USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > San Francisco, a history of the Pacific coast metropolis, Volume II > Part 43
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JOINT PRODUCTION OF THE THREE MORNING PAPERS ON THE DAY AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE, APRIL 18, 1906
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ever, who thought they knew as much about the needs of the City, and what it could accomplish, as a stranger, no matter how gifted, and they did not hesitate to point out that the scheme was absolutely impracticable, and that the cost of carry- ing it out would run into the hundreds of millions. One estimate assumed that its non-productive features would involve the expenditure of a much larger sum than had even been devoted to the beautification of a city in ancient or modern times, but the difference of opinion never reached the acrimonious stage, and when the disaster of 1906 overtook the City none of the outlined schemes had assumed definite shape. After the fire, in an incredibly brief period, the agitation for a beautiful city was revived, but curiously enough the suggestions in the report were overlooked, and the improvements entered upon appear to be on widely, almost wholly different lines from those suggested by Burnham, as will be seen from the description in the chapter dealing with the rehabilitation of the City.
It would be a mistake, however, to assume that the movement which resulted in the Burnham report in 1905 was suddenly inspired. As already related an attempt to have the Pan Handle of the park extended to Van Ness avenue had been fav- orably regarded by the people who authorized the borrowing of several millions for the accomplishment of the object which were not expended because of a defect in the law. Long before this authorization a more liberal spirit was beginning to be shown in the matter of providing for the care of the parks of the City. At the time of the Burnham report it was estimated by a person curious in such matters that San Francisco had 285.7 inhabitants for each park acre, while the average of the most important cities of the United States was 206.6 persons for each park, and this was urged as a reason for the acquisition of more territory for such uses. But the showing made a small impression on a people unaccustomed to the excessive heat of the Eastern summers, and who kept in mind the possibilities which the large area of the presidio, and the intra urban cemeteries presented of keeping plenty of future breathing spots. The appropriations for the upkeep of parks and squares which only amounted to $38,006 in 1883 after that date were raised year by year. In 1890 the expenditure for reclamation and maintenance was $125,864, in 1895 it was nearly double, $229,051. In 1900 the amount allowed was $237,152 and in 1905, the year before the fire, $367,703 was expended. A large part of these ex- penditures was for 'reclamation which involved the conversion of sand dunes into lawns, and the covering of large areas absolutely destitute of vegetation with trees and shrubbery.
The human interest idea was by no means ignored, and additions were constantly being made to the list of attractions calculated to draw the people into the open when the allurement of green grass and open air fail. In 1890 a buffalo paddock was provided and several of those animals were installed. They multiplied and from this stock other herds have been developed. Elk were also introduced, together with other members of the deer family, and in the same year a large aviary was con- structed. A few years earlier, in 1886, a children's play ground was established, William Sharon having provided $50,000 for that purpose in a bequest. In 1900 Claus Spreckels caused a music stand to be erected at a cost of $75,000. It was built of Colusa sandstone in the style of the Italian renaissance with a frontage of 55 feet and was 70 feet high. It is flanked by colonnades, and the depression around which the main buildings of the Midwinter Fair of 1894 were erected is devoted to the auditorium and provides seats for at least 20,000 people. This portion of the
Increased Expenditures for Park Maintenance
Alteration Features Added to Parks
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park prior to its use for the Midwinter Fair was an unsightly lot of sand dunes, covered by an almost impenetrable scrub brush growth. Two hundred acres were cleared and graded, and were easily converted into what is now the most highly developed part of Golden Gate park. Another attractive feature of the park was the gift of Collis P. Huntington, who devoted $25,000 to the creation of the falls which bear his name.
San Francisco's Numerons Small Parks
Although the area devoted to park purposes does not compare with that of some of the Eastern cities, San Francisco has acquired at various periods a large number of small open places of varying size, some of which have been converted into attrac- tive spots, and others are being rapidly made such in the midst of not altogether lovely surroundings. The list of these embraces in addition to Golden Gate park with its 1,013 acres, Buena Vista park, 36 acres, and Mountain Lakes, 19 acres, which were acquired at the same time. Subsequently there were added to the system Bal- boa park, 9 acres; Presidio parkway, a strip seven blocks long, 600x240 feet; Mission Dolores park, 14 acres; Lincoln park, 150 acres; Union Square, 2.60 acres ; Portsmouth square, 1.29 acres; Franklin square, 2.20 acres; Duboce park, 4.36 acres; Alta Plaza, 11.90 acres; Pioneer park, 1.75 acres; Holly park, 7.56 acres; Alamo square, 12.70 acres; Washington square, 2.24 acres; Sunny Side, 3.46 acres ; South park, 3/4 of an acre; Garfield square, 2.86 acres; Columbia square, 2.52 acres; Hamilton square, 5.64 acres; La Fayette square, 9.46 acres; Lobos square, 12.69 acres; Fairmont park, 1.30 acres; and 7.57 acres between Twenty-second and Twenty-fourth avenues unnamed and several other small tracts, unimproved and undesignated.
Seal Rocks and Ocean Side
Boulevard
These parks and squares are well bestowed throughout the City, no part of it being neglected, and are under the care of the Park Commission, which also has under its supervision the Seal Rocks turned over to the City.in 1887, and the Great Highway which consists of all that portion of the lands within the limits of San Francisco above ordinary high water mark of the Pacific ocean as it existed July 7, 1846, which lies south of a line drawn due south of 81º and 35' east magnetic through Seal Rocks, and west of a line not less than 200 feet from ordinary high water mark. Along this strip has been constructed a finely macadamized drive which by the application of oil has been made dustless and perfectly smooth. It is known as the Ocean boulevard, and has a uniform width of 250' feet for a distance of three miles from the Cliff house to Lake Merced. It was predicted at one time that the encroachments of the ocean would rob the City of this splendid driveway, but many years' experience in the piling up of sand suggests the probability of the park domain being added to rather than diminished through the agency of the ocean. It is projected to construct piers at intervals along the beach and to orna- ment the same with an Italian balustrade, and thus enhance, if possible, its natural beauties.
Presidio Reservation and Cemeteries
The presidio which contains nearly two thousand acres although not under the jurisdiction of the municipal authorities may be properly regarded as a part of San Francisco's park system. The federal government has done much to make it attrac- tive, and is showing a disposition to increase its expenditures for that purpose. The presidio is traversed by excellently built and well maintained roads which are con- nected with those of the City, and the driveway which embraces views of the Golden Gate, the bay, the ocean and large parts of San Francisco is unrivalled in attrac- tiveness by any boulevard in America. The writer of the "Annals of San Fran-
SCENE ON THE LAST DAY OF THE GREAT FIRE WHEN THE FLAMES TURNED BACK FROM VAN NESS AVENUE AND BURNED RUSSIAN AND TELEGRAPH HILLS
VIEW DOWN FOURTH STREET FROM MARKET STREET Front of Academy of Sciences on the Right
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cisco" who reproached his fellow citizens in 1856 with neglecting to provide the City with breathing places, and scornfully alluded to the fact that at the time he wrote there was no public open place other than the dusty precincts of Portsmouth square, and two or three other small places, would have no cause to complain if he could return from the shades, but he doubtless would be vastly astonished to find his successors, instead of traveling over the circuitous road to Lone Mountain which he describes, reaching it by direct streets, paved with material undreamed of in his time, and traversed by vehicles whose prototype, the omnibus, had hardly come into general use when he wrote. The places he speaks of in 1854 as though they were so remote that they never could by any possibility be included within the boundaries of the habitable portion of the municipality are now practically in the midst of the City. Writing of Lone Mountain cemetery, a projected tract of 320 acres, which he refers to as "lying between the Presidio and the Mission," he speaks as though the problem of dealing with the dead had been settled for all time by establishing a great burial ground three or four miles west of the Plaza. Perhaps the annalist, who was also the poet of the occasion of the dedication of the cemetery, which took place May 30, 1854, was carried away by the beauty of the view, and confined him- self too much to the immediate prospect, but it appears that he as well as the orator of the day, Colonel E. D. Baker, whose remains repose on Senator's hill, near to those of Broderick, in Laurel hill cemetery, although exceedingly optimistic, were not endowed with sufficient prevision to foresee the westward flow of population. Much less were their successors, for they permitted the original tract of 320 acres to pass out of the hands of the City, surrendering the reservation to various organi- zations, an act which in subsequent years caused intramural burial to become a complex municipal problem which still remained unsolved at the close of the year 1912.
During the period intervening between 1883 and April, 1906, despite the pessi- mistic predictions regarding the water supply, and the ineffectual attempts to substi- tute for private control a system of municipal ownership and operation, the Spring Valley Company succeeded in meeting the requirements of the growing population, and although menaced at frequently recurring intervals by attempts on the part of the people to secure their property, or provide a rival supply, the corporation con- tinued to add to its facilities and acted as though it were intrenched beyond possi- bility of dislodgement. The spirit of regulation which asserted itself in the Consti- tution of 1879, if it did not result in satisfying those who imagined that the posses- sion of the power to fix water rates would assure a cheap supply, realized the pre- diction of those who took the view that it would have the effect of rendering the rate fixing body subservient to the corporation. That actually proved to be the case. Numerous boards of supervisors were accused of pliability, and the water question became a constant and troublesome factor in municipal politics. An intense antipa- thy was developed during the period which exhibited itself in incessant fault finding with the methods of Spring Valley and created a strong desire for municipal owner- ship, but no practical mode of attaining this object was adopted, although numerous plans were suggested, some of which were under the suspicion of being "jobs," and all of which in some fashion unfortunately linked up with the political aspirations of the proponents or were inspired by corrupt motives.
The City between 1883 and 1906 had not only greatly increased in population, but as related in the preceding pages, had extended its boundaries, and the habitable
Spring Valley Still in Control of Water Supply
Additions to Spring Valley System
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portion of the City was spread over a territory vastly larger than the number of inhabitants would imply. This necessitated the construction of many distributing lines, and the augmentation of the supply. While the demands of the community were not always responded to as rapidly as the most exacting thought they should be, the corporation managed to appease them, and despite the weight of hostile criticism it has maintained its position as the sole source of supply up to the present time. It could not have resisted the steady assaults made upon it during nearly half a century had it not pursued this policy, for while the problem was at all times a complicated one, it is reasonably certain that had there been a real failure to meet its obligations to provide sufficient water, or had the quality been as bad as its most virulent antagonists at times have charged, Spring Valley would have been driven from its position. What the company accomplished in the way of meeting the needs of the community prior to 1883 has already been told. After that date it continued developing its system. In 1885 it caused the construction of a 44 inch wrought iron pipe line from the upper Crystal Springs reservoir to a reservoir in the City known as University mound. This change eliminated the pumping process thereto- fore used as the water flowed by gravity from the reservoir in San Mateo county to the City. In 1888 the company completed its original Alameda creek works, from which two sixteen inch mains are laid under the bay into the City. Connected with this source is a pumping plant at Belmont erected about the same time. In the meantime Crystal Springs dam was raised to its present height of 145 feet above its base, which is 280 feet above tide level, and the Crystal Springs pipe was con- nected with the lower main dam. This work was completed in 1890. In 1897 the Pilarcitos pumps were added for the purpose of forcing the water from Lake San Andreas into the Pilarcitos pipe line, and in the following year Crystal Springs was provided with emergency pumping stations and a conduit to the San Andreas reservoir was completed. In 1902 a second double line of submarine pipes was constructed to lead the Alameda gravel bed waters under the bay. The new pipes were twenty-two inches in diameter, and conveyed the water from the Sunol filter beds in Alameda county which were finished in 1890.
In a statement of its accomplishments made by its engineer, Hermann Schussler, it was pointed out that during the forty years between 1865 and 1905 the popula- tion of the City had grown steadily, and that there was a continuous demand for extension of facilities. The construction of cable roads had caused the higher ele- vations of the City to be populated and water was demanded at heights ranging from sea level to 500 feet above tide water. The consumption which had been 2,360,800 gallons daily in 1865, when the population was estimated at 110,000, had been increased to 17,050,000 in 1885, and to 34,900,000 in 1905 when the popu- lation was probably 455,000. According to the records of the company the per capita consumption was steadily increasing, rising from 74 gallons in 1900 to 87 gallons per capita in 1904, when the total quantity consumed in the City was 33,800,000 gallons.
Municipal Ownership Movement Revived
Despite these showings, and the claim made for Spring Valley that its system could be made to produce a daily supply in the near future of fully 120,000,000 gallons by developing its properties, there was no disposition shown to depend upon the corporation. When the charter adopted in 1898 went into effect in Janu- ary, 1900, the supervisors caused the engineer of the new Board of Public Works to study the subject of water supply, and to consider all available sources in con-
Water Consumption Greatly Increased
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FIRST FOOD AFTER THE FIRE STARTED, FURNISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT, BEING DISTRIBUTED TO THE HOMELESS GATHERED ON THE WATER FRONT BY MARINES FROM THE BATTLESHIPS
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nection with the future needs of the City. This resulted in an examination of the Spring valley supply, Lake Tahoe, Yuba river, Feather river, American river, Eel river, Cache creek (Clear Lake), San Joaquin river, Stanislaus river, Moke- lumne river, Tuolomne river, Bay Shore Gravels and the Bay Cities Water Company's resources. The result of the examination was a recommendation by the City engineer that San Francisco acquire the Tuolomne supply. Filings were made on the necessary water from the Tuolomne, and an application made to the secretary of the interior for the needed reservoir rights. The reservoir site de- cided upon for storing the Tuolomne supply is the Hetch Hetchy valley, whose scenic beauties although much extolled by mountain climbers were practically un- familiar to Californians, and wholly unknown to the outside world. It lies within the boundaries of the Yosemite Forest Reserve and up to the present time has had but few visitors. Nevertheless, by skillful manipulation of the esthetic bias almost insuperable difficulties have been placed in the way of its employment for the utili- tarian purpose of providing drinking water for a growing city. These objections, however, were not urged in the first year after the adoption of the plan of securing the Tuolomne supply, but after the fire of 1906 they came to plague and obstruct the people in their efforts to get rid of the Spring valley incubus.
The transportation problem lost none of its vexatiousness during the period terminated by the fire. There were seasons of comparative contentment or at least acquiescence, but the conditions always lent themselves to a renewal of agitation for better treatment in the matter of freight rates and fares. It did not matter, however, how intense the feeling engendered by criticism of railroad exactions when the time came the railroad was able by skilful manipulation to effect a diversion which resulted in the election of commissioners ready to do its bidding in every particular. After the conclusion of the Valley railroad episode, which was termi- nated by the absorption of the proposed competitive line by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, the latter corporation worked in harmony with the Southern Pa- cific, although unlike the latter it made no display of its interest in politics but trusted to the older organization to manipulate the politicians. Whatever hopes of active competition existed when it became generally known that the San Joaquin valley railroad was merely a Santa Fe adjunct were speedily dispelled. At first it was thought that the action of the Southern Pacific in cutting passenger rates between San Francisco and Fresno presaged a traffic war which would result in a beneficial lowering of terms, but the prompt adjustment of the differences between the two corporations dissipated this idea. The disclosures made during the trial of the Fresno rate case made it perfectly clear to every one except members of the railroad commission that the two corporations had an understanding, and pres- ently there was nothing left the merchants and the people to congratulate themselves upon, excepting improved service, which could with propriety be attributed to the presence of a second transcontinental railroad.
The deaths of the constructors of the first Pacific railroad which occurred at wide intervals apart did not appear to make any serious change in the policy of the Southern Pacific. When the Harriman interest finally obtained control prom- ises were made that the corporation would cease interfering in politics, but they were not fulfilled. Whatever the intention of the new president of the great system may have been in this particular it was not lived up to by his subordinates. The men who had been entrusted with the business of manipulating affairs so that
Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Reach an Under- standing
Railroad Colonist Rates
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the interests of the corporation would not be encroached upon were retained in their positions, and very little change could be noted. But Harriman's policy of dealing with the people was much more conciliatory than that pursued by his prede- cessors, and he installed in important positions men who displayed more proficiency in the work of keeping patrons satisfied. During the Eighties a strong promotion sentiment had developed in San Francisco. The success of efforts made in the southern part of the state to fill up that section had stimulated the desire to achieve like results in the great valley, and the new policy lent itself to its accomplishment. Prospectors were induced to visit California by an offer of low colonist rates. The records of the Southern Pacific show that with the inauguration of this policy a steady stream of immigrants began to flow into the state. Commencing with a movement of 7,100 of this sort of passengers, in 1902 the number rose to 46,528; in 1903 it had increased to 93,547; in 1904 54,126 were carried and in 1905 76,949. The effect of this infusion of new blood was plainly apparent in improved business, and largely accounts for the great activity which manifested itself through- out the state after 1898, in every branch of industry.
The Southern Pacific also devoted part of its energies during the Nineties to the popularizing of excursions to California, and while its course in this regard was doubtless dictated by interested considerations, it was so greatly at variance with its earlier policy it made a favorable impression and would have gone far to allay the hostility against the corporation if its political bureau could have been induced to abate its pretension of controlling the various departments of the state govern- ment, and of dictating the choice of California's representatives in the congress of the United States. In 1897 through the cooperation of the passenger department of the Southern Pacific, whose influence in the Transcontinental Association deter- mined the matter, San Francisco secured the convention of the Christian Endeavor Society. The company's records show that 21,375 tickets from Eastern points were sold to passengers who attended this gathering. In 1901 the Epworth League held a meeting in the City which brought thousands from remote sections, the Southern Pacific's sale of tickets aggregating 13,790, and in the same year the Episcopal General Convention of the House of Bishops was held in the City and was attended by a large number of strangers from the East. A year later the Mystic Shriners and the Knights of Pythias held gatherings in the City, and in 1903 the Grand Army of the Republic reunion brought the veterans of the Civil war from all parts of the Union to San Francisco. The Master Plumbers, American Me- chanics and the Bankers Association held their annual meetings in this year in the City, and in 1904 there was a large assemblage of the Methodists whose confer- ence attracted many thousands. In the fall of the same year the Knights Templar held their Triennial Conclave. There were 19,473 tickets sold by the Southern Pacific to attendants at this gathering. The Santa Fe also brought its share out, but the company's aversion to publicity makes it impossible to state how large it was. The Odd Fellows also held a convention in 1904. In 1905 there were nu- merous conventions which brought great numbers of strangers to the City, but the largest contribution of visitors and sight seers in that year was due to the arrange- ment which permitted the visitors to the Lewis and Clarke Exposition, held at Portland to visit California. The Southern Pacific reported that it carried pas- sengers traveling on tickets issued in conformity with this arrangement to the num- ber of 122,466. Its competitor, doubtless, made an equally good showing. The
Many Conventions and Visitors to City
BURNING OF DISTRICT ABOUT MEIGGS WHARF Compare height of flames from oil tanks with height of Telegraph Hill in background
VIEW OF THE GREAT FIRE BURNING THE ITALIAN QUARTER AND THE DISTRICT NEAR MEIGGS WHARF
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effects of this more liberal policy of the transportation companies was visible in the rapidly increasing population of the state which resulted in greatly enlarging the local patronage of the railroads. The Southern Pacific reported 8,438,623 passengers carried on local trains in 1902; in 1905 this number had increased to 9,276,432. The statistics of the ferry and suburban service of the company show 16,103,545 passengers carried in the latter year as against 17,230,482 in 1902, but between those years an active opposition was started and maintained by the Key Route which cut heavily into the business of the older line. The rivalry has brought about greatly improved service between the City and trans-bay region and promoted the growth of the latter.
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