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 34
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NOVEMBER 9th .- While the people of San Francisco were thus nobly sympathizing with the losses of others, fire again broke out among themselves. The flames were first noticed about half-past eight o'clock on the evening of this day, in a wooden building at the corner of Merchant and Kearny streets. The fire companies speedily turned out, and succeeded after working vigorously, though under difficult circumstances, for about an hour and a half, in subduing the conflagration ; al- though not before thirty-two buildings, all of which, excepting one or two, were of wood, had been consumed in Merchant and
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Clay streets. Among these was the Union Hotel. The loss was estimated at about $100,000. The new supposed fire-proof walls were severely tested on this occasion. The substantial masses of the City Hall on one side, the California Exchange on another, and on the east the brick building that faced Montgomery street, effectually prevented the flames from spreading beyond them.
This month was a disastrous one to many places in the State .. Not only had Sacramento been nearly altogether destroyed, while San Francisco had sustained much loss, but Marysville, San Die- go, and other towns and agricultural districts had been severely scourged by fire. It was estimated that the total losses which had fallen on the State from fire alone during the previous three years amounted to sixty-six millions of dollars.
NOVEMBER 21st .- Intelligence received of the death of Daniel Webster. The flags of the shipping, and others on shore, were hung at half mast, minute guns were fired during the day, and the city generally presented the appearance of sincere mourn- ing for the loss of a "leader in Israel." The common council passed resolutions of honor to the deceased statesman ; and it was afterwards proposed by the boards of aldermen that funeral solemnities on a great scale should be performed by the city, as had recently been done in the case of the death of Henry Clay. This proposal, however, through motives of economy, and partly perhaps on account of the rainy season having commenced, was ultimately negatived. It mattered naught to the illustrious dead. His fame here will live for ever, as on the Atlantic shore.
NOVEMBER 23d .- The waters of Lake La Mercede, in the vicinity of the city, and which cover several hundred acres, sank about thirty feet. Shortly before midnight of this day, a shock like that of an earthquake was felt by parties residing near the place ; and the following morning it was discovered that a great channel between the lake and the sea had been opened, through a broad and high sand bank, during the night, by which the waters had found a way and been discharged. It was supposed by some, either that the bed of the lake had been suddenly up- lifted, by volcanic agency, whereby the raised waters scooped through the yielding bank the channel just mentioned, and that afterwards the bed of the lake had fallen to its former level, or
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EXECUTION OF JOSE FORNI.
else that a great sinking of the bank itself had taken place (sup- posed to have been produced by subterranean causes), owing to which depression, the water had been drawn off to the extent mentioned. The most probable conjecture is, that the excessive rains of the season had simply forced open a passage through the broad and loose sand-bank from the lake to the ocean. Formerly the lake had no visible outlet whatever ; and its waters had in- sensibly been kept about the same level by means of evaporation, or by concealed underground communications with the sea.
DECEMBER .- "City Directories" seem to be lucrative proper- ties. We have already noticed that of A. W. Morgan & Co., which appeared in September of this year. Another was pub- lished this month by James A. Parker. This was a much supe- rior publication to either Kimball's or Morgan's. It was an oc- tavo volume of one hundred and forty-six pages, and was well printed. The names were about nine thousand in number, being considerably more than double those contained in either of its forerunners. There was prefixed a creditable sketch of the rise and progress of the city, and the volume contained an appendix of miscellaneous useful information. Such publications in every place become curious and interesting after the lapse of a few years. Especially this will be the case in a rapidly increasing community like San Francisco. To the patient student of the social and personal, as well as the material history of our city, and to the future antiquarian, these little works will be inesti- mable.
DECEMBER 6th .- The election for chief and assistant engi- neers to the firemen is yearly becoming of more importance. That spirited body of men, who, without fee or reward, save the gratitude of the people, are ever ready to peril life and limb to save the persons and properties of the citizens, had become a numerous and influential association. Their annual election of officers took place this day, when George H. Hossefros was chosen chief engineer, and Charles P. Duane, A. R. Simons, and Edward A. Ebbets, assistant engineers.
DECEMBER 10th .- José Forni-or Forner, as he described himself in his first confession-a Spaniard, was hanged upon Russian Hill, for the murder of José Rodriguez, a Mexican, in
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Happy Valley. This was the only legal execution that had taken place in San Francisco, where so many crimes deserving the pun- ishment of death had been committed. The prisoner confessed having killed the deceased, but to the last maintained that the act was done only in self-defence. This, however, was not esta- blished by evidence. The gallows had been originally erected upon the summit of the hill ; but just before the execution, it was removed about one hundred yards towards the west, so that it was not visible from the principal portions of the city. A very large crowd,-variously estimated at from six to ten thousand people,-gathered round the place of execution, at least one- fourth of whom seemed to be youths, women and children.
DECEMBER 17th .- A furious gale from the S. S. E., accom- panied by excessive rains. Considerable damage was sustained by some of the more slimly constructed houses, while the shipping suffered severely. The losses of both were estimated at $200,000. Early in the previous month, a severe "Norther" had threatened much damage to the shipping, and carried away the outer por- tion of one of the smaller wharves. The want of docks, or of breakwaters, upon the north and south sides of the harbor, is felt more and more as the old sheltered cove gets gradually covered with streets and houses by the extension of the water front of the town.
The storm, first above noticed, seriously affected the rivers of the interior, which rose to an unusual height, and inundated most of the towns on their banks. The levee at Sacramento was burst through by the pressure of the flood, and nearly the whole of that unfortunate city, which so recently had been half destroyed by fire, was submerged to a depth of from five to ten feet. Marysville and Stockton were equally flooded. Many sub- stantially built houses were undermined at all these places by the waters, and fell ; whereby much valuable property was de- stroyed. All communication was cut off from the mining quar- ters, and great distress was suffered there by the enormous prices of provisions, particularly of flour, and the difficulty, or impossi- bility of keeping open a connection with the towns for supplies.
CHAPTER XXIII.
1852.
Increase of population .- Mixed character of the immigrants .- Chinese, Peruvians, Chilenos, and other foreigners, notoriously vicious .- Sufferings of the overland immigrants .- Greater attention paid to agricultural pursuits .- City improvements still progressing .- Great fires no longer possible .- Fire insurance agencies established .- Manufactories .- New gold discoveries .- Emigration to Australia .- Merchandise and provisions commanding high prices .- The clipper ships .- Filthy condition of the streets .- Great abundance of rats .- The city extension, bay, and shipping .- The strong winds preventive of disease .- Peculations of officials .- San Francisco only suitable for the industrious .- The city growing in importance .- Change of inhabitants .- Fascinations of San Francisco life .- Reflections concerning the moral condition of the city.
THE population of both the State and city was largely increased in 1852. The departures by sea from San Francisco were only 23,196, while there were 66,988 arrivals. This immigration was about double the amount that had taken place in 1851. The immigrants from the Atlantic States generally crossed the Isth- mus, while the greater number of European foreigners came round Cape Horn. The Germans, a most valuable and indus- trious class of men, and the French, perhaps by nature not quite so steady and hard-working a race, though still a useful body of citizens, were year by year arriving in large numbers, and were readily remarked among the motley population. The most untutored eye could distinguish and contrast the natural phlegm and common-sense philosophy of the fat Teuton, and the " lean and hungry look" and restless gestures of the Celt. Both races were generally " bearded like the pard," though in this respect they were only like the commonalty of San Francisco, who pride themselves much upon hair. The people named cher- ished many of their old nationalities, and generally frequented their own particular boarding and eating houses and places of recreation. The English, Scotch and Irish immigrants, were also numerous, but their characteristics, although something dif-
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ferent, were less distinguishable from those of native Americans than were the manners and customs of other foreigners. Besides these, there were always arriving numerous specimens of most other European nations,-Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, Swiss, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, Russians, Prussians, Dutch, Swedes, Danes, Turks, too-all visited California. Many of them went to the mines, although a considerable proportion never left San Francisco. The country and city were wide enough to hold them all, and rich enough to give them all a moderate independ- ence in the course of a few years. A considerable number of German and French women were constantly arriving, as also many more of the sex from the Atlantic States. The female part of the population, though still numerically very far below the male portion, was increasing, perhaps faster in proportion to their previous numbers.
Upwards of twenty thousand Chinese are included in the general number of arrivals above given. Such people were be- coming very numerous in San Francisco, from whence the recent immigrants from their country scattered themselves over the various mining regions of California. At one period of 1852 there were supposed to be about 27,000 Chinese in the State. A considerable number of people of " color" (par excellence) also arrived. These were probably afraid to proceed to the mines to labor beside the domineering white races, and therefore they re- mained to drudge, and to make much money and spend it in San Francisco, like almost every body else. Mexicans from Sonora and other provinces of Mexico, and many Chilians, and a few Peruvians from South America, were likewise continually com- ing and going between San Francisco and the ports of their own countries. The Chinese immigrants had their mandarins, their merchants, rich, educated and respectable men, in San Francisco ; but all the Mexicans and Chilians, like the people of negro descent, were only of the commonest description. The women of all these various races were nearly all of the vilest character, and openly practised the most shameful commerce. The lewdness of fallen white females is shocking enough to wit- ness, but it is far exceeded by the disgusting practices of these tawny visaged creatures.
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NUMBERS AND CHARACTER OF THE POPULATION.
The land immigration into the State was also exceedingly great this year, numbering probably about thirty thousand per- sons of all ages and both sexes. Among these was a large pre- dominance of youths just entering upon the early prime of man- hood. Much suffering was experienced by those who crossed the great desert, and supplies of provisions and other help were for- warded to them by the State Government of California. The steadily increasing production of gold had held out strong hopes to the adventurous of the Eastern States, and of many other portions of the world, that, after all, as great chances existed of still making a moderate, if not a large fortune, in a short period at the mines, as in the memorable years of 1848, '49 and '50.
Owing to the high prices of all kinds of provisions towards the fall of 1852, many of the older residents in the country, and a few of the later immigrants, began to turn their attention to agricultural pursuits, which promised to yield even larger profits, while they offered a pleasanter, healthier and surer occupation than gold-digging. The choicer districts of the country were thus getting gradually settled by "squatters" and pre-emptors, and some legal purchasers of land ; and a beginning was made towards rendering California independent of foreign countries for supplies of food. A fair proportion of the recent immigrants re- mained in San Francisco, while many who had been laboring in the mines for the previous year or two with indifferent success, or who had become wearied of that kind of life, now visited the city with the view of permanently residing and entering upon some kind of business there. From the census taken this year, by authority of the Legislature, the total population of the State appeared to be 264,435, while that of the County and City of San Francisco was 36,151. These numbers were generally al- lowed to be too small, arising from perhaps unavoidable errors in taking the census. More particularly, the population of San Francisco was supposed to be considerably underrated, the in- habitants of some districts having been imperfectly enumerated. The census was taken towards the close of 1852, and by the end of December of that year, we think the true population of the city alone may be reasonably estimated at 42,000 persons.
The material improvements begun in 1851 were briskly con-
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tinued during the following year. California, Sansome, and Battery streets were lined by a great many additional brick and stone buildings. Front and Davis streets were formed, and closely built upon with houses of frame. The various wharves continued to stretch eastward, as if it were intended that they should soon connect Yerba Buena Island with the mainland. The sand-hills behind supplied ample material for filling up the bay, and giving solid foundations for the increasing number of substantial stores. Every where in the business portion of the city new and hand- some firc-proof edifices were rising. The lower story of these was often constructed of Chinese granite, and the upper ones of brick. The piling across the bay and the filling in were con- stantly going on. No sooner was a water lot piled and capped than up sprang a frame building upon it ; no sooner was the hollow beneath filled than the house of wood was destroyed, and replaced by some elegant brick or granite structure.
At another part of the city, Stockton street was being orna- mented with many handsome brick tenements, which were in- tended for the private residences of some of the wealthier citi- zens ; while over all the western and northern limits additional and much finer frame buildings, and occasionally brick ones, were being erected. Telegraph Hill continued to be seriously encroached upon by the excavating and blasting operations going on at Clark's Point. Even more rapid progress was making to- wards the extreme south. Happy Valley now contained a large number of commodious and handsome habitations, chiefly of frame. Over all the city the process of grading and planking new streets was going on, so that communication between the principal districts was becoming easy. In the centre, the spirit of improvement was busily at work. The plaza indeed remained a disgrace to the authorities ; but Montgomery street, and Com- mercial, Clay, Merchant, Washington and other cross streets, which touched it, were being rapidly covered with substantial and beauti- ful fire-proof buildings. At the north-west corner of Montgomery and California streets a large and imposing edifice of granite was erected. This was occupied by Adams & Co., express agents, and Page, Bacon & Co., bankers, and was the first of the superior class of private edifices which are now so numerous in many parts
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CITY IMPROVEMENTS.
of the city, and particularly on Montgomery street. The stone for this building was prepared in China and put up in San Fran- cisco by Chinese workmen. It was erected, and is owned by Mr. John Parrott. More to the south, great changes were taking place for the better. The faithful " paddy" or steam- excavator never tired. Market street was cut through from Battery to Kearny street ; while the sand-hills at the adjoining
ENCAINCE
JANDETS
Traus C
SPIEGLE' SE-
Parrott's Granite Block.
ends of First and Second streets were rapidly disappearing. Bush street, that recently had been only a huge mound of sand, was levelled. California, Sacramento and other streets leading to the west, were cutting through or climbing over the obstruct- ing eminences. Higher grades were being adopted for the streets in most of the lower quarters of the city, to which the houses were being gradually conformed.
On the whole, a vast improvement had taken place in the aspect of the town, and in the elegance and substantial comfort of the newer buildings. No longer could conflagrations, like the
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great fires of '50 and '51, destroy the centre and most valuable parts of the city. The fire department was organized on the most efficient scale, and included among its members many of the most respectable inhabitants. The different companies were supplied with an excellent stock of engines and other apparatus. The men were enthusiastic, bold fellows, capable of enduring the severest fatigues, and ever ready to hazard life and limb upon the least alarm of fire, when their services could be made useful. An unlimited supply of water could not be depended upon ; but generally there was enough in the many artificial reservoirs formed at the intersection of the chief streets, to extinguish any ordinary conflagration. Confidence was now felt in the stability of the city and its comparative immunity from fire. Two fire insurance agencies, one for a New York and the other for a London company, were established, so that the cautious could in- sure their properties at reasonable rates. This was a striking sign of the improved times. Lenders upon stored goods and on real estate could now secure their advances against all hazard from fire ; while the speculative owners of property were encour- aged to undertake permanent and most expensive improvements.
In the vicinity of the city numerous brick fields had long been established. The new style of fire-proof buildings occasioned a constant demand for this material. California-made bricks are certainly much inferior to well-burned English or United States bricks, yet they are considerably cheaper, and when painted or in some way protected from the weather serve their purpose very well. Besides these extensive manufactories of brick, there were other manufactories and workshops which were being constantly formed. In the district of Happy Valley particularly,-which had been early selected for the site of such establishments,-there existed numerous flour mills and timber saw-mills, iron-foundries, marine and land steam-engine works, and steamer and other boat-building yards. In addition to these larger and more im- posing establishments, there were many workshops, in various parts of the city, of upholsterers, saddle and harness makers, boot and shoe makers, carpenters, blacksmiths, painters, jewellers and other craftsmen. All manufactured articles were no longer im- ported direct from the distant maker; but some of the more
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NEW GOLD DISCOVERIES.
necessary were beginning to be made on the spot from the raw material. The letter-press printers, as might have been antici- pated from the character of the American people, were a numer- ous body ; and on the many newspapers and in extensive job work found ample employment at lucrative rates.
The shops were daily assuming a more splendid appearance, while on their well loaded shelves and the neatly laid out window fronts and counters were displayed a brilliant assortment of the particular goods they dealt in. Stylishly dressed, and often lovely women were constantly seen, in fine weather, promenading the principal streets, and idling their time (which they knew not how otherwise to "kill,") and spending somebody's money in foolish shopping, just as is the custom with the most virtuous dames in the great cities on both sides of the Atlantic. Omni- buses and superb public carriages plied through the streets, and beautiful private equipages glittered and glided smoothly along. While the ladies dressed extravagantly, perhaps to please the other sex, perhaps only to please themselves or annoy some meaner souled or less rich sister, the gentlemen were scarcely be- hind them in this respect. The days of the blouse, the colored shirt and the " shocking bad hat " had fled, never, like time, to return.
The incessant immigration gave liveliness to the streets, and caused much profitable business to be done. At the same time there was a vast emigration. Not only were the usual number of departures to the Eastern States taking place ; but, as we have seen, the discovery of gold in Australia was attracting many Californians to that country. The whole world seemed to be restless and morbidly excited by the cry of gold. Where it was all to end who could tell ? Originally the Americas had been peopled by the same intense desire for the precious metals. Now, the portions of the New World that had been overlooked, and Australia,-a continent in itself,-were being filled by gold hunters, who would assuredly in the course of time play an im- portant part in the history of mankind. San Francisco itself possessed a share of the precious metal. Gold was found in pieces of quartz quarried from Telegraph Hill, in earth excavated in Broadway, in the sand taken from a great depth in sinking
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wells in Stockton street, and at various other parts of the city, in 1850. Indeed, we have seen hundreds of persons occupied in gath- ering it in small particles from the surface of the plaza itself, after a long continued rain. But all these deposits in the centre of the city, there is reason to believe, were scattered through the careless or mischievous behavior of parties who were either unable or too indifferent to take care of the precious metal brought by themselves or others from the well known mining regions, and some of whom doubtless felt repaid for the cost in the wonder- ment they excited.
Over all California, however, gold was continually being dis- covered in new places. It was the mineral wealth of the country that had created San Francisco, and which was the source of its continued prosperity. If this should suddenly fail, or the cry increase of other and richer gold countries, easily accessible like Australia, the city would undoubtedly receive a great shock. Thousands were already moving away, and it was only the un- usually great immigration of the year that prevented their loss from being seriously felt by the city and the country at large. In the end it was found that the Australia mines were not better places for making a speedy fortune than were those of California. while the former were less salubrious and agreeable to the American personally. The emigration therefore to Australia began sensibly to slacken towards the close of this year ; while gradually many of those who had gone thither early began now to return.
In our review of 1851, we had occasion to remark the general fall in the prices of merchandise, and the serious losses sustained by shippers of goods to the San Francisco market during all that year. The "good time" that had been long looked for by mer- chants came at last ; and during the close, and generally over the greater part of this year, not only remunerating but extrava- gantly high prices were obtained for most goods, particularly for all kinds of provisions. Flour, that had been only eight dollars a barrel in March, by November had risen to upwards of forty dol- lars, with a firm market. Rice, that was usually worth only a few cents a pound, advanced, in the course of the year, to forty- five and fifty cents. The Chinese, who preferred rice to every
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