USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume I > Part 40
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A Southern Transconti- nental Line
Undeveloped State Pride
Wagon Roads
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57,600 to 16,000 decided should be paid, sternly setting their faces against repudi- ation in any form.
Eager for Transporta- tion Facilities
In 1855 the legislature was much occupied with the transportation question. The availability of the different passes was discussed and reports were made which showed the practicability of the state being entered by railroads at various points. A memorial was introduced at this session which had for its object anticipation of the service to be performed by a railroad or railroads. It proposed the establish- ment of an overland express by means of camels or dromedaries. The experiment was tried, but the "ships of the desert" did not prove a success, and. horses were substituted for them, and later stage coaches were introduced. These facilities, however, were provided by individual effort, and were the only tangible results of the public discussions which continued during nearly twenty years. The political resolves adopted in 1849 were backed up by resolutions introduced and passed at almost every session of the legislature, the first being that suggested by John Bigler in 1850, urging on congress the importance of constructing a railroad from the Mississippi to the Pacific. The transportation literature of the period is volum- inous, and only less entertaining than the story of the actual happenings after the railroad was finally built. Throughout it all there runs a vein of optimism which contrasts remarkably with the subsequent feeling engendered by the abuses which followed the advent of the first transcontinental line.
Benefits Expected
San Franciscans were more positive in the expression of the belief that a trans- continental line would work a great transformation in California than the other inhabitants of the state, but they failed to give their convictions practical effect. They were confident that it would make its fertile lands accessible to great numbers of immigrants who would produce on a scale which would speedily make San Fran- cisco a trading port of consequence and a real metropolis. Its merchants had been long accustomed to viewing matters from the standpoint of the distributor, and they had visions of the development of a great Oriental traffic which would make the City the most prosperous on the globe. No one apparently realized the possibility of the new method of communication destroying the advantages which came from comparative isolation. The railroad in the common belief would prove an unadulter- ated benefit; no one seemed to think of the possibility of its bringing trouble; even the laboring element of the community did not seriously regard the chance of its making a change in their condition.
High Freight and Fare Rates
We may discern the source of this optimism in the prevalent belief that in some fashion or other the transcontinental railway would bring relief from oppressive freight charges. How great a burden these were may be inferred from the message of Governor Bigler in 1854, in which he pointed out that the law allowed 20 cents per mile for passage, and 60 cents per ton for freight to steam navigation com- panies. He urged an amendment which would make a reduction of ten cents a mile for passage and 15 cents a ton for freight, and, evidently believing that the people were on the eve of securing the desired connection with the East, he warned the legislature that unless the reduction was made the railroad would be able to charge $500 for passage from the Missouri river to the coast; and $1,500 for haul- ing a ton of freight between the two points.
Ignorance Concerning Railroads
Theories respecting the management of railroads had not been highly developed at the time, but this recommendation, and the general attitude, indicates an almost total ignorance of the policy of "all the traffic will bear," which was subse-
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quently elaborated by the organizers of what finally grew into the Southern Pa- cific system. That it could have been deemed possible for any sort of freight to bear a traffic charge of $1,500 a ton exhibits clearly that although the discussion was incessant, and took a range so wide as to even embrace the fear that unless the United States should hurry up Great Britain might get ahead of us by "building from Halifax to Lake St. Clair," it was not very illuminating. "Shall we yield the palm of building the longest railroad in the world to them?" asked a committee of the California senate, which reported a bill in May, 1852, granting the right of way to the United States for the construction of a road connecting the two oceans. "Never!" was the emphatic answer to its own query.
San Franciscans knew little about railroads in those days, and for that matter the fund of information concerning them was not large in the older communities. The first railroad in California was that built under the provisions of an act passed in 1853 and ran from Sacramento to Folsom. It was commenced in the early part of 1855 and was opened February 22, 1856. It did not prove profitable owing to the high cost of labor and the decline of the placer mines, and in 1865 fell into the hands of the Central Pacific after several vain efforts by different persons to make it pay. Until 1863, when the road between San Jose and San Francisco was opened, San Franciscans and California generally were utterly destitute of railroad experi- ence, and it is not surprising that they raised false hopes for themselves, and made great blunders in dealing with the men who attained to knowledge more rapidly than they did, and made use of it to amass great wealth for themselves.
The inaction of congress in promoting the railroad enterprise contrasts with the activity displayed by individuals in providing other means of transportation. The discovery of gold was promptly followed by a rush which called into requisition all sorts of sea craft, but this unorganized traffic was soon succeeded by regular lines. In a remarkably brief period there was as much certainty respecting the sailing days and arrivals of the steamships carrying passengers by way of the isthmus, or the Nicaragua routes as there is today. Not only was regularity secured in the traffic between San Francisco and the Atlantic states, great promptitude was also shown in the promotion of facilities for reaching the mining regions.
After the sinking of "the steamboat" there was no steam navigation on the bay until speculators incited by the hope of profit, sent out an iron boat from the East, which was shipped in pieces and set up in San Francisco, making her first trip to Sacramento in September, 1849. This adventure was speedily followed by others. On the 9th of October a boat called "The Mint" started plying between San Francisco and the towns on the upper waters of the Sacramento. On the 26th a propeller called the "McKim" left the City for Sacramento. Prior to the appearance of these boats points on the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers were reached by schooners and launches, their voyages often occupying as many as ten days. In 1854 the time had been reduced to about a half a day, and steamboats were making regular departures. The price of passage, which at first was $30 in the cabin and $20 on deck, was greatly reduced during the interval.
In that year excessive competition brought about a combination which excited great indignation. The various steamboats plying on the bay, and on the inland waters, were brought under one management in a concern called the California Steam Navigation Company. It was organized with a capital of $2,500,000 in shares of $1,000 each. The merchants of the City denounced the amalgamation as Val. 1-19
Limited Railroading Experience
Sea Trans- portation Regular
An Eariy Traffic Combine
The Califor- nia Steam Navigation Company
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a dangerous monopoly, but took no practical steps to disrupt it by starting rival lines. The experience which led to the combination undoubtedly deterred fresh enterprises. At the height of the struggle between the companies, which later pooled their interests, passage became practically free, and on occasions the rivalry assumed the exaggerated form of offering meals to induce patronage. The rates of fare under the new arrangement were much lower than they were three or four years earlier, but they were still high enough to form a reasonable ground for protest. The cost of passage from San Francisco to Sacramento in the cabin was $10, on deck $7, and freight was carried at the rate of $8 a ton. To Marys- ville it was $12 in the cabin and $10 on deck, and freight was $15 a ton. The rate to Stockton for passengers was the same as that to Sacramento, but freight was taken at $2 a ton less.
Clipper Ships
The greatest development resulting from pioneer needs was that of the clipper ship. The story of the performances of these remarkable products of the skill of American shipbuilders is an ocean classic. Passages were made between New York and San Francisco by these vessels in as few as 89 days, the average being about 125 days. The "Flying Cloud" held the record up to 1854, making the trip from New York to San Francisco, around the Horn, in 89 days. In 1852, 72 vessels, averaging 1,000 tons burthen, all of them claiming to be clipper ships entered the port. But the glories of their performances were eclipsed by those of their rivals impelled by steam, and few but poets and "tars" lamented their disappearance. Indeed the sentimentally inclined pioneer was so impressed by the sight of a departing Pacific Mail steamer he was apt to indulge in superlatives and forget the clipper. It was the custom in the early days to see the steamer leave her wharf, and we have a vivid description of one of these events in the "Annals:" "Faster, proudly, triumphantly, with a continually accelerating speed. Oh it is a beautiful, a grand sight, such a majestic vessel exerting its enormous power and growing momently in strength and swiftness." The tribute was deserved, even though the majestic craft described would only make a good-sized launch for a modern liner such as now sails out of the port of San Francisco.
The distance from San Francisco to New York by way of Panama was about 5,700 miles and it required twenty-five days to make the trip. Up to the estab- lishment of the Pony Express in 1860, all the Eastern mails, and for nearly twenty years up to the opening of the overland railroad most of the mails between the Atlantic and Pacific coast were carried by this route which was operated by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. For a time it had a rival which made use of the waterways and territory of Nicaragua. A concern known as the Accessory Tran- sit Company, the outgrowth of a contract originally made by Cornelius Vanderbilt and other New York capitalists with the Nicaraguan government, maintained an opposition line during four years which made semi-monthly passages between New York and San Francisco via Nicaragua. The Accessory Transit Company was later practically merged in the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal Company in pursuance of a contract with the Nicaraguan government, which, among other things provided for the construction of a ship canal to connect the two oceans within a period of twelve years from April 11, 1850.
Nicaragua Ship Canal Project
This project had received governmental attention for many years, and it is not improbable that it might have been carried through had not the machinations of the filibuster Walker created complications which raised insuperable obstacles. In
Travel by Way of Panama and Nica- ragua
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this work Walker was assisted by two California lawyers who sought to aid rivals of Vanderbilt in gaining possession of the steamship privilege which had become very profitable. The projectors of the ship canal disregarded their obligations, and juggled matters so that the Nicaraguan government received nothing for the con- cession. They made no effort to dig a canal, and thus furnished the excuse which Walker prompted Rivas, the president, to offer for canceling the contract and granting a new charter to Garrison, the rival of Vanderbilt, on the ground that the Accessory Transit Company had forfeited its rights. This new charter was granted by Rivas in February, 1856, but was kept a secret to permit Garrison to get in readiness new steamers to take the place of those which would be withdrawn. The proceeding was so complicated by chincanery that when Garrison sought to run the new line it at once became an object of distrust, and in a short time, although under the Vanderbilt regime it had done a profitable business, running semi-monthly steamers in and out of San Francisco, and carrying thousands of passengers, it was compelled to discontinue its operations.
Its rival the Pacific Mail continued to prosper. It had commenced the con- struction of a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama in 1850, but owing to exces- sive mortality among the working force, which hampered operations, the road was not opened until Jan. 23, 1855. The cost of the road, which was only 48 miles long, was originally estimated at only $2,000,000, but $7,000,000 were expended before it was finally completed. At one time it was feared by the projectors that the undertaking would swamp them, but the prospects of profit encouraged them to persevere, and profitable mail contracts ultimately repaired the losses incurred through the excessive cost of building. William H. Aspinwall, the moving spirit in the enterprise, was a New York millionaire who had interested himself in mail contracts before the discovery of gold. As early as 1845 a petition had been sent from Oregon asking for a mail service between that territory and New York. Aspinwall was a bidder at a subsequent call for proposals and re- ceived the contract through the default of parties who had bid lower than himself and associates. The service was to be monthly, by way of Panama, and subse- quently, by act of congress in 1847, San Francisco was made a port of call. Aspin- wall, together with Gardener Howland and Henry Chauncey incorporated the Pacific Mail Steamship Company April 12, 1848.
Under the terms of the act of congress of 1847 the contractors carrying the mails to Oregon and California were to receive a subsidy of $200,000 per annum. They were to build the steamers to engage in the work under government super- vision, and they were to be operated under the command of captains selected from the United States navy. The first steamers constructed were the "California," "Oregon" and "Panama," respectively 1,050, 1,120 and 1,058 tons burthen. They were propelled with side wheels and at that time there were few vessels on the Atlantic comparable with them in size, appointments or speed. The "California" was the first of the three to sail from New York, leaving that port for Panama via the Straits of Magellan on the 5th of October, 1848. While the "California" was making her way to the Pacific, preparations were made on the Atlantic side to establish a connection. A vessel named the "Falcon" was put in this service. She sailed from New York on the 1st of December, 1848, but the passengers she carried were obliged to wait twenty-five days in Panama for the arrival of the "California" whose passage occupied a much longer time than had been expected. The initial
Building the Panama Railroad
The Pacific Mail Steam- ship Company
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voyage of the "California" from Panama to San Francisco, owing to a coal short- age, took 28 days, but when she arrived in the port on the 28th day of February, 1849, she received a grand reception.
The time consumed in getting the passengers through from New York to San Francisco on this first trip was 89 days, including the detention of 25 days due to the failure to make connection with the "California." The 64 days of actual transit were subsequently largely reduced, but before it became possible to effect the reduction the company experienced great difficulty in maintaining its schedule. The crew of the "California" on her arrival in the harbor promptly deserted and made their way to the mines as did the most of the passengers. The next steamer of the line to arrive was the "Oregon." She left New York in December, 1848, and entered the harbor on the 1st of April, 1849, bringing 250 passengers who had made the long voyage through the Straits of Magellen. The "Panama" was to have been second, but did not enter until June 4, 1849, having 290 newcomers aboard.
Passenger lists are not, as a rule, very interesting, but those of the first two mail steamers entering the port of San Francisco contained so many names of men who afterward figured in the upbuilding of the City, they deserve reproduction if merely to emphasize the fact that fortune favors those who are prompt to seize an opportunity. Among the arrivals by the "California" whose names are part of the history of the city were General Persifer F. Smith, William Van Voorhees, Captain R. W. Heath, H. F. Williams, D. W. C. Thompson, Major Canby, Alexander Aus- tin, Eugene Sullivan, E. T. Batters, Alfred Robinson, Mallachi Fallon, R. M. Price, Pacificus Ord, Levi Stowell and Cleveland Forbes. There were also four ministers, Sylvester Woodbridge, Presbyterian; O. C. Wheeler, Baptist; J. W. Douglas and S. H. Willey, Congregationalists. In the list of the "Oregon" are found the names of Dr. A. J. Bowie, R. P. Hammond, Dr. George F. Turner, Captain E. D. Keyes, Frederick Billings, F. D. Atherton, John Benson, A. K. P. Harmon, Rev. Albert Williams, Dr. Horace Bacon, D. N. Hawley, Captain M. R. Roberts, E. B. Vree- land, Dr. W. F. Peabody, John W. Geary, George H. Beach, William M. Lent, John T. Little, David Fay, J. Cowell, Samuel Blake, John T. Wright, A. J. Morell and Captain L. M. Goldsborough.
Rivals of Pacific Mail Company
In the last ten months of 1849 the passenger business of the Pacific Mail aggre- gated 3,959. It would have been extraordinary if such remunerative traffic had not tempted others to engage in the business. The Accessory Transit Company's efforts have already been mentioned, but there were numerous other rivals for patronage. In 1850 the number of steamers in the Panama trade had increased from 6 to 21 and the trips from 14 to 41, and the passengers carried from 3,959 to 7,118. In the succeeding year 30 steamers making 74 trips, and four lines in operation, were recorded. The number of steamers, however, does not begin to tell the story of increase, for the "Golden Gate" of 2,067 tons register, double the size of the first boats to ply in the Panama trade was put in service and she was able to accom- modate 600 passengers.
Tonnage of Port in 1859
It would require a volume devoted to the special subject to tell the whole story of the maritime activities of the port in the first decade after the occupation. Here the attempt to describe them must be confined to the statement that in the closing year of the Fifties the tonnage of ocean arrivals aggregated 596,600 tons, of which 143,700 tons were steam. Of the total tonnage of 1859, 230,700 tons were registered as foreign and 365,900 as domestic. This expansion was nearly twelve fold during
Early Voyages of Pacific Mail Steamers
First Arrivals by Steamer
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the decade, the registry showing a total of 50,000 tons in 1848; but the greatest increase occurred before the close of 1853, when 559,000 steam and sail tonnage was registered. After 1853 the greatest change noted was in the increase of steam tonnage, which rose from 98,400 to 143,700 tons in 1859.
The traffic indicated by these figures furnished ample justification for the de- cided strengthening of the belief, which at no time after the beginning of the gold rush had been at all weak, that San Francisco was destined to be a great commercial emporium. The point of view changed as new developments occurred. The dis- heartening effects of the disastrous fires of the first years of the City had passed away. No one in San Francisco at the beginning of the Sixties could be found to express himself as did a correspondent of the "Illustrated London News," who on July 5, 1851, describing the fire of May 3rd, said: "Whether San Francisco will ever entirely recover from the blow, is, I think, doubtful." There were no longer doubts about the future, but there was much uncertainty concerning how the future would work itself out. There was a great diversity of opinion, but it did not eventu- ate in the impairment of confidence, and to some extent the differences tended to promote the opposite feeling. The latter was based on the growing comprehension of the immense resources of the state, and in considering them all apprehension which might have been created by the diminishing returns from the mines dis- appeared.
After the drastic settlement of the municipal troubles in 1856 business men were freed from an incubus which affected initiative, and they were able to think intelligently and plan for the future. Their plans were not wholly dissociated from those of the rest of the mercantile world, but comparative isolation had its effect in shaping them, as it had in creating the opinion which frequently found expression later, that in some way California would be compelled to work out its own destiny. That this feeling should have existed is not at all surprising, and that it should have tended to obscure the possibilities of closer contact with the outside world is also not remarkable. There was steadfast faith in the future and it was not a faith wholly without works. The performances of the business men of San Fran- cisco after 1856 were not spectacular, but they were effective, as was proved by the steady growth of the City after that date, not merely in population but in all those directions which contribute to the well being of a community anxious to take its place in the van of the army of civilization, and in the estimation of the outside world. Like the rest of the Union, the City of San Francisco, despite its remote- ness from the political centers of the country, suffered from the depression produced by bad legislation on the eve of the Civil war. Its merchants received a severe blow, and the experiences of 1855 were repeated, but they passed through the crisis, and when the war did commence, fortuitous circumstances enabled them to recover from disaster more speedily than those of any other part of the Union.
Confidence in the Future
Ante- Bellum Business Troubles
CHAPTER XXXIII JOURNALISM, LITERATURE, EDUCATION AND POLITICS OF PIONEER DAYS
NEWSPAPERS OF SAN FRANCISCO-PRESS AT TIME OF GOLD DISCOVERY-NEWS BEFORE THE AMERICAN CAME TO CALIFORNIA-THE FIRST NEWSPAPER MERGER-VIOLENCE OF EDITORIAL EXPRESSION-FREEDOM OF THE PRESS-EDITOR KILLED IN A DUEL- JOURNALISM AN UNPROFITABLE CALLING-DRIVING RIVALS FROM THE FIELD-NOT MUCH STRESS LAID ON NEWS-EDITORIAL WRITERS DURING THE FIFTIES-USE OF THE TELEGRAPH-NEWS RECEIVED BY STEAMER-MAILS RECEIVED BY STAGE AND PONY EXPRESS-JOURNALISM AND LITERATURE CLOSELY ALLIED-VARYING LITERARY STANDARDS-POLITICS AND LITERATURE-EARLY LIBRARIES-FIRST PUBLISHED BOOK -THE WEEKLY PAPERS-A WOMAN'S JOURNAL-GOLDEN ERA SCHOOL OF LITERA- TURE-EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES-THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE HIGHER EDUCA- TION-PAROCHIAL AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS POLITICS AND THE SCHOOLS.
Newspapers of San Francisco
N TRACING the progress of events in San Francisco its public journals have been mentioned, not always in a man- ner calculated to impress one with the idea that journalism was an unmixed blessing. In the Fifties the newspapers OF SAN F were almost as turbulent as the times in which they were OF JO ~ SEA printed. Their editors and publishers were not always dis- posed to pour oil on the troubled waters. As a rule they pursued a course which might be fittingly described as adding fuel to the flames. In this respect, however, their conduct did not differ materially from that of those pursuing a like calling at the East, but the result oftener proved tragic in the new metropolis of the Pacific.
The early newspapers were intensely partisan and devoted a great deal of their space to the discussion of political questions. They were able to spare it because the art of news gathering had not been developed to any extent at the time, and the facilities for procuring intelligence were limited. Before the gold rush there was published under the auspices of Samuel Brannan a small sheet of four pages, fifteen by twelve inches in size. The editor, E. P. Jones, probably having in mind the former relations of Brannan with the Mormons, announced that sectarianism would be avoided in its columns. It was called "The Star," and it made its first appearance on January 7, 1847. On the 22d of May following, a weekly news- paper, printed in Monterey as early as August, 1846, from an old font of Spanish type, from which the w's were missing; was moved to Yerba Buena. It was pub- lished by Robert Semple, but appears to have been the selected organ of the mili- tary occupants of the country.
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