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 42
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
raise a general calumny against the sex. Some of the newspa- pers now regularly give, without comment, these "matrimonial
JACKSON
FRENCH MILLINFR
Thwaites
San Franciseo Beauties-the Celestial, the Señora, and Madame.
jars" as pieces of news in their columns, facetiously placing "divorces" between the ordinary lists of "marriages" and " deaths." Like the male inhabitants, the females of San Fran- cisco are among the finest specimens, physically, of the sex, that ean anywhere be seen.
The subject of females naturally introduces that of house- keeping ; and we accordingly take occasion here to mention a few items regarding the expenses of a family in San Francisco at the beginning of 1854. The wages of female servants are from fifty to seventy-five dollars per month. Wood costs fifteen dol- lars per cord ; coal, per hundred-pound sack, three dollars ; and the same, per ton, delivered, fifty dollars. At market, the best cuts of beef, pork, and mutton, are thirty-seven and a half cents per pound ; venison is thirty-one cents ; salmon, twenty-five cents ;
505
FOREIGN POPULATION.
best fresh butter, one dollar ; second quality of the same, seventy-five cents ; Goshen butter, fifty cents ; fresh eggs, one dollar and twenty-five cents per dozen ; Boston eggs, seventy- five cents per dozen ; turkeys, six to ten dollars cach ; wild geese, or ducks, one dollar cach ; chickens, two dollars and fifty cents to three dollars each ; quails, six dollars per dozen ; pota- toes, two to three cents per pound ; cabbages, twenty-five cents a head ; cauliflowers, thirty-seven to fifty cents each ; turnips, parsnips, and beets, one dollar per dozen ; milk, twenty-five cents per quart. Rents of dwelling-houses vary from fifteen or twenty dollars per month, for a single small apartment, up to five hundred dollars per month, or what more one will, if a sty- lish mansion must be had.
The multitude of foreign races in San Francisco, French, Germans, and Hispano-Americans, with all their different com- plexions, tongues, modes of dressing, amusements, manner of liv- ing, and occupations, so different from those of the Americans, and the numerous half-helot tribes of Chinese, Lascars, and ne- groes, who are still more unlike our people in their natural and acquired characteristics,-all make the city the most curious Babel of a place imaginable. There are many less, though still considerable shades of difference existing among Americans themselves, who are drawn from all corners of the Union, and between them and the various distinctive natives of the British Isles. Again, there are numerous individuals from European countries, not yet named, such as Italians, Spaniards, Greeks, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, and others. All these peoples, differing in language, blood, and religion, in color and other physical marks, in dress and personal manners, mental habits, hopes, joys, fears, and pursuits, and in a multitude of nice par- ticulars, stamp upon San Francisco a peculiarly striking and motley character. The traveller and the student of mankind will meet here with specimens of nearly every race upon earth, whether they be red, yellow, black, or white. Many of them are still seen in their national state, or at least with the broadest traces of their native qualities. In some respects, however, per- haps most of them have been deeply impressed by the genius of the place. Such show the peculiar mark of Young America on
-
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
the Pacific-the Californian, and especially the San Franciscan " go-ahead" disposition. Let the immigrant be from what country and of what personal temperament and character he may, a short residence here will make him a shrewder and more energetic man, who works harder, lives faster, and enjoys more of both intellectual and sensuous existence than he would be
Colored population-Greaser, Chinaman, and Negro.
able to do in any other land. On any occasion of public excite- ment, such as a fire, a fight, an indignation or filibustering meeting, or the like, there is gathered together a multitude, which cannot be paralleled in any other place, of stalwart, bearded men, most of whom are in the early prime of life, fine, healthy, handsome fellows. The variety and confusion of tongues and personal characteristics, the evident physical strength, reckless bravery, and intelligence of the crowd, make a tout ensemble that is very awful to contemplate. Turn these men into an angry mob, armed, as at all times most of them secretly
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ASTONISHING PROGRESS OF THE CITY.
are, with revolvers and bowie-knives, and a legion of drilled sol- diers could scarcely stand before them. These youthful giants are the working spirits of San Francisco, that have given it a world-wide fame for good and evil.
When the early California pioneer wandered through the city, and contrasted the lofty structures which he saw on all sides ; the broad, level, and bustling streets, the chief of them formed where once rolled the long swell of the sea ; the great fire-proof warehouses and stores, filled with the most valuable products of all lands ; the wharves, crowded with the largest and finest vessels in the world; the banks, hotels, theatres, gambling saloons, billiard-rooms and ball-rooms, churches, hospitals and schools, gin palaces and brick palaces ; the imposing shops, within whose plate-glass windows were displayed the richest assortment of articles of refined taste `and luxury ; the vast amount of coined money incessantly circulating from hand to hand ; the lively and brilliant array of horse and carriage riders ; the trains of lovely women, and the crowds of well-dressed, eager men, natives of every country on the globe, most of whom were in the flower of life, and many were very models of manly or of feminine beanty-for the cripple, the hunchback, the maimed and deformed find not their way hither-when the veteran immigrant contrasted these things with what had been only a few years before, he could scarcely persuade himself that all the wonders he saw and heard were aught but a dream. The humble adobes, and paltry wooden sheds ; the bleak sand hills, thinly dotted with miserable shrubs ; the careless, unlettered, ignorant, yet some- what gallant Californians ; the few ragged Indians and fewer free white men ; the trifling trade and gentle stir of the recently founded settlement of Yerba Buena, where coin was a curiosity ; the great mud flat of the cove with its half dozen smacks or fishing boats, canted half over at low tide, and perhaps a mile farther out, a solitary square-rigged ship, the peaceful aspect of the village of the olden time-all flashed across the gazer's memory. Before one hair had turned gray, ere almost the suck- ing babe had learned his letters, the magic change had been accomplished. Plutus rattled his money bags, and straight way the world ran to gather the falling pieces. The meanest yet
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
most powerful of gods waved his golden wand, and lo ! the desert became a great city. This is an age of marvels ; and we have seen and mingled in them. Let the pioneer rub his eyes : it is no mirage, no Aladdin's palace that he sees-but real, substan- tial tenements-real men and women-an enduring, magnificent city.
When the later pioneer took his sentimental stroll, memory only recalled the frantic scenes of the memorable '49-a period that never can be forgotton by those who saw and shared in its glorious confusion. The lottery of life that then existed ; the wild business and wilder amusements ; the boundless hopes ; the ingenious, desperate speculations; the fortunes made in a day and lost or squandered nearly as quickly ; the insatiable spirit of play ; the midnight orgies ; the reckless daring of all things ; the miserable shanties and tents ; the half-savage, crime and poverty- stained, joyous multitudes, who had hastened from the remotest parts of the earth, to run a terrible carcer, to win a new name, fortune and happiness, or perish in the struggle ; the com- mingling of races, of all ranks and conditions of society ; the incessant rains and deep sloughs in the streets, with their layers, fourteen feet deep, of hams, hardware, and boxes of tobacco, where among clamorous and reckless crowds people achieved the dangerous passage ; the physical discomforts ; the sickness, deser- tion, despair and death of old, heart-broken shipmates and boy- hood companions, whom remorse could not bring again to life, nor soothe the penitent for his cruel neglect ; the rotting, aban- doned fleets in the bay; the crime, violence, vice, folly, brutal desires and ruinous habits ; the general hell (not to talk profanely) of the place and people-these things, and many of a like sad- dening or triumphant nature, filled the mind of the moralizing " forty-niner."
If these pioneers-and like them every later adventurer to California may think and feel, for all have contributed something to the work-lent themselves to the enthusiasm and fancy of the moment, they might be tempted with the Eastern king to proudly exclaim, and as truly : Is not this great Babylon that I have built, for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty ? Many obstacles, both
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ASTONISHING PROGRESS OF THE CITY.
of a physical and moral nature, have been encountered and grad- ually overcome before the grand result was obtained. Hills were removed and the deep sea filled up. Town after town was built, only to be consumed. Great fires destroyed in one hour the labor of months and years. Commercial crises and stagnation in trade came to crush individuals. The vagabonds and scoundrels of foreign lands, and those too of the federal Union, were loosed upon the city. Robbers, incendiaries and murderers, political plunderers, faithless "fathers " and officials, lawless squatters, daring and organized criminals of every description, all the worst moral elements of other societies, were concentrated here, to retard, and if possible finally destroy the prosperity of the place. All were successively mastered. Yet the excesses of the "Hounds," the scenes of the great fires, the action of the " Vigilance Com- mittee," and the crimes that created it, the multitude of indigna- tion meetings and times of popular strife, the squatter riots, and the daily occurrence of every kind of violent outrage-whatever was most terrible in the history of the city, will ever be remem- bered by the early citizens. Some of the worst of these things will never again occur ; and others are being yearly modified, and deprived of much of their old frightful character. For the honest, industrious and peaceable man, San Francisco is now as safe a residence as he can find in any other large city. For the rowdy and " shoulder-striker," the drunkard, the insolent, foul- mouthed speaker, the quarrelsome, desperate politician and ca- lumnious writer, the gambler, the daring speculator in strange ways of business, it is a dangerous place to dwell in. There are many of such characters here, and it is principally their excesses and quarrels that make our sad daily record of murders, duels, and suicides.
CHAPTER XXIX.
1854.
Meeting of citizens regarding the State Revenue Act .- Run on Adams & Co .- Banking and bank- ing-honses .- The Express Building .- Weather unusually cold .- Effects of the weather upon the 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.
JANUARY 9th .- Large public meeting held, of parties chiefly interested, at the Merchants' Exchange, to consider the effect of certain late decisions by the Supreme Court, which had estab- lished the constitutionality of the State Revenue Act of 15th May, 1853. Many of the provisions in this Act, such as the heavy license duties laid upon auctioneers and others ; the duty of one per cent. chargeable on goods and real estate exposed to auction ; that of "ten cents upon each one hundred dollars of business estimated to be transacted " by bankers, and dealers in exchanges, stocks, gold dust, and similar occupations ; and par- ticularly the tax of sixty cents per one hundred dollars laid upon " consigned goods," were considered to be unequal, oppressive and unconstitutional in their operation. The following were declared to be " consigned goods " within the meaning and intent of the Act : " All goods, wares, merchandise, provisions, or any other property whatsoever, brought or received within this State (Cal- ifornia) from any other State, or from any foreign country, to be sold in this State, owned by any person or persons not domiciled in this State." It was estimated, that if the tax upon "con- signed goods" were enforced, an annual burden of $300,000 would be laid upon shippers to the port. In like manner, the tax upon the sales of personal property, to say nothing of those of real estate, would form a burden of $125,000 annually ; while the duties leviable upon the banking class would be so monstrous
LE
SAN FRANCISCO IN 1854. FROM THE HEAD OF SAORAMENTO ST
511
REVENUE ACT-BANKING HOUSES.
that their business could not be carried on. The parties against whom these duties were leviable, refused to pay them ; and accordingly actions had been raised by the proper officials on the part of the State to try their legality. The Supreme Court of California had just established that point in favor of the State, but those who were affected by the obnoxious provisions of the Revenue Act still refused to acknowledge their validity.
At the meeting above mentioned (Alfred Dewitt, chairman), resolutions were unanimously passed-condemning the objection- able parts of the Revenue Act as " flagrantly oppressive and unjust "-declaring that they never would be submitted to, until " all lawful and proper methods of redress should be exhausted "- instructing counsel to move for a rehearing of the case before the Supreme Court, and to prosecute all appeals that could be made to the Supreme Court of the United States-that a me- morial should be prepared and laid before the Legislature praying for a repeal of the Act complained of-and that various com- mittees should be appointed to collect subscriptions from the citizens and carry out the views expressed in the resolutions. Such committees were accordingly chosen, and the meeting separated.
While we write, the matters complained of remain in an unsatisfactory and unsettled state. The law has not been enforced and there is considerable doubt whether it ever can or will be. The subject is one of great importance to the prosperity of San Francisco, and has added strength and bitterness to the charges often made against the Legislature, that it consults in its pro- ceedings more the interests of the mining and agricultural than of the commercial portion of the State.
JANUARY 18th .- Run upon Adams & Co., bankers. This commenced on the evening of the 17th, and continued all next day. It arose from the circumstance that the name of Adams & Co. did not appear among the published list of those who had exported gold by the semi-monthly steamers. The firm named had actually shipped their usual quantity of specie, but this fact was not known to the public. Upwards of a thousand of the smaller depositors took the alarm, and hastened to withdraw their money. The house, whose solvency was undoubted by large capitalists, was well able to meet the unexpected demand, and,
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
by the close of business on the 18th, had paid out $416,000. In a short time afterwards, their old customers gladly re-deposited the sums so hastily drawn. We take this opportunity to make a few remarks upon banking in San Francisco.
There are no chartered banks in California. By the Consti- tution, no corporation for banking purposes can exist in the State, nor is any species of paper circulation admitted. The first regular banking house in San Francisco was established on the 9th day of January, 1849, under the firm of Naglee & Sinton. Their "Exchange and Deposit Office " was on Kearny street, fronting the plaza, in the building known as the Parker House, and on the site of the present City Hall. Mr. Sinton soon retired from the firm. The business was then continued by Mr. Naglee until the run already noticed, on the bank, in September 1850, when he closed. Prior to the opening of this office, deposits were made with the different mercantile houses having safes, such as Ward & Co. ; W. H. Davis ; Mellus, Howard & Co. ; Dewitt & Harrison ; Cross & Co. ; Macondray & Co., and others. This was not only the case at San Francisco, but at places in the interior. At Sutter's Fort, and afterwards at Sacramento City, the princi- pal houses of deposit were S. Brannan & Co. ; Hensley, Reading & Co. ; and Priest, Lee & Co.
As the population increased, the work of receiving and pay- ing out deposits became so great, that the necessity of houses devoted especially to the business began to be felt ; and these accordingly were soon established. At the close of 1849, the following houses were in operation :
Henry M. Naglee established January 9th, 1849.
Burgoyne & Co.
do June 5th
B. Davidson
do about September "
Thomas G. Wells (afterwards Wells & Co). do do October
James King of William. do December 5th,
Previous to the discovery of gold and the consequent rapid influx of population, there was but very little coin in the country, and that little mostly in the towns of Monterey, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. Payments throughout the country were frequently made in cattle, hides, &c. The gentleman,- an eminent banker in San Francisco,-from whom we have ob-
513
BANKING HOUSES-EXPRESS BUILDING.
tained these and the following facts upon banking, has seen an account, credited, " by two cows in full," for a physician's bill of $20. This was in 1847, and near Los Angeles. After the dis- covery of gold, that substance in its natural state became the currency, and passed in all business operations at $16 per ounce. The scarcity of coin was so great about and for some time after that period, and the demand for it to pay custom-house duties so urgent, that gold dust was frequently offered at $8 and $10 per ounce. This was particularly the case in the months of November and December, 1848. During the same months in 1849, the bankers' rates were as follows : for grain dust, $15.50 to $15.75 per ounce ; and for quicksilver dust, $14.50 to $14.75 per ounce. This was when coin was paid out for the dust. When the bankers received it in deposit, they valued it at $16 per ounce and repaid it at the same rate.
D. J. Tallant (now Tallant & Wilde), opened his bank- ing house in February, 1850 ; and Page, Bacon & Co., and F. Argenti & Co., theirs in June of the same year. Subsequently several others were established. At this date (April, 1854), the following houses are in operation :- Burgoyne & Co., established June 5th, 1849 ; B. Davidson, September, 1849 ; James King of Wm., December 5th, 1849 ; Tallant & Wilde, February, 1850 ; Page, Bacon & Co., June, 1850 ; Adams & Co. (first as express agents, now express and banking house) ; Palmer, Cook & Co. ; Drexel, Sather & Church ; Robinson & Co. (savings bank) ; Sanders & Brenham ; Carothers, Anderson & Co. ; Lucas, Turner & Co.
JANUARY 20th .- The " Express Building," north-east corner of Montgomery and California streets, completed, the foundations having been laid in September, 1853. This is another of Mr. Samuel Brannan's magnificent street improvements. The build- ing is seventy-five feet high, having four stories and a basement, and has a front on Montgomery street of sixty-eight feet, and on Cal- ifornia street, of sixty-two and a half feet, and cost, exclusive of the land, $180,000. The lot is valued at $100,000. Wells, Fargo & Co., bankers and express agents, and Pollard & Co., real estate and money brokers, occupy the lower floor. In the fourth story the society of California Pioncers have their hall
33
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
and secretary's office. The remainder of the building is used for a variety of business purposes.
WELLS HARGO
EXPRESS BUILDING.
EXPRESS!
UROP
ATLANTIC & EUROPEAN EXPRESS.
WELLS, FARGO & CO
Express Building.
An unusual degree of cold was experienced in San Fran- cisco for several days about this time, exceeding any thing that " the oldest inhabitant " recollected. To-day, ice, in some places an inch thick, was formed in the streets. Within doors, the water in pitchers was generally frozen. At two o'clock P. M., icicles a foot in length hung from the roofs of houses on which the sun had been shining all day. The small lagoons around the city were frozen over, and excellent skating was had
REALTES
TEW
ARCO & CO
NALES : ROOMS!
515
THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECTS.
on ponds near the mission. The hills in Contra Costa and near the mission had their summits covered with snow.
There is a whimsical notion among native Californians, that the coming of " these Yankee devils " has completely changed the character of the seasons here, the winter months especially being, it is believed, now wetter and colder than before the American advent. The excessive rains of the winters of 1849- 50, and 1852-53, lent some fanciful support to the Californian faith. The frosts and snows of January, 1854, seemed to cor- roborate it. The winter of 1850-51 on the other hand, was warm, dry and agreeable, to a degree seldom experienced even in the usually mild climateof California.
We have alluded here particularly to these facts, from the circumstance that San Francisco is peculiarly dependent on the weather, inasmuch as the character of the latter materially affects the production of gold in the mining regions. Too much water or too little, at particular seasons of the year, will equally pre- vent mining from being very successful. In summer, the miners are generally engaged at what are called the "wet diggings," in or beside the beds of rivers, when these are low. There, unex- pected rains and consequent floods would ruin all their prospects. At other periods of the year, when the rivers are full, the miners work upon the "dry diggings," upon plains, uplands, and in ravines, which are often at a considerable distance from any stream. As, however, large quantities of water are required for the purpose of washing the auriferous earth, rains then become necessary. In many districts at certain seasons, rich " dry dig- gings " have been prematurely deserted for want of sufficient supplies of water. To rectify this want, large rivers have been turned, at great labor and expense, from their course, and their waters led by artificial channels to whatever places they may be in demand, those persons using the water paying certain rates for the privilege. The water companies, many of which possess large capitals, form peculiar features of the mining dis- tricts. They, however, can assist but a small portion of the whole number of "dry diggings," and copious rains are indispen- sable for the rest. The rains in the early part of the winter of 1853-54 had been very slight ; and great inconvenience was expe-
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ANNALS OF SAN FRANCISCO.
rienced at the mines for want of the usual supplies of water. The rivers were too full for " wet diggings," and the plains and hill sides too dry for " dry diggings." The production of gold was therefore materially lessened, and this fact, joined with a glut of imported goods, and heavy charges upon business, partic- nlarly the enormous rents, had produced much commercial dis- tress about this period in San Francisco. In the spring of 1854, abundant rains fell, which set the miners all busy at profitable work, and it was expected by many that commerce would con- sequently revive. Other circumstances, however, prevented that desirable event, which shall be noticed in the next chapter.
FEBRUARY .- Publication of the San Francisco Directory for 1854. This is only noticed from the circumstance of its being much the fullest and most reliable directory that had appeared here. It contained the names and addresses of about twelve thousand persons ; and, in an Appendix, a very great deal of useful and curious information about the city. The canvasser and compiler was Frank Rivers. It was published by LeCount & Strong.
FEBRUARY 8th .- Loss of the clipper ship San Francisco, from New York to this port, This was a fine new ship of large ton- nage, whose cargo was valued at $400,000. In beating through the entrance to the bay, she missed stays and struck the rocks on the north side, opposite Fort Point. This was nearly at the spot where the English outward-bound ship Jenny Lind, from the same cause, was wrecked a few months before. The " Golden Gate " is narrow, but the channel is deep and perfectly safe, if only its. peculiarities be known and attended to. The loss of the ships named was supposed to be more attributable to the igno- rance or neglect of their pilots than to any natural dangers in the place at the time. If it were obligatory on masters of sailing vessels, not small coasters, to employ steam-tugs to bring their ships from outside the Heads into the harbor, such accidents as these could not occur. It appears that twenty-three large ves- sels have either been wrecked, stranded, or seriously injured in San Francisco Bay since 1850. This number is exclusive of any accidents occurring to vessels at anchor in the roadsteads, or lying
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