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 36
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The tracts of land contained within the boundaries men-
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431
THE LIMANTOUR CLAIM.
tioned (which are vague and very unsatisfactorily given), com- prise four square leagues, and include a great part of the most valuable portion of the city. It may also be mentioned here, that, in addition to these four square leagues, Señor Limantour likewise claimed the Islands of Alcantraz and Yerba Buena in the bay, and the whole group of the Farallones, which lie twenty or thirty miles off the Heads, and a tract of land, one square league in extent, situated opposite the Island of Los Angeles, at the westward of Racoon Straits. Besides these islands and square leagues, Limantour has also claimed before the Board of Land Commissioners still more extensive properties in various parts of the State, amounting in all to considerably more than a hundred square leagues of land. All other claims are a bagatelle to this.
These great claims seemed so ridiculous and untenable at first sight, that the press and individuals pecuniarily interested were generally disposed to think very lightly of them. That Limantour should have been so long silent as to his alleged rights was a very odd circumstance that generated suspicion all was not told. He had looked on during years when the property included in his grants was being transferred over and over again to new buyers, always rising in value at every sale, and had tacitly appeared to assent to the existing state of things. When the ground was worth many millions of dollars, and hundreds, if not thousands of individuals were pecuniarily interested in it, then Limantour first declared his pretensions. His claim seemed monstrous-to one half of the great City of San Francisco, with all its houses and improvements and future prosperity !- a claim that had been mysteriously concealed for eight or ten years ! Pshaw ! it could not be an honest, valid one. So folks said to themselves. As while we write the matter remains under judi- cial consideration,-though some years may pass before a judg- ment can be obtained,-we are prevented from examining mi- nutely the nature both of the claim and the objections to it. We may only state generally that many believe the former is "false, fraudulent, or simulated ;" while Gen. James Wilson, Liman- tour's attorney, says-" With a perfect knowledge of all the pa- pers and documents in the case ; a careful consideration of all
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
the testimony taken, I am constrained to say, and I do most conscientiously say, that there is not, and in my firm belief there cannot possibly be, the slightest indicia of fraud in it, or in any way connected with it. 'Fraud is to be proved, not inferred.'" In the pamphlet from which these quotations are made, and which was printed and published by order of Limantour, Gen. Wilson discusses Micheltorrena's alleged grant, and finds it abundantly proved. He thus settles his client's cause with a thunder-clap sentence, which must frighten the very souls of Limantour's "nimble adversaries : "-" Say that deed of grant is not valid ! Never-NEVER ! It cannot be so said without rushing roughshod and blindfold over all the facts in the case, and all the law and equity in Christendom." If proof and the Land Commissioners sanction Limantour's claim, there will be a day of reckoning and lament to many of our citizens, who have fondly imagined themselves the true proprietors of much valuable real estate. Then will be tried the truth and worth of the max- im-Justitia fiat, ruat Colum.
FEBRUARY 16th .- Election of delegates from the different wards to a convention to revise the city charter. The following parties were elected :-
First Ward .- Henry Meigs, Edward McGowan, William Carr. Second Ward .- F. L. Jones, James Gallagher, E. W. Graham. Third Ward .- D. A. Magehan, Eugene Casserly, W. H. Martin. Fourth Ward .- S. W. Holliday, C. S. Biden, J. R. Dunglisson. Fifth Ward .- Louis R. Lull, T. D. Greene, F. O. Wakeman. Sixth Ward .- James Grant, Henry Richardson, David Jobson. Seventh Ward .- A. C. Wakeman, James Hagan, Henry Sharpe. Eighth Ward .- Thomas Hayes, I. D. White, William Green.
These parties met on the 7th of March at the council cham- bers in the City Hall, and proceeded to discuss the provisions of the existing charter and the proposed alterations upon it. The charter, as revised, was afterwards submitted to the people at the annual election of municipal officers. Little interest seemed to be manifested on the subject, except by the inhabitants of the eighth ward, whose personal interests were particularly affected by the contemplated measure. Though rejected by six wards, it was, on the whole, approved of by a majority of votes. Subse-
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FIREMEN'S CELEBRATION.
quently it was laid before the Legislature, to be formally passed by it as a new charter of the city. At the date of writing this notice, that event has not taken place. It differs materially from the former charter, and the propriety of some of its decla- rations, particularly what may be called the "squatter" pro- visions, has been much disputed. In many other respects, it is a decided improvement upon the present charter.
FEBRUARY 22d .- The anniversary of the birth-day of Wash- ington had been adopted on previous occasions as a fit time to celebrate the organization of the fire companies of the city. On this day, the third annual celebration took place. It was dis- tinguished by the large attendance of the firemen, the splendor of the procession, the fineness of the weather, and the great number of citizens, who as sympathetic spectators participated in the festivities of the occasion. The firemen were dressed in the uniform of the different companies, and their engines and various apparatus were burnished as brightly and decorated as beauti- fully as hands could manage. Several bands of music formed part of the procession, while banners and devices of various kinds gave increased animation to the scene. The chief interest, how- ever, of the exhibition lay in the appearance of the men them- selves. These were of every class in the community, and were a fine athletic set of fellows. Their voluntary occupation was a good and grand one, and required much skill and courage, while it was pursued under circumstances involving great personal danger, and often much inconvenience and pecuniary loss to individuals, who, at the call of duty, cheerfully forsook their own private business to save the community from a terrible calamity. At the awful peal of the alarm-bell, no matter at what hour or place, or how occupied, the fireman rushed to his post, to drag and work his pet engine where most needed. At busy noon, he threw aside his cash-book and ledger ; in the evening, he ab- ruptly left the theatre, or other place of amusement ; at mid- night, he started from sleep, and only half-dressed, leaped and ran to his appointed quarters. A few minutes later, and the whole city might be in a blaze ! This thought gave speed to his heels and strength to his arms. Scarcely had the first heavy strokes of the alarm-bell ceased to vibrate on the panic-stricken
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
ear, when were heard the lighter, cheerful peals of the bells of the engines, as they were wheeled from their houses and hurried rapidly through the streets.
Fires in San Francisco used to be dreadful affairs, and no pen can adequately describe the terror, confusion and despair that spread far and wide when the wild cry was heard. The danger and horror of conflagration are now much lessened, partly by the increase of fire-proof brick buildings, and partly by the continually growing efficiency of the fire companies. Still the alarm of fire can never be listened to without many sad misgiv- ings as to the possible result. The centre and business part of the city may now seem to be beyond the reach of total destruction or even of a serious loss ; yet large districts lying around the fire- proof nucleus may any day be altogether consumed, if it were not for the unflagging and desperate efforts of the unpaid, volunteer firemen. From the peculiar risk and circumstances attending conflagrations in San Francisco, these noble men have always had a difficult and dangerous task to perform. Their boldness, their alertness, energy, and unwearied perseverance in their praise- worthy calling, have been long celebrated in America ; and, to this day, it is a high term of honor over the civilized world to belong to their body. Many foreigners are members of the differ- ent companies. Later in this year, some of the French inhabi- tants of the city formed themselves into a company by them- selves, called the " Lafayette."
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Fire Department of this year, the procession alluded to moved through the princi- pal streets, attended, admired, and cheered by a large concourse of people. Indeed the whole city seemed to have turned out en masse. The firemen then proceeded to the American Theatre, where an occasional address was delivered by Frank M. Pixley. The house was filled to overflowing, and presented a fine show. There was a large attendance of ladies in the boxes.
MARCH 6th .- The Pacific mail steamship Tennessee went ashore this morning at Tagus Beach, in Bolinas Bay, about three or four miles north of the Heads, at the entrance to the Bay of San Francisco. Dense fogs, which had misled the captain as to the ship's position, were the cause of the vessel striking the
435
STEAMSHIPS LOST.
shore. These fogs are very prevalent along the coast, and have often been the cause of serious shipwrecks. The Tennessee had about six hundred passengers on board, one hundred of whom were women and children. By happy chance, the ship went upon a small, sandy beach, on both sides of which at a short dis- tance were enormous cliffs, on which if the vessel had struck she
BLANCHTEJ DEL & .SC
Wreck of the Tennessee.
would have gone immediately to pieces, and probably most of those on board would have perished. As it was, and the sea being smooth, the passengers were all safely landed, as well as the mail-bags and express matter. It was expected that the Tennessee would afterwards have been safely towed off. The Goliah and the Thomas Hunt, steam-tugs, were sent to perform that operation ; but after some trials, it was found to be imprac- ticable. After removing therefore a considerable quantity of cargo, stores, &c., the vessel was abandoned, and shortly after- wards went to pieces.
The loss of the Tennessee was the first known of a series of calamities at sea, which happened about this time, and in which
436
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
San Francisco was deeply interested. The most terrible and disastrous of these was the loss of the steamship Independence, of Vanderbilt's Independent Line, from San Juan to San Fran- cisco. Upon the morning of the 16th of February, about day- break, and when the atmosphere was perfectly clear, the ship struck upon a sunken reef, about a mile from the shore of Mar- garita Island, off the coast of Lower California. The sea was quite smooth at the time. The engine was backed, and the ship hove off the reef. As she was making water rapidly, it was thought best to beach her. She was accordingly run ashore in a small cove on the south-west side of the island, about five miles distant from the place where she had first struck. At this time it was discovered that the vessel was on fire. The people, who had hitherto been quiet and self-possessed, now lost all control of themselves ; and many in a frantic state leaped overboard. All order seemed to be lost, and everybody thought only how best to save himself. The scene is said to have been horrible in the extreme. The crew and passengers amounted to four hundred and fourteen persons ; and of this number nearly two hundred perished, among whom were seventeen children and fif- teen females. When intelligence of the sad occurrence reached San Francisco, it caused much excitement and general sorrow. Many had to mourn the loss of a relative or friend, whose com- ing had been fondly expected. Liberal contributions were made by the citizens to alleviate the sufferings of the surviving passen- gers of the Independence, and to carry them to a place of safety from the desolate and dangerous island upon which they were thrown, naked, and without food or shelter.
On the morning of the 9th April following, the steamship S. S. Lewis, of the Nicaragua line, went ashore at a place six miles north of Bolinas Bay, and about fifteen miles north of the Heads. Dense fogs were the cause of this loss, as they had been the cause of the loss of the Tennessee. There were three hundred and eighty-five persons on board when the ship struck, all of whom were saved, as well as the greatest part of their personal baggage. The sea was running high at the time, and soon after- wards the vessel went to pieces.
Thus were three of the large ocean steamers connected with San Francisco lost within little more than a month, two of which
437
WATER FRONT EXTENSION.
had gone ashore within the distance of a few miles from the city. It was remarked that there seemed to be a kind of fatality attending the passenger steamers connected with our port. Eleven vessels of that description, some of which were of a magnificent character, had been lost within the previous two years. The list . is as follows :-
Commodore Preble .- May 3d, 1851, on Humboldt Bar.
Union .- July 5th, 1851, at San Quentin.
Chesapeake .-- Rudder lost at sea, put into Port Oxford for repairs, October 10th,
1851; proceeded to Humboldt, and was condemned and sold.
Sea Gull .- Jan. 26th, 1852, on Humboldt Bar.
General Warren .- Jan. 31st, 1852, Clatsop Spit.
North America .- Feb. 27th, 1852, forty miles south of Acapulco.
Pioneer .- Aug. 17th, 1852, San Simeon's Bay.
City of Pittsburg .- Oct. 24th, 1852, burned in the Bay of Valparaiso, on her way to California.
Independence .- Feb. 16th, 1853, burned at Margarita Island.
Tennessee .- March 6th, 1853, entrance to San Francisco Bay.
Lewis .- April 9th, 1853, three miles north of Bolinas Bay.
APRIL .- For some months back the citizens have been much excited by the introduction and progress through the legislative chambers, of a bill to extend the water front of the city six hundred feet beyond the existing boundary line. It appears that the annual expenditure of the State was year by year greatly exceeding its income, and financial difficulties were the natural consequence. To procure some relief from these, Governor Bigler, in a message to the Senate and House of Assembly, recommended that the limits of San Francisco should be extended towards the water, and that such extension should be sold or leased for the benefit of the State. This counsel appeared most unjust, and caused much alarm to the inhabitants of the city. The mayor and the boards of aldermen and assistant aldermen severally is- sued messages and reports against the passage of the contem- plated measure. The board of aldermen, on the 31st January, unanimously adopted a memorial to the Legislature, in which they represented that any measure of the nature suggested by the governor would be productive of incalculable hurt to the prosperity of San Francisco.
" Your memorialists," the document said, " have spared no labor to procure a full and frank expression of opinion by the most competent to decide upon
438
ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
the merits of the proposed extension, and have received the concurrent testi- mony of every captain and merchant in the city, that the sanction of your honorable body to such a proceeding would place in jeopardy the entire ship- ping of the port, by depriving it of the protection and shelter of the head- lands which it at present enjoys.
"Your memorialists feel warranted in asserting, from their own observation. as well as from the assurance of the present distinguished officer in command of the Hydrographical Party of the United States Coast Survey, that the ex- tent to which the present filling up of the City Front has been pushed, has worked material injury to the safe anchorage of vessels already, by shoaling the waters of the harbor, and compelling ships of heavy draft to anchor fur- ther out, exposed to the full force of the tide and the fury of the strong gales from the south-east that prevail during the rainy season."
These opinions were fully shared in by the inhabitants gen- erally. Not only would San Francisco, the commercial metropo- lis of the State, be materially damaged as a port, but much griev- ous wrong would be committed against the owners of property upon the line of the existing water front. By the Act of 26th March, 1851, which leased the State's interest in the water lots for ninety-nine years, and which specifically defined the boundary lines, it was declared that the same " shall be and remain a per- manent water front " of the city. In the knowledge and faith of this constitutional and binding declaration, the water lots had been sold and improvements made upon them. The present owners had every reason to believe that the water front could not legally, and would not illegally and inequitably, be further ex- tended. The doing so would be most prejudicial to their rights, while at the same time it would be a most serious injury to the general interests and privileges of the city.
Notwithstanding these and other objections, the obnoxious bill passed the House of Assembly by a majority of four, in which majority were two of the representatives from San Francisco. The other five representatives, who had voted against the mea- sure, and some of whom had spoken often and forcibly upon its manifest injustice, now resigned their seats, and appealed to their constituents for an approval of their conduct, by standing as candidates for re-election. On the 14th of April, a new election took place. The course taken by the old representatives was chiefly opposed by a certain small section of the community, which was supposed to be personally interested in the passing of
WATER FRONT EXTENSION. 439
the bill complained of. On the 2d of January, in the preceding year, at one of the noted Peter Smith's sales, already mentioned, a great belt of land " covered with water," and extending six hundred feet beyond the existing and recognized water front, and embracing many thousand distinct lots, had been sold by the sheriff for something less than $7000, in order to satisfy a judgment against the city. The particular nature of the right of the city to this ground " covered with water," and the rights of the party holding the judgment, and of the sheriff to sell it, were matters imper- fectly understood. Therefore the exact rights acquired by the purchasers nobody could distinctly estimate. As things stood, the buyers, who had speculated on a fortune of twice as many millions as they had paid thousands, could do nothing. But by enlisting the State on their side, and exciting the cupidity of the government, the Peter Smith jobbers might hope to derive incal- culable benefits from their desperate bargains, by making a "com- promise " with the commissioners proposed to be appointed under the contemplated bill. By the express terms of this bill, they would, most probably, have secured two-thirds of their purchases. To raise a fund for carrying on their scheme, and to interest parties personally in its success, certain of the new water lots were disposed of at low or nominal prices.
It was these original and subsequent buyers then, and their immediate friends and those whom they could in any way influ- ence, that opposed the re-election of the representatives to the House of Assembly. The people generally felt that this matter was one of the utmost consequence to the welfare of the com- munity. On the day of election many of the leading citizens closed their places of business, and devoted themselves to watch- ing over the polls. The question at issue was one of principle, and not the mere personal choice of favorite candidates. The anti-extensionists, as they were called, were completely successful. Five votes to one of those polled were in favor of the old representatives ; while, if it had been necessary, a still larger majority would have been obtained. At the close of the poll, the following parties were elected, viz. :- Samuel Flower, John Sime, John H. Saunders, James M. Taylor, and Elcan Heydenfelt.
Meanwhile, the bill had been carried into the Senate, and
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
the parties for and against it seemed nearly balanced. Repeated public meetings were held at San Francisco on the subject, at which resolutions were passed strongly condemnatory of the bill and its known supporters. All classes of the community, except the reckless speculators who hoped to profit by the iniquitous Act, were bitterly opposed to the measure. If adopted, it would certainly have the effect of injuring the harbor and city to an incalculable, an irreparable extent ; while, by throwing back the existing water front, and altering the grades of the streets, an immense deal of damage would be done upon private property. And all for what ? Principally to enrich a few water-lot game- sters, and perhaps put a little money in the exhausted exchequer of the State. The pecuniary advantage of the transaction to the State was exceedingly doubtful at the best ; while it was abundantly evident that interminable litigation and grievous loss to private parties and to the port itself were sure to arise. A large number of the members of the Legislature seem to have been at all times opposed to the prosperity of San Francisco ; and would fain lay upon it what has often been considered,-by the citizens themselves, at all events,-more than a proportionate share of the burdens of the State. In the case in question, if even the government had the legal right to carry out the measure proposed by the obnoxious bill, which right was disputed by able and disinterested lawyers, the advantage to be derived by the State was very paltry in comparison with the vast amount of damage that would be occasioned to the city and individual citi- zens. This consideration plead for mercy from the spoiler, but it had little effect. The Senate, like the House of Assembly, seemed determined to kill the bird that laid the golden egg-for such were the taxes that San Francisco, in its prosperity, paid into the coffers of the State.
To show further the injustice and impropriety of the steps contemplated by the Extension Bill, we give an extract from a Report made by a portion of the committee appointed by the Sen- ate on the subject :
" The harbor known in 1849 as the harbor of San Francisco, flanked north and south by the headlands of North and Rincon Points, and stretching in- wards somewhat in the form of a crescent as far as Montgomery street, is now almost entirely filled up and occupied as the business part of the city. The
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WATER FRONT EXTENSION.
boundary line of this, the eastern front, as fixed and declared permanent by the 4th section of an act of the Legislature, passed March 26th, 1851, extends even a little farther out into the bay than the headlands, and when the same shall be fully built up to and improved, the city will have a water front of sufficient extent and adequate depth of water to supply all the wants of her commerce and trade. The farther extension of said front six hundred feet into the bay would not materially increase the extent on the eastern front, while a greater depth of water than the present front now enjoys, would not be necessary to enable vessels of the largest class to lie at the wharves.
"So far, therefore, as the eastern front of the city is concerned, we can dis- cover no public necessity or conveniency which demands any action on the part of the Legislature, conflicting either in letter or spirit with the guarantee, or at least the declaration, that 'the said boundary line shall be and remain a permanent water front of said city,' contained in the act above referred to.
" The testimony taken by the committee conclusively shows that the ship- ping of the harbor would be materially injured by the further extension. Protection to the headlands, which is still to some extent enjoyed, would be destroyed, and the roadstead between the city and Goat Island, with a rapid current, and subject to strong south-easterly and north-westerly gales, would be materially contracted. This acknowledged injury, it has been suggested, can be counteracted by the erection of breakwaters off either or both North and Rincon Points. In a bay with such a variety of powerful currents, it would be difficult to predict the effect should such a plan be carried into exe- cution. It might prove a greater injury to the water front than any yet in- flicted upon it. But were the erection of breakwaters clearly demonstrated to be of great service, the practicability of accomplishing such a task by the State in so deep and turbulent a bay, by any expenditure within her means, is extremely doubtful. Any appropriation adequate even to the commence- ment of such a work, would, under Art. 8 of the Constitution, have to be sub- mitted to the people for their approval.
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