USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume I > Part 7
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The only approach to anything resembling real trade was that witnessed when a vessel from some foreign land touched at the ports which the jealous Spaniards and Mexicans permitted the stranger to visit. On those occasions the exchanges were made under such restrictions, and so many obstacles were placed in the way of freedom of intercourse that any considerable development was rendered impos- sible. This interference which might have stimulated a more energetic people than the native Californians, and the colonists, to exert themselves to provide by their own efforts that which a fatuous government prohibited them from buying from foreigners, did not result in the creation of a home industry of any kind. The doctrine of the beauty of contentment was ingrained, and resignation to depriva- tion was elevated into a virtue and ambition, except of the sort that manifested itself in aspiration for petty political favors was wholly extinguished.
Little Trading Done
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CHAPTER VI
SPANISH DISCOURAGEMENT OF RELATIONS WITH OUTSIDERS
UNCOMMERCIAL METHODS OF SPAIN-THE PREDICTION OF A PADRE CONCERNING SAN FRANCISCO BAY-EARLY YANKEE AMBITIONS-SPANISH FEAR OF THE RUSSIANS- THE VISIT OF RAZENOFF AND HIS ADVICE TO THE CALIFORNIANS-NAVIGATION OF THE BAY DISCOURAGED BY GOVERNOR SOLA-EARLIEST TRAFFIC ON THE BAY OF SAN FRANCISCO-CAPTAIN MORRELL MAKES A SUGGESTION-UNCLE SAM SEEKS AN OUTLET-REPORT OF COLONEL BUTLER ON CALIFORNIA-MEXICO UNAPPRECIATIVE OF CALIFORNIA-ARGUELLO LAUDS POSSIBILITIES OF PROVINCE-THE EARLY IMMI- GRANTS WELCOMED-SHIPS DROP INTO SAN FRANCISCO BAY-THE FOUNDATION OF YERBA BUENA.
C
OTHING could more plainly reveal the utterly uncommercial character of the Spanish than their mode of dealing with the port of San Francisco. For a couple of centuries a harbor was sought for with varying degrees of diligence SEAL OF and when it was finally found no more use was made of it SAN than if it were non existent. It cannot be said that the dis- coverers were unacquainted with its advantages, or that they failed to make the authorities in Mexico and Spain acquainted with them, but there interest in the matter and desire terminated.
As early as 1772, four years before the foundation of the Mission Dolores, Verger wrote a letter in which he outlined the uses to which a good harbor could be put. He was under a misapprehension concerning the river which he described as flowing into the bay, and which he thought might be connected with the Colo- rado, but he was under no illusions regarding the possibility of establishing a port in which there could be ship yards and other facilities that would be easy to pro- vide on account of the abundance of timber of a suitable sort for building boats and other vessels. He had an intimate knowledge of the foibles of his countrymen, which made him suspect that something more than a mere recital of advantages was necessary to stimulate them to exertion for he told Casafonda, to whom he sent his description, that "great prejudice to the crown of Spain must be feared should some foreign nation establish themselves in this port."
The suggestion that some one else might utilize the bay if the Spanish did not was heeded in a way. It was taken possession of by the crown, and interlopers were warned away, but during the seventy years while it was under the control of Spain and Mexico no Spaniard, Mexican or native Californian ever exerted him- self to realize the expectations of those who predicted a great future for the unri- valled sheet of water which bears the name of the patron saint of the Franciscan order.
The Un- commercial Spaniard
Jealousy of Foreigners
The Port Utterly Neglected
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A Padre's Prediction
It is related that one of the padres who assisted at the establishment of the Presido of San Francisco, after performing the ceremony of blessing the site of Fort Point, ascended to the slight eminence in its rear, where he found a very green and flowery table land abounding in wild violets and sloping gently towards the port. In a description which he subsequently wrote he pronounced the view "delicious." "There may be seen," he said, "not only a good part of the port with its islands, but the mouth of the bay and the sea where the prospect ranges even beyond the Farallones."
A man of his cloth might have stopped here but he went on indulging in prac- tical comment, which probably reflected the belief and aspirations of the first set- tlers on the Bay of San Francisco. "I judged," he wrote, "that if this site could be well populated as in Europe, there would be nothing finer in the world, as it was in every way fitted for a most beautiful city-one of equal advantages by either land or water, with that port so remarkable and capacious, wherein could be built ship yards, quays and whatever might be desired."
Fears of Viceroy Florez
A few years later, in 1788, Viceroy Manuel Antonio Florez, shortly after his arrival in Mexico, wrote to his home government that there would be no occasion for surprise if the American colonies of the British, "now that they are an inde- pendent republic, should carry out the design of finding a safe port on the Pacific and of attempting to sustain it by crossing the immense country of the continent above our possessions of Texas, New Mexico and California."
From these and similar observations made by representatives of the Spanish crown, and by early visitors to the Pacific coast of North America, we discover that there was no lack of appreciation of the importance of establishing a port of the sort described by Florez, nor of its desirability when viewed from the standpoint of the trader whose interest would lie in the development of a commerce between Alta California and the rest of the world. But there is an essential difference between recognition of possibilities and their realization.
The crown, the viceroy of Mexico, the governors of California and the padres may have fully comprehended the importance of the Bay of San Francisco, but they never moved a hand to bring about the result which they desired to see achieved. Even the stimulus of fear, inspired by rivalry, was powerless to quicken them to action of any sort looking to the realization of their hopes. Their inertia was so marked during the entire period under review that a doubt arises whether the ex- pressions of opinion by the optimistic were not merely words destitute of signifi- cance, and wholly devoid of that quality which spurs men to action.
In 1806 a Russian named Razenoff visited San Francisco for the purpose of obtaining supplies for his countrymen, who were taking pelts in Alaska. He was compelled to resort to extraordinary devices to escape the restrictions imposed by the distant authorities upon trade of all kinds with the Californians. Many of these ob- stacles were the result of fear of Russian encroachment, an not entirely unwarranted apprehension, but one which could hardly be removed by the pursuit of the policy of aloofness which involved complete abstention from effort to create the means by which aggression could be prevented.
This astute foreigner, who did not hesitate to spy out the land while attempting to persuade the commandante of the port of San Francisco, and the padres, that they would be committing no crime in disposing of some of their surplus products, appears to have lectured his hosts with vigor on their supineness, declaring with
A Period of Inertia
Razenoff's Visit in 1806
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refreshing directness that they were negligent of their interests which required that they should develop their country, so that regions less favored by nature might obtain in exchange for their peculiar products needed supplies of food stuffs.
There is no evidence that his advice made any serious impression on his hear- ers. They may have regarded it as sensible, and were doubtless quite ready to admit that they would benefit by following his suggestions, but they failed to act. Eleven years later, while Arguello, who had been Razenoff's host, was still com- mandante, the magnificent body of water, about whose shores nearly a million people are now engaged in productive pursuits, was as little used by man as it had been before the first Spanish vessel entered through the Golden Gate.
Desiring to secure some timber necessary to effect some much needed repairs of the presidio buildings Arguello resorted to Corte de Madera to obtain what he required. The wood cutters who felled the trees and prepared them for use were compelled to cross the Carquinez straits on rafts and made their way to Corte de Madera by way of Sonoma, Petaluma and San Rafael, making a circuit of seventy leagues, while the actual distance between the forest and the presidio is less than four leagues. An English carpenter assisted in building a suitable craft to bring the timber to the presidio front and spent some days in teaching the soldiers how to sail it. Without this assistance, and that of an Indian named Marin, the cargo could hardly have been successfully brought across the bay; as it was the cumber- some craft was nearly wrecked in Racoon straits.
Unpromising as was this initial effort it met with the additional discourage- ment of the disapproval of Governor Sola, who was enraged that the launch should have been built without his authority. Commandante Arguello experienced great difficulty in convincing him that it was absolutely necessary to engage in the enter- prise to save the presidio from falling into utter ruin. The explanation condoned the heinous offense of the commandante, but the sharp reproof he had received appears to have effectually cured any desire he may have felt to engage in further maritime activities.
It was not until several years after this episode that any serious effort was made to navigate the bay, and it soon developed monopolistic tendencies, which however, did not prompt attempts at regulation. William A. Richardson, who had first settled at Sausalito, in 1822, moved to San Francisco and not long after he began sailing a couple of schooners between points where settlements had been made, collecting produce from the missions and farms. His enterprise speedily developed into a monopoly, but the records do not show that he adopted any irreg- ular methods to secure or maintain it; nor do they indicate dissatisfaction with his rates, which were 12 cents a piece for hides, $1 per bag of tallow weighing 500 pounds and 25 cents for two and a half bushels of wheat.
The charges were not based on the length of the haul but appear to have been uniform for all distances, and the service performed in all cases was the trans- ference of the products from various points on the bay to the Cove of Yerba Buena, where it was finally transferred to seagoing vessels. Later the Mission St. Francis, and those at San Jose, each maintained a thirty ton schooner, but it is noteworthy, as indicative of the utter inefficiency of the Spaniards and Mexicans, that they were built at Fort Ross by the Russians, no one connected with the religious foundations or any settler having the requisite skill to engage in such construction.
The Russian's Advice Disregarded
A Round- About Route
Sola Discourages Navigation of Bay
Richardson Starts a Schooner Line
Transporta- tion Charges
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SAN FRANCISCO
Although the Californians were indifferent to the advantages of the magnificent harbor and allowed them to remain practically unutilized, that fact did not prevent the outside world gaining information which incited longings for an opportunity to compel a development which the Spaniards were disposed to neglect. In spite of a policy which sought to make the Bay of San Francisco as inaccessible as the interior of a monastery it was penetrated at intervals and usually the visiting strangers were prompted to speak in glowing terms of the disregarded possibilities. Captain Frederick M. Beechey of "H. M. S. Blossom" who entered the bay in 1826 subsequently wrote that "California must awaken from its lethargy, or fall into other hands. It was of too much importance to remain neglected."
Morrell's Description of California
In 1832 Captain Benjamin Morrell, a Yankee skipper who had traded on the coast, and had informed himself concerning its capabilities, wrote a book in which he echoed the words of Beechey and gave them point by suggesting that the young republic contained the people who would effect the redemption of the slumbering Californians. He said: "These beautiful regions (were they but the property of the United States) would not be permitted to remain neglected. The Eastern and Middle states would pour into them their thousands of emigrants until mag- nificent cities would arise on the shores of every inlet on the coast, while the wil- derness of the interior would be made to blossom like the rose."
Growing Fame of the Bay
It is not clear that the Californians were acquainted with the growing interest that the outside world was taking in their affairs, and that other people were cast- ing longing eyes upon their bay, which was becoming famous. They were not very literary and had small acquaintance with books, and it is not difficult to think of them as absolutely uninformed concerning the appearance of fresh publications. But such descriptions as those of Morrell made a vivid impression on the people of the Atlantic states which soon began to find expression in recommendations which did not go unheeded by those in authority.
Seeking an Outlet on the Pacific
The dominant note in all of these was the desirability of an outlet to the Pacific. The manifest destiny idea made suggestions of this sort welcome, and every bit of information was made to fit in with the popular desire. The difficul- ties with Mexico which culminated in the acquisition of the coveted territory were not of sudden origin; they may easily be traced back to a period many years anterior to the trouble on the Rio Grande. It would be far more reasonable to attribute to the desire for a station for American whalers in the harbor of San Francisco, which was strongly expressed during Jackson's administration, the war with Mexico than to charge it to the machinations of the pro slavery element.
Plans of the Slave Owners
That the advocates of slavery performed a conspicuous part in bringing about the result is undeniable, but the success which crowned their efforts was wholly due to the sentiment which found noisy expression in the "Fifty-four-forty or fight" slogan of the campaign which put Polk in the presidential chair. The American people were not particularly bent on sustaining the institution of slavery, but they were under the domination of an irresistible desire to extend the territory of the United States westward until it should reach the Pacific.
Butler's Report to Jackson
We find this longing outlined in the report of Colonel Anthony Butler, who was appointed charge d'affaires to Mexico by his friend President Jackson. In 1835 Butler went to Washington to press on the attention of the president a proposition to secure by treaties from Mexico the whole tract of territory "known as New Mexico and the higher and lower California." This region he declared
Iodifferent to Advantages of Harbor
INTERIOR OF MISSION DOLORES CHURCH
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SAN FRANCISCO
was "an empire in itself, a paradise in climate * rich in minerals, and affording a water route to the Pacific through the Arkansas and Colorado rivers."
Butler's information respecting the navigability of the two rivers mentioned by him was not accurate, but his desire for an outlet to the Pacific was plainly indicated. His opinion that the coveted territory, the acquisition of which would permit access to the great ocean whose waters lave the shores of the newest and most ancient of nations, was clearly expressed, however, and his view that it could be obtained by treaty found acceptance and in 1842 was urged upon Daniel Webster by Waddy Thompson, the American minister to Mexico, who was confident that the latter country could be persuaded to cede Texas and the Californias to the United States in payment of the claims of American merchants against the Mexican government.
The striking feature of Thompson's recommendation is the assumption run- ning through it that Mexico thought so little of the territory whose acquisition he urged that it would part with it for less than a song. The minister was under no misapprehension concerning the value of the territory, but he evidently believed that the Mexicans regarded it as valueless, or, at least, that they realized that they were incapable of promoting its development. He said, in speaking of it: "As to Texas I regard it as of little value compared with California, the richest, most beautiful and the healthiest country in the world." But it was upon the value of the harbor of San Francisco that he laid the most stress, declaring that it was "capacious enough to receive the navies of the world."
Thompson's assumption that the occupants of California were unappreciative of its value was only partially true. The archives of the City of Mexico, and the records stored in San Francisco, and so liberally used in determining land title controversies at a later date, prove conclusively that there were Californians who had the capacity to judge and describe the resources of the territory although they were incapable of developing them. We have a report of Arguello, made in 1825 on the condition and prospects of California in which he spoke of the admirable physical characteristics of the country; its splendid forests; its soil of inconceiv- able fertility, and "its capacity of becoming one of the richest and happiest coun- tries in the world."
It is significant that Arguello's glowing description lays no stress upon the value of the harbor of San Francisco, and hardly suggests its existence. It is permeated throughout by the same feeling that the padres inherited from the feudalistic experiment of the middle ages, and which they managed to preserve and pass on down almost to our own times. It breathes the spirit of isolation, accompanied by that narrow conception of self sufficingness which was the most marked characteristic of the institution in the middle ages, and which in the midst of comparatively dense populations in Europe set up such barriers that intercourse between separated communities was almost wholly suspended.
It is not surprising that the productive faculties should have been atrophied, and the trading instinct weakened by the non intercourse predilections of the Californians, who did not apparently greatly resent the decrees and the legislation which threw them on their own feeble resources. Throughout the period while they were in control no efforts were made by the native Californians to open communication with outsiders. Such intercourse as they had with strangers was unsolicited by them, and often it was unwelcome. They were not merely content
Waddy Thompson Urges Acquisition
Thompson's Appreciation of California
Arguello's Valuation of the Country
Merits of Bay Overlooked
Productive Faculty Atrophled
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SAN FRANCISCO
to refrain from efforts to create surpluses for exchange, they actually had to be coaxed to part with these which were created for them by their prolific herds.
Immigrants Welcomed
They were not inhospitable to strangers whose motives in visiting them were not open to suspicion, and even welcomed those who were ready to accept their habits and who assumed family relations which made them part of the community. But they did not go out of their way to invite immigration and promptly took alarm when it began to assume proportions which threatened to provide the labor needed to develop the neglected resources of the country.
Few Ships Visit the Harbor
This invasion, as we shall see later on, was not from the water. Despite the fact that the Bay of San Francisco was much discussed, and its advantages well apprehended, it was rarely visited by ships. Few merchantmen entered the harbor, their trading being more conveniently transacted at Monterey and other points along the coast where supplies of hides and tallow were stored. The records show that between 1816 and 1842 nine or ten war vessels entered the port, among them five flying the American flag. The first American war vessel to visit the bay came through the Golden Gate in 1841 and was followed in the same year by another, both being bent on surveying errands. A year later the "Yorktown," "Cyane and Dale" paid visits to the port that was to be, but which at that time gave few indications of its future greatness.
Apart from these visits there was little to record of shipping activity in the harbor prior to 1842 but after that year the visits of war ships and merchantmen became more frequent. The laws of Mexico had reserved to the governor of the province the disposal of lands within a certain number of feet below high water mark, but the power was not made use of until 1835, and then only in a negative fashion, Figueroa framing an ordinance in that year forbidding the presidial authorities making any grants of land about the Yerba Buena cove nearer than 200 varas from the beach without his special order.
From this order may be said to date the foundation of Yerba Buena, the vil- lage that has since developed into a great city. The purpose of Figueroa in making the reservation was to preserve it for government use. Applications had been made before that date by individuals who desired to secure the land about the cove for farming purposes, and he desired to prevent it falling into private hands. He also contemplated something in the way of creating a settlement; but he died before the town he proposed could be laid out; and nothing was done until 1839 when Alvarado, the then governor, dispatched an order to survey the plain and cove of Yerba Buena, which was executed by Alcalde Francisco Haro with the assistance of Captain John Virget who ran the lines.
Land Granted to Settlers
Foundation of Yerba Buena
THE GOLDEN GATE
CHAPTER VII
FOUNDATION OF THE VILLAGE OF YERBA BUENA
YERBA BUENA IN 1839-THE FIRST HOUSE ERECTED IN YERBA BUENA-DEDICATION OF THE MISSION OF ST. FRANCIS-REZANOFF'S VISIT TO SAN FRANCISCO BAY IN 1806-THE RUSSIAN IS WELCOMED-A ROMANCE OF YERBA BUENA-REZANOFF SECURES SUPPLIES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RUSSIANS IN SITKA-DEATH OF REZANOFF IN SIBERIA-RUSSIAN METHODS IN CALIFORNIA-FEW BOOKS IN CALIFORNIA BEFORE ARRIVAL OF AMERICANS-DANCING FORBIDDEN BY THE PADRES -PATERNAL RULE ON THE RANCHES-THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH.
Yerba Buena in 1839
HE boundaries of the town laid out under the order of Alvarado would make but a small dot on the map of the OF T San Francisco of 1912, and to the person unfamiliar with the fact that much of the land in what is now the business sec- # SEAL OF SAN FRA tion of the City was recovered from the bay, it would appear that no special effort was made to get near the water front. The ambitions of the founders were satisfied by setting off a space which had Pacific street for its northern and Sacramento for its southern boundary, while its western limit was described by Dupont street and its eastern by Montgomery, the waters of the cove reaching the latter street in 1839, the year in which the survey was made.
This district, known as Yerba Buena until 1847 when the name was changed to San Francisco, was described by the early comers as being about the most un- lovely part of the region surrounding the bay. It was barren and in the immediate vicinity were low sand hills covered with coarse shrubbery and patches of grass. Yerba Buena derived its appellation from the village of that name which stood on the spot surveyed in 1839, but it was only known locally by that designation, its true name being given on the map as San Francisco.
Yerba Buena is the Spanish name of a vine found in the underwood of the region about the bay which has some claims to fragrance. Literally translated it means good herb, and the earliest annalists state that it was held in some esti- mation by the settlers of Spanish extraction who brewed a tea from its leaves.
The first house in Yerba Buena appears to have been erected in 1835 by Cap- tain W. A. Richardson who anticipated the survey. It was not a very substantial construction, being merely a ship's foresail stretched over four redwood posts. Richardson was in charge of the two schooners mentioned as belonging to the missions of St. Francis and Santa Clara. His connection with the padres secured for him the privilege of planting the tent-like structure on the spot mentioned. Later he built an adobe house on what is now Dupont street west of Portsmouth square.
Name Changed in 1847
First House Erected
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SAN FRANCISCO
That was in 1841 and there were then thirty families living in the village. In addition to the adobe house of Richardson, Juana Briones, a widow, had erected another on the corner of Powell and Filbert streets, and there was an establishment of the Russians which was built of wooden slabs and covered with tarpaulin. Three years later Yerba Buena had about a dozen houses and in 1846 the number had increased to fifty. The expansion of the two last years was caused by the impend- ing change in the administration of Californian affairs foreshadowed by the col- lision between the United States and Mexico, the outcome of which held no riddle for active minded Americans.
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