USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The beginnings of San Francisco : from the expedition of Anza, 1774, to the city charter of April 15, 1850 : with biographical and other notes, Vol. II > Part 19
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On the 28th of November 1848, the president of the United States appointed a joint commission of navy and engineer officers for an examination of the coast of the United States lying on the Pacific ocean. Among the duties of the commission was the selection of points of defence.
Now enters upon the scene Mr. Dexter R. Wright, who produces a deed from Thomas O. Larkin and wife to the Rancho Punta de los Lobos, dated September 29, 1846. Why Larkin should claim on June 16, 1847, to be owner of the land deeded to Wright eight months before, does not appear.
* Doc. No. 17. 131-182.
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On the 28th of December 1849, General Riley, com- manding the Tenth military district, advised the war department that the reserve made by Captain Folsom was greater than was required for military purposes; that the owners of the Rancho de los Lobos were willing to give the land occupied by the presidio and fort and the adjoining ground to the United States for purposes of fortification, and he thought it would be advisable to relinquish all the land that might be found unnecessary for military pur- poses, the designation to be made by the joint commission of navy and engineer officers.
On the 3 Ist of March 1850, the joint commission recom- mended the reservation of the following tract of land on the San Francisco peninsula for military purposes.
"From a point eight hundred yards south of Point José (Point San José) to the southern boundary of the presidio along that southern boundary to its western extremity, and thence in a straight line to the Pacific, passing by the southern extremity of a pond that has its outlet in the channel between Fort Point and Point Lobos."
The land thus described was reserved by President Fillmore, November 6, 1850.
On the 5th of April 1850, Mr. Dexter R. Wright entered into a bond in the sum of fifty thousand dollars for the faithful performance of his agreement to convey to the United States the presdidio and fort tract and reservation and Point San José, in consideration of the relinquishment by the United States of all "control, occupation, and mili- tary possession" of the remainder of the Rancho de los Lobos; a very clever scheme to secure government recog- nition of his title. In the bond the presidio reservation is described as follows:
Beginning at a point on the crest of a high hill, south- east of the presidio and marked by a stake which was established in the presence of Captain E. D. Keyes, Cap-
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tain H. W. Halleck and D. A. Merrifield, Esq., on the 3d day of April, 1850; thence running in a northerly direction parallel to Larkin street, in the town of San Francisco, to low water mark on the southern shore to the entrance to the bay of San Francisco; then running along the low water line of said bay and of the sea to the mouth of the outlet of the pond between Battery Point and Point Lobos and southwest of the said presidio; thence along the middle of said outlet and pond to the extremity of said pond; thence in a northeasterly direction to the point of beginning.
This was the presidio reservation secured to the govern- ment by Lieutenant-colonel Juan Bautista de Anza when, on March 28, 1776, he erected a cross on the Cantil Blanco and directed the fort to be built on the point and the presidio under the shelter of the hill; his act creating, under the laws of Spain, a military reservation of three thousand varas-fifteen hundred and sixty-two and a half acres. The boundary lines of the Spanish presidio are those of the presidio reservation to-day with the excep- tion of eighty feet cut off from the eastern frontage by an act of congress on May 9, 1876, and given to the city of San Francisco for a street.
In November 1849, Captain E. D. Keyes, Third artil- lery, had succeeded Major Hardie in command of the presidio and on April 27, 1850, under orders from General Riley, he withdrew the military forces under his com- mand to the reserve as described and bounded in Wright's bond, with the exception of those stationed at Point San José.
On April 28, 1850, General Riley transmitted to the Adjutant-general a copy of Wright's bond, concurring with the opinion of the joint commission that the arrange- ment with Wright secured to the United States all the land
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that would ever be required for military purposes on the south side of the entrance to the bay of San Francisco, and recommended approval by the secretary of war.
On June 19, 1850, the following endorsement was made on General Riley's letter by G. W. Crawford, secretary of war:
"The agreement is disapproved. The acceptance of a quit claim to a parcel of land now, as I think, rightfully in the pos- session of the United States, might afterwards prejudice the right of the government to the remainder of the freehold em- braced in the Diaz grant.
G. W. C."
The Diaz grant was finally rejected by the land com- mission, and thus was ended a most impudent attempt to grab several thousand acres of San Francisco's choicest residence district. I do not know how far Larkin was concerned in the fraud, but he made a claim for the property and fought for its possession. He was, in any event, unfortunate in his association with Benito Diaz. Another grant, for which Larkin was claimant before the land commission, was the orchard lands of the Santa Clara mission, sold to Castañada, Arenas, and Diaz. The claim was rejected on the ground that the deed was fraudulently antedated.
The stake Captain Keyes placed on the crest of the hill to mark the southeastern corner of the presidio reservation was replaced in May 1850, by a cannon set in the ground and from this cannon Captain Keyes ran a line northerly to the bay, parallel to the line of Larkin street, and put up a fence on that line. The bearing of this fence was found to be north, seven degrees and thirty minutes west. The area of the reservation as described in the Wright bond and enclosed by Captain Keyes, was determined by Lieutenant George M. Wheeler, United States engineers, to be fifteen hundred and forty-two 60-100 acres.
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On October 27, 1851, the joint commission of navy and engineer officers modified their recommendation of March 31, 1850, and in accord with their report, President Fill- more on December 31, 1851, modified his order of Novem- ber 6, 1850, to embrace in the reservation, only :
Ist. The promontory of Point José (Point San José) within boundaries not less than eight hundred yards from its northern extremity.
2nd. The presidio tract and Fort Point, embracing all the land north of a line running in a westerly direction from the southeastern corner of the presidio tract, to the southern extremity of a pond lying between FortPoint and Point Lobos, and passing through the middle of said pond and its outlet to the channel of entrance from the ocean .*
The act of congress of May 9, 1876, giving to the city of San Francisco eighty feet of the eastern frontage of the presidio reservation for a street, determined the fence of Captain Keyes to be the eastern line of the presidio, and the fence was set back eighty feet in accord therewith. It has now been replaced by a stone wall. In making his survey Keyes did not conform to the line parallel with Larkin street but ran easterly of said line thereby making a considerable reduction in the size of the city blocks abutting on Lyon street. The cannon planted by Cap- tain Keyes was on what is now the northeast corner of Pacific avenue and Lyon street.
In 1849 some repairs were made to the presidio to render it habitable and four thirty-two pounders and two eight- inch howitzers were mounted on the old fort. In May 1851, General Persifer F. Smith was succeeded in command of the Third division by Brevet Brigadier General Ethan A. Hitchcock, who removed the division headquarters
* Rudolph Herman Company vs. The City and County of San Francisco. Agreed Statement of Facts. 5-165.
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to Benicia. In 1853 Lieutenant-Colonel Mason was engineer in charge of the work at Fort Point; Mason died and was succeeded by Major J. G. Barnard. The old fort was taken down and some of the material used in the new construction. The site was cut down to the water's edge and a new fort, Winfield Scott, succeeded the Castillo de San Joaquin. In 1857 Brevet Brigadier General Newman S. Clark, who succeeded Major General John E. Wool in command of the division of the Pacific, returned the division headquarters to San Francisco where it has since remained. The command in California has been held by some eminent soldiers; among them, Albert Sidney Johnston, Edwin V. Sumner, George Wright, Irwin McDowell (1864-65 and again 1876-82), Henry W. Halleck, George H. Thomas, George M. Schofield (1870-76 and again 1882-83), O. O. Howard, and Nelson A. Miles.
The ancient presidio is no longer protected by its fourteen foot adobe wall, but its quadrangle is the parade ground of the post, and is lined on two sides by the chapel, officers' club, guard house, offices, and officers' dwellings.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
APPENDIX B THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO
In the Vioget survey of 1839 the streets were, as has been stated, very narrow. Vioget ran no east line for Montgomery street and consequently that street, being completed later, was the widest in the village and was made sixty-two and a half feet wide. Kearny street was made forty-five feet, five inches wide, and Dupont street, forty-four feet, this irregularity being probably due to want of knowledge in regard to the lines and when buildings were erected the street lines were made, in a degree, to conform. Kearny street was afterwards wid- ened to seventy-five feet between Market street and Broadway, and Dupont to seventy-four feet from Market street to Bush. Vioget laid out five streets running east and west, viz: Pacific, Jackson, Washington, Clay, and Sacramento. These streets were forty-nine feet, one and a half inches wide. The Vioget survey was extended some time before the American occupation to include Stockton and Powell streets on the west, Broadway and Vallejo on the north, and California, Pine, and Bush on the south. Stockton and Powell were made sixty-six feet nine inches wide, Broadway, eighty-two and a half feet, California, eighty-five feet, and the others sixty- eight feet, nine inches, which became the regulation width for the main streets of the Fifty vara and the West- ern addition surveys; the exceptions being, in addition to California street and Broadway, Van Ness avenue one hundred and twenty-five feet, and Divisadero street, eighty-two and a half feet wide. The five westerly streets of the Vioget survey extend with their narrow width to Larkin street, the limit of the Fifty vara survey, and
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from Larkin street they were widened to sixty-eight feet, nine inches, by taking from the lots on either side. Market street is one hundred and twenty feet wide, and the main streets of the Hundred vara survey are eighty-two and a half feet wide. In the Mission the main streets are eighty-two and a half feet, except Dolores, which is one hundred and twenty; Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thir- teenth, and Sixteenth streets, which are eighty feet wide and the streets from Fourteenth to Twenty-sixth inclusive (excepting Sixteenth street) which are sixty-four feet wide.
I cannot undertake to give the origin of all of the street names in San Franicsco, but can give an account of most of the better known ones. Many of the names of course, require no explanation, as for instance, the trees, Cherry, Chestnut, Pine, etc .; natural objects, as Bay, North Point, and others; the presidents of the United States and statesmen of national reputation, as Fillmore, Buchanan, Clay, etc .; the names of states and of coun- ties, and the numbered streets and avenues. In giving an account of the naming of the streets, I shall again pass beyond the time limit of this history and bring my account down to date. Prior to 1909, San Francisco enjoyed the distinction of having three sets of numbered streets and two sets of streets designated by letters of the alphabet. Two sets of the numbered streets were called "avenues" and one had the suffix "south"; one set of lettered streets had the same treatment. To remedy this condition, which was becoming intolerable, the mayor of the city appointed, in 1909, a commission to look into the matter of street names and recommend such changes as might be considered necessary. The commission in its report suggested many changes, most of which were adopted. The commission endeavored to avail itself of the wealth of material existing in the history of the city and state, and give to the streets names not only of historical sig-
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nificance but to add to their attractiveness the liquid beauty of the Spanish nomenclature of the colonial period. In this the commission was only partially successful, owing to a general opposition on the part of small trades- men to having the names of their streets changed, claiming that they had established their business under the existing names and having, they said, an "asset" in the name of the street on which they were.
I will give the streets in order, first, in the Fifty vara survey, then the Western addition, the Hundred vara survey, and the Mission.
The Fifty vara survey is that part of the city lying between Market and Larkin streets and the bay. The street on the water front, which, when completed, will run from the presidio line to the San Mateo county boundary, was named by the commission of 1909, The Embarcadero (the Landing). That portion of it within the completed sea wall had been named East street North, and East street South, according to its extension to the north or south of Market street. On the Embarcadero the num- bers indicate the location of buildings-odd numbers to the north, and even numbers to the south of Market street. Next west of the Embarcadero is:
DRUMM street was named for Lieutenant Drum who was adjutant of the department during the civil war; afterwards adjutant-general of the army.
DAVIS street was named for William Heath Davis at the instance of William D. M. Howard.
BATTERY street was so named because of the battery erected by Lieutenant Misroon on Clark's Point.
SANSOME street was originally named Sloat street in honor of the commodore and it so appears on the alcalde
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map of 1847; but between February 22d and July 18th of that year the name was changed to Sansome.
LEIDESDORFF street was named for William A. Leides- dorff.
MONTGOMERY street was named for Commander John B. Montgomery of the Portsmouth. The name of Mont- gomery avenue was changed to
COLUMBUS avenue, in honor of Christopher Columbus, by the commission of 1909, in order to avoid the confusion resulting from two streets bearing the same name.
KEARNY street was named for Stephen Watts Kearny, military governor of California, March 1, 1847, to May 31, 1847.
DUPONT street was named for Captain Samuel F. Du Pont, who commanded the flagship Congress and after- wards the sloop-of-war Cyane. This street was the original "Calle de la Fundacion" of Richardson and ran from about the line of California street north-northwest. It was later swung into line with the other streets by Jasper O'Farrell. The street acquired an unsavory reputation by becoming the residence of an undesirable class of citizens. When these disreputable residents were removed some years ago, the name of the street was changed to
GRANT avenue, by which it is now known.
STOCKTON street was named for Commodore Robert F. Stockton, military governor of California, August 22, 1846 to January 19, 1847.
POWELL street is supposed to have been named in honor of Doctor W. J. Powell, surgeon United States sloop-of- war Warren, conquest of California.
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MASON street was named for Richard B. Mason, colonel First dragoons and military governor of California, May 31, 1847, to April 13, 1849.
TAYLOR street was named for Zachary Taylor, the hero of Buena Vista and twelfth president of the United States.
JONES street was named for Doctor Elbert P. Jones, first editor of the California Star and member of the coun- cil of 1847.
LEAVENWORTH street after the Rev. Thaddeus M. Leavenworth, chaplain First New York regiment; alcalde of San Francisco.
HYDE street after George Hyde, secretary of Com- modore Stockton on the Congress; alcalde of San Fran- cisco.
LARKIN street was named for Thomas O. Larkin, United States consul at Monterey and secret agent of the govern- ment before the conquest.
GREEN street was named for Talbot H. Green who came with the Bartleson party in 1841 and was a prominent citizen of San Francisco. An account of him appears in chapter xvii.
VALLEJO street was named for Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo.
HALLECK street was named for Captain Henry Wagner Halleck.
PACIFIC, CLAY, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA and PINE streets require no explanation, except that Pacific street was originally named for Alcalde Washington A. Bartlett and the original name of Sacramento street was Howard street, named for William D. M. Howard. Why these names were changed does not appear.
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BUSH street was named, it is said, for Doctor J. P. Bush, an early resident.
SUTTER street was named for John A. Sutter.
PosT street was named for Gabriel B. Post who came in 1847; member of the ayuntamiento of 1849.
GEARY street was named for John W. Geary, first alcalde, 1849-50, and first mayor under the charter.
O'FARRELL street was named for Jasper O'Farrell.
ELLIS street was named for Alfred J. Ellis who came in 1847; member of the ayuntamiento of 1849, and of the constitutional convention.
EDDY street was named for William M. Eddy the surveyor. He completed the survey of the city under the charter of 1850.
TURK street was named for Frank Turk, clerk of the ayuntamiento and second alcalde.
GOLDEN GATE avenue was originally named Tyler street for John Tyler, tenth president of the United States, but after the opening of Golden Gate park the street was asphalted, made the driveway to the park, and the name changed.
McALLISTER street was named for Hall McAllister the eminent jurist.
This completes the origin of the streets' names, so far as any explanation may be necessary, of the Fifty vara survey. The description of the streets of the Hundred vara survey would perhaps be next in order as these two surveys comprised the extent of the city as defined by the charter of 1850; but for convenience I will continue the streets north of Market street, comprising the Western addition and the adjoining Outside Lands survey.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
HAYES street was named for Colonel Thomas Hayes, county clerk from 1853 to 1856. He had a large tract of land in what was known as Hayes' valley which the Van Ness ordinance confirmed to him. He was one of Terry's seconds in his duel with Broderick.
PAGE street was named for Robert C. Page, clerk to the board of assistant aldermen, 1851 to 1856.
HAIGHT street for Fletcher M. Haight, a prominent lawyer of San Francisco and later United States district judge for the Southern district of California.
WALLER street for R. H. Waller, city recorder in 1851, also in 1854.
ANZA street (Outside Lands survey) was named by the commission of 1909 in honor of the father of San Francisco, Lieutenant-colonel Juan Bautista de Anza.
BALBOA street, in honor of the discoverer of the Pacific ocean, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa.
CABRILLO street, in honor of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo the navigator.
LINCOLN way, in honor of Abraham Lincoln.
IRVING street, for Washington Irving.
JUDAH street, for Theodore D. Judah.
KIRKHAM street, for General Ralph W. Kirkham. LAWTON street, for General Henry W. Lawton.
MORAGA street, for Lieutenant José Joaquin Moraga, founder of the presidio and mission of San Francisco.
NORIEGA street, for José de la Guerra y Noriega.
ORTEGA street, for José Francisco de Ortega, discoverer of the Bay of San Francisco.
PACHECO street, for Juan Salvio Pacheco, soldier of Anza's company and one of the founders of San Francisco.
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QUINTARA street, for Spanish family.
RIVERA street, for Captain Fernando Rivera y Mon- cada, comandante of California.
SANTIAGO street, Spanish battle cry.
TARAVAL street, Indian guide, Anza expedition.
ULLOA street, for Francisco de Ulloa, the navigator.
VICENTE street, Spanish name.
WAWONA street, Indian name.
YORBA street, for Antonio Yorba, sergeant of Catalan volunteers, with Portolá expedition, 1769; sergeant of San Francisco company, 1777.
These names were given by the commission of 1909, not only for the historical value some of them possess, but to preserve the order of the alphabet, the streets hav- ing been lettered.
POLK street was named for James K. Polk, eleventh president of the United States.
VAN NESS avenue, for James Van Ness, mayor of San Francisco 1856, and author of the Van Ness ordinance which confirmed title to the actual possessors on January 1, 1855, of property west of Larkin street. Mr. Van Ness' residence was Western addition block 73, bounded by Van Ness avenue, Franklin, Hayes, and Fell streets.
FRANKLIN street may have been named for Selim Frank- lin, a pioneer merchant.
GOUGH street was named for Charles H. (Charley) Gough. In 1850 he sold milk for J. W. Harlan, at four dollars a gallon, carrying it on horseback in two two and a half gallon cans, one swung on each side of the saddle
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THE BEGINNINGS OF SAN FRANCISCO
pommel. In 1855 he was a member of the board of alder- men and was appointed on a committee to lay out the streets in the Western addition.
LAGUNA street was named for Washerwomen's lagoon.
OCTAVIA, BUCHANAN, WEBSTER, PIERCE, and SCOTT require no explantion.
STEINER street was probably named for some friend of Alderman Gough.
DIVISADERO street was named for its position: the summit of a high hill. The name comes from the verb divisar-to descry at a distance. Divisadero: a point from which one can look far. The Spanish name for Lone mountain was El Divisadero.
BRODERICK street, for David Colbert Broderick.
BAKER street, for Colonel E. D. Baker.
LYON street, for Nathaniel Lyon, captain of C Troop, Ist dragoons. In 1849 he punished the Indians of Clear Lake for murder and then marched to the Oregon border to punish the Pitt river Indians for the murder of Lieu- tenant Warner and recover his body, which was found near Goose lake. Lyon, then a general officer, was killed at the battle of Wilson's creek, Missouri, August 10, 1861.
ARGUELLO boulevard was named by the commission of 1909 for José Darío Argüello, comandante of San Fran- cisco, 1785-1806; governor, ad interim, 1814-15.
LA PLAYA (The Beach) was the name given by the com- mission to the street next to the ocean beach and running parallel with it.
The Hundred vara survey is that part of the city which is south of Market street and east of Ninth (formerly Johnston) street. South of Ninth street and extending
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to Thirtieth is the Mission Dolores, or the Mission, as it is usually called. The Mission extends from Harrison street on the east to the hills of the San Miguel rancho (Twin Peaks) on the west. East of Harrison street is the Potrero Nuevo, extending from Division street on the north to Islais creek on the south. South of Islais creek is the Potrero Viejo, commonly called South San Francisco. This extends to the San Mateo county line. To the west of the Potrero Viejo, or South San Francisco, are a number of small subdivisions, bearing various names, each having its own survey.
The street next to the Embarcadero in the Hundred vara survey is
STEUART street, named for William M. Steuart who came as secretary to Commodore Jones on the line-of- battle ship Ohio in 1848. He was a member of the ayuntamiento in 1849-50 and chairman of the judiciary committee. In the records of the ayuntamiento to December 1, 1849, his name is spelled Stewart. From that date it is Steuart. He was one of the delegates from San Francisco to the constitutional convention and was, at times, acting chairman. He was a candidate for governor in the election of November 1849.
SPEAR street was named for Nathan Spear who was one of the earliest merchants of San Francisco (see chapter xiv) and was upright and honorable in all his dealings. He died in San Francisco in 1849, at the age of 47.
BEALE street was named for Lieutenant Edward F. Beale, United States navy. Beale took an active part in the conquest of California serving as lieutenant with the California battalion; later he was surveyor-general of the state and at one time United States minister to Austria.
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FREMONT street was named for Colonel John C. Fré- mont.
MARKET street is the dividing line between the Fifty and Hundred vara surveys, the Western addition, and the Mission Dolores. It runs diagonally, from northeast to southwest and cuts the city in two. The streets of the Hundred vara survey, run parallel with, and at right angles to it. The name was probably suggested by Market street, Philadelphia.
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