make no Use of Bay
In the more than fifty years from the establishment of the mission this trail through underbrush, with its accompaniment of cayotes, howling wolves and bear tracks was all that had been accomplished in the way of providing facilities for communication with the port or cove. It is possible that the missionaries knew the latitude and longitude of the entrance to the bay, but there was absolutely no use of the knowledge made by them or those who accepted their direction spiritually and otherwise. Up to 1842, as already noted, several foreign war ships had en- tered the bay, and they all apparently did something in the way of surveying. The "Blossom," commanded by Beechey, went about the work with some system, and the rock, which was in later years removed by the United States government be- cause it had become an obstacle to navigation, was named after that vessel.
American War Vessels Enter Port
In 1841 two American war vessels, the "San Luis," and the "Vincennes," en- tered the harbor and made surveys, and in the year following the "Yorktown," "Cyane" and the "Dale" did a little in the same line. French war ships, the frigate "Artemesia" in 1827 and the "Brilliante" in 1842, anchored in the bay and the observations of their officers added something to the common knowledge, but we have no information of any serious effort by the Spanish or the Mexicans to en- lighten the world concerning the harbor which they did not use themselves, and were unwilling to have others make use of even though benefit might accrue to them by stimulating its use.
Vessels in the Bay in 1847
In 1847 there were six square rigged vessels in the harbor, the names of which have been preserved for us by the annalist. They were the U. S. ship "Cyane," the ships "Moscow," "Vandalia," "Barnstable," "Thomas H. Perkins" and the brig "Euphemia." They enjoyed the benefits of the more precise surveys of the "Wilkes," made on the eve of the occupation, but had not yet learned to make use of the name "Golden Gate," which was applied to the entrance by John C. Fre- mont a year later. On his map of California and Oregon, published in 1848, he used the Greek word Chrysopylae. The title was not suggested to Fremont by the discovery of gold, but as he explains in a geographical memoir, published at the same time the map appeared, it was inspired by reasons similar to those which gave to the entrance to the harbor of Byzantium, now Constantinople, the appellation Chrysoceros or Golden Horn.
Appositeness of Name "Golden Gate"
The closely concurring discovery of gold gave to the name bestowed by Fre- mont a double significance, but the luster of the first conception has not been dimin- ished by time or circumstance. As the years roll on the appositeness of the title is more clearly recognized, and in the fullness of time San Francisco's portal open-
Bay Sur- rounded by a Howling Wilderness
123
SAN FRANCISCO
ing out upon the ocean destined to become the greatest highway of commerce will attain to a fame surpassing that of antiquity's most celebrated port.
It is fortunate that Fremont deemed it wise to explain his reason for the be- stowal of the name so happily appropriate. Had he not done so another fruitful subject of discussion would have been opened, and, as in the case of "California," there would have been endless speculation and innumerable attempts to solve an unsolvable riddle. After a century of more or less brilliant guessing and patient research the world is still in doubt respecting the origin of the word California. The once easily accepted explanation that it was taken from a work of fiction has been dismissed, and it is now attributed to the borrowing propensity of the Spanish adventurers, who were not indisposed to retain phrases of a descriptive character derived from Indians. Thus we are told that the Indians of Lower California were accustomed to designating a high hill or sandy coast as "Kali forno." Alvar- ado, Vallejo and other native Californians leaned to this view, and Bancroft asserts that an old Indian of Sinaloa called the peninsula, in 1878, Tchal ifalni-al-the sandy land beyond the water. The supporters of the theory that the name was derived from Calida fornax (hot furnace) point to the method of classification of the Mexican regions, into tierra fria, tierra templada and tierra caliente, and a writer in the "Chronicle," in an extended examination of all the claims, concluded that Cal y forno was a name given by Indians who recognized in the white hills of the lower part of the state a resemblance to lime kilns which he had seen.
There is some point to the inquiry instituted by Shakespeare concerning the importance of a name, but while we may agree with him that "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," it is reasonably certain that "Hot furnace" would not be regarded as aptly descriptive when applied to California. The designation may have suited the Colorado desert, but it would have been rejected as inappli- cable to the other parts of the province. Certainly those Spanish navigators who later became familiar with the region about the Bay of San Francisco, would not have persisted in the use of so obvious a misnomer, unless perhaps they were of the same mind as one of the governors of the Mexican period, who did not hesitate to stigmatize California as too poor a place to attract decent people and a little too good for convicts.
There was something loose about the method of naming places adopted by the Spaniards who settled California. The padres were very careful to register the baptisms of the neophytes, and always gave them a Christian name, but the sol- diers, it would seem, when the duty devolved upon them of picking out a designation for a site, sometimes became fanciful, and abandoned the sentimental habit of translating an old world name to the new, or the equally convenient one of select- ing that of a saint from the calendar, and sought to commemorate an event by an apt word or phrase. According to Palou, Mission bay came by its name in that manner; but the critics assert that Las Dolores was more probably bestowed by the padres to honor "the mother of Sorrows," than to commemorate the discovery by Aguirre of three Indians weeping on its shores.
California nomenclature has been the subject of much discussion and not a little adverse criticism, but the fact that there was no disposition to substitute common- place names for those already bestowed has not been much dwelt upon. The "Red Dogs," "Hangtowns," "Sandy Bars," "Yuba Dams" and like titles have been cited as instances of lack of fancy, but the retention of the Spanish appellations
Origin of Name of California
Something in a Name
Little Care Exercised in Naming Places
California Nomencla- ture
124
SAN FRANCISCO
indicates a keep appreciation on the part of the argonauts of mellifluous titles. The accounts unite in the assertion that much trouble was experienced in dealing with the names of individuals and of towns, but the struggle proved successful and only in rare instances was there an attempt made to translate; hence the retention of designations which still worry the visitor from the East, but present no difficul- ties to Californians.
But while the first comers were ready to incorporate Spanish words, and took kindly to Yerba Buena, Dolores, Sacramento and San Francisco, and were even prepared to wrestle with Moquelumne and other words of Indian origin, they would not accept the scholarly imposition of Chrysopylae of Fremont, but insisted on converting it into English so that it might be understood by that part of mankind with which they were identified, and which they felt was most interested in their fortunes. It is not probable that the matter was given much thought in the hurly burly of the first years of the gold rush, but the promptness with which "Golden Gate" was accepted and transferred to maps, following that made by "The Path- finder" exhibits a lively appreciation of the value of a significant title.
If names did not occupy a very large share of the early public mind there is evidence that the things and places they designated or described were carefully considered. Chrysopylae, in the first years after the occupation, may have been little discussed even by those who lay much stress on origins, but the entrance to the harbor was a matter of profound concern, and there was an earnest effort made to let all mankind know that the gate was one through which the commerce of the world might ebb and flow without hindrance. The very earliest descriptions indi- cate that not long after the occupation the facts concerning the portal and its approaches and the bay itself were as well known as they are today.
An account of the ease with which entrance to the harbor is effected, published when San Francisco occupied the center of the stage, describes it as perfectly as the latest chart. Speaking of the ports to the north and south, Columbia river and San Diego, the writer said: "The available depth on the San Francisco bar is considerably more than is found at either of the ports named, being fully five fath- oms at the lowest stage of the tide over much the greater length of the bar, which, measured along the crest of its crescent from shore to shore, is fifteen miles. Over about four miles of this distance the depth is a little more than four fathoms, leav- ing eleven miles over which it is not less than five fathoms. Inside of the four fathom bank and lying close under the north head, known as Point Bonita, there is a channel half a mile wide, through which more than seven fathoms can be car- ried at the lowest stage of tide, the rise of which varies from three to seven feet, giving an additional depth at periods of high water."
Survey of the Golden Gate
Later surveys describe the Golden Gate as being nearly three miles in length, nearly a mile wide in its narrowest part, and having a maximum depth of 360 feet. The shores of the gate are bold and rocky. The North or Bonita channel is a third of a mile wide, according to these measurements and has a depth of 54 feet. When the first description was written it was not considered necessary to explain that ships would have no difficulty in entering the harbor, but a commis- sion which had under consideration methods of improvement of the harbor, in 1907 deemed it expedient to explain that "no matter how great the draft of the ship of the future it will always be able to enter the port of San Francisco with safety."
A Greek Word "Englished"
Entrance to the Harbor
Early Ac- counts of the Bay
SAN FRANCISCO IN 1851
....
YERBA BUENA COVE IN 1851
125
SAN FRANCISCO
San Francisco bay, with its northern extension, San Pablo bay, has an area of 420 square miles. The shore line of the main body of water, excluding its numer- ous navigable inlets, measures 100 miles in length. This body of water, presenting such remarkable facilities for commercial purposes, has since its discovery occu- pied the minds of physiographists, who are nearly agreed that its entrance was orig- inally tlie outlet for the combined waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and that some time in the remote past there was a subsidence of their beds, with the result that the waters of the sea were admitted through the Golden Gate, thus forming San Francisco bay. It is asserted that the Indians had a tradition of a great cataclysm that accounted for the creation of the bay, but the story may be set down as one of the cases in which the framer of an ingenious theory seeks to obtain support by dubious methods for a view which is plausible in itself.
The uses to which the Bay of San Francisco may be put at some future day will be described later, when the period in which harbor improvement became a dominating consideration is under review. Here the conditions existing on the eve of the gold rush will be chiefly dealt with so that the progress of development may be followed. In 1848, and the years immediately following, the question of port facilities was a burning one, but it assumed a different form from that which it presents at present, and it may be said that the unwisdom shown in dealing with it was responsible for many of the problems which later brought so much vexation.
The appearance of the shores of San Francisco bay has been changed in some particulars by the hand of man, but his artificial additions have not greatly al- tered the general aspect. If Portola, Beechey, Robinson, Dana and others who have left descriptions were to return they would find more that was familiar than strange to them. They would miss the solitary group of tall redwoods on the summit of the mountains on the northern side of the Golden Gate, which the writer of the "Annals" tells us made a striking land mark for the mariner at sea; and Dana would be unable to find any traces of the herds of red deer which he saw "under a high and beautifully sloping hill" near the mouth of the bay, and Beechey would hunt in vain for the dense growth of wood which he had to pass through to reach the mission when he landed at North Point. But the main features which impelled Dana to remark in his "Two Years Before the Mast": "If California ever becomes a prosperous country this bay will be the center of its prosperity," still exist. The bay still affords "the best anchoring grounds in the whole coast of America," and the region about it retains the climate which he said "is as near being perfect as any in the world."
The modern facilities for the speedy docking of vessels have caused navigators to think less of good anchorage grounds, but when Dana wrote they were uppermost in the sailor's mind when he thought of harbors. Dana visited the bay in 1835. Thirteen years later the enterprising Americans, who were determined on removing the "if" which the author interposed when talking of the future of California, be- gan to revolutionize the ancient trend of thought by resolving to dispense with anchorage except as a temporary expedient. The revolution and the way it has worked out helped make a great deal of the history of San Francisco in the first few years of occupation, some of it very unsavory, but all of it interesting and sig- nificant.
Area of Bay of San Francisco
Conditions on Eve of Gold Rush
Appearance of Shores of the Bay
Good Anchorage Grounds
126
SAN FRANCISCO
The cove so frequently mentioned in the descriptions of those who left their impressions of the San Francisco before the occupation was early doomed to oblit- eration. In 1847 the work of filling in began and it was continued until the place which had once been the snug harbor of all the craft visiting the port was converted into something that might be likened to an untidy Venice. The nearby sand hills formed the chief part of the material used in converting what was water into land, but the rubbish of the growing town was freely employed for the same purpose. These operations, which were begun before the influx of gold hunters commenced were pushed with vigor as soon as funds and labor were available for the purpose.
Filling of the Cove a Mistake
The primary object of filling in the cove was to get as near to deep water as possible, but the sand dunes and steep hills in the rear had their influence in deter- mining the pioneers of San Francisco to make for themselves an artificial water front. It was believed in 1848, and for some years afterward, that the nature of the land surrounding the semicircular beach enclosing the cove would prevent the town extending westward and the desire for concentration suggested the accom- plishment of a double stroke, that of creating more room for building purposes on a level, and the facilitation of the unloading and loading of ships by providing berths for them in which they might lie securely while the process was in progress.
There was also another object to be served and that was perhaps more influential in hastening results than the immediate necessity of providing wharves. The spec- ulator had a great deal to do with the shaping of affairs in the port of San Fran- cisco. His prescience was responsible for much of the activity before which the semicircular beach of the cove disappeared to allow its place to be taken by a straight line of buildings extending across what had once been the anchoring ground of deep sea ships. The locality may yet be recognized by surviving land marks, describing its boundaries, some of which, however, are being removed, and others are destined to share that fate. The writer of the "Annals of San Francisco" men- tions one hill which it would be difficult to identify, probably because it was lev- eled, and Rincon hill, another point which he felt sure would always be recognized, is now on the eve of demolition. Telegraph hill alone seems destined to endure, because it has been made an object of sentimental consideration, and even it may have to go when the demands of commerce become more urgent.
Slight Changes in Contour of Bay
The changes necessitated by the growth of San Francisco are the only ones which have seriously altered the appearance of the hundred miles or so of the shore line of the bay. The numerous other towns surrounding it have made but slight alterations in its contour, although they furnish abundant evidence of human activity which would certainly astonish any surviving pessimist of the ante occupa- tion period, and would perhaps fill with surprise the optimists, who predicted the great future of the harbor. The inhabitants of Yerba Buena, who in 1847 saw what they called "the steamboat" making an experimental trip about the harbor, could not have imagined the possibility of the bay being navigated by so many vessels propelled by what was then a comparatively strange force, that it would be neces- sary to establish fairways and to resort to the strictest sort of regulation in order to guard against accident.
First Steam Vessel on the Bay
The vessel referred to as "the steamboat" was brought from Sitka in the year named. It never proved a success and its fate is a matter involved in doubt. The writer of the "Annals" declares that the launch, for it was really nothing more, perished in a norther in 1848, but more recent researches indicate that after making
The Cove of Yerba Buena
Speculation and the Water Front
127
SAN FRANCISCO
a trip up the Sacramento river, in which it was outdistanced by an ox team, which left San Francisco after its departure, the engines of the steamboat were taken out and put to what was deemed a better use, and the hull was converted into a sloop.
The steamboat was by no means the first vessel on the Pacific to be propelled by steam. In 1840 two steamships were brought out from England and plied be- tween South American ports and Europe. The fact is interesting because it calls attention to the advances made by some of the countries on the west coast of South America, while Mexico and its great territory of California were at a standstill. That the first steam craft on San Francisco bay came from Alaska also suggests a degree of energy in the North difficult to reconcile with the subsequent policy of Russia in dealing with its possessions on the American continent.
As shown in a previous chapter the resources of the region comprising Alta California and the territory above it, since occupied by the United States and Great Britain, were apparently better comprehended by the Russians than any other peo- ple, and they made more use of the part of North America controlled by them in some respects, during the time they were in possession of Alaska, than the United States did until after the gold discoveries in the Klondyke. We are accustomed to thinking of that event as the practical starting point in the industrial history of Alaska, but long before the rush from the United States to the Dominion province, and the subsequent development of the American territory, the Russians were ener- getically engaged in prosecuting various industries in Sitka, and were hopeful of becoming the source of supply of manufactured articles for the Californians.
The Russians operating in Alaska continued prosperous down to 1821. In that year the Russian American Company declared good round dividends. Some impres- sion of its enterprise may be gained from the statement that it sought to establish a market for Alaskan coal in San Francisco. Several hundred thousand dollars were expended in attempting to accomplish that object but the enterprise proved a failure because of the poor steaming qualities of the coal. The people engaged in this undertaking derived some profit from shipping ice to the rising town, but the business could not be successfully carried on after it was found impossible to create a market for Alaskan coal in California. The various activities of the Russians on the coast necessitated a considerable fleet. At one period there were 500 per- sons in the employ of the Russian American Company, who were served by a num- ber of brigs and a regular line of supply ships between St. Petersburg and the American colonies was maintained.
It was in the shipyards at Sitka, called into existence primarily for repairing purposes, that various auxiliary manufacturing establishments were created which continued to produce numerous articles in great demand by the Californians, and a profitable trade in these was carried on down to the time of the American occupa- tion. When the discovery of gold was made at Sutter's fort many cargoes of shop worn and hitherto almost unsaleable goods were shipped to San Francisco and found ready purchasers, who paid big prices for them. These transactions, how- ever, appeared to have ended the profitable connection of the Russians in Alaska with California. On the 18th of October, 1867, the territory, in pursuance of a treaty of purchase arranged by Secretary of State William H. Seward, passed into the possession of the United States, and from that time forward it began to be an important factor in the commerce of the port of San Francisco, as will be related in the proper connection.
Steam Vessels in South Pacific
Russian Comprehen- sion of Value of California
Russians in Alaska
Sitka Ship Yards
128
SAN FRANCISCO
The official reports inform us that the tonnage of ocean arrivals in the port of San Francisco in the year 1848 aggregated 50,000 tons, of which 1,000 only were steam. The foreign tonnage was 23,000 and the domestic 27,000, the latter in- cluding the 1,000 steam tonnage. A better idea of the shipping industry at this period and in the years following is derived from the statement in the "Annals," that in the first half of 1849 there were two hundred square rigged vessels in the har- bor at one time, and that before the close of the year between three and four hun- dred were in port, many of them unable to leave on account of the desertion of the sailors, and not infrequently of the officers.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.