USA > California > San Francisco County > San Francisco > The builders of a great city : San Francisco's representative men, the city, its history and commerce : pregnant facts regarding the growth of the leading branches of trade, industries and products of the state and coast > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
Crown Point and Belcher gave forth mineral yields-the two mines producing the almost fabulous sum of $40,000,000 in three years and a half,
the whole State reckoning its pro- duction at $36,000,000 in 1873, and nearly as much in 1874. The latter year was famed by the discovery of the greatest bonanza yet known, and so far as anyone can tell, the last in the world-renowned district of Washoe. Consolidated Virginia opened its magnificent treasure to the gaze of the multitudes through- out three continents. Before the end of the year experts pronounced that the ore in siglit was worth the im- mense sum of $15,000,000,000, and the market value of the mine rose at the rate of $1,000,000 a day. The California Mine was a part of the Con. Virginia, and the the two were valued at $150,000,000. For two years these two wonderful mines con- tinued to pour forth their treasures, as it were, in a flood -- the Con. Vir- ginia paying $1,000,000 a month in dividends. The total production of the mines up to November, 1888, amount to $121,192,487.94.
Nevada, which in 1874 had yielded $35,000,000 in the precious metals, advanced to $45,000,000 in 1875, and te $53,000,000 in 1876. This was the highest-1877 yielded $1,000.000 less, or $52,000,000 -- from this the yield rapidly falling in 1879 to $16,- 000,000, in 1880 to $11,500,000 in 1881 to $9,000,000, in 1882-3 to $7,- 000,000. The yield since has been: 1885, $8,500,000; 1886, $9,500,000; 1887, $11,000,000.
Nevada was originally a part of Utah, and the discoveries in the former State were followed by ex- plorations in the latter Territory. It was not, however, till later than the production of silver amounted to a great deal. In 1870 we find the pro- duction of silver and gold together, $1,300,000. The next year $1,000,- 000 was added to it, of which not over $250,000 was geld. The tide of treasure seekers now began to set this way, and 1872 witnessed a three- fold increase in the quantity in the previous year given to the world. Next year the production was $9,000,000,
43
CALIFORNIA.
and the two following years $10,000,- 000, nearly all silver. This was the flood of the tide, the year 1875 show- ing a falling off of about one-half.
In our reference to gold we have related the discovery of the precious metals in Colorado. Gold was first looked for, but silver is the principal product, and Colorado has now earned the distinction of being called the Silver State. And for a long time gold formed a very large pro- portion of the precious metals yield- ed. In 1878 the silver yield was $5,400,000. It doubled in 1879. In 1880 it had reached $15,000,000, while in 1881 and 1882, respectively, it had reached $18,000,000. It was about the same in 1883, and seems to have arrived at a stand-still.
Arizona is another silver State, and in the future may prove to be the richest of all. Its mineral wealtlı has been known for more than 100 years. But it is only since the ces- sion to the United States that any serious attempt has been made to develop it. And, indeed, while it was overrun by the wild Apaches, who had desolated the Mexican set- tlements for centuries, nothing could be done. It is only within a few years since the red man has been cowed; it will not, therefore, supprise any one to learn that it has not cut much of a figure in the galaxy of the treasure-producing Territories of the United States, save since the seven- ties. In 1887 the total yield was estimated [as being worth $2,000,000, principally silver. This increased to $4,500,000, or thereabouts, in 1878 and 1879, to $7,500,000 in 1880, and to $10,000,000 in 1881. In 1882 there was a falling off to $9,000,000, while in 1883 the product was $8,400,- 000, of which over $7,000,000 rep- resented silver .. This has dropped to $3,000,000.
This metal also forms the largest part of the treasure from New Mex- ico, which is gradually taking a prominent place in the ranks of gold and silver producing lands. The
value of these metals has risen from $500,000 in 1877 to $2,350,000 in 1883, $2,000,000 being silver.
Though last, not least, California, which shines resplendent as the Golden State, lays claim to the title of a silver producer also. There have long been found silver ores on the Western spurs of the Sierra Nevada, and when the gold fever had somewhat abated, attention was paid to them. From year to year the yield of the silver lodes increased, culmin- ating in 1877, when it reached $3,000,- 000. It has varied all the way from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 a year -- in 1883 being estimated at the latter figure.
The silver production of the United States, as given by the census of 1880, was defective, inasmuch as Arizona was estimated; the estimate falling short of the true product.
The figures of the report are as follows:
Deep Placer Mines, oz. Minea, oz.
Total
Value.
Alaska ...
39.4
39,4
$51
Arizona ..... 1,798 722
198.8
1,798,920.8
$2,325,825
California ..
887,854
62,804.2
890,158.2
1,150,887
Colorado ... 12,799,067
1,053.8
12,800,110.8
19,649,274
Dakota .....
54,577
193,0
64,770.1
70.813
Idaho .......
347,676
11,633.1
359,300.1
464,550
Montana .... 2,240,697
6,341.4
2,246,938.4
2,905,068
Nevada ... . 9,614,230
331,3
9,614,56t.3
12,430,667
N. Mexico ..
303,455
303,455.0
392,337
Oregon .....
15,166
6,331.2
21,496.2
27,793
Utah ....... 3,668,432
132,5
3,668,565,5
4,743,087
Waabington.
788.6
788.6
1,019
Oz.
We have left out the States east of the Rocky Mountains, which, how- ever, amount to but little. The total number of ounces mined, according to the report was 33,797,474.3, worth $41,110,957. It was in reality, con- siderably larger, as the estimates for Arizona were only a fraction of the total yield of that Territory.
The yield of silver throughout the world is considerably larger than that of gold, and fears are expressed of the steady depreciation of the less valuable metal. This, however, is probably altogether groundless. The variation in the value of silver as compared with gold has run all the way from say $1 to $10 to $16, and within these limits it will probably ever remain. The increasing use of
44
BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
silver in coinage and the progress of the policy of bi-metallism, will prob- ably stay the downward course of values, while California and the Pacific States are not yet exhausted of their gold.
POPULATION.
California, for a greater part of a century after its first settlement by white people, grew very slowly; so much so that after the two years' im- migration, ending in 1850, the total population, including those of Span- ish and Mexican descent, did not ex- ceed 92,957. Since that time it has grown as follows :
The greatest increase was, there- fore, from 1850 to 1860, when people poured into the land of gold from all sides, by land and sea, in a perfect torrent. During the next decade the increase was about 22 per cent and during that from 1870 to 1880 54} per cent nearly. During this period, that of railroads, it might have been expected to have shown a still furth- er proportionate development, but the glamor of gold mining had pass- ed away, its charm no longer held the people of two continents spell bound, and ordinary agricultural pursuits in a climate and a soil but little under- stood, failed to prove attractive to the adventurous thousands. From 1880 to date, however, the growth of many important industries has given rise to a new era in the State, and people began to learn that in Cali- fornia we have the climate of France, Italy and Spain, with a fertile soil, and that the grape, the olive and the orange and all fruits of sub-tropical climates flourish luxuriantly. Indus- tries have also slowly developed here, the tide of immigration at various in- tervals during the past nine years has set strongly this way, and, in conse- quence, there has been an increase of 61 per cent. nearly.
The following is the present popu- lation of the State, as nearly as can be estimated from a school census, voting at last election and other data:
Alameda 95,000
Alpine
500
Amador
14,000
Butte.
25,000
Calaveras
11,500
Colnsa.
18,000
Contra Costa 15,500
Del Norte
3,500
El Dorado
12,000
Fresno
26,000
Humboldt.
26,000
Inyo.
3,500
Kern
14,000
Lake
8,500
Lassen.
4,800
Los Angeles
130,000
Marin
11,500
Mariposa
6,000
Mendocino
18,000
Merced
9,000
Modoc
6,000
Mono
3,000
Monterey
20,000
Napa
18,000
Nevada
22,000
Placer 13,500
Plumas
6,500
Sacramento
50,000
San Benito
9,000
San Bernardino
30,000
San Diego 37,000
San Francisco 350,000
San Joaquin.
33,000
San Luis Obispo.
20,000
San Mateo . 12,000
Santa Barbara 21,000
Santa Clara
52,000
Santa Cruz
22,000
Shasta 15,000
Sierra
8,000
Siskiyou
12,000
Solano
25,000
Sonoma.
42,000
Stanislans
12,000
Sutter
7,500
Tehama
14,500
Trinity
5,000
1850
92,957
1860
379,994
1870
560,247
1880. 864,694
1889 (est) 1,398,300
Am't carried over 1,318,300
45
CALIFORNIA.
Am't forward 1,318,300
Tulare
27,000
Tuolumne
11,000
Ventura
11,500
Yolo
17,500
Yuba
13,000
Total 1,398,300 San Francisco has an estimated population of say 330,000. Its trade last year reached, including foreign and domestic imports and exports, manufactures, etc., not less than two hundred and fifty million dollars. The resources of the banks, January 1, were about $176,550,081, those of the State $279,467,163. The bank dividends last year in San Francisco were over five million dollars. The total dividends of all local incorpora- tions and mines paid in San Francis- co were about fourteen million dol- lars. There are several rapidly grow- ing towns and cities outside of the metropolis. Los Angeles claims 80,000, Oakland 50,000, Sacramento 40,000, San Jose and Stockton each about 18,000, San Diego 25,000, Eureka, Santa Rosa and Santa Bar- bara 7,000 each, with half a dozen others each about 5,000.
And last, though not least, our railroads have a length of 3,100 miles. The length of those under construc- tion or projected is, say, 1,000 miles.
From the synopsis here given it would appear as if California was in- contestably the most flourishing State in the Union-the one with most natural resources, and the one whose future offers indications of the most abundant prosperity.
The growth of the population of the State has not been uniform. In the early days the mining counties were full of an industrious and enter- prising people, while the towns and cities adjacent were populous and wealthy. But with the altered cir- cumstances a change has come over the scene, and though some of the mining counties have held their own, this may be regarded as the ex- ception, save where the search for
gold has been followed by fruit-grow- ing or agriculture. The great in- crease has taken place around San Francisco Bay -- in Southern Califor- nia, and in the San Joaquin Valley. The attractions of climate and citrus fruit-growing have about quadrupled the population of the southern por- tion of the State in eight years. Los Angeles and San Diego especially have taken the lead. The southern tier of valley counties, though not showing the same advance, have add- ed one hundred thousand to their population in eight years. The southern coast counties have also participated in the development of the rest of the State, and with in- creased railroad facilities will, on account of their fine climate and magnificent resources, not fall behind any in the race of progress. The central and northern portions of California have not participated equally with the rest in general im- provement, but in proportion as they become better known, will equal if not surpass their sister counties in the vigor and permanency of their development.
THE CENSUS ESTIMATE.
We elsewhere give estimate of the population of the State, based on the voting population and the num- ber of school children. The follow- ing table gives the census, and while we claim for our figures merely ap- proximate correctness, we believe that they come nearer to the truth than those of a defective census.
COUNTY.
1890.
1809.
In.
CREASE.
Alameda.
93,516
62,976
3,540
Alpine .
667
539
128
Amador
10,315
11,380
*1,069
Butte
17,904
18,721
*817
Colusa
14,614
13,118
1,496
Calaveras .
8,871
9,094
*223
ContraCosta 13,503
12,525
978
Del Norte ..
2,570
2,584
*14
El Dorado. .
9,206
10,683
*1,477
Humboldt .. 23,424
15,512
7,912
Inyo. . . 3,541
2,928
616
46
BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
COUNTY.
1890.
1880.
CREASE.
Lake. . . 7,103
6,596
507
San Mateo .. 10,054
8,669
1,385
Los Angeles 101,410
33,381
68,029
Siskiyou. .
12,113
8,610
3,503
Lassen.
4,144
3,340
804
Santa Clara.
47,894
35,038
12,856
Mendocino . 17,573
12,800
4,773
Solano
20,485
18,475
2,010
Modoc
4,936
4,399
537
Sonoma
32,661
25,926
6,735
Marin
12,643
11,324
1,319
Sutter
5,465
5,159
306
Tehama
9,878
9,301
577
Napa.
16,304
13,235
3,069
Trinity
3,685
4,999
*1,314
Plumas.
4,848
6,180
*1,332
Ventura.
10,066
5,073
4,993
Placer
15,089
14,232
857
S. Francisco 297,990 233,050
64,031
Yuba
9,556
11,284
*1,728
Shasta .....
12,109
9,492
2,617
S. Bern'd'o. 25,486
7,786
17,700
San Diego .. 34,878
8,618
26,260
Sierra .. . . . .
5,047
6,623
*1,576
S. Barbara. 15,730
9,513
6,217
Sacramento. 28,576
24,349
4,227
COUNTY. 1890.
1880.
CREASE.
..
17,375
20,823
*3,448
Orange
13,564
.
Tuolumne
6,028
7,848
*1,820
Yolo.
12,684
11,772
912
*Decrease.
The total of the State as given by the census authorities was 1,204,002. Now. however, a recount gives 1,208,- 130.
IN-
IN-
Nevada.
SAN FRANCISCO.
AN FRANCISCO, or as it is sometimes called, the Golden City, is not only the metrop- olis of California but also of the whole Pacific Coast and will in time occupy the same posi- tion with regard to the western half of the continent, leaving to New York the empire of the east. Its location on the map is 37 deg. 47 min. 22 sec. north latitude, and 122 deg. 25 min. 40 sec. west longitude, and as far as climate is concerned occupies one of the finest positions on the globe. Like many other seats of com- merce and empire it may be called a seven hilled city. It has one of the best harbors in the world. The Golden Gate-as such well named -- forms a magnificent approach to this fair city, as it is about five miles long by one wide, with a picturesque, if rugged, coast on either hand. The bay, one of the finest in the world, extends forty miles south of the city, and with its sinuosities reaches twenty-five miles to the north- ward, affording a wealth of beautiful and picturesque scenery on either hand-some of it, especially around Sau Pablo Bay, reminding oue of mingled lake and mountain scenery, as here the hills appear from a dis- tance to come to the water's edge. The muddy currents of the Sacra- mento and San Joaquin, however, at times mar the general effect which, nevertheless, is always striking and often grand. The average width of the bay is about eight miles, while its shore line is over three hundred miles in length. The depth of water varies from sixty to one hundred feet. It contains three islands; Angel Is-
land, Alcatraz and Goat Island, each a government reservation. Goat Is- land, opposite the business part of the city, is about half a mile square. Angel Island, which is hilly, contains about eight hundred acres. Alca- traz, which has a fort of the same name commanding the Golden Gate, has an area of about thirty acres. Many of the most important com- munities in California, such as San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland. Alameda, Petaluma, Vallejo aud oth- ers, are on or near its shores. It has been compared for beauty with the far famed Bay of Naples. Thus for a noble situation, San Francisco is unequalled, and with lake-like bay and ocean, the Mission Mountains within its borders and the many high hills on which the residence portion of the city is built, has unsurpassed panoramic features. The numerous cable roads afford an endless variety of views, all picturesque, some grand and imposing in the extreme. Sun- rise over the distant hills of Contra Costa, and sunset on the western sea, have a thousand charms, while the witchery of moonlight on the bay and the distant ocean, and the shimmering pathway of the beautiful orb of night can nowhere be ob- served to greater advantage than on our own widely extending waters. Pleasant and picturesque suburbs are within easy hail-the most distant of them being accessible by rail and steam in thirty-seven minutes. Such are Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Sausalito, San Rafael, Fruit Vale, Menlo Park, Belmont, San Mateo, and Redwood City.
The average temperature is usually delightful, no great extremes of heat
48
BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
or cold. It is much more highly favored than almost any other por- tion of the State. Summer heats do not enervate, and there is no such thing as excessive winter cold. Snow has made its appearancein our streets but twice in a score of years. The temperature until Christmas is gen- erally most delightful. After that it becomes bracing, but it would be re- garded as pleasant in the East. The average temperature of January is 49.3, and that of July 58.8 Fahr. From November until April is what is called the rainy season, but no continuous rains fall. Flowers bloom in the city gardens all the year. The only drawback are the Summer fogs, but as these are usually cleared off by an early hour in the day, they can hardly be regarded as inconvenient. Part of the city is entirely free from them. Trade winds prevail during the Summer and Fall, the result of which is one of the healthiest cities in the world. There are no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no thunder storms, a feeble electrical display once or twice every couple of years being the best that San Francisco can afford in that direction.
San Francisco is situated on a pen- insula between its noble bay and the ocean. Surrounded on three sides by water, set in a frame of moun- tains, the peninsula itself intersected by picturesque summits and hills of moderate elevation, it presents a series of ever changing views, some grand, many beautiful, all fit subjects for the painter's brush or the poet's pen. Spring is probably the proper season in which to see them and ap- preciate their beanties, as clothed in a mantle of green, they are then at their best. There are a liundred vantage points for the lover of nat- ural beauty to choose. Beyond what is known as the Western Addition, the aristocratic portion of the city, a range of heights crowns the grad- ually ascending slopes and over- hangs the inlet that forms the en- trance to the harbor and the shore
line southeast from it. North and east, beneath the feet almost, extend the placid waters of San Francisco bay. East and by south, to use a nautical phrase, the prospect is inter- rupted by hills within the urban limit. Southeast again appear the shining waters of the bay, ex- tending afar off to the horizon. West and southwest, looking toward China and Japan and the tropical islands of the Malaysian Archipel- ago, and extending to the far horizon where sea and sky commingling meet, are the waters of the blue Pa- cific. The hills of Marin County, with Mount Tamalpais proudly rais- ing its head over all, close in the prospect to the north. To the north- east the waters of the bay are con- tinued to those of San Pablo Bay, one of its wide-reaching arms, which, however, is invisible. The hills of Contra Costa and Alameda form the eastern horizon. South are Bernal Heights, with the hills of San Mateo rising behind them and the summits of the Coast Range closing out the view. In the southwest the Twin Peaks of the Mission mountains di- rectly overhang one of the most thickly populated sections of the city. Within the metes and bounds here noted, the residence portion of San Francisco is found. In Spring verd- ure crowned heights everywhere meet the eye, while over all the radi- ance of a semi-tropical sun adds its witching charm. The bay presents an animated scene, steamers cross- ing and recrossing, entering and leaving, coasters with lumber and white-winged vessels from many lands. English, American, Italian and German ships anchored and waiting for charter, tugs darting hither and thither, small boats and pleasure yachts, all bespeak the presence of what is fast becoming one of the greatest cities of the world and one of the leading seats of em- pire.
From these points of view, how- ever, the active business life of San
49
SAN FRANCISCO.
Francisco cannot be seen, for this is a city of magnificent distances, even in its infancy, one to which New York, cribbed, cabined and con- fined within the narrow limits of Manhattan, cannot for a moment be compared. To note the great heart of San Francisco throbbing and in- stinct with life and its business arte- ries pulsating with a steady stream of humanity ceaseless in its flow, we must transport ourselves to another of the heights of the seven-hilled city of the West. From those- from the turret of one of the enchanting residences of our millionaires; or from the towering heights of Tele- graph Hill-a coup d'oeil can be ob- tained which it were hard elsewhere to equal. Here the commercial life of the city flows all around and be- neath like the ocean tides round some rocky promontory. Market street, the great central artery, is black with an ever-moving throng. Kearny street, the principal retail avenue of the city, is gay with richly- dressed ladies and with sight-seers. Montgomery and Pine streets over- flow with the speculative throng. And then from Telegraph Hill to Mission Bay, like the squares on a checker-board, stretch block after block devoted to commerce, law and manufactures, all with their inter- secting streets filled with crowds of soberly dressed business men, eager speculators, artisans and workers that hail from all lands. Here the active Yankee jostles the indolent native of Spanish America, whose motto is ever mañana (the everlast- ing to-morrow), the sanguine Irish- man, the sober Englishman, the staid, contented-looking German, the heathen Chinee, and a score of other peoples and nations and tongues, who all mingle in the sample perennial stream of humanity. Not the least among these mighty arteries of trade and finance is California street, named after the State, its first born, its representative mart, and the one most characteristic of its people.
From the same point from which all this is presented to the view scores of deep-water vessels of all nations may be seen at the wharves dis- charging or in the stream waiting for their turn, and steamers crossing and recrossing to Oakland and Alameda, which over the bright waters look like Venice as seen from the Adriatic. The island of Alcatraz, with its fortifi- cations, Angel Island and Yerba Buena or Goat Island serve to break up the bay into so many smaller in- lets and add a charm to the whole. There are other points of van- tage from which most glorious views of city, the bay, and the broad Pacific may be had, such as the Mis- sion Peaks, Russian Hill and Bernal Heights, but from none of them is the whole city visible. Here is am- ple room for an imperial metropolis, with its miles on miles of houses and business streets and wharves and its residence and manufacturing quarters, equaling the greatest city on earth. As yet it is only sparsely settled, though its houses are scat- tered over all this broad space, clus- tering more thickly in certain quar- ters. A population of at least three hundred and thirty thousand souls dwell within its borders. A little over a hundred years ago there was no city and no settlement. Half of the area noted was nothing but a bare sandy peninsula, the sand continu- ally driven in from the ocean, drift- ing over its surface, leaving only the tops of the high ridges bare, kept so by the strong westerly breezes. Where the business portion of the city now is was then a sequestered cove, or bay, over which the hills rose sharply to the sky. A few In- dian settlements were found here and there, the occupants next to the savages that roam the great solitudes of South America, the lowest on earth. They may have been happy, but so far as outward appearance went there was nothing stirring or romantic in their lives, and they were incapable of appreciating the
50
BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
beauties by which they were sur- rounded. They had remained for untold ages in their ignorance, pos- sessing no more of aught having human interest than the Paleozoic man of geology, and they have now passed away forever. Yet it was an effort to bring them within the Chris- tian fold and make of them a civil- ized and Christian people that gave birth to the little settlement that pre- ceded in order of time the present flourishing city.
There is no record of who first dis- covered the Bay of San Francisco or when, but it was known by that name before the close of the sixteenth century, and while Elizabeth was still on the throne of England and Philip II on that of Spain, and it was always known as the Bay of San Francisco. And now a century and three-quarters elapsed ere it was again, as far as is recorded, seen by white men.
THE MISSION FOUNDED.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.