USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume I > Part 21
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Instances of "Jerry" Building
The fact that architects found good mechanics at hand did not entirely save investing owners from loss through inferior construction. The haste with which work was done under the pressure of urgent demand resulted in some "jerry" building. On the 12th of April, 1854, a portion of the United States bonded ware- house fell, and it was only one of a number of similar accidents, due to the use of inferior materials and to the frail character of apparently solid walls. The settling of walls began to be a common affair, and for a while militated against the con- struction of solid buildings on the made ground in the cove. The uncertaintics concerning the water front also played their part in arresting progress in the busi- ness section, but it was by no means wholly checked, for the year was marked by the erection of some lofty buildings, notable among them being that of Samuel Brannan, known as "The Express," which was put up at a cost of $180,000, ex- clusive of the value of the land, which was appraised at $100,000. It was situated on the northeast corner of California and Montgomery streets, directly opposite the Parrott building, and the lower part was occupied by Wells Fargo & Co.'s express and by a real estate agency and brokerage.
The City at the Close of 1853
At the close of 1853 there were 626 brick or stone buildings, 154 of them three stories high; 350 of two stories and 83 of one story. In addition to these there were 38 exceeding three stories, 1 of six, 34 of four and 3 of five stories. Fully half of these were built in 1853. The section in favor for residential purposes at this time was north and west of the business district. The majority of these dwell- ings were frame, but occasionally preference was given to brick. While on the other hand, in what might be termed the hotel and business district, there were few departures from the strict rule of solidity. Any deviation from the determination to avoid the mistakes of the past was checked by the destruction of the Rosette house, a five story frame structure on the corner of Bush and Sansome streets, the burning of which would have caused another conflagration, as a high wind was blowing at the time, had not the neighboring houses been built of brick.
Appearance of City in 1854
Speaking of the appearance of the City in 1854 the writer of the "Annals" said: "Over all the space, some eight or nine square miles in extent, on the heights and in the hollows are spread a variety of detached buildings, built partly of stone and brick, though principally of wood. The heart and strength and wealth of the City," he added, "is contained within the little level space lying between the hills or
Mission Architecture Not Favored
PICTURE OF SAN FRANCISCO, DRAWN AFTER NATURE, 1852, SHOWING THE WATERS OF THE BAY REACHING NEARLY TO MONTGOMERY STREET
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rising grounds (back of what was Yerba Buena cove) and the narrow waters of what remained of that harbor." The nominal limits of San Francisco, as actually surveyed and mapped out, extended from the west side of North Beach to the side of Mission creek, a distance of nearly four miles, and from Rincon Point to the mission church, a distance exceeding three miles.
Already in 1854 the idea that the hills immediately back of the cove would offer an insuperable obstacle to the growth of the City in a westerly direction was being abandoned. Although the town was building along the line of least resist- ance there were numerous persons with a predilection for sea or water views, who chose the side hills for sites, but the movement was by no means general and there were many who still believed that the future city would be on the level expanse to the south, which would require very little preparation or clearing to convert it into excellent building sites.
Much hard work had to be done to bring the City to the condition it had at- tained in 1854 and it was attended with exciting events of various kinds, not least among which were the struggles growing out of the desire to get hold of the desir- able lands under the control of the local authorities. The methods of the grabbers have rarely been matched in any country, and the public, which hears much about modern "grafting" tendencies will not be apt to maintain that we are worse than our predecessors after reading about them. It is an unsavory story, but the truth of history demands that it be told without reservation, even though the telling may raise a doubt concerning the strict accuracy of writers who, in extolling the merits of the argonauts, have manifested a tendency to gloss over their delinquencies.
But the struggle for land, despite its fierceness, cannot obscure the fact that the men who grabbed, and those who obtained it in a manner only remotely sug- gesting irregularity, accomplished results which might not have been achieved in a century by the people acting in their collective capacity. Private ownership, when the title is acquired by dubious means, is not an admirable thing to contem- plate, but it has this to say for it, that the unregenerate grabber is apt to put it to better, or at least more prompt use than a community holding land in common. Much of what is now the most valuable real estate in San Francisco was acquired by methods which reflected discredit on the persons obtaining it, but it would be idle to conceal that it was owing to the energy of this acquisitive class that the growth of San Francisco was enormously stimulated, and that they caused it to become a real city almost before its inhabitants realized that they had emerged from the village state.
The Hills Back of the City
Grabbing the City Lands
Enterprise of the Grabbers
Vol. 1-10
CHAPTER XX
LAND TITLES AND TROUBLES OF PIONEER DAYS
BIG DEMAND FOR TOWN LOTS-WATER FRONT LOTS EAGERLY BOUGHT-ATTEMPT TO VALIDATE FRAUDULENT LAND GRANTS-COLTON GRANTS DECLARED FRAUDULENT -TROUBLESOME SQUATTERS-FEDERAL DETERMINATION OF TITLES-CONFUSION CONCERNING PUEBLOS-AMERICAN ALCALDES IMITATE THEIR PREDECESSORS-OF- FICIALS CONNIVE WITH SPECULATORS-THE SQUATTERS' ARGUMENT-SQUATTING AS AN OCCUPATION-THE CITY AND THE INTERIOR SQUATTER-TITLES IN DOUBT MANY YEARS-JURIES SIDE WITH SQUATTERS-SAN FRANCISCO A PUEBLO-THE LIMAN- TOUR CLAIM-THE LAND COMMISSION-POLITICAL CONDITIONS-NEGLECT OF CIVIC DUTY IN SAN FRANCISCO.
The Demand for Town Lots
HE plain bordering on Yerba Buena cove was surveyed in 1839 but, as already related, there was little effort made OF to secure the lots within the boundaries of the survey. These latter were not very extensive, embracing only the S blocks between Pacific on the north, Sacramento on the OF SAN FE south, Dupont on the west and Montgomery on the east, the latter at that date being the shore line of the cove. This neglect was amply offset by the eagerness displayed as soon as American rule was established. General Kearny, in compliance with an active demand made by newcomers anxious to provide commercial facilities ordered a sale of lots be- tween Fort Montgomery and the Rincon, which was carried into effect.
This was in March, 1847. In June of the following year the Alcalde Bryant, in pursuance of this order of the military governor, directed another sale, the an- nounced terms of which were one fourth cash, one fourth six months, one fourth twelve months and the balance in eighteen months, with interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum. By this time the gold hunger had taken hold of the people and the alcalde found it necessary to stimulate interest in the sale by proclaiming the merits of the site and making a few predictions. He reminded the people that "the site of the town was known to all navigators and mercantile men acquainted with the subject to be the most commanding commercial position on the Pacific ocean," and he declared that "the town itself is no doubt destined to become the commercial emporium of the western side of the American continent."
This bit of promotion literature was issued on March 16, 1848, and the date of sale was fixed for June 29th, but a postponement became necessary and it did not take place until July 20th, when it was conducted under the auspices of Alcalde Hyde, lasting three days. The lots sold were all between high and low water mark, and four-fifths of them were covered with water. The right, title
Sale of Town Lots
Promotion Literature
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and interest of the government in this property had been conveyed by General Kearny to San Francisco, and although the validity of his action was early called into question, the officials of the municipality did not hesitate to act on the authority granted, and long before the question was finally determined a large part of the lands had been disposed of to meet the financial requirements of the city.
The Span- ish Vara
Under the original decree of March 10, 1847, a portion of the property had been laid out in lots of 45 feet 10 inches frontage, and 1371/2 feet in depth. These irregular sizes were due to the conservatism which caused the acceptance of the Spanish vara of 33 1/3 inches as the unit of measurement, a practice which is still maintained in the older sections of the City, and occasionally causes surprise to the stranger unaware of the circumstances responsible for the apparent oddity. There were 444 lots in the first batch of land sold, and they went at prices ranging from fifty to one hundred dollars each. Deeds were given to the purchasers by George Hyde, alcalde and chief magistrate. In the latter part of 1849 there was another survey of beach and water-front property, which was divided into 328 lots of the same size as those sold in the previous year, and the greater part of these was disposed of on January 3, 1850, at public auction by the Alcalde John W. Geary, who executed the deeds for them on behalf of the City.
Water Front Lot Titles
The purchasers of these water front lots were apparently undisturbed by the question raised concerning Kearny's authority to make the grant. Their confidence that the sales would be held valid was justified by the subsequent action of courts and the legislature of California. It had been the settled law of the United States that land situated as was that disposed of under the Kearny grant belonged to the sovereign power by virtue of its sovereignty, and as California when admitted to the Union became a sovereign state, the ownership of the water-front lands, not otherwise legally disposed of, passed from the United States to the state as an at- tribute of its sovereignty. In view of these facts, and assuming that those who had purchased the water front lots at the public auctions in good faith, the legisla- ture of the state, on March 26, 1851, passed an act which granted the use and occupation of the lands in question to the City of San Francisco for ninety-nine years, providing, however, that "all lots sold in accordance with the terms of Kearny's grant, and all lots sold or granted by any alcalde and confirmed by the ayuntamiento should be granted and relinquished to the purchaser for a term of ninety-nine years."
This action of the legislature, while it settled the question so far as the water- front lots were concerned, was productive of trouble in another direction, as it apparently encouraged the effort made to secure confirmation for titles about which there was no pretense of legality or good faith on the part of the purchasers who held them. In May, 1851, the legislature passed an act relinquishing the right of the state to the City conditional upon the latter confirming the grants of all lots within certain specified limits originally established by justices of the peace. This would have covered the Colton grants, about the fraudulent character of which there was not the slightest doubt. Colton was appointed to assist in the adminis- tration of justice during the time when Horace Hawes was acting as prefect. He abused his position by making grants to anyone applying for them of lots at $100 a piece, which were easily worth five times that amount when the grants were made. He was a bold swindler, who did not hesitate to appropriate every dollar he re-
Legislature Confirms Titles
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ceived to his personal use, promptly shipping it to the Atlantic states, to which he fled to enjoy his ill gotten wealth.
The ayuntamiento caused legal proceedings to be adopted against Colton and on December 24, 1849, declared all the grants made by him were void because they were unauthorized. Some fifty-three beach and water-front lots were sold by Colton, and the purchasers although the affair was obviously a job, and not a dol- lar had accrued to the treasury from the transaction, had the effrontery to appeal to the common council four years later to have their fraudulent purchases confirmed. They succeeded in having an ordinance passed by the council accepting the condi- tions of the legislative act of May, 1851, but the mayor, Stephen R. Harris, inter- posed his veto. The statute was subsequently repealed on the 12th of March, 1853, the jobbers failing to induce the City to accept its conditions.
The uncertainties produced by these and other irregularities greatly stimulated a propensity which began to exhibit itself very shortly after the occupation. The right of Hawes to authorize the sale of lands was not merely contested by the court, which issued an injunction to restrain Colton, but there were many in the community who planted themselves on the proposition that no one had any right to sell because, as they claimed, they belonged to anyone who chose to take posses- sion of them. Before Colton began selling a number of persons had squatted upon the land of the Rincon, which was held as a government reserve and was leased to Theodore Shillaber. When Shillaber attempted to make use of the property he found it occupied by several men, chiefly from Sydney, who refused to abandon the land. He was enabled to take possession by the aid of a party of U. S. soldiers under the command of Captain Keyes, who was afterward sued by one of the ejected squatters but was sustained in his course.
The uncertainty respecting titles was increased by the known attitude of Mason who, while disposed to recognize the practice of alcaldes to sell lots within the limits of their towns, because it was the custom of the country before occupation, held to the opinion that all grants made by such officials should have the confirma- tion of the federal government when it became the owner of the soil by treaty. In his view the alcaldes were not authorities of the United States, but merely of the military government of California, and as such subject to removal by the military governor. His position was recognized as sound, and the government later took steps to secure all the information possible respecting the earlier grants. Captain Henry N. Halleck was directed by the secretary of state to collect and examine all of the archives of the old government of California. He was very successful in this work and the documents secured by him were the chief reliance of the com- mission, which was subsequently appointed to determine the merits of the many claims put forward by real or fraudulent grantees.
The necessity of this precaution will be realized when the confusion attending the status of the lands later embraced in the city limits is studied. As already related there were originally two settlements, which were afterward practically merged when the City expanded. These were the mission and the presidio. The former, by the operation of the Mexican secularization laws, had in 1834 become an Indian pueblo and was known as Pueblo Dolores. According to the plan as originally devised Dolores should have had a regular ayuntamiento, but the terri- torial body known as the deputation ordered the establishment of the ayuntamiento at the presidio, of which Francisco de Haro was the alcalde or first magistrate.
Fraudulent Colton Grants
Squatter Troubles
Views of Mason
Status of Public Lande
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The deputation, while failing to accord an ayuntamiento to the Indian pueblo, recognized its existence in various ways, among these recognitions accorded to the ayuntamiento being the right to grant building lots, provided they were not within two hundred varas of the beach. Immediately after the exercise of this right by the presidial authority a grant was made by the deputation of the rancho Laguna de la Merced, in which it was recited that the grant should not prejudice the com- mon lands of the Pueblo de Dolores.
Out of this mixed state of affairs grew uncertainties which were eagerly seized upon by the unscrupulous. Up to July, 1846, nearly eighty grants had been made by alcaldes or justices of the peace for hundred vara and fifty vara lots, many of which were subsequently held to be invalid because they were granted on the sup- position that Dolores was a pueblo. In addition to these grants there were others made by the governor or prefect, within what was subsequently the territory of San Francisco, which in no wise recognized the pueblo and without reference to its existence. Among these were the Laguna de la Merced, of about half a square league, one of four hundred varas square in the level ground northwest of the Mis- sion Dolores made in 1836 to Francisca Guerrero, one of a hundred varas square near the presidio to Appolinaris Miranda in 1838, a hundred vara lot in Yerba Buena to Salvador Vallejo and Jacob P. Leese in 1839, one to Cornelio Bernal of about a square league on the bay shore, including Hunter's Point, made in the same year, one of the depression southeast of the Mission Dolores, known as the Willows, to Jose Jesus Noe in 1840, another of two square leagues in extent south of the Bernal rancho to Jacob Leese in 1841, and another to Noe of the rancho San Miguel in 1845.
These liberal disposals were freely imitated by the American alcaldes, who, in pursuance of the idea of adhering to the customs of the country until a new sys- tem of government was provided, not only assumed the title of their predecessors under Mexican rule but exercised their functions and were not slow to avail them- selves of every precedent which they could make fit in with their desires or for- ward the interests of the new settlers. The sale of town lots by auction was a novelty, but apart from the method of disposal there was little difference between the system of conveyance after the occupation and that in vogue under Mexican law. The American alcaldes followed the course of their predecessors and did not ask for confirmation of their grants, until the adoption of the resolution of the ayuntamiento in August, 1849, which prohibited alcaldes selling without the special order of that body.
It is doubtful whether this restraint would have been imposed had not the growing demands for money forced the authorities to cast about for sources of revenue. There does not appear to have been any concern for the conservation of the land for future municipal uses, for the council showed a great eagerness to get rid of all the property under their control. There was something like an exhibition of desire to prevent monopolization but it was only a temporary manifestation. There had been in existence a regulation prohibiting a purchaser from obtaining and holding more than a single fifty or hundred vara lot, but the first town council elected September 13, 1847, removed all restrictions upon the sale of lots, thus throwing open wide the door for speculators who were not slow to accept the invitation.
No Effort to Save Land for Municipal Use
Confusion Concerning Pueblos
Liberality of Mexicans Imitaled
TWO VIEWS OF SAN FRANCISCO HARBOR, DURING THE GOLD CRAZE, SHOWING THE DESERTED SHIPS
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Before March, 1848, all the choice lots, or those so regarded at the time, had been snapped up by the astute buyers, who were assisted by complaisant or conniv- ing authorities to get them on their own terms. Once in the possession of private owners the lots in desirable locations speedily rose in value, but their appreciation did not seem to stimulate the price of the property still remaining to be sold, as was displayed by the fact that at a sale of fifty-two lots in the month mentioned the prices paid for them only ranged between $16 and $50 a lot, averaging about $25.
It is not surprising that the looseness attending the disposal of the lands subse- quently embraced within the limits of the City, both before and after the occupa- tion, should have added to the already existing sentiment that non occupants had no just claim upon the soil. The method of the general government in disposing of its property, and the opinions expressed by Mason and others, encouraged the belief that the theory of first come first served would be adhered to, and that the squatter who took up a piece of land and planted himself upon it in the City would be as much entitled to hold it as the locater on farm lands. This feeling was re- sponsible for the freedom of action afterward extended to gold seekers, not, how- ever, without some fruitless opposition interposed by the military authorities.
But the conservatism of the period was too pronounced to permit the successful prevalence of loose notions of rights in landed property. The current of opinion ran in one direction in the middle of the nineteenth century. The desirability of settling up the country was generally recognized, but it was felt that vested rights must be respected, and that the fabric of society would be endangered if the title to land was not secure. There were no refinements indulged in by those who ad- hered to the sacredness of the vested rights idea. They were newcomers in a prac- tically new country and for that reason refused to cumber their theory with time limitations. They could not show title extending back through a long period, and therefore rested their claims upon the deeds which they had secured, and de- nounced as land thieves those who sought to deprive them of what they considered as their property.
They denied the right of squatters to go behind the returns and assume the functions of a court, and the result was considerable bloodshed. The beginning of the trouble in San Francisco, as already related, was the attempted seizure of a reservation made by the government, which had been leased to a man named Theodore Shillaber.
The practice thus inaugurated in 1850 was subsequently elaborated into a reg- ular system. Men not only engaged in squatting for themselves, but there were plenty who were quite ready to engage in the business for those willing to employ and pay them. Except in the built up parts of the city for many years squatting was a common method of acquiring and holding land. It was no unusual circum- stance for rough characters to hire themselves out to hold possession of a piece of property, and the same men were equally ready for pay to assist in dispossess- ing for a claimant squatters who had entered on their land.
The evil was by no means confined to San Francisco. It extended throughout the state and assumed a political aspect. An organization was formed to promote the movement, which had for its underlying theory the belief that the land of Cali- fornia belonged to the people. The squatters contributed to a fund designed to protect them in what they conceived to be their rights, and there was much bad blood and a readiness to contest for possession with arms. One prominent leader
Authorities Connive with Speculators
Looseness of Methods
Respect for Vested Rights
Arguments of the Squatters
Squatting an Occupa- tion
An Evil General Throughout the State
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of the squatters in the course of a debate growing out of an alleged misuse of the funds collected, said openly that he would rather fight than palaver or collect sub- scriptions. "If the speculators wish to fight," he said, "I am for giving them battle. Let us put up all the fences pulled down," he added, "and also put up all the men who pulled them down."
There was far more warrant for the attitude assumed by the interior squatters than for that taken by those who sought to get possession of the land within what were known as the pueblo limits of San Francisco. It was justly suspected that grants had been made to such an extent that the whole country would be absorbed by the wily schemers, who were obtaining them from the original grantees, and in many instances concocting claims absolutely fraudulent, as was later disclosed by the researches of the commission which investigated the subject. The differences of opinion respecting the pueblo of San Francisco hardly warranted grabbing, for in any event it had been the recognized practice to pass title to the lands in some authoritative manner, and in no case was mere entry regarded as a warrant for possession. The argument put forward by the squatters, that the grants were invalid and that, therefore, they were open to anyone who chose to enter upon them, was not of the sort calculated to appeal to people who had views respecting the regularity of proceedings, and who were disposed to relegate the settlement of vexed questions of title to the courts, and the outcome was necessarily a triumph for what might, with more propriety, be termed law and order than some later performances which were carried on under the aegis of those two great factors in promoting and preserving civilization.
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