USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The annals of San Francisco; containing a summary of the history of California, and a complete history of its great city: to which are added, biographical memoirs of some prominent citizens > Part 2
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CHAPTER XXIV .- Commerce .- Mercantile Library Association .- The Limantour claim .- Elec- tion of delegates to revise the City Charter .- Third annual celebration of the organization of the Fire Department .- Steamships lost .- Extension of the city water front .- United States Marine Hospital. 427
CHAPTER XXV .- Russ's garden .- The German population .- May-day celebration by school-chil- dren,-Burning of the Rassette House .- Mountain Lake Water Company .- General Stato Hospi- tal .- Drinking houses .- Clipper ships and short passages .- Military parade and celebration of 4th of July .- Dedication of the First Congregational Church .- St. Mary's (Catholic) Church .- Unita- rian Church .- Seamen's Bethel .- Squatter difficulties .- Store-ships burned .- Strikes by mechan- ies and laborers for higher wages .- Anniversary of the German Turnverein .- City and county election .- Lafayette Hook and Ladder Company organized .- The French inhabitants .- Sweeney & Bangh's electric telegraph 415
CHAPTER XXVI .- Important legal decision of the Supreme Court confirming Alcaldes' grants .- Burning of the St. Francis IIotel .- Opening of the telegraph communication to Marysville .- Lone Mountain Cemetery .- Anniversary of the day of St. Francis .- The Mission Dolores .- The Span- ish races in California .- The Custom-House Block .- The steamship Winfield Scott wrecked .- Election of officers of the Fire Department .- The Sonorian Filibusters .- Opening of the Metro- politan Theatre .- Great sales of water lots .- Montgomery block. 467
CHAPTER XXVII .- Numbers and description of the population of the State .- Amount of gold produced from California mines .- San Francisco as related to California .- Population of San Francisco .- City improvements .- Commercial statistics. 484
12
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVIII .- Prosperity of San Francisco .- Business activity .- Fortunes rapidly made .- Disputes concerning titles to real estate .- Real property commanding extravagantly high prices. -Social. moral and Intellectual characteristics .- Gambling .- Vico Icss concealed in San Francisco than in other elties .- The female population .- Expenses of housekeeping .- Foreign population. -The marvollons progress of the city during the past few years. 497
CHAPTER XXIX .- Meeting of citizens regarding the Stato Revenue Act .- Run on Adams & Co. -Banking and banking-houses .- The Express Building .- Weather unusually cold .- Effects of the weather upon tho interests of the country .- Le Count & Strong's Directory for 1854 .- Loss of the clipper ship San Francisco .- The city lighted with gas .- Riot at the Mercantile Hotel .. 510
CHAPTER XXX .- Commercial depression .- Decrease in tho valuo of real estate and merchandise. -Combination of the steamboat owners .- Rates of freight and passage on river steamers .- Duels and duelling .- Sale of " government reserve " town lots .- Celebration of St. Patrick's day. -Conviction of filibusters .- Opening of tho San Francisco branch mint .- The Pacific railroad .- Falling of the U. S. bonded-warehouse .- Explosion of the boiler of the steamboat "Secretary." -Arrival of Chinese immigrants .- Quick passage of the clipper ship "Flying Cloud."-Wreck of the " Golden Flecco ". 519
CHAPTER XXXI .- Trial of the Mexican consul .- Arrest of the French consul .- Chinese newspa- per established .- German May-feast at Russ's Garden .- The Iloadley street grades .- Indictment by the Grand Jury of Sonora filibusters .- Dedication of the Lone Mountain Cemetery .- Exten- sive Contlagration .- Report of the funded debt commissioners .- Squatter difficulties .- Sale of public property .- Captain Adams arrived with the Japan treaty .- Alderman elected ... ..... 531
CHAPTER XXXII -Commercial depression .- Reduction of prices of merchandise and real estate. -Fall in rents .- Improved character of the buildings .- The plaza being improved .- Govern- ment fortifications of the harbor commenced .- Immigration and emigration .- The population. -Yield of the gold mines .- Labor profitable in California .- The quicksilver mines .- Agricul- tural resources .- Fisheries .- Telegraphs and railroads .- Ship-building .- Foreign relations .- Ice and coal trade,-Mail steamers between San Francisco and Shanghae .- The international rail- way .- San Francisco water front extension .- The proposed new city charter .- Claim of the city to Pueblo lands .- Inercase of sources of domestic comfort .- Immoralities continue to pre- vail .- Duel and duelling .- Theatrical entertainments .- Daily newspapers .- Means of moral and oducational improvement. 543
PART III.
"THE HOUNDS ... 558
THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE 562
DEATHS AND BURIALS. 588
THE GREAT FIRES 598 THE FIRE DEPARTMENT
STEAMER-DAY 626
614
HOTELS, HESTAURANTS AND BOARDING-HOUSES.
PUBLIO AMUSEMENTS 639
SOME PHASES OF SAN FRANCISCO "LIFE" 665
675 CHURCHES AND RELIGION 1
INDEPENDENT MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS 702 SOCIAL AND BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 709 718
MEMOIR OF JOHN W. GEARY.
CHARLES J. BEENHAM.
735
STEPHEN R. HARRIS, M. D. 740
C. K. GARRISON 744
SAMUEL BRANNAN 748
JOSEPH L. FOLSOM 754
THOMAS O. LARKIN. 758
653 PUBLIC SCHOOLS
687
13
CONTENTS.
MEMOIR OF JOHN A. SUTTER
S MARIANO DE GUADALUPE VALLEJO.
765
769
EDWARD GILBERT. 773
WILLIAM D. M. HOWARD
779
66 JOSEPH F. ATWILL
751
JONATHAN D. STEVENSON 74
WILLIAM M. GWIN. 790
SELIM E. WOODWORTH
794
THEODORE PAYNE 799
APPENDIX.
GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA S05 CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA S06
ACT OF CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO. S16
MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA PIONEERS 822
Custom-house, now (1951) being erected on Battery street.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
1 .- Bartlett's General Map, showing the countries explored by the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission
2 .- Montgomery street, San Francisco, north, from California street, Frontispiece. 3 .- Custom-house, being erected on Battery street, San Francisco 14
1 .- Seal of the Society of California Pioneers 19
5 .- Map of the City of San Francisco 20
6 .- Portrait of Sir Francis Drake 27
7 .- Sir Francis Drake and California Indians 29
8 .- Sir Francis Drake's Bay, or Jack's Harbor 32
9 .- Landing of Captain Woodes Rogers, in Upper California 35
10 .- View of the country in the interior of California 39
11 .- Spanish Ship of Seventeenth Century, and Coast of California 42
12 .- Mission Dolores, or Mission of San Francisco 48
15 .- California Indians 52
11 -Indians under Instruction 57
15 .- Father Garzes and California Indians
59
15
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
65
18 .- A Mission Rancho 73
19 .- Portrait of Father Antonio Peyri 76
20 .- Sutter's Fort, or New Helvetia
85
21. - Portrait of Colonel John C. Fremout 91
22 .- Portrait of Thomas O. Larkin 95
23 .- Portrait of Commodore Robert F. Stockton 113
24 .- Sutter's Mill 131
25 .- City of Monterey 138
26 .- Entrance to the Golden Gate 151
27 .- The Golden Gate 153
28 .- City of Stockton 155
29 .- Island and Cove of Yerba Buena 158
30 .- Portrait of Jacob Primer Leese 167
31 .- Celebration of the 4th of July at Leese's House 170
32 .- San Francisco from the Bay, in 1847 177
33 .- Suffering Immigrants in the Sierra Nevada 189
34 .- Rush for the Gold Regions 203
35 .- San Francisco in the Winter of 1848 206
36 .- A Mining Scene 213
37 .- San Francisco in 1849, from the head of Clay street 224
38 .- Prison-brig Euphemia and Store-ship Apollo 232
39 .- San Francisco in 1849, from head of California street 234
40 .- Parker House and Dennison's Exchange, December, 1849 242 41 .- Muddy Streets 244
42 .- Lodging House 247
43 .- Parker House, when first opened 251
44 .- Adobe Custom-house on Portsmouth square 255
45 .- Post-office, corner of Pike and Clay streets 260
46 .- The Presidio of San Francisco 263
47 .- San Francisco, April, 1850, south side of Portsmouth square 270
48 .- Fire of May 4th, 1850 274
49 .- Diagram of Fire of May 4th, 1850 275
50 .- Custom-house, corner of Montgomery and California streets 282
51 .- Sacramento City 285
52 .- Emigrant Train 287
53 .- Beach of Yerba Buena Cove, Winter of 1849-'50 298
54 .- Aldermen's Medals . 306
'55 .- San Francisco, Winter of 1849-'50 309
·
16 .- Mission of Santa Barbara
17 .- Mission of San Carlos 69
16
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
56 .- City-hall, February 221, 1851 316
57 .- Fire of May 4th, 1851 330
58 .- San Francisco after the Fire of May 4th, 1851 332
59 .- Caricature: "The King's Campaign " 336
60 .- Hanging of Jenkins on the Plaza 3.13
61 .- Old City Hotel 346
62 .- Residence of Samuel Brannan, Esq., in 1847 347
63 .- Jenny Lind Theatre 354
64 .- East side of Portsmouth square, Spring of 1850 358
65 .- New World Market, corner of Commercial and Leidesdorff streets 361 66 .- Chinese Merchants and Coolie 379
67 .- Chinese Gambling House 383
68 .- Chinese Females 385
69 .- Chinese Merchants 387
70 .- Clipper-ship 392
71 .- Seene in the Gold Mines 404
72 .- Parrott's Granite Block . 415
73 .- A Street Scene on a rainy night 420
74 .- Wreck of the Steamship Tennessee 435
75 .- United States' Marine Hospital 443
76 .- Lager-bier Politicians 447
77 .- New Rassette House . 449
78 .- First Congregational Church .
454
79. - Unitarian Church 456
80 .- French Shoe-blacks: a Street Scene 462
81 .- Outer Telegraph Station 464
82 .- Inner Telegraph Station -165
83 .- St. Francis Hotel, after the fire 468
84 .- Interior of a Mission Church 470
85 .- Custom-house Block 473
86 .- Montgomery Block 483
87 .- Interior of the El Dorado: a Gambling Scene 501
88 .- San Francisco Beauties: the Celestial, the Señora and Madame 504
89 .- Colored Population : Greaser, Chinaman and Negro 506
90 .- View of San Francisco in 1854 510
91 .- Express Building 514
92 .- Wilson's Exchange, Sansome street 524
93 .- San Francisco U. S. Branch Mint 526
94 .- City of Oakland, Contra Costa . 528
95 .- Celebration at Russ's Garden . 536
17
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
96 .- Lone Mountain Cemetery 538
97 .- Plaza, or Portsmouth Square, June, 1854 545
98 .- Charcoal Merchant 549
99 .- California Exchange, corner of Clay and Kearny streets, June, 1854 . 551
100 .- New Merchants' Exchange, Battery street 552 101 .- The Hounds 553
102 .- Hanging of Whittaker and Mckenzie 562
103 .- Hanging of James Stuart
580
104 .- Yerba Buena Cemetery 588 105 .- Fire of June 22d, 1851 .
598
106 .- Diagram of the Burnt District, May 4th, 1851 609
107 .- Diagram of the Burnt District, June 22d, 1851 612 108 .- San Francisco Firemen 614
109 .- Departure of a Steamship 626 110 .- Homeward-bound Miners 632
639 111 .- Oriental Hotel .
112 .- Interior of Winn's Brauch .
643
113 .- Turk with Sweetmeats . 645 114 .- St. Francis Hotel 648
115 .- The Tehama House 650
116 .- International Hotel 651
117 .- Russ's Garden 653
118 .- Portrait of Mrs. A. F. Baker 657
119 .- Miss Matilda Heron . 661
120 .- Fancy Ball, California Exchange 665
121 .- The old School-house on Portsmouth Square 675
122 .- Portrait of Col. T. J. Nevins 680
123 .- First Presbyterian Church 687
124 .- Presbyterian Church, destroyed by fire, June 22d, 1851 691
125 .- Present Presbyterian Church 693
126 .- Vallejo street Catholic Church 696
127 .- St. Mary's Catholic Church 698
128 .- Armory Hall 702
129 .- Front street, Sacramento City 704
130 .- San Francisco Orphans' Asylum 709
131 .- Alcalde's Office, Portsmouth Square 718
132 .- Portrait of Col. John W. Geary
725
133. Charles J. Brenham . . 735 134 .- Stephen R. Harris, M. D. 740 135. C. K. Garrison 744
2
18
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
136 .- Portrait of Samuel Brannan
748
137. Joseph L. Folsom 754
138 .- Thomas O. Larkin 758
139 .- John A. Sutter 765
1.10 .-- James Marshall 767
141 .- Mariano de Guadalupe Vallejo 769
142 .-
Edward Gilbert 773
143 .-
William D. M. Howard 779
144 .- .. Jonathan D. Stevenson 784
145 .- William M. Gwin 790
146 .- Selim E. Woodworth 794
147 .- Theodore Payne 799
148 .- Store of T. Payne & Co., formerly the Jackson House 803
149 .- Great Seal of the State of California 805
150 .- Seal of the City of San Francisco 816
1
OFFICERS OF TIIE SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA PIONEERS, ELECTED JULY 7TH, 1854.
JACOB R. SNYDER, President.
Vice-Presidents.
G. B. Post, San Francisco.
II. W. Theall, Tuolumne.
W. A. Richardson, Marin.
J. C. L. Wadsworth, do.
P. C. Carillo, Santa Barbara.
G. Yount, Napa.
B. S. Lippincott, do. J. A. Sutter, Sutter. II. L. Ford, Colusi.
J. P. Leese, Monterey.
J. Bidwell, Butte.
C. R. Johnson, Los Angeles.
J. Belden, Santa Clara.
P. B. Cornwall, Sacramento.
S. Purdy. San Joaquin.
J. Caldwell Low, Secretary. W. T. Sherman, Treasurer.
Board of Directors.
W. Van Voorhies,
O. P. Sutton.
J. Shew, T. A. Warbass,
J. M. Huxley,
G. F. Lemon,
S. W. Haight.
Corresponding Members.
D. S. Turner,
S. R. Harris, F. Soule, W. B. Farwell,
A. G. Abell.
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
PART FIRST.
CHAPTER I.
Proposed Treatment of the Work-Etymology of the name California-Lower or Old California -- Grixalva and Mendoza-First Discovery-Expeditions of Cortez-Cabrillo-Ferrelo-Drake- Drake's Description of the Natives-Bodega and San Francisco Bays-Sir Francis Drake's Bay- Cavendish-Captain Woodes Rogers-His Description of the Natives-The English Buccaneering Expeditions along the West Coasts of the Americas-Political Reasons why the Spanish Govern- ment strenuously prosecuted the Discovery and Settlement of the Californias.
IT appears expedient, before entering upon the annals of San Francisco proper, to give a short review of the first dis- covery, settlement, and progress of California itself, including an account of the aboriginal inhabitants, and of the first estab- lishment, rise, and decline of the priest class, their sovereigns, whose domination forms a most peculiar and interesting phase in the general history of the country. The subject indeed com- prehends, or naturally demands, some notice of these points ; for, up to a recent period, San Francisco, from its being the " golden gate " to the wealth of the State, and from its many physical advantages, its population, the rapidity and grandeur of its wondrous rise and progress, the energy of its citizens, the extent of its home and foreign commerce, its universal fame, arising chiefly from its being associated in the minds of men,
22
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
Americans as well as foreigners, with the first discovery and subsequent astonishing produce of gold-San Francisco, from these and other causes, has been in a great measure identified with California itself. No history, therefore, of the city, could be complete, unless it included some account of the circum- stances which preceded and immediately accompanied its rise, and which have made it what it almost already is, but which it will more plainly soon become, the greatest and most magnifi- cent, wealthy and powerful maritime city in the Pacific-a city which is destined, one day, to be, in riches, grandeur and influ- ence, like Tyre or Carthage of the olden time, or like Liverpool or New York of modern days.
We propose to embody in a succinct and continuous narra- tive, the subjects already particularly noticed-a general account of the causes, progress, and consequences of the war of 1846, between the Mexican and American States-the cession of Cali- fornia to the latter-the first discovery of gold, and the imme- diate results of that discovery upon the prosperity and popula- tion of the country-its admission as a State into the American Union-and a description of its physical geography, and of its commercial, agricultural, pastoral, and mineral wealth, and capabilities to receive and satisfy millions of additional inhabit- ants. These matters will form PART FIRST of the work.
We shall afterwards, at somewhat greater length, describe, in a similar continuous narrative, the progress and the various incidents which happened, year by year, and month by month, in San Francisco itself, from the period when California was ceded by the Mexicans, and State and town became American, up to the present time, and which, properly speaking, alone consti- tute the " ANNALS" of the city. This subject will constitute PART SECOND.
In the subsequent portion of the volume, we shall devote special chapters, in no particular order, to the more minute details of whatever things were most peculiar and interesting-physical and intellectual, social and moral, and their causes and conse- quences-which marked the progress of the city, and gave it a world-wide reputation for good or for evil. In this division of the work will be included biographical and personal sketches,
23
ETYMOLOGY OF THE NAME CALIFORNIA.
and anecdotes of the more prominent and distinguished actors in the bustling scenes of the time, and whose names are closely associated either with the general history of California, or with the particular rise and progress of San Francisco itself. These topics will be comprehended in and constitute PART THIRD.
The remembrance of these matters is still fresh in the minds of our people ; but, in the silent lapse of years, many of them must gradually fade away. It would then be well, that after the present generation disappears, our posterity should know something of the early history and triumphant progress of their glorious city, and of its worthiest or most noted sons, and the exciting, troublous scenes of the last seven or eight years, all drawn from the fullest and most accurate sources that are still to be had. We propose then to make this book an original record of the sub- jects alluded to.
The etymology of the name CALIFORNIA is uncertain. Some writers have pretended that it is derived from the two Latin words calida fornax, or, in the Spanish language, caliente fornalla -- a hot furnace. This, however, is doubted by Michael Venegas, a Mexican Jesuit, in his " Natural and Civil History of California" (2 vols. Madrid, 1758), a work of much research and high au- thority. In his opinion, the early Spanish discoverers did not. name their new-found lands in this pedantic fashion. " I am therefore inclined to think," he says, "that this name owed its origin to some accident ; possibly to some words spoken by the Indians, and misunderstood by the Spaniards," as happened in several other cases.
The name California is first found in Bernal Diaz del Castillo, an officer who served under Hernando Cortez, in the conquest of Mexico, and who published a history of that extraordinary expe- dition ; and is by him limited to a single bay on the coast. On the other hand, Jean Bleau, the celebrated geographer (Amster- dam, 1662), includes under the term all those immense tracks of country lying west of New Spain and New Galicia, comprehend- ing the whole coast line from the northern parts of South America to the Straits of Anian (Behring's Straits). In this larger sense of the word, Jean Bleau is followed by several other geographers.
24
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
However, whatever be the limits of the country, the name has occasionally changed. In some English maps it is called NEW ALBION, because Sir Francis Drake, the well known English admiral, who touched on the coast in 1579, so styled it. About a century later, it is denominated ISLAS CAROLINAS (the penin- sula of California being then supposed to be an island), in honor of Charles II. of Spain ; and this designation was adopted by several writers and geographers of repute. After a time, the original name of California was revived, and soon silently and universally adopted.
California-meaning the existing Lower, or Old California, was known to be a peninsula so early as 1541, when a map drawn up at Madrid, by Castillo, already mentioned, represents the direction of the coasts nearly as they are known at present. Yet this fact was unaccountably forgotten for one hundred and sixty years, when Father Kühn (Kino, of the Spaniards) seemed, for the first time, to prove that California was not an island, but a peninsula. In the early part of the sixteenth century, dreams of a direct western opening to the Indias filled men's minds, as later did those of a north-west passage. This was the first idea of Columbus, which led to his great discoveries, and which he held till death. In 1523, Charles V., in a letter, dated from Valladolid, recommended to Cortez to seek on the eastern and western coasts of New Spain, for such a passage. Cortez, in his answer to the emperor, speaks with the greatest enthusiasm of the probability of such a discovery, "which," he adds, " will render your majesty master of so many kingdoms that you will be considered as the monarch of the world ; " and seems to have undertaken several voyages for the purpose of ascertaining the fact.
In 1534, Cortez fitted out two ships under the command of Hernando Grixalva and Diego Becerra de Mendoza, a relation of his own, partly to learn the fate of a missing vessel of a previous expedition, but chiefly to continue the coast discoveries. These two ships happened to separate the first night following their departure from Tehuantepec, and did not meet again. Grixalva, after sailing three hundred leagues, came to a desert island, which he called Santa Thome, believed to lie near the point of Califor-
25
EXPEDITIONS OF HERNANDO CORTEZ.
nia. This is supposed to be one of the group of islands now called the Revillagigedo Islands. He proceeded no farther north, and made no fresh discoveries ; but shortly afterwards returned to New Spain. Becerra, the commander of the other ship of this expedition, was of a choleric, haughty disposition ; and, having shown that offensively to his people, was murdered by a malcon- tent crew, led on by his pilot Ortun, or Fortuño Zimenes, a native of Biscay.
Zimenes afterwards continued the voyage of discovery, and appears to have sailed westward across the gulf, and to have touched the peninsula of California. This was in the year 1534. He therefore was the first discoverer of the country. "But," says Venegas, "he could not fly from the hand of Omnipotence ; for coming to that part which has since been called Santa Cruz Bay, and seems to be part of the inward coast of California, he went ashore, and was there killed by the Indians, with twenty other Spaniards." Upon this disaster, the remaining crew got frightened, and returned to New Spain. This Bay of Santa Cruz, so named by Cortez the following year, seems to be the same as that now called La Paz, lying on the western side of the Gulf of California, about a hundred miles north of Cape St. Lucas. Some writers, however, suppose it to have been situated much nearer the southern extremity of the peninsula.
Humboldt, in his " Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain," in stating these circumstances, mentions in a note, that he found in a manuscript preserved in the archives of the vice- royalty of Mexico, that California was discovered in 1526, though he knew not, he says, on what authority this assertion was founded. From an examination which he seems to have made of other manuscripts of the period, preserved in the Academy of History at Madrid, Humboldt seems satisfied that this alleged discovery of California in 1526 was unfounded, and that the country had not even been seen in the expedition of Diego Hurtado de Men- doza, who was a near relation of Cortez, so late as 1532.
In 1535, Cortez himself coasted both sides of the Gulf of California, which was first called the Sea of Cortez, but was more generally known as the Mar Roxo, o Vermejo, (the Red, or Vermillion Sea), probably from its resembling the Red Sea
26
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
between Arabia and Egypt in shape, or from the discoloration of its waters at the northern extremity by the Rio Colorado, or Red River. Gomara, the Spanish historian, in 1557, likened it more judiciously to the Adriatic. In the English maps, it is gen- erally marked as the Gulf of California. Francisco de Ulloa, at command and likewise at the personal expense of Cortez, prosecuted farther discoveries along the coast, and during the subsequent two years, succeeded in exploring the gulf nearly to the mouth of the Colorado. Neither Cortez, however, nor Ulloa seems to have discovered the coast of New or Upper California.
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