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 7
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The Jesuits had been driven from New Spain and its domains, and the Franciscan monks were appointed to fill their places. Father Junipero Serra was at the head of those des- tined for California. There were two great missions to be supplied, one at San Diego and the other at Monterey. But the latter, or rather the bay on which it was located, could not be found. Palou, the biographer of Serra, attributes this to a divine interposition so that they should continue their course till they arrived at the harbor of San Fran- cisco, because when Father Junipero was consulting with the Inspector- General about the first three mis- sions, seeing the names and the patrons which he had assigned to them, said to him: "Senor, and is there no mission for our father (St. Francis)?" To which Galvez re- plied: "If our father deserves a mission let him see that his port is found and it will be placed there." Fathers Juan Crespi and Portales
not finding Monterey Bay, or rather not recognizing it, they passed up the coast, and on the 7th day of No- vember, 1769, after a weary journey over rugged hills, terminated by a march over sand dunes, they reached the Golden Gate. Friar Crespi, who is credited with the honor of the re- discovery first as far as known, lo- cated the Bay of San Francisco about one hundred and twenty-one years ago, and nearly seven years prior to the Declaration of Inde- pendence. How little did he dream that he had discovered a new seat of empire for those who were even then planning to establish one in the col- ony of Massachusetts Bay. But it was even so. It was not, however, till the year of the Declaration of Independence, and just eleven days before that Declaration was promul- gated to the world, that the settle- ment was established. Two years previously Friar Palou, the biogra- pher already noted, again saw the bay, and his representations caused the fitting out of an expedition to es- tablish a colony and a mission. Lieu- tenant Ayala surveyed the bay in August, 1775, and reported that it was not a harbor, but a multitude of harbors, in which all the fleets of Spain could play hide and seek. Spain had then a great navy, but the asseveration was literally true, as all the navies of the world at the pres- ent day could, too, play hide and seek in it. On the 23d of March, 1776, another expedition selected the site of the mission and of the Pre- sidio or fort, both still known by the same names. The site of the fort, which was surrounded by a wall twelve feet high, was near the Golden Gate, and is now the United States military headquarters in San Francisco. The Mission, the church of which, hoary with more than a century of years, still stands, was at the head of a fresh water lagoon, fed by springs from the Mission mountains, which springs have long since disappeared.
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SAN FRANCISCO.
Palou says that Portala, com- mander of the expedition, traveling from the southward along the shore of the bay, came to the cove of Llorones (or Cry-Babies) and crossed a creek which is the outlet of a large lagoon, called the Lagoon of Dolores, and this appeared to him a good site for a mission. The first settlers in San Francisco reached the spot on the day previously noted. They con- sisted of seven civilians and their families, likewise seventeen dragoons and their families, under the leader- ship of Friars Palou and Cambon, the soldiers being under the com- mand of Don Jose Moraga. The foundation of the settlement was made amidst great rejoicing. Friar Palou celebrated mass and raised the cross while Moraga took posses- sion in the name of the King of Spain amidst salutes by land and sea. The next day the Mission of San Francisco was dedicated in like manner and the city's history be- gau. The civilization and Christian- ization of the Indians was at once taken in hand. It was, however, slow work, and then rough and crude, but .it was a wonderful ad- vance over their previous condition.
At sunrise all living at the Mission had to rise and attend mass. Break- fast being partaken of, the men and unmarried women had to work until eleven o'clock. There was then a respite of three hours, after which they worked again until sunset. They were taught all sorts of trades neces- sary in the settlement. The first work done was the erection of the church, which is said to have taken seven years. At that time there were two hundred and sixty Chris- tianized Indians at the Mission. They increased gradually till 1813, when they numbered one thousand two hundred and five. The settle- ment of whites from Mexico and old Spain, the political revolution, by which the Mexicans then cast off the Spanish yoke, and other causes, di- minished their number till 1823, and
ten years later there were only a few left. The secularization of the mis- sion did its work, too, and now there are no Indians on the peninsula of San Francisco. Many of the whites married Indian women, and have left a handsome, sturdy, prolific race be- hind them, but they, too, are few in numbers. There was a slow, a very slow, increase in the civil population of San Francisco. Gradually the lands became divided up among the Spanish and Mexican grantees. These raised vast herds of cattle, whose hides and tallow they sold yearly to small vessels visiting the bay for the equivalent of five dollars each per head of stock in American money. Good wines were made from grapes grown in the valleys of Santa Clara and Sonoma. Now, though both Mission and Presidio are within the limits of San Fran- cisco, the Mission one of its most thickly populated sections, neither was the center from which it sprang. The Presidio had a population of perhaps three hundred soldiers while the Mission had perhaps two thou- sand people-Indians, etc. At this time dealing in furs and peltry was a very profitable occupation. Elk were so plentiful that they swam in herds from the main land to Mare Island. Sea otter, three to six feet in length, and sell- ing from forty to fifty dollars each, swarmed in the waters of the bay. They were sold to Boston ships. Beaver skins from the Sacramnto and San Joaquin Valleys were plenti- ful. The goods for which the hides, pelts, tallow, etc., were exchanged were tea, coffee, sugar, clothing and blankets for the Indians. Then there were blankets made at the Mission from the wool of the sheep kept there and known as Mission blankets.
YERBA BUENA.
The first house was built upon the slope of the hill above the quiet lit- tle cove of Yerba Buena, on the line
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BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
of what is known as Dupont street, in the Summer of 1835, by one Wil- liam A. Richardson, au Englishman, who had dwelt twenty years in the country. Reckoning from this time, San Francisco has had a little over half a century of history. Mr. Richardson was a dealer in hides and tallow, and his home was the head- quarters of the trade around the bay. A very humble origin it was for commercial San Francisco, whose merchandise is found in every land and the sails of whose ships whiten every sea. Contemporaneously with Mr. Richardson dwelt here John Reed and Timothy Murphy, natives of Ireland, and James Black, an Englishman.
Meanwhile some slight measure of progress was made in the Mission Dolores, and an Alcalde, J. J. Estu- dillo, was elected, with power to grant lots to settlers. The pueblo, or settlement, was, as in California towns, four leagues square. In 1834 an ayuntamiento, or town council, was formed, consisting of an Alcalde, Regidores and a syndic, which first met at the Presidio, afterwards at the Mission. Richardson was reinforced by Jacob Leese, an American from Los Angeles, who entered into the same business as the earlier pioneer. Yerba Buena, so called from an herb- like mint that grew plentifully on the hills, now gradually assumed some commercial importance. Whalers put in to get supplies, and Russian vessels from Sitka purchased wheat and other necessaries from the Mis- sion and pueblos to the extent of about forty thousand dollars per annum in value. Jacob Leese ar- rived in Yerba Buena July 1st, and on July 4th, with the help of the captains of the whalers, sailors, na- tive ranchers, and others, a hundred guests in all celebrated the day iu good style in the embryo city. In 1837 the first frame house was erected, on the spot now occupied by the corner of Commercial and Montgomery streets. In April, 1838,
the first white child, a girl, was born here.
For many years there was very lit- tle to note in Yerba Buena's history. The first house for long remained solitary and alone on the hillside over- looking the bay. The trade invited a few merchants who grew rich by a profitable trade in these commodities. Among these were Mr. Richardson, already noted, William Heath Davis, and, in 1838, Nathaniel Spear and William S. Hinckley. Mr. Spear was the first to catch and can salmon on the Sacramento. Messrs. Spear and Hinckley first settled in Yerba Buena in 1838. In 1839 Captain Sutter arrived at the little village in the "Clementine." He had with him a number of Swiss aud Hawaiians. With William Heath Davis he start- ed up the Sacramento and established the first settlement in that valley. In 1840, when all the foreigners in the city were arrested by order of the Mexican government, there were only twenty-five of them all told. In 1840 Nathaniel Spear established his headquarters on the corner of Mont- gomery and Clay streets. In 1841 the Hudson Bay Company, as already stated, erected a warehouse. John J. Vioget, one of these early business men, had an establishment which was made use of as a sort of commercial exchange or headquarters. The Hudson Bay Company sold out to Howard and Meltus. Both were pioneer merchants. Mr. Howard, after whom Howard street was named, may be called one of the founders of San Francisco. Francisco Guerrero, who was murdered in 1851, is en- titled to the same honor. Guerrero street has been named after him. The house of Paty, Mckinley & Co .. once noted here, was established in 1843.
There was, of course, no compari- son between the price of real estate then and now. In 1835 lots were sold at about 25 cents per vara-331 inches - on Clay, Montgomery, Kearny, Dupont, Washington, Jack-
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son, Broadway and Pacific streets. Montgomery street, in the early days, was on the water front. In 1845 a fifty- vara lot would sell for $12.50 on Montgomery, Market or Bush, these being considered the best locations. The land, however, was in the nature of a grant, as the purchaser was re- quired to fence the lot and build a house on it within a year, or his title would be forfeited. Lots as far as the Chronicle building, that now com- mand from $2,000 to $3,000 per front foot-fifty-vara lots were sold at this figure. The final location of the eity at Yerba Buena was determined because the anchorage in front of the Presidio was unsuitable. The exact adoption of Yerba Buena as a proper place for shipping, was, however, only after North Beach had been tried without the desired result.
The Alcaldes of the Mission set- tlement during the ensuing nine years made eighty-three grants of land in Yerba Buena, of which forty-nine were to Americans or Eng- lishmen. Thus even before the American occupation Yerba Buena, or San Francisco, was to all intents and purposes an American town. The first mill, a grist mill, was erected here in 1839. It arrived on the "Corsair." It was put up on the north side of Clay street, between Kearny and Mont- gomery. It was worked by six mules and made from twenty to twenty-five sacks of flour each day. In 1840 the Hudson Bay Company established a depot at Yerba Buena and soon drove the Americans out of the hide, tallow and other trades. Its supremacy was, however, tempo- rary only, for in 1844 it disappeared from the scene. In the same year the number of houses was only fif- teen. About this time Captain Paty started a line of packets between San Francisco and Honolulu. In this year the first steamer was seen at San Francisco. It was built by the Russians at Sitka in what is now Alaska, and towed to Bodega
River. Civilized man has been on these shores over sixty-seven years, an infiltration of American blood has made its presence felt, and we are rapidly approaching 1848, the year of gold and revo- lution, and in California also the era of the Argonauts. Many nations had long looked on the wonderful land with a longing eye. Years be- fore the Russians had a settlement at Russian River, on the coast north of San Francisco, which they after- wards abandoned. In the United States it was only looked upon as a question of time when there should be added to its domain the fairest re . gion of the new world. A steady stream of emigrants, principally from Missouri, but from all the States and from all nations, poured into Cali- fornia for the next four years. Between this time and the annexation of the country to the United States Fremont led an expedition into it which bore a hostile attitude toward the Mexicans, while the "Bear Flag" party revolted and proceeded to declare the independence of the country.
AN AMERICAN CITY.
On the 7th of June, 1846, Com- modore Sloat heard of the war with Mexico, and on July 23d, arriving at Monterey, took possession in the name of the United States. The American flag was hoisted at Yerba Buena by Captain Montgomery of the "Portsmouth" in the same month. For two years a desultory war fol- lowed, but San Francisco was be- youd its reach. Yerba Buena, as it was still called, had been mainly American in population and soon be- came the center of American activity in California and from that time grew rapidly in importance. The Mexican Alcalde at the Mission Dolores was set aside and Washington A. Bart- lett, a lieutenant on the "Ports- mouth," was appointed in his stead, and, as remarks a writer of the his- tory of San Francisco, "undertook
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BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
to administer Mexican law as inter- preted by American whims." Soon after the occupation the advent of a strange vessel full of people caused great excitement in the town. It was not an enemy, but was found to be the "Brooklyn" with two hundred and thirty-eight immigrants, princi- pally Mormons, who had come here to set up a State of their own nnder the shadow of the Mexican flag. Great was their dismay to find that the flag of Mexico had floated here for the last time. Sam Brannan was their leader. He had published a Mormon sheet in New York and had brought presses and type with him to set up again the standard of Mor- monism in the wilderness. Most of the men had to enlist in the service of the United States and all settled for a time in Yerba Buena, which was, for a while at least, a prepon- deratingly Mormon settlement. On the 9th of January, 1847, Brannan commenced the publication of the California Star, a weekly paper, and the avant courier of journalism on the Pacific Coast. In the same month the name of Yerba Buena, now applied to an island in the har- bor, was dropped, and by a decree of the Alcalde that of San Francisco substituted. In March of the same year Stevenson's regiment of volun- teers arrived from New York and added still more to the population and wealth of the embryo metropo- lis. In April of this year the town boasted seventy-nine buildings, of which forty-three were frame and thirty-six adobe.
General Kearny in the same month issued a decree granting to the pue- blo all the beach and water lots be- tween Clarke's Point and Rincon Point, to be sold for the benefit of the country. Alcalde Bryant, after whom Bryant strect has been called, had them surveyed by Jasper O'Far- rell, an Irish surveyor. O'Farrell street bears his name. In July half of them were sold at rates ranging from $50 to $600 each. A census
was taken in the same month, dis- closing the fact that the population was 459, half American citizens, the rest being Hispano-Californians, Indians and Kanakas. And now came the time when California was to be opened wide to all the world and San Fran- cisco as her commercial metropolis was to take rank among the great cit- ies of the earth. This was the era of the discovery of gold in California, which was to revolutionize the finan- cial world. The story of its discov- ery at Coloma, on January 19th, by James W. Marshall, is a twice-told tale. The news traveled slowly. Some gold had been found in Cali- fornia before, and themission fathers knew that the Sacramento Valley was one of the most promising lo- cations. Indians digging up roots for food were the first discoverers, and picking up a few small pieces in a mill-race was not likely to attract a great deal of attention. It was not till February that the tidings of the discovery reached San Francisco, and not until six weeks later did the Star, the solitary California repre- sentative of the press, take any par- ticular notice of it. Towards the beginning of April the editor of that paper, with a few others, visited the scene of the discovery, came back, and declared the whole thing a sham. Almost at the very date of this pro- nouncement half a pound of gold dust was offered for sale in the new city and brought eight dollars an ounce. Still gold continued to be taken out of the earth and one after another went to the diggings to see for themselves. They found the shining metal and soon the embryo city was emptied of its inhabitants. In March there were eight hundred living in two hundred houses, and in April the first public school was opened. By the middle of June the Star had no readers, and all of its employees, from the editor to the devil, having gone to the diggings, it incontinently suspended. As it said,
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"The whole country resounded with the cry-
'GOLD ! GOLD !'"
But slow as it was in making an impression in San Francisco it made this up by the rapidity with which it spread to the outer world. On the wings of the wind it spread to the ends of the earth. The immediate result was the al- most total abandonment of San Francisco. Town lots were of- fered for little or nothing; but soon her fortune changed. Gold hunters had to live, and San Francisco was the only avenue of communication with the outer world. Soon land became valuable enough. It was not long till most of the population of California was centered at the mines. In the Fall they came troop- ing from Oregon and the Hawaiian Islands. Few or none remained in Yerba Buena. The first American lady arrived here in the American brig "Eagle" February 2d of this year. October brought gold seekers from Mexico, Peru and Chile. Two millions of dollars, the first fruits of the mines, were exported in 1848. The Baltimore Sun of September 20th published the news and by the close of that year the exodus had begun. It is a curious commentary on the changes that have occurred everywhere since that news which would now be flashed round the world in a single day then took a year to travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic. A million dollars' worth of goods were imported this year. January, 1849, saw ninety vessels with 8,000 men from East- ern cities all bound for San Fran- cisco, thence for the gold fields. Gold dust, sixteen dollars an ounce, was the currency of San Francisco.
The Collector of the Port on No- vember 13, 1849, wrote to Washing- ton: "I am astounded at the amount of business done at this office. Six hundred and ninety-seven vessels ar-
rived within seven and a half months."
At this time board without room was five dollars per day. A small room rented for one hundred and fifty dollars. Wood cost four dollars a cord, flour forty dollars per barrel, pork sixty dollars a barrel. For lack of storage room nineteen ves- sels were employed as warehouses. At the same time beef sold at sev- enty-five cents and one dollar per pound. In this year thousands of cattle fed on the Alameda hills and men in small boats went over and killed them at night.
The Golden City in 1849 at- tained a population of sixteen thou- sand. Its citizens were coining gold in their several avocations. Labor- ers earned part of the time sixteen dollars a day, during the rest of the year eight dollars a day. The first brick building erected was in Sep- tember, 1849, by W. H. Davis. It was on the southwest corner of Montgomery and California streets, and was leased to the Government for a custom-house at $3,000 per month. It was destroyed in the great fire of May, 1851. A great fire in December almost swept the new city out of existence. During that year San Francisco gave still further promise of its importance as a seaport, for not less than five hundred and forty-nine vessels, winged messengers of the sea, ar- rived in the harbor, that previously but for an occasional whaler or ves- sel to carry away hides and tallow was almost unfurrowed by a keel and as lonely as a lake in the moun- tains. The same year forty-one thousand people arrived overland and the population of California increased to one hundred thousand, mostly employed at the mines. The need for wharfage accommodations became urgent at San Francisco, and what was known as Long Wharf was built extending out eight hun- dred feet into the bay to what is now known as Front street. The wharf
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BUILDERS OF A GREAT CITY.
known as Central Wharf was located where Commercial street is now. It started a little to the west of San- some and ran 400 feet into the bay. Subsequently an extension was made to Davis street and finally to Drumm. The first section cost $110,000, the second, $200,000. C. V. Gillespie was President and William Heath Davis, Treasurer, From eight to nine hundred vessels from every part of the globe, between Clarke's Point (Broadway street) and Rincon (Harri- son street) were anchored east of it, presenting such a sight as the world probably never saw before or since.
Where once this wharf was is now dry land and far beyond it. The pioneer of ocean steam- ships, the "California," arrived Feb- ruary 28th of this year, having R. F. Smith, the Collector of Cus- toms, aboard. In March the steam- ship "Oregon" came to hand from New York with three hundred and fifty passengers. On August 15th the first Protestant church was dedi- cated. It belonged to the First Bap- tist Society. In October steamers began to make regular trips on the Sacramento. A little steamboat was brought out in sections from Boston. Fiont street tells the first advance of the city on the bay, but now Front street itself is far from the waters, which have been encroached on to the extent of three-quarters of a mile. Here business block after business block extends, and Cali- fornia street, the first part of it re- claimed from the bay, is built up wherein early days deep-water ves- sels rode proudly at anchor. This portion is now devoted to commerce, finance and manufactures, and will always be the section devoted to commercial and financial operations. We have now brought the story of our city down to the period when it emerged from the dim twilight of the Hispano-Mexican period into the day- light of modern civilization, and be- came known of all lands and all men. In 1850 San Francisco exported gold
worth $26,600,000. Its population was 30,000. Two great conflagra- tions, each involving the loss of millions, took place that year. In 1851, in May, came the great fire which destroyed property worth $7,000,000. The burned district was three-quarters of a mile long, and at one time presented the appalling spectacle of almost a mile of flames fanned by a high wind. But mis- fortunes never come alone. An- other great fire came in June and the people began to think of re- moving from the unfortunate city. They, however, took the sober sec- ond thought and remained. There were no more really great fires, and our city continued to advance stead- ily in population and importance despite the fact that in little more than a year fifteen millions of prop- erty had become the prey of the de- vouring flames. The first Directory was now published. In 1853 the San Francisco Gas Company was laying pipes and building its works. It is not necessary to trace the city's growth historically much further. In 1860 the population had grown to 56,802, and in 1870 to 149,- 473, in 1880 it reached 233,959, and is to-day, although the census figures are 297,990, reckoned at 330,000. Seven thousand six hundred new houses have been built within its precincts during the past six years, and through dull times as well as those of activity the movement has never slackened. The system of cable roads, which was first placed at the service of civilization in this city in 1872, has greatly conduced to to this steady and remarkable growth. By it the more remote por- tions of the peninsula on which the city is built were easily rendered ac- cessible. It became possible to travel two to three miles from the commercial center of the city in twenty minutes to half an hour, and new streets were opencd, while new blocks of buildings sprang up as if by magic. There are now sixteen cable
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