Annals of San Francisco

Frank Soulé

• Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9783849650643
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

The volume is divided into two parts: the first comprising the History of California from its discovery until 1848; the second containing a narrative of events, year by year, that occurred in San Francisco from 1848 to 1854, inclusive, with frequent references to occurrences in other portions of the State.

PART SECOND.

CHAPTER I.

The term was descriptive, not of the literal golden regions within, then as yet undiscovered, but merely of the rich and fertile country which surrounded the shores of the bay, and of the wealth which the commerce of the Pacific, passing through the strait, would certainly give to the future great city of the place.

The name was probably suggested by the Golden Horn of Constantinople. Since the discovery of the auriferous character of the country, the title has become of a still more happy nature; and its bestower must surely have had a prophetic soul, though he himself knew it not. At the narrowest point of the strait, where it is little more than a mile wide, the Spaniards had erected a small fort for the protection of the neighboring mission.

This building is now in course of removal, to be speedily replaced (let us hope) by a larger and stronger fortress for the adequate defence of the bay. The southern point of land, on the side of the ocean, is called in the Spanish language, Punta de los Lobos (Wolves' Point), and the northern, Punta Bonita (Pretty Point).

A few small rocks, at all times quite visible, he about the entrance, and along the coast of the strait; but the channel otherwise is very deep and free from obstruction. About twenty or thirty miles off the coast, and in a westerly direction from the Golden Gate, lie certain small rocky islands, called the Farra-lones, once favorite places for hunting seals and sea-otters by the Russians, and upon which that people had a small permanent settlement. Upon these islands the creatures mentioned are still to be found. A bar lies nearly across the mouth of the strait, upon which occasionally there is a heavy swell. Formerly this bar ran right across and within the actual limits of the strait, but during the last thirty years it has gradually shifted two miles farther to seaward, so that it now forms a kind of arch, altogether outside of the entrance, spanning from point to point of the strait. In the same period, a bank has likewise advanced from the south shore. By these natural operations, the entrance channel to the bay has been much improved. On this subject, it may be stated that all the shores in the mouth of the bay are liable to be washed off every year, by the combined strength of the wind, tides, local currents, and floods. In the great freshets of the spring of 1825 more than fifty yards of land were swept away to the westward of the fort.

The depth of water on the bar at low tide is considerable enough to permit the largest ship of war to safely cross it. The strait itself has a depth varying from five or six to sixteen fathoms and upwards. The shores are bold and rocky, and in some parts precipitous, swelling on the north side into mountains of upwards of two thousand feet in height. The hills on the southern side are more of a sandy nature, and may be only three hundred or four hundred feet high. On both sides they are quite bare and barren. The strong winds and heavy fogs which constantly assail them, and their own sandy or rocky nature, have effectually prevented trees or luxuriant vegetation of any kind from growing. On the very summit, however, of the mountains on the northern side of the strait, there happens to be a solitary group of red-wood trees, whose tall forms make a striking landmark to the mariner at sea. As he approaches the strait from the south, the voyager has seldom perhaps seen so dismal a looking place. A multitude of low, bleak sand hills on the sea shore, often swept over by flying clouds of dense mist, first greet his eyes. On passing gradually through the Golden Gate, however, the interior coasts begin sensibly to improve upon him.

The hills assume a more even character, which, as well as the beautiful islands that stud the bay, are at certain seasons of the year covered with vegetation, presenting a truly pleasing appearance.

The tidal stream rushes through the gate in mid-channel generally about six knots an hour. Along the projecting portions of the strait there are numerous eddies. By taking advantage of this great tidal speed, and of particular winds, which can almost daily be depended upon, blowing either in or out of the channel at certain periods of the day, ships may always safely enter or depart from the bay at all times of the year. An occasional wreck, where ships may have been driven by the strength of the tide or local currents upon the rocky shores, has indeed taken place; but this has generally been traceable to the ignorance or carelessness of the pilot. Hitherto that class of men, as might have been anticipated, have not been all picked individuals; and some of them may not have had sufficient time to study the peculiarities of the channel. It may, however, be confidently asserted, that there are very few harbors in the world where the entrance and departure are so easy and safe as those of the one of San Francisco. To talk of it in the same breath with such difficult and dangerous ocean ports as those of Liverpool and New York, or the river ones of London and New Orleans, is simply ridiculous.

After passing the strait, the great Bay of San Francisco suddenly opens up. This bay lies almost at right angles to the entrance just described; and extends from north to south nearly seventy miles, with an average breadth of about ten or twelve.

The southern division, comprehending about two-thirds of the entire length, chiefly lies south of the entrance, and is more properly styled the Bay of San Francisco; although the whole body of inland waters, when spoken of in a general sense, is commonly understood by that phrase. The northern division, which is in some degree topographically separated from the other by narrow, and several small islands about the eastern end of the strait, is known by the name of the Bay of San Pablo. At the eastern extremity of the last-named bay, the waters contract into the Strait of Carquinez. Still more to the east, they again widen into Suisun Bay, into which, through various channels, called the Slough, a sort of delta much overrun with large trees and jungle, the mingled streams of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, enter and lose themselves. From the ocean to the north-east corner of Suisun Bay, following the line of mid-channel, there may be a distance of between fifty and sixty miles.

The largest ships may sail as far as the city of Benicia, originally called Francisca, situated on the north side of the Strait of Carquinez, where the channel is little more than a mile wide, and at which place are a government dock-yard and naval stores.

Above that point, the water is at parts scarcely deep enough to allow vessels of great burden to proceed, while the channels of the Sacramento, through the delta, or slough, are intricate, and encumbered with shifting shoals and sand-banks.

Around the northern shores of the Bays of San Pablo and Suisun lies a very fertile and beautiful country, watered by streams, severally called the Suisun River, Napa, Sonoma, and Petaluma Creeks. The valleys of these rivers will in a few years be the residence of a great number of agricultural settlers, while already numerous small towns are beginning to be established among them. But the Sacramento and its greater tributaries, the Futa Creek, and the American, Feather and Butte Rivers, and the San Joaquin, with its leading feeders, the Mokelumne, Calaveras, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne Rivers, are the great highways of communication between the interior country and the ocean; and in the extensive, beautiful, and most fertile districts drained by them will be located hereafter the abodes of many millions of human beings. In the valley of the Sacramento and its offshoots are situated the great city of that name, and the thriving towns of Marysville and Nevada. In the valley of the San Joaquin, or in the connecting valley, are the considerable and growing towns of Stockton and Sonora. Besides these places, there are numerous other towns beginning to be established in this great district.

South of San Pablo and Suisun Bays, and east of the Bay of San Francisco proper, lies the district of country called Contra Costa. This quarter is very mountainous, some of the summits being upwards of three thousand feet high. One of them, Monte Diablo, is three thousand seven hundred and seventy feet in height. On the west, however, between the mountains and the Bay of San Francisco, is a considerable tract of level land which, like nearly all of a similar description in the country, is exceedingly rich and productive.

On the opposite side of the bay, and between it and the ocean, lies the long peninsula called the District of San Francisco. This strip of land is upwards of thirty miles long, with an average breadth of perhaps twelve or sixteen. The side immediately next the ocean is cold and barren. In the interior, and towards the bay, it possesses a mild climate, and is of great fertility. The surface is irregular and hilly; but the many small glens are green to the top, covered with luxuriant herbage, on which feed many thousands of sheep and cattle. The northern portion of this district is generally bare of trees and the larger shrubs; but much heavy timber grows in the middle and southern parts. At the southern extremity of the bay lies an extensive tract of land, which may be considered the choicest portion of all the country we have been describing. Here, near the mouth of the valley, watered by the River Guadalupe, are situated the towns of San Jose and Santa Clara. The beauty and salubrity of this district, its mild and agreeable climate, and exceeding productiveness, make it especially the granary, orchard and garden of the City of San Francisco and surrounding parts.

We may observe here, that there is a tradition among the Indians of California, that San Francisco Bay originally formed a fresh water lake. An earthquake, however, suddenly opened the line of mountains along the coast, when the sea rushed in, and changed the region to what it now is. The surplus fresh waters of the old lake were supposed to have been discharged into the Bay of Monterey, by a great river flowing through the valley of San Jose and Santa Clara. This river was believed to pass near the Mission of San Juan, and to fall into the present stream of the Pajaro.

In the fertile districts of country all around the shores of the bay the average productiveness of the soil is exceedingly great, far beyond the usual return from tillage lands in most other countries of the temperate zone, and rivalling, in fact, those of the torrid zone itself. A common yield from sown wheat is from seventy to eighty-fold, though it is said to run often as high as one hundred and upwards. A moderate average may be taken at fifty-fold.

Maize occasionally gives a return of one hundred and fifty-fold; while if it produces less than one hundred, it is scarcely considered worthy of notice. It may be remarked that the seed in general is much less thickly sown than in most other countries; and, naturally, therefore, having space to spread and fructify, there is a greater corresponding increase. Potatoes have been found of the enormous weight of seven and eight pounds, while those of two and three pounds are quite common. The usual yield of potatoes is from two to three hundred sacks an acre. And such potatoes! In no part of the world are there larger, finer, firmer and healthier roots grown. Newly-come immigrants and casual visitors are in variably full of raptures at the sight of such magnificent earth apples. The cabbages, again, are absolute monsters in size, often from fifteen to twenty inches in diameter; and as good in quality as enormous in bulk. Carrots often grow nearly a yard in length, and are of corresponding girth. Turnips, beets, radishes, onions, and indeed every kind of edible root and table vegetable grows equally large, and of the best and most wholesome description. California is indeed celebrated for its garden and field productions. The berries and fruits of the vineyard and orchard show a corresponding increase, and are of the most excellent kind. Long ago it had been imagined by hasty travelers and writers, that California had only an arid, sterile soil, never adapted to the successful pursuit of agriculture. On the contrary, the country is exceedingly well watered, the soil is naturally rich, and the diffused warmth and geniality of the climate is such as to force to safe maturity an abundant harvest of all kinds. Of course, manure in the present stage of California, is out of the question. The teeming fields will not require it for a generation or two, if ever. The present practice is simply to break fresh ground every year; and until the agricultural settlers become much more numerous, there will be abundance of land for such a mode of farming. There is no need of farm buildings to house and stock the grain for shelter. The climate is so dry in the harvest season that the crops are never spoiled by wet; but the ears are just threshed out on the fields where they grow. Farming operations formerly were of a very rude nature, as they still generally are, though the soil shows so large a return. When an improved method of husbandry is adopted, the yield will be correspondingly great. A slight wooden shed, open upon one side to the weather, and merely covered with canvas or scantling, affords quite a sufficient shelter, summer and winter, to milch cows and the most delicate trained horses.

From the previous description of the districts surrounding the inland waters known by the general name of the Bay of San Francisco, it will be noticed that their respective productions, seen to be so great, can best be interchanged across that bay; and that their only communication with the ocean is through the Golden Gate. Conveniently placed as nearly as possible to this gate lies the city of San Francisco, in latitude 37° 48' N. and longitude 122° 25' W. from Greenwich. It is situated on the north-east corner of the peninsula already mentioned, about a mile south of the eastern end of the general entrance to the bay, and is distant about six miles from the ocean. The situation happens to be about the most barren part of the district; and the immediate vicinity consists chiefly of low sand-hills, covered with coarse shrubs and scattered patches of grass. The name of the Spanish village which originally stood on a portion of the site of the present city was Yerba Buena—good herb. In some maps of the country it was designated as San Francisco; but locally it was only known by the name we have mentioned. Yerba Buena signifies also the herb mint, great quantities of which grew about the spot, and from that circumstance no doubt the name of the place is derived.

An island, lying in the bay about two miles east of the city likewise bears the name of Yerba Buena, where the herb mentioned grows abundantly. Probably this island first bore the name which later was given to the cove lying between it and the main land; and subsequently it was extended to the plain and village surrounding the beach. But the name mentioned was descriptive both of the island and the shore itself, since on both grew the yerba buena. This herb grows through the underwood in form of a vine, some feet long. The leaves are six inches apart, each directly opposite another. It is very fragrant, and is used to make a tea or alterative medicinal drink, though its frequent use is said to debilitate the system. The name of so insignificant an herb for the rising city being perhaps judged not sufficiently imposing, it was changed into San Francisco in January 1847, by an ordinance of the then alcalde of the place, and under this last designation it has been alone known to the world at large.

The village of Yerba Buena was situated in the small cove of that name, which extended little more than half a mile between Claris Point (so named by Captain J. F. Hutton, in 1849), on the north-west, and the Rincon, or Rincon Point, on the southeast. The first tenement was constructed in the year 1835, by Captain W. A. Richardson, and up to the year 1846, there might not be more than twenty or thirty houses of all descriptions in the place. The only practicable landing spot for small boats at low tide was at Clark's Point, where there were a few rocks. In the inside of the cove where the water was shallow, there was an extensive flat of mud, laid bare at low water. The rise and fall of ordinary tides was about eight feet. About a quarter of a mile from the beach, the water deepened to five and six fathoms, and continued of the same or of little greater depth the whole distance to the Island of Yerba Buena opposite. This space now forms the present harbor and center of the anchorage ground of San Francisco. As Yerba Buena began to increase in size and importance, the beach and water lots were seen to be of the utmost value; and measures accordingly were taken, in 1847, and following years, to extend the village, or town as it might now be called, over a great portion of the cove. About the same time the present character of the place began to be formed, which subsequent years developed into the existing grand plan of the City of San Francisco.

Rising up from Clark's Point, and between Yerba Buena Cove and the cove farther to the north-west, now called the North Beach, is the high ground named the Telegraph Hill. West and south of this hill, in a semicircular direction, lie other...

Table of contents

• PREFACE
• PART FIRST.
• PART SECOND.