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 25
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295
CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
people on the plaza, and an ode, composed for the occasion by Mrs. Wills, was sung by a full choir. During the day repeated dis- charges of fire-arms and a proper salute from great guns carried off some of the popular excitement, while the shipping displayed innumerable flags. In the evening, public bonfires and fireworks were exhibited from Telegraph Hill, Rincon Point, and the islands in the bay. The houses were likewise brilliantly illuminated, and the rejoicings were every where loudly continued during the night. Some five hundred gentlemen and three hundred ladies met at the grandest public ball that had yet been witnessed in the city, and danced and made merry, till daylight, in the pride and joy of their hearts that California was truly now the thirty-first State of the Union.
On this day (October 29th), the steamer " Sagamore " explo- ded, when about to leave the wharf for Stockton. Thirty or forty persons were killed.
OCTOBER 31st .- Destruction by fire of the City Hospital, which was situated at the head of Clay street, and owned by Dr. Peter Smith. This was supposed to have been the work of an incen- diary. The fire broke out in an adjoining house, which was also consumed. Several of the patients were severely burned, and it was only by the most strenuous exertions of the firemen and citi- zens that they were saved at all.
NOVEMBER .- We have already noticed the progress that had been made in the erection of wharves, and we may now direct at- tention to the important steps that had been taken in grading, planking and otherwise improving the streets of the city. During the summer of this year, the care of the mayor and common coun- cil had been particularly turned towards the improvements of the communications through the town, and many ordinances had been passed with that view. Considerable hills had consequently been cut down and immense hollows filled up. Great quantities of rock and sand were removed, from places where they were only nuisances, to other quarters where they became of use in remov- ing the natural irregularities of the ground, and making all smooth and level. Piles were driven deep in the earth where needed, the principal streets were substantially planked, and commodious sew- ers formed. The cost of these improvements was very great, it
296
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
being estimated that nearly half a million of dollars would be re- quired this year to complete those now in operation. The city paid about one-third of that amount, and raised the remainder by assessment upon the parties whose properties faced the streets which were altered. To show the extent of these improvements, we give the following lists of the streets in which they were now being executed. Those running north and south were as fol- lows :-
Battery street between Market and California-graded and planked.
Sansome
Bush and Broadway,
Montgomery
California
" and sewer.
Kearny
66
CC
Dupont 66
Sacramento
66
Stockton
Clay and Water,
Ohio
Broadway and Pacific,
Taylor
Lombard and Water,
Those running east and west were as follows :
Bush street, between Battery and Montgomery-graded and planked.
California
bulkhead
66
and sewer.
Sacramento
Sansome and Dupont,
¥
Clay
bulkhead and Stockton,
66
CC
Washington
Dupont, 66
66
Pacific
Kearny
66
Broadway
Water and Ohio,
Francisco
Stockton,
Jackson 66
66
Thus the municipal authorities were taking precautions to re- move, before the rainy season commenced, as many as possible of the obstacles, which, during the preceding winter, had rendered the streets nearly impassable.
NOVEMBER 18th .- This day an ordinance regarding the plank- road to the Mission Dolores, and which had previously been car- ried in the Board of Assistant Aldermen by a two-third vote, passed the Board of Aldermen by a constitutional majority, not- withstanding certain objections of the mayor and his consequent veto. The mission, which is situated two and a quarter miles from the plaza, was a place of common resort for the citizens, but the road to it being sandy, was difficult of travel, especially for vehicles. Owing to this cause, the cost of carriage was very great.
297
1
MISSION PLANK-ROAD.
A load of hay, for instance, moved from the mission to the city, cost as much as fifteen or twenty dollars. The same way likewise led to San José, the capital of the State. It was therefore of con- siderable public importance that this road should be speedily im- proved. In the summer of this year, Colonel Charles L. Wilson conceived the plan of laying a plank-road from Kearny street to the mission, and presented a proposition to that effect to the Com- mon Council. He offered to build the road, which, at that time, was considered a tremendous enterprise, in consequence of the high price of lumber and labor, on condition that he was allowed to collect certain rates of toll from those using it, and that he should have the exclusive right of the way for the term of ten years, at the expiring of which time the entire improvements were to revert to the city. An ordinance to grant Col. Wilson the pri- vileges he asked, readily passed one of the boards of aldermen, but it was a long while before it obtained the concurrence of the other ; and not even then until it was so modified that seven years only were allowed the projector for the use of the road, and but five months granted him for completion of the work. The im- portance of the undertaking was admitted on all sides ; and the chief opposition to it was based upon the assumption that the city should rather make it at its own expense and reap the large pro- fits which it was supposed would be the result. This, however, at that period, was impossible, the city being upwards of a million and a half of dollars in debt, and without the slightest prospect of being able for years to defray its unavoidable current ex- penses.
Having obtained the consent of the council, Col. Wilson next met with a formidable obstacle in rather an unexpected quarter. The mayor, after retaining the ordinance the full length of time allowed him, returned it unapproved. Notwithstanding, the coun- cil again adopted it with almost a unanimous vote. Still, the veto of the mayor affected the enterprise unfavorably to a consid- erable extent. Several parties, who had previously engaged to furnish funds for the work, now became alarmed as to the legality of the council's procedure, and withheld their promised aid. Col. Wilson was therefore left alone, to abandon altogether his weighty project, or to carry it on unassisted. He determined upon the lat-
298
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
ter course, and although without any definite idea of the source from whence the means were to be obtained, commenced the work. Having proceeded far enough to give a guarantee for the comple- tion of the project, he visited the capital, and obtained from the
Beach of Yerba Buena Cove, Winter of 1849-50, from Central Wharf to Ilappy Valley.
legislature an act confirming the ordinance of the city council. This renewed confidence in the measure. A half interest in the undertaking was immediately sold, and funds were thus obtained for carrying it on. Upon the very last day allowed under the or- dinance for completion of the work, loaded wagons passed on the road from the mission to the town.
This plank-road has proved of the greatest service to San Fran- cisco, and the property through which it passes has increased im- mensely in value for building purposes. Formerly that property was at times nearly inaccessible, and on all occasions was very difficult and troublesome to reach ; while it is now of compara- tively easy access. Since the formation of this plank-way, another road of the same kind has likewise been formed to the mission, upon similar terms granted by the council to the projectors ; and both are believed to have proved highly lucrative schemes to their spirited proprietors.
299
ANOTHER FIRE.
NOVEMBER 27th .- Hon. Harden Bigelow, Mayor of Sacramen- to City, died this morning at the Union Hotel. He had taken an active part in suppressing the squatter riots at Sacramento, when he received a gun-shot wound which required the amputa- tion of an arm. The operation was performed by Dr. John Hast- ings, by whose advice Mr. Bigelow was removed to San Francisco, believing the climate of that city would conduce toward effecting a more rapid recovery from the effects of the injury. While here he was attacked with cholera, which caused his death. His body was conveyed to the steamboat New World; to be taken to Sacramento for burial, by an escort composed of the California Guard, the mayor, members of the Common Council, heads of departments of the city, and the Society of California Pioneers. Mayor Geary delivered a very appropriate address on the occasion, in which the many excellent traits in the character of the deceas- ed were depicted in a most affecting manner.
NOVEMBER 30th .- A thanksgiving-day for the admission of California into the Union.
DECEMBER 14th .- On the evening of this day a fire broke out in an iron building on Sacramento street, below Montgomery street. Several large stores and much valuable goods were destroyed. The total damage was estimated at about a million of dollars. Elsewhere such a fire might well be called a great one ; but it was not so reckoned in the " Annals of San Francisco."
CHAPTER XIII.
1850.
Population in 1850 .- City improvements .- Grading and planking streets .- Wharves, steamers, man- nfactures .- Supply and demand for goods .- Mines yielding abundantly .- Expresses established .- Moral progress .- Better state of things .- Cholera .- California admitted to the Union .- City Char- ter granted .- First Common Council -The gold medals for Aldermen. - Corruption of officials .- Colton Grants .- Leidesdorff Estate .- City finances .- Outrages and fires .- The prisons and police. -Lynch Law agitated.
IN the course of the year 1850, upwards of thirty-six thousand persons arrived by sea in San Francisco. Of these fully one-half came direct from foreign ports, while many of those that crossed the Isthmus of Panama were likewise from foreign countries. By far the greater number of immigrants were adult males, as might have been anticipated. The most of these persons hastened at once to the mines, only staying a few days, or at most a week or two, in town, to recruit their strength and make preparation for the digger's toil. Perhaps two thousand females, many of whom were of base character and loose practices, were also added this year to the permanent population, if that can be called permanent which dwelt at least a twelvemonth in the city. The immigration across the plains and by land generally into the State was also, as in the preceding year, very large. Great numbers of all these sea and land immigrants, after they had been some months at the mines, and made perhaps a few thousand dollars, returned by way of San Francisco, to their former homes. Many others, altogether disap- pointed with or unfit for the country, went hastily back to the places from whence they had come. Thus vessels leaving the bay, and especially the steamers, were nearly as well filled with passen- gers as when they had first arrived. This constant migration to and from the State gave a wonderful animation to the streets
301
IMPROVEMENTS OF THE CITY.
of the town. Many of the incomers remained in the place, and the regular population continued to increase. At the close of this year, the inhabitants probably numbered between twenty-five and thirty thousand. The Chinese had not yet arrived in any great numbers, but the Chilenos and other people of Spanish-American extraction continued very numerous.
The year 1850 saw a wonderful improvement in the aspect of San Francisco. Notwithstanding the conflagrations which had so often laid in ruins large portions of the city, or perhaps rather to some extent in consequence of them, the buildings in the busi- ness quarters were now remarkable for their size, beauty and soli- dity. The tents and shanties of last year had totally disappeared from the centre of the town, while many of the old frame build- ings that had not been destroyed by fire were replaced by others of a larger and stronger kind, if not by extensive fire-proof brick structures. It is true that in the outskirts there were still numer- ous frail and unsubstantial habitations left, while, farther away many more of the same kind were being weekly and daily added ; but as population and the value of real estate and household pro- perty gradually increased, these temporary erections began to give place to more solid and comfortable buildings. Though labor still commanded high prices, during a great part of the year, most kinds of building materials could be obtained at comparatively low rates, probably at an average of one-fourth or one-sixth of the prices of the preceding season.
While houses were thus changing for the better, an equal improvement was taking place in the character of the streets. If nature had given to San Francisco magnificent water privileges, she had certainly been very chary in bestowing upon it land ones. The site, immediately available for building operations, was ex- ceedingly small, and it was only by the expenditure of a vast amount of labor that additional space could be obtained for the necessary extension of the town. The land around was very hilly and irregular, which had all to be made smooth and plain before proper streets could be designed and convenient houses built. Fortunately the obstructing hills were composed chiefly of sand and easily removed. The original tents, shanties and houses had just been placed upon the old uneven surface, high up
302
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
or low down as it happened ; but it was soon found, that if the city was ever intended by its inhabitants to grow to greatness, some method must be observed in bringing them more upon a straight line, with ready access between all parts of the place. Very expensive works were therefore ordered by the town council, to establish a regular and convenient grade to the streets, while these were in many places substantially planked, and in some instances had sewers constructed along them. During the sum- mer of 1850, such alterations had been proceeded with to a con- siderable extent, and now, when the winter and rainy season approached, their utility was seen and appreciated by all.
Other material improvements were keeping pace with those of the houses and streets. Numerous well appointed wharves were run out into the deep waters of the bay, at which the largest vessels could lay alongside and discharge. Better regulations were continually being adopted by the harbor masters to facilitate the shipping interests. In the year just passed six hundred and fifty-six sea-going vessels had arrived and discharged at the port. Of these five hundred and ninety-eight were American, and fifty- eight of different foreign countries. The public offices of the city and State were removed to more commodious and accessible buildings. The towns around the shores of the bay and those situated on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers could now be easily, rapidly and cheaply reached, by means of numerous large, strong and beautiful steamboats. All along the outer coasts, magnificent steamships regularly carried the mails and passengers. In San Francisco itself, many workshops and man- ufactories began to be established ; and, if few articles of trade were manufactured from the beginning out of raw materials, at least extensive repairs could always be now made upon them. The important suburb of "Happy Valley," on the southern side of the town, became quite a hive of manufacturing industry, where there were many large works for the building and repairing of steam and sailing vessels, foundries, lumber-yards, docks, flour- mills and workshops of various kinds. Labor of every description was highly paid, and generally all branches of the community had reason to be satisfied with their profits.
The enormous gains of the preceding year had tempted those
303
GENERAL VIEW OF THE CITY.
who partook of them to largely increase their shipments for 1850, while others, determined to share in the golden spoil, hastened to send additional goods to what was a limited market at best. The in- creased supply of merchandise soon affected the market, and prices in the spring of 1850 fell very considerably. There was a slight subsequent reaction in the course of the year, but towards the close, markets became more depressed than ever, and much em- barrassment ensued to the mercantile class. This fall in prices, as well as the natural depreciation in the value of real estate from the former excessive rates, and the losses sustained by the many great fires, led to a monetary crisis, when a great number of merchants, real estate jobbers and others became bankrupt. One particular consequence of the excessive supply of goods was the sudden extraordinary increase of auctioneering business. When markets began to fall, and merchants found that their im- portations could not afford to pay storage and other charges, and still more, when commission agents desired to realize their ad- vances, or were urged by foreign correspondents to sell at any price, then whole shiploads of merchandise were rattled off with a crack of the auctioneer's hammer. It seemed to be of little moment at what rate so that somehow the matter was fixed, ac- counts could be adjusted, and the distant sufferer made aware of the net amount of his loss. This was still farther the case during the succeeding year. The auction business was mean- while becoming one of great importance, which it continued to be, and is now, in San Francisco. That system of disposing of goods possesses many advantages, among which are speedy returns, and in the case of brisk demand, perhaps also better prices than can be obtained otherwise, but, at a period of glut, it fearfully sacrifices the interests of the luckless absent proprietor of unsaleable merchandise. In 1850, and still more in 1851, these things could not well be helped by any party. Still, however great individual losses and sufferings might be, the general interests of the place were all this while steadily advancing ; and this was only one of the severe ordeals through which every great city in its unexpected origin and speedy progress might be expected to pass.
The mines were yielding larger returns than ever, the country was being rapidly peopled, agriculture was beginning to be followed
304
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
to a considerable extent, towns were in course of erection, and magnificent structures built on all the land. San Francisco was the great centre from whence all these changes and improvements originated, and naturally kept to itself a large proportion of them. Steam and stage " expresses "-the invariable concomitants of American progress-were established over the whole country and to the Atlantic States, and letters, newspapers and packages were conveyed with speed and safety at moderate rates. A powerful press diffused general information, and from the pulpits of many able churches flowed religious and moral consolation. These are the marks of high civilization, and they were strikingly stamped upon San Francisco. Some of the first immigrants had sent for their wives and families, and a few of those who had come later brought them in their train. The " household gods " were set up in many a dwelling, and the inmates could now worship and enjoy their blessings together. Instead of the old scenes of terrible confusion which we have described as existing at the close of 1849, the city, only one twelvemonth later, presented an orderly, decent and busy aspect, with moderately clean and regular streets, houses of fair proportions, prices of provisions and goods reasonable, markets supplied with every luxury for the table, convenient wharves for shipping, "expresses " by sea and land, a dozen churches, half-a-dozen banking establishments, several theatres, well-filled book and music stores, six or seven daily newspapers, magnificent hotels and restaurants, handsome public carriages for the rich and ostentatious, and with almost every luxury, conve- nience and necessary, mental and corporeal, that old cities in long peopled and civilized countries could boast of. The earliest citi- zens formed themselves into the "Society of California Pioneers," and numerous associations were organized for municipal and de- fensive, literary, charitable, musical, social and similar purposes, just as we find in the old established communities. Most of the inhabitants certainly seemed to live purely to heap more dollars to their existing store ; but it was not altogether so. Rays of refinement were shooting through the sordid mass, and gradually turning it towards a feeling that there was something higher, happier and better than mere money gathering. But while this ennobling leaven was silently and slowly at work among the busy
305
ALDERMEN'S MEDALS.
multitudes, the great apparent characteristics of the place con- tinued to be its material progress and the incessant stir and in- dustry of the people. The town had been severely tried in the conflagrations which so repeatedly destroyed large portions of the most valuable districts ; but nothing could daunt the energy and enterprise of the inhabitants. These losses and all the natural obstacles of the site were successively overcome, and the city grew daily more grand and rich.
Cholera visited San Francisco in the fall of this year ; but its ravages were slight. The greatest number of deaths in any one day did not exceed ten or twelve. The epidemic began in October, was at its height in November, and disappeared by the close of the year. Notwithstanding the filth and rubbish which naturally collected around the scene of so many busy operations by a vast population which had hitherto adopted no proper means to preserve cleanliness and purity of atmosphere, the health of the place was wonderfully preserved ; and neither by cholera, which alights and is most deadly on the filthiest spots of a country, nor by other diseases, did a disproportionate or unusual number of deaths occur. This is high testimony to the extreme salubrity of the climate. The winter of 1850-51 was a remark- ably dry and pleasant one, a striking contrast to the dreary winter of 1849-50.
In the course of 1850, two great political changes had taken place : California had been admitted into the Union, and a city charter, previously approved of by the inhabitants, had been granted to San Francisco by the State Legislature. The latter was much improved and re-granted in the following year. In the Appendix we give copies of the State Constitution and of the amended City Charter. By these events, the hands of both the general and local authorities were greatly strengthened, and the foundations of a firm government fairly laid.
The first common council of San Francisco, under the char- ter, had certainly a considerable deal to do, and perhaps did it well enough ; but their appropriation of a large portion of the city funds to themselves, by the name of salaries, met with much opposition from the citizens, which had at least the effect of re- ducing the amount one-third. At a later date of the year, the
20
306
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
aldermen were said to have mysteriously voted to themselves a gold medal, of the value of one hundred and fifty dollars, sup- posed to be for those public and extra services which were not covered by the salaries of six or four thousand dol- lars, nor by the very many fine opportunities for cor-
E
A
R
E
ADMITTED
A
Presented to
130 CALIFORN
Memb'r
Board of
Ass't Aldermen
by the
of San
Franci
Oct.
sco,
Aldermen's Meda !.
18 50 SEP. 9, 1850. OGSI 61 9,
poration jobbery. But general curiosity being excited on the subject, and prying inquiries made as to the when and how, the why and the where- fore, these medals were earned, voted and paid for, the council boards suddenly found it conve- nient to pretend utter ig- norance of the whole mat- ter, and to quietly pay for the medals themselves, to put into the melting pot. The truth of the matter seems to have been that one of the sub-committees appointed to make ar- rangements for the public festival of the 29th Octo- ber, to celebrate the ad- mission of California into the Union, had wilfully or ignorantly overstepped their duties, and, assum- ing the glad consent of
their brethren, had ordered these medals, on pretence of suitably decorating the aldermen for the occasion. But unluckily the medals were not, and could not have been procured in time for that celebration. The whole affair became an excellent joke, al-
307
CAUSES OF LITIGATION.
though a somewhat bitter one against the goaded council. To perpetuate the memory of those happy, or unhappy times for our " city fathers," we give illustrations of the wonderful medal. It will be noticed that a blank is left in the inscription for the name of the worthy recipient.
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