Boot—*. 
 
 GpigMlN 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 

 A HISTORY 
 
 
 CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 AND INCIDENTALLY OP THE 
 
 STATE OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 JOHN S. HITTELL, 
 
 Historian of the Society of California Pioneers ; Author of «« The Resources of 
 California," ''A Brief History of Culture," etc., etc. 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO; 
 A. L. BANCROFT & COMPANY. 
 
 1878. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, 
 
 BY JOHN S. HITTELL, 
 
 In the Offiee of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 / ^\ 
 
 k 
 
THIS 
 
 VOLUME IS DEDICATED 
 
 SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA PIONEERS 
 
 HISTORIAN. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This boot was -written at the request of the committee ap- 
 pointed to manage the celebration in San Francisco of the 
 Centennial Anniversary of the Declaration of our National 
 Independence, in accordance with a resolution adopted by Con- 
 gress on the thirteenth of March, 1876, recommending that in 
 every town the delivery of a historical sketch of the place from 
 its foundation should be part of the local celebration. It was 
 considered better that, instead of a brief sketch to be read pub- 
 licly in an hour, the metropolis on the American coast of the 
 North Pacific should have a book of several hundred pages. 
 The city furnishes material enough for a history which could 
 never be prepared on a more appropriate occasion than in com- 
 memoration of the National Centennial year, especially since 
 it happens to coincide with the completion of the first century 
 in the existence of our city. Such a double epoch demanded 
 some special mark of recognition. 
 
 There are urgent reasons why works of this kind should be 
 written by pioneers, and while there are still hundreds of 
 pioneers living to furnish information from their personal 
 reminiscences and from papers that will be lost when they die. 
 No record, however brilliant in its composition or comprehen- 
 sive and careful in its statements, could ever be accepted as 
 satisfactory, as to many of the great events that have occurred 
 here on a comparatively small stage of action within the last 
 thirty years, unless based on the authority of the actors them- 
 selves — who, with highly-wrought feelings, often played for the 
 great stake of fortune, and sometimes for the still greater one 
 of life, running through a succession of rapid and startling 
 
G PREFACE. 
 
 vicissitudes. Whatever misfortunes have overtaken the indi- 
 vidual citizens, they have the consolation of seeing that Cali- 
 fornia has advanced with a swift and grand prosperity, and that 
 they have participated in one of the most imposing pageants 
 ever enacted on the stage of universal history. 
 
 The scenes which I must try to depict for the reader will 
 show a multitude of figures and many phases of passion. A 
 host of adventurers flocking from the centers ctf civilization on 
 the shores of the Atlantic, half across the world, to a remote 
 corner on the coast of what was then the semi-barbarous Pacific, 
 coming to make a brief stay in the rude search for gold, brought 
 a high culture with them, and suddenly lifted their new home 
 to 'an equal place among the most enlightened communities. 
 The early American settlers in California, instead of being, as 
 many persons at a distance supposed they would be, the mere 
 offscourings of a low rabble, were, in a large proportion, men 
 of knowledge and capacity; and if generally inexperienced in 
 high station and serious responsibility, yet not incompetent for 
 them. At brief notice they organized a state, complete in all 
 its parts. As if by magic, their touch or their influence created 
 magnificent cities; clipper ships, that cast the boasted India- 
 men of England into disrepute; two railroads, connecting the 
 Atlantic with the Pacific; a line of ocean steamers, connecting- 
 Asia with America, and a telegraph line from the Golden Gate 
 to the Mississippi. 
 
 By their help, a village so insignificant that it had scarcely 
 a mention on the map, grew till it became a leading center of 
 population, commerce, industry, wealth, luxury, and of intel- 
 lectual, political, and financial activity. They saw the in- 
 digenous chaparral give way to tents, these to cloth-lined 
 wooden buildings, and these to public and private palaces that 
 rival the homes of Euroj)ean princes. Unable to find suitable 
 room upon the land, they built a thousand houses and miles of 
 street upon piles, rivaling the exploits of Venice and Amster- 
 dam in encroaching upon the sea. But since this work, when 
 first done in haste, lacked the character of permanence, the 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 solid earth was moved out to give an everlasting foundation to 
 the structures erected upon places once occupied by the bay. 
 Under their labor, a hundred hills were cut down and trans- 
 ported to fill as many valleys, and thus a spacious, level and 
 solid site was made by costly art where nature had but little 
 save steep ridge, unsightly ravine, swamp, mud-flat and deep 
 bay. 
 
 The pioneers saw nearly the whole business part of the city 
 swept away by several great conflagrations. They saw the 
 Sydney convicts threaten to become masters of the place in 
 1851, and the political ruffians obtain a powerful influence in 
 the municipal government in 1856; and in both cases, as the 
 law was insufficient to provide a remedy, the people organized 
 their vigilance committees which executed justice with a 
 promptness, prudence, vigor and exactness that excited the 
 envy of learned and honest judges. 
 
 They saw in much of the state the savage retire before the 
 cow-herd, who again retired before the wheat farmer. They 
 saw the rise of a new horticulture which combines the energy 
 of New England with the scientific training of Europe on a soil 
 as fertile as that of Egypt, and in a climate as genial as that of 
 Italy. They saw the development of a new mining industry, 
 which lifted rivers from their beds, washed away the eternal 
 hills, followed up and cleaned out the channels of the immense 
 streams of an ancient geological era, and made topographical 
 changes in the natural levels of the earth's surface so great that 
 they may claim to exceed all that has ever been done elsewhere. 
 "When the auriferous deposits of the western slope of the Sierra 
 Nevada had yielded the best of their treasures, the miners 
 crossed the mountain ridge, and astonished the world by their 
 new metallurgy, their improved applications of machinery to 
 deep mining, and a production of silver from the Comstock 
 lode surpassing the aggregate yield of all the mines of Mexico 
 and Peru when they were at their best under the dominion of 
 Sjmin, and when they exported nothing worthy of note save 
 precious metal. 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 The men who took part in most of these wonderful changes, 
 and witnessed all of them, feel that California, and especially 
 San Francisco, has an interest for them such as no other coun- 
 try or city could have acquired, in our age at least, nor do they 
 lament that they did not live in some better time in the remote 
 past. No golden era of romance or chivalry, no heroic period 
 of Greece or Borne provokes their envy, or, in their conception, 
 outshines the brilliancy of the scenes in which they have been 
 actors. This is the very home of their souls. 
 
 It is impossible for one to live long in San Francisco, and 
 become familiar with its business and business men, without 
 becoming attached to the city and state. However much he 
 may see to dislike, he will also find much that commands his 
 attention and fastens on his sympathies. The rapidity of 
 growth, the energy in industry and traffic, the competition of 
 commercial talents, the fever of speculation, the vast accumula- 
 tion of wealth, the fierce fluctuations of fortune, the frequent 
 visits of celebrities from all parts of the civilized world, and 
 the magnitude of events occurring in swift succession on a 
 comparatively small stage, never allow our interest to flag or 
 permit us to forget that we are in an exceptional land, among 
 a population who, though nearly all immigrants from , many 
 different parts of America and Europe, yet, by long training 
 under singular and impressive circumstances, have taken the 
 general character of Californians and have come to regard 
 themselves as a peculiar people. There is probably nothing 
 that serves to distinguish them more than their pride in their 
 state, their attachment to it, and their profound conviction that 
 the more people elsewhere know of the country and its inhab- 
 itants, the better they will like them. The Californians, espe- 
 cially the pioneers, are proud of the large influence exercised 
 by their state in the commerce and industry of the world. The 
 discovery of the gold deposits of the Sierra Nevada was an im- 
 portant event of peaceful progress, a notable fact in the history 
 of commerce and industry. It was the beginning, or great 
 stimulus of important changes, the like of which never were 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 before attached to so small a community within so brief a 
 period. 
 
 It would be a mistake, however, to ascribe the pride of the 
 pioneers exclusively to their opinion of the importance of their 
 enterprise, in its direct or indirect influence on themselves or 
 on the world at large. Their feelings are partly the result of 
 an ardent attachment to the soil and climate of the state, and 
 the most unbounded confidence, that, on account of the 
 natural advantages, it must become one of the chief centers of 
 the highest culture. Notwithstanding the vast accumulations 
 of financial wealth, artistic treasure and interesting historical 
 association in older and more popluous communities, the impres- 
 sion prevails generally here, that this is a more desirable coun- 
 try for the home of most of its people than any other under 
 sun. We envy neither France, Tuscany, Naples, nor Pal- 
 estine. The soil of our state is not sacred to us, in the sense 
 in which the Ganges and Nile valleys, Jerusalem, Rome, and 
 Nauvoo have been sacred, but our attachment to it is intense. 
 Bounded by Shasta on the north, and San Bernardino on the 
 south, Yosemite on the east, and the Golden Gate on the west, 
 we have a territory that is blest by Nature beyond all the world. 
 "Why should we not be proud of it ? The commerce, the 
 wealth, the literature and the art of San Francisco; the hy- 
 draulic washings and quartz mines of the Sierra Nevada; the 
 quicksilver furnaces of the coast range; the borax deposits of 
 the enclosed basin east of the snowy mountains; the wheat 
 fields of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys; the orchards 
 of Santa Clara and Alameda; the orange and olive groves of 
 the southern coast; the sub-tropical valleys, the semi-frigid 
 Californian Alps, the ever cool clime of our middle coast, a 
 thousand precious mineral springs of various qualities, adapted 
 to cure a hundred different phases of disease; an exemption 
 from the influence that lead to the spread of many of the most 
 formidable epidemics elsewhere, and the possession of remarka- 
 ble advantages for sanitary purposes by large districts; these 
 form an aggregate sufficient to breed, nourish and stimulate 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 local pride as great as that which fills the breasts, not only of 
 the pioneers, "but of most of the other residents of our city. 
 
 The old Californians want a book to revive their recollections 
 and to recall associations, which, vivid as they are in some re- 
 spects, still need to be kindled anew, and connected with the 
 present, as if proof were wanted that the wonders of their past 
 lives are, after all, not mere dreams. Their experiences and 
 impressions are part of the most valuable information of an age 
 that must ever preserve a prominent place in the history of our 
 state, though we hope the time may never come when enlight- 
 ened readers elsewhere will look back to the first quarter cen- 
 tury of American dominion in California, and read of that with 
 interest, caring little for its later history, as now we read 
 about the ages of Pericles in Athens, and of the Spanish con- 
 querors in Mexico and Peru. 
 
 As the most brilliant center of civilization in the basin of the 
 North Pacific and the metropolis of the western slope of the 
 United States, San Francisco and its history should have an in- 
 terest for many readers beyond its borders. Its population has 
 a representative character—a flavor of universal brotherhood. 
 Every country of Europe and every state in the American 
 Union has many natives among its population. A million homes 
 between Maine and Texas, between Glasgow and Constanti- 
 nople are interested in some son, daughter, brother or sister in 
 the golden metropolis. The Teuton, the Latin, the Slav, the 
 Celt, the Jew, the Magyar, and the Chinaman, show their signs 
 and use their tongues in our streets. No other city has in pro- 
 portion to its size so many heart-strings running out through 
 all civilized nations. 
 
 It is not possible, nor is it desirable to entirely separate the 
 history of San Francisco from that of California. The 'former, 
 though not without a large productive industry of its own, has 
 depended upon the latter for its growth and prosperity. The 
 city with its suburbs has now more than a third of the inhabit- 
 ants and wealth of the state, and has from the first had more 
 than any other metropolis as compared with its tributary popu- 
 
PREFACE. 11 
 
 lation. "Whatever has added to the wealth of any town, or 
 mining or agricultural district within ten degrees, has aided to 
 enrich the " cbrysopolis," the golden city, as it has been styled. 
 Here, most of the railroads and silver mines, and many of the 
 gold mines, ranchos, canals, orchards and vineyards of the 
 state are owned; here their revenues are invested, and are or 
 will be enjoyed. San Francisco is the center and focus of the 
 Pacific Slope of the United States, and its progress reflects 
 and has been dependent on that of a wide area. 
 
 So much it seemed proper to say by way of prefatory remark 
 upon the subject and the book. 
 
 J. S. H. 
 
 San Francisco, 
 
 October 1, 1878. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INDIAN ERA. 
 
 Section. Page. 
 
 1. Aborigines 19 
 
 2. Discovery of California 25 
 
 3. Drake 26 
 
 4. Vizcaino 29 
 
 5. Missions Projected 30 
 
 6. Franciscan Order 33 
 
 Section. Page. 
 
 7. Junipero Serra 33 
 
 8. First Expedition 39 
 
 9. First Missions 39 
 
 10. Discovery of Bay 41 
 
 11. Privations 42 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MISSION ERA. 
 
 12. Visiting Expeditions 45 
 
 13. First Settlement 47 
 
 14. Mission Authority 49 
 
 15. Indian Women 51 
 
 16. Indian Men 53 
 
 17. Savage Life 54 
 
 18. Convert Life 55 
 
 19. Indian Work 55 
 
 20. No Education 56 
 
 21. Number of Indians 58 
 
 22. Great Mortality 59 
 
 23. Friars 62 
 
 24. Mission Buildings 64 
 
 25. Mission Income 66 
 
 26. Decay of Missions 68 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE VILLAGE ERA. 
 
 27. Secularization 70 
 
 28. Land Grants 72 
 
 29. Pueblo 76 
 
 30. Leese 79 
 
 31. Yerba Buena 82 
 
 32. First House 84 
 
 33. First Survey 86 
 
 34. Hudson Bay 88 
 
 35. Predictions 91 
 
 36. Morrell 93 
 
 37. Beechey 93 
 
 38. Wilkes, etc 95 
 
 39. American Longing 98 
 
 40. Larkin 99 
 
14 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III.— Continued. 
 
 Section. Page. 
 
 41. Fremont's Blunder 100 
 
 42. Bear Flag 102 
 
 43. American Flag 103 
 
 44. Effect of Conquest 106 
 
 45. Mormons 107 
 
 46. Change of Name 110 
 
 47. Stevenson's Regiment 112 
 
 Section. 
 48. 
 40. 
 50. 
 
 Page. 
 
 O'Farrell's Survey 114 
 
 Sale of Lots 11G 
 
 Census of 1847 117 
 
 Leading Town 118 
 
 Shipping in 1847 118 
 
 Puff for California 120 
 
 Peace 121 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 55. Gold 
 
 56. Trade Stimulated 
 
 57. Excitement in the East . 
 
 58. 1849 
 
 50. First Great Fire 
 
 60. Telegraph Hill 
 
 61. Edward Everett 
 
 62. First Steamer 
 
 63. Immigration by Sea 
 
 64. Call for Convention 
 
 65. Ayuntamiento 
 
 66. City Government 
 
 67. Constitution 
 
 68. Summer of 1849 
 
 69. Hounds 
 
 70. Auctions 
 
 71. More Lot Sales 
 
 72. Inland Steamboats 
 
 73. Plank Road 
 
 74. Winter of 1849 
 
 75. 1850 
 
 76. Second Great Fire 
 
 77. Legislative Work 
 
 GOLDEN ERA. 
 
 124 78. Admission 159 
 
 126 79. Rejoicing 160 
 
 129 80. Clipper Ships 162 
 
 132 81. Pioneer Society 164 
 
 133 82. Wharf Contracts 164 
 
 134 S3. 1851 166 
 
 135 84. Fourth and Fifth Fires 168 
 
 136 85. Vigilance Committee, 1851.. 172 
 
 139 86. Coroner's Verdict 174 
 
 140 87. Execution of Stuart 175 
 
 141 88. Whittakerand McKenzie... 176 
 
 143 89. Land Commission 178 
 
 144 90. 1852 183 
 
 146 91. French Immigration 185 
 
 148 92. Raousset 189 
 
 149 63. Fighting in Sonora 189 
 
 150 94. Obstacles 192 
 
 150 95. End of Raousset 195 
 
 151 99. 1853 196 
 
 154 97. City Slip Sale 199 
 
 155 98. Filibuster Walker 200 
 
 156 99. Six Year's Work 206 
 
 157 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 
 
 100. 1854 203 
 
 101. Dillon and Del Valle 209 
 
 102. Mercantile Business 210 
 
 103. Staple Imports 214 
 
 104. Commercial Panic 215 
 
 105. Meiggs 218 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 15 
 
 CHAPTER V.— Continued. 
 
 Section. Page. 
 
 106. Forged Warrants 219 
 
 107. Other Frauds 222 
 
 10S. Meiggs's Flight 223 
 
 109. 1855..., 226 
 
 110. Adams & Co 227 
 
 111. Panama Railroad 233 
 
 112. Gambling 235 
 
 113. Walker in Nicaragua 237 
 
 114. 1856 239 
 
 115. Political Corruption 241 
 
 116. Murder of King 243 
 
 117. Vigilance Committee, 1856. 245 
 
 118. Swift Organization 247 
 
 119. Casey and Cora Executed.. 249 
 
 120. Ballot-box Stuffers 251 
 
 121. Law and Order Party 253 
 
 122. Arrest of Terry 254 
 
 123. McGowan 257 
 
 124. Hetherington and Brace .... 257 
 
 125. Disbandment 258 
 
 126. Work of the Committee.... 260 
 
 127. People's Party 262 
 
 128. 1857 266 
 
 129. Crabb 268 
 
 130. 1858 269 
 
 131. Mining Excitements 271 
 
 132. Fraser Fever 273 
 
 133. 1859 27S 
 
 134. Early Politics 279 
 
 135. Broderick 281 
 
 Section. Page. 
 
 136. Hostility to Slavery 283 
 
 137. Campaign of 1853 284 
 
 138. Hammond Denounced 286 
 
 139. Grab for Senatorship 287 
 
 140. Chivalry Triumph 289 
 
 141. Know-Nothing Triumph . . . 292 
 
 142. H. S. Foote 293 
 
 143. Chivalry in Discredit 294 
 
 144. Vigilantes and Broderick . . . 295 
 
 145. Senator at Last 296 
 
 146. Sale of Second Senatorship . 297 
 
 147. Offer to Sell it Again 299 
 
 148. Reception of Gwin's Letter . 300 
 
 149. No Patronage to Broderick . 301 
 
 150. Insult to Buchanan 302 
 
 151. Campaign of 1859 305 
 
 152. Deadly Duel 307 
 
 153. Conversion into a Hero 309 
 
 154. Trading Capital 310 
 
 155. Reward for Service 312 
 
 156. Veracity 316 
 
 157. Chase for Senatorship 318 
 
 158. 1860 319 
 
 159. Prosperity 321 
 
 160. Bulkhead 323 
 
 161. Pony Express 324 
 
 162. Election of 1860 325 
 
 163. Baker's Oration 327 
 
 164. Seven Years 329 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SILVER ERA. 
 
 165. 1861 331 
 
 166. 1862 332 
 
 167. Sanitary Fund 335 
 
 168. 1863 339 
 
 169. Silver Panic 339 
 
 170. Conness 343 
 
 171. 1S64 346 
 
 1 72. Gold Currency 348 
 
 173. Lincoln Re-elected 349 
 
 174. 1S65 351 
 
 175. Fire Telegraph 352 
 
 176. Railroad Purchase 353 
 
16 
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 Outside Lands 362 
 
 Section. rAGE 
 
 177. Earthquake of 1S65 354 
 
 178. City Slip Debt 354 
 
 179. 1S6G 35 / 
 
 180. Subsidies 35S 
 
 181. Paid Tire Department 359 
 
 182. Kearny Street Widened . . 
 183. 
 1S4. 
 185. 
 ISO. 
 187. 
 189. 
 190. 
 191. 
 192. 
 193. 
 
 isg; 
 
 364 
 
 194. Changes 3 
 
 War. 
 
 3S1 
 3S3 
 3S4 
 3S5 
 388 
 3S9 
 
 Goat Island 3S9 
 
 202. Belcher Bonanza 392 
 
 195. 
 19G. 
 197. 
 198. 
 199. 
 200. 
 201. 
 
 1S70 
 
 Census of 1S70. 
 French-German 
 
 1871 
 
 Ilawcs 
 
 1S72 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— Continued. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Diamond Fraud 393 
 
 1S73 306 
 
 Oakland Harbor 397 
 
 Dolly Varden 398 
 
 1S74 • 399 
 
 Large Immigration 399 
 
 Con. Virginia Bonanza 400 
 
 Flood & O'Brien 401 
 
 James Lick 403 
 
 1875 404 
 
 Calaveras Water Scheme. . . 405 
 
 Bank of California 406 
 
 Balston 409 
 
 Eulogy 412 
 
 Bank reorganized 414 
 
 Virginia Fire 415 
 
 Lick's Trustees Changed .. . 416 
 
 1S76 417 
 
 Lick's Death 418 
 
 Centennial Celebration 419 
 
 Railroad Progress 366 
 
 Democratic Victory 3G7 
 
 1868 369 
 
 San Joaquin Valley 3 1 1 
 
 18G9 372 
 
 Pacific Tvailroad 373 
 
 Vallojo Railroad 375 
 
 Silver Mines 376 
 
 Section 
 
 203. 
 
 204. 
 
 205. 
 
 206. 
 
 207. 
 
 20S. 
 
 209. 
 
 210. 
 
 211. 
 
 212. 
 
 213. 
 
 214. 
 
 215. 
 
 21G. 
 
 217. 
 
 2 IS. 
 
 219. 
 
 220. 
 
 221. 
 '•'2. 
 
 223. 
 
 224. 
 
 .> > 
 
 18" 
 
 421 
 
 3CSO. 
 
 22G. 
 
 007 
 
 Ilard Times *® 
 
 Workingrnen 424 
 
 1878 426 
 
 Eighteen Years 427 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 GENERALITIES. 
 
 228. Natural Site 432 
 
 229. Grades 43j 
 
 230. Amount of Grading 437 
 
 231. Sources of Buildings 438 
 
 232. The Press 441 
 
 233. Amusements 442 
 
 234. Churches 444 
 
 235. Charities 446 
 
 236. Home Life 447 
 
 237. 
 238. 
 239. 
 240, 
 241. 
 242. 
 243. 
 244. 
 245. 
 
 Hotels 449 
 
 450 
 
 454 
 
 458 
 
 Millionaires 
 
 Extravagance 
 
 Social Spirit 
 
 Swarming Out 462 
 
 Governmental Defects 463 
 
 Literature and Art 466 
 
 Condition in 1878 475 
 
 Conclusion 4/7 
 
CONTENTS. 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 17 
 
 Page. 
 
 Authorities . . . .» 483 
 
 References 4 86 
 
 Statistics 488 
 
 Page. 
 
 Index 493 
 
 Subscribers 499 
 
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE INDIAN ERA. 
 
 Section 1. Aborigines. The origin of the Amer- 
 ican Indian is a subject of conjecture and dispute 
 among ethnologists, and when these disagree upon a 
 point in their special domain, it would be presump- 
 tuous for others to make a decision in a magisterial 
 tone. Some theorists think that the red men were in- 
 digenous to this continent ; others that they emigrated 
 from north-eastern Asia. The main hope for addi- 
 tional light upon the question in the future is in the 
 study of the Indian languages, which have hitherto 
 been neglected, because they contained no literature 
 and were not rendered valuable by important his- 
 torical associations. 
 
 Numerous late discoveries of fossil human bones 
 and works of rude art, in strata of gravel and sand 
 which had not been disturbed for thousands of years, 
 prove conclusively that California had been inhabited 
 by men for many ages before its discovery by Cabrillo 
 in 1542. The Indians of this coast have no records, 
 nor have any of their early traditions been preserved, 
 
20 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 so that we do not know anything of them previous to 
 the first visits of the Spanish navigators, save by 
 inference from their condition, and that of their rela- 
 tives in Lower California since then, and the examina- 
 tion of exhumed implements. Of these latter the 
 most important are rude mortars for grinding grass 
 seeds — rough, hard stones, from a foot to two feet in 
 diameter, with a shallow or deep concavity, in which, 
 the seeds were pounded with a pestle. The material 
 is usually granite or basaltic rock. Besides the mor- 
 tars, miners have dug up arrow-heads, made of flint 
 and obsidian, similar to those made and used of late 
 years. Nothing has been found among the fossils, or 
 elsewhere, to indicate that the ancient inhabitants 
 of the country were ever above a very low stage of 
 savagism. There are no pieces of pottery, no metallic 
 tools or ornaments, no cut stone, no remains of stone 
 or brick buildings, nor signs of fortifications. The 
 failure to find these things, or anything equally high 
 in character, either on the surface of the earth or un- 
 derground, in a country where so much of the deep 
 alluvium has been turned up, and where so many mor- 
 tars and arrow-heads have been found, implies that 
 they never were here. All the archaeological evidence 
 goes to show that the natives of California were as 
 savage in a. d. 542 as they were a thousand years 
 later ; and this inference is supported by the historical 
 principle that savage tribes, unless disturbed by con- 
 tact with a more advanced race, usually remain in the 
 same condition for centuries upon centuries. The 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 21 
 
 earliest accounts that we have of the Indians about 
 San Francisco bay, show them to us — as most of them 
 remained until long after the Missions were established 
 — far below the red inhabitants of any other part 
 of the continent; and so low, indeed, in the scale of 
 humanity, that we must go down to the aboriginal 
 Australians and the most degraded of Papuans to find 
 their equals. They had no metals, no woven cloth, no 
 pottery; no arms save the bow and arrow; no cultivated 
 lands of any kind; no domestic animals save dogs; no 
 houses, but only rude huts made by putting sticks 
 over a hole in the ground, and covering them with 
 dirt, or by thatching a frame of brush with flags or 
 tules; and no boats or canoes for the navigation of San 
 Francisco bay or any of its tributary waters. 
 
 Their mechanical industry consisted mainly of weav- 
 ing baskets, and making bows, arrows and spears. 
 The baskets, woven of wire grass, were water-tight, 
 and were used for cooking and for carrying burdens. 
 The bows were made of young trees, perhaps the west- 
 ern yew, and were covered on the back with deer 
 sinews. The arrows had heads of obsidian, sharp- 
 ened by striking it and chipping it off until an edge 
 was obtained; it then cut like broken glass. Knives 
 and spcar-heads were made in the same manner. 
 Spears for fish had a little point of bone, which came 
 out of the socket the moment after the game was 
 struck, and then, being fastened to the spear handle 
 by a cord, turned cross-wise in the flesh. 
 
 The men went naked in the summer, and in the 
 
22 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 * 
 winter wore a deer-skin over the back. The women 
 
 covered themselves from the hips to the knees, with 
 an apron made by tying pieces of flag or bark to a 
 girdle. Neither sex had any covering for the head 
 or feet. Their food consisted mainly of grass seeds, 
 acorns, buckeyes, berries, fish, grasshoppers, Clevel- 
 and edible roots or tubers, with, occasionally, birds, rab- 
 bits, and deer. Those living near the rivers, caught 
 great quantities of salmon in their season, but they 
 had not skill in preparing any flesh to keep. They 
 were poor hunters and rarely killed large game, not- 
 withstanding its abundance. Acorns were mashed, 
 and after being mixed with water, the dough was 
 cooked by burying it with red-hot stones under and 
 above. The buckeyes were mashed and made with 
 water into a thin gruel, which was boiled by throwing 
 red-hot stones into it. Summer brought an abundance 
 of provisions, and the Indians got fat; in the winter 
 their food became scarce and they grew lean. It was 
 observed that, like some wild beasts, their offspring 
 were generally born in the spring. 
 
 They had no religion, no conception of a deity or 
 a future life, no idols, no form of worship, no priests, 
 no philosophical conceptions, no historical traditions, 
 no proverbs, no mode of recording thought. Their 
 domestic and social polity was of the simplest nature; 
 polygamy was common, and slavery not rare; the 
 husband had absolute power over the persons and lives 
 of his wives, the parent over his children, the master 
 over his slaves. Woman was treated as an inferior. 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 23 
 
 It was her duty to perform all the labor of carrying 
 burdens, collecting vegetable food, grinding grass 
 seed and doing such miscellaneous work as would have 
 been in their opinion a disgrace to the men, who did 
 little more than to hunt, fish, go to war, make a few 
 arms, and lounge about. The chief support of the 
 family came from the wife; and the man was consid- 
 ered to be well situated in life, in proportion to the 
 number of nominal wives, but real slaves, whom he 
 had to wait upon him. Women were the chief article of 
 wealth; there was no public ceremony to mark the 
 besfinninof of the relation of husband and wife, and no 
 sacredness in the relation after it had commenced. 
 They had no political organization; there was no 
 king, no prince, no hereditary authority, no political 
 bond on which command could be based. Some man 
 distinguished by more courage, bravery or good luck 
 than his fellows, misfit be recognized as a leader for a 
 time, but there was no permanence to his power; there 
 were no orderly public councils, nor any tribunals to 
 administer public justice. The tribes were small, and, 
 in the coast valleys, were usually at war, or at least 
 not at peace with the tribes in the adjacent valleys. 
 It was dangerous for a man to venture alone across the 
 mountains which bounded the home of his tribe; they 
 had not the courage and spirit to be warlike, nor the 
 friendliness and good faith to have firm peace. War 
 was made in the rudest, most cruel, and most cow- 
 ardly manner; ambushes, midnight surprises, and 
 fighting under cover, and at long distances, were 
 
24 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 always preferred to fair encounter upon the open field in 
 davliorht. Their onlv ceremonies were cremations and 
 dances; they burned their dead amidst the concourse 
 of the whole tribe, usually at night; and while the 
 body was broiling in the flames, the women howled 
 and wailed, and men marched round the funeral pyre. 
 There was one main dance every year, in the spring, 
 and that, too, was held at night. A party of a half 
 a dozen or more men placed themselves in a row, while 
 a monotonous chant was sung by women sitting around. 
 In some tribes the infant left by the deceased mother 
 was burned with her, not as a religious sacrifice, but 
 as a simple mode of getting rid of a child for which 
 nobody would care. 
 
 The Aztecs built up a great empire, remarkable for 
 its military power, its architectural monuments, its 
 astronomical discoveries, its general industry, and 
 skill in many of the mechanic arts. The Indians of 
 the upper Mississippi valley were distinguished for 
 their manliness, bravery, constancy, and warlike skill; 
 and the remains of extensive fortifications and great 
 mounds show that a large and industrious population 
 once dwelt there. In the Hawaiian Islands, the na- 
 tives, when discovered by Cook, were the most amiable 
 children of nature — full of friendliness, affection, volup- 
 tuousness and grace in time of peace, and capable of 
 extensive combinations and sturdy courage in war. 
 Religious dogmas, professional priests, extensive po- 
 litical organizations, hereditary chiefs, open councils for 
 the discussion of public affairs, and systematic agricul- 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 25 
 
 ture: all these were found amonof the tribes living in 
 the eastern and southern parts of the continent and 
 the nearest islands, but none of them existed in the 
 central basin of California, or the valleys opening into 
 San Francisco bay. The only sparks of industry and 
 spirit were found in the deserts of the Colorado and 
 the Mojave, in the bleak and rugged valley of the 
 Klamath, or in a small district near Santa Barbara. 
 
 Sec. 2. Discovery of California. Mexico was con- 
 quered in 1519, and Peru in 1532. The prizes there 
 taken were so great, that the Spanish adventurers 
 in the New World, were full of hope that more such 
 kingdoms might be found and plundered. They looked 
 to the north-west coast of America as the possible 
 seat of a wealthy empire, and they made great exertions 
 to find it. 
 
 When Cortes went to the court of Charles V., in 
 1528, he was received with distinguished honor, and 
 rewarded for his services to the empire with many 
 concessions then considered important; among these 
 was one, that he might conquer at his own expense 
 any countries north-west of Mexico, annex them to 
 the Spanish crown, keep for himself one twelfth of the 
 precious metals and pearls, and retain the perpetual 
 viceroyalty for himself and his male heirs. So soon 
 as he had returned to Mexico, he commenced to make 
 preparations for his new expedition of conquest, but 
 various obstacles arose, and he did not go to sea in 
 person until 1535. At last, he found nothing save 
 the peninsula of Lower California, which was so bar- 
 
26 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ren that he soon abandoned the hope of finding any- 
 thing there, and many difficulties prevented him from 
 going further. When he returned to Mexico in 1537, 
 he learned that during his absence, two Spaniards, 
 who had landed with De Soto ten years before in 
 Florida, had crossed the continent and reached Culi- 
 acan, bringing with them the report of a rich, popu- 
 lous, and extensive empire in the north-west. They 
 did not pretend to have seen the country, or to have 
 any precise knowledge of it, but they had heard gen- 
 eral rumors of it. Their story corresponded so well 
 with the greedy hopes and ambitions of the Spaniards, 
 that it found ready faith, stimulated the desire to find 
 another prize like Mexico, and led to the discovery of 
 California by an expedition sent out in 1542 under 
 Jose It. Cabrillo, who did not explore the shore any- 
 where, or see any sign of San Francisco, though 
 he sailed northward to latitude 44°. The name 
 of California was first used in an obscure Spanish 
 romance, and there applied to an imaginary land lying 
 north-west of Mexico, as known when the book was 
 published, soon after the conquest of Mexico. As used 
 geographically, California meant nothing but what has 
 been called Lower California since 1769. 
 
 Sec. 3. Drake. In 1579, Sir Francis Drake, 
 English navigator, who had been out plundering 
 Spanish ships and towns on the western coast of South 
 America and Mexico, determined to try to return to 
 England by the passage supposed to exist in an open 
 sea north of the American continent. He found the 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 27 
 
 weather so cold in latitude 42°, that he turned south- 
 ward again, preferring to run the risk of being taken 
 by the Spaniards, while sailing in the South Pacific 
 and passing the Straits of Magellan, rather than to 
 face the chilly winds of the northern ocean. On the 
 17th of June, he entered a "faire good bay," "within 
 thirty-eight degrees of latitude of the line." J. W. 
 Dwindle thinks that he anchored in Bolinas Bay in 
 latitude 37° 54/, but a common opinion among navi- 
 gators, that he entered the bay behind Point Reyes, 
 induced them to give the name of Drake's Bay to 
 that place, which is exactly in latitude thirty-eight, 
 while the entrance of San Francisco bay is thirteen 
 minutes farther south. If he had entered the last- 
 named bay, it is not probable that he would have 
 allowed it to pass with simply calling it " faire and 
 good," without speaking of its large size, strong cur- 
 rents, magnificent entrance, fertile shores, secure an- 
 chorage, and numerous islands, matters which no 
 intelligent navigator could overlook, and which he 
 must have observed if he had entered. He came to 
 the coast for the purpose of finding a passage to the 
 Atlantic, and after observing such deep channels as 
 as the northern and southern arms of San Francisco 
 bay, he would scarcely turn back without examining 
 them, or give an account of his voyage without men- 
 tioning them. He speaks, however, of numerous 
 conies, and if by those he meant our ground-squirrels, 
 he must have gone a considerable distance from 
 Drake's bay, though they abound near ours. The 
 
28 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 " cony" is a rabbit, not a squirrel, and there arc rab- 
 bits at Point Reyes. Here the Indians could build 
 their houses close by the water-side, better than un- 
 der the shelter of Point Peyes, and he says the Indians 
 had their huts at the edge of the water. 
 
 He says further, that the country was governed by 
 an Indian king", and that the Indians solicited Drake 
 to stay and be their ruler. He accepted, on behalf of 
 his sovereign, the crown and sceptre offered to him, 
 by the aboriginal monach. Wherever the earth was 
 examined, silver and gold were found in it. These 
 assertions are so improbable, that they are unworthy 
 of credence. The savages had no king, nor thought 
 of a crown or sceptre, nor tongue intelligible to the 
 English; but the chronicler may have made false 
 statements for the sake of conveying the impression, 
 that England had some kind of a claim to the new 
 land. 
 
 There is no specification of circumstances to give 
 probability to the story about the finding of gold and 
 silver, nor any account of a search for those metals, 
 or of any specimens having been obtained by Drake. 
 Gold and silver are not found in the earth near Drake's 
 bay or the bay of San Francisco, and we have no rea- 
 son to believe that he penetrated far inland. 
 
 The existence of a "San Francisco bay" near lati- 
 tude 38° was known to the Spaniards soon after Drake 
 made his voyage, and as there is no other way to ac- 
 count for its discovery or the origin of its name, it is 
 possible that the Spaniards got their knowledge from 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 29 
 
 Drake and applied to the bay his first name altered to 
 suit their tongue and creed. The bay of San Fran- 
 cisco may be considered the Spanish equivalent of the 
 bay of Sir Francis. 
 
 Sec. 4. Vizcaino. In 1595, the " San Augustin," 
 under command of Captain Cer merlon, was sent from 
 Manila to examine the coast of California, which 
 the annual galleon, on the way from the Phillipine 
 Islands to Mexico, had to skirt, but he was wrecked 
 in Drake's Bay, then known as San Francisco Bay. 
 We are not told how this wrecked party escaped, but 
 the pilot reached Mexico and occupied the same posi- 
 tion seven years later in the exploring expedition of 
 two vessels sent from Acapulco, under charge of 
 Sebastian Vizcaino, who, after touching at San Diego 
 and Monterey, also entered Drake's Bay, which the 
 pilot recognized as the place where he had been 
 wrecked. The description of Drake's Bay, as given 
 in the account of this voyage in the history of Cali- 
 fornia by Venegas, written about 1768, is unmistak- 
 able, but it is there called " the port of San Francis- 
 co," and there was no knowledge or suspicion of a 
 larger and better harbor within a few miles. Vizcaino 
 did not land at Drake's Bay, but spent only one night 
 there, and continued his voyage to the northward, 
 finding nothing of interest in the history of Califor- 
 nia. 
 
 No attempt was made to explore the coast by any 
 vessel between 1603 and 1769, but in 1740 a Spanish 
 map of it was published and it represented the Faral- 
 
30 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Ion Islands lying west of a circular bay with a diame- 
 ter of thirty miles and a short and narrow entrance. 
 No name is attached to it but the Spaniards knew of 
 no other anchorage save San Francisco bay in this 
 vicinity. We shall never know where the map-maker 
 got his idea of the form of the bay. An old English 
 chart presumptively prepared from Drake's informa- 
 tion represents Drake's bay as semi-circular, which 
 form agrees pretty well with the anchorage under Point 
 Reyes, but is entirely inapplicable to the inland sea 
 opening into the Pacific at the Golden Gate. 
 
 Sec. 5. Missions Projected. The expulsion of 
 the Jesuits having been ordered in 1767, the Francis- 
 can friars were instructed to take possession of the 
 Jesuit missions in peninsular California, and also to 
 establish new Missions which should protect the coun- 
 try farther north against seizure by the English or 
 French, more especially the former, as the more enter- 
 prising in such matters, and the less friendly. The 
 growth of Great Britain in commerce, industry, 
 wealth, military power and reputation abroad, was 
 extremely rapid about the middle of the eighteenth 
 century. England had already become the greatest 
 of mercantile and manufacturing nations. In four 
 great wars France was beaten, humiliated, and almost 
 broken, and in the last of them, with England, from 
 175G to 1703, she lost her great possessions in Asia 
 and America — Hindostan and Canada. 
 
 After the peace, which secured to Great Britain not 
 simply the political dominion over these conquests, 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 31 
 
 but the far more important profits of their commerce 
 and almost exclusive possession of the sea, as a naval 
 power and a shipping nation, she began to look around 
 for further prizes. There was much talk of the new 
 countries to be occupied, new colonies to be planted, 
 and new islands to be discovered. Now that Canada 
 was English, it was doubly important, if possible, to 
 discover the north-west passage by sea between the 
 two great oceans, from Baffin's or Hudson's Bay, 
 westward. The exploring vessels of Cook, and other 
 British navigators about the same time, did not sail 
 until after the Missions had been established; but the 
 preliminary talk had commenced years before, and the 
 Spanish court was influenced, if not governed, by 
 fears of English expeditions. 
 
 It was not the intention to establish towns too 
 strong to be taken by the English, in case they should 
 resort to force ; but no war was then feared, and the 
 mere occupation of a few points, it was thought, 
 would be sufficient. The cheapest and simplest mode 
 of taking possession of a distant country which of- 
 fered no great prizes or precious metals, pearls or 
 gems, would be to found Missions, and that was the 
 method adopted. It was expected that these would 
 be the beginnings of settlements, which in a genera- 
 tion or two would grow into valuable supports of the 
 Spanish crown. At the same time that the king 
 ordered the Jesuits to leave his kingdom and its de- 
 pendencies, he provided that the Franciscan monks 
 should succeed them in the management of the Mis- 
 
32 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 sions of California, and that other Missions should be 
 established farther north on the coast, which then, for 
 the first time, was called Upper or New California, 
 while the peninsula was designated as Old or Lower 
 California. 
 
 The two best known ports in the former region, 
 San Diego and Monterey, though one hundred and fifty 
 miles apart were selected as sites for the first Missions 
 to be established. There was abundant work in the 
 vicinity of San Diego; and several Missions near one 
 another in the southern district of the new country 
 would be of less expense than the same number separ- 
 ated by long distances. The government at Madrid 
 was well aware that the Missions in Lower California, 
 after having been in existence for more than half a 
 century, were constant and considerable burdens to 
 the public treasury, and it could not be expected that 
 the expense would be less for new Missions, so much 
 more remote. The probable cost was not sufficient to 
 outweigh the important object of securing the north- 
 western American coast to the Spanish crown, and so 
 the occupation by missionaries was ordered. The con- 
 vent of San Fernando, the principal establishment of 
 the Franciscan monks in New Spain, was to have 
 charge of the religious department. The superior of 
 the convent selected Junipero Serra to be the head of 
 the friars in California. In 1768, Serra, with fifteen 
 Franciscans, arrived at Loreto, in Lower California, to 
 succeed the sixteen Jesuits who had left the peninsula 
 a few weeks before. 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 33 
 
 Sec. 6. Franciscan Order. The Franciscans made 
 missionary labor among the poor their specialty. 
 Their position in the Catholic church is like that of 
 the Methodists in Protestantism; they carry the gospel 
 to the lowly, and care less relatively for learning and 
 social polish than the spirit of devotion. They are 
 distinguished for humility, poverty, and self denial. 
 They accept literally the command to have no surplus 
 garments. One woolen gown tied at the waist by a 
 hempen cord, with a pair of sandals, was their usual 
 suit. This order was entrusted with the establishment 
 of Spanish authority, and the Christian religion in 
 California. 
 
 Sec. 7. Junipero Serra. Junipero Serra, the 
 founder of the Missions, was born on the Island of 
 Majorca, part of the kingdom of Spain, on the twenty- 
 fourth of November, 1713. At the age of sixteen, he 
 became a friar of the order of St. Francis, and the 
 new name of Junipero w T as then substituted for his 
 baptismal name of Miguel Jose. After entering the 
 convent, he went through a collegiate course of study, 
 and before he had received the degree of doctor, was ap- 
 pointed lecturer upon philosophy. He became a noted 
 preacher, and was frequently invited to visit the large 
 towns of his native island in that capacity. . 
 
 Junipero was thirty-six years of age when he de- 
 termined to become a missionary in the new w T orld. 
 In 1749 he crossed the ocean in company with a num- 
 ber of brother Franciscan friars, among them several 
 who afterwards came with him to California. He re- 
 
34 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 mained but a short time in the city of Mexico, and 
 was soon sent as a missionary to the Indians in the 
 Sierra Madre, in the district now known as the state 
 of San Luis Potosf. He spent nine years there, and 
 then returned to the city of Mexico, where he stayed 
 for seven years, in the convent of San Fernando. In 
 1767, when fifty-four years of age, he was appointed 
 to the charge of the Missions to be established in 
 Upper California. He arrived at San Diego, 1769, 
 and with the exception of one journey to Mexico, he 
 spent all the remainder of his life here, dying at the 
 Mission of Carmel, near Monterey, on the twenty- 
 eighth of August, 1784, aged seventy-one years. 
 
 Our knowledge of his character is derived almost 
 exclusively from his biography by Palou, also a native 
 of Majorca, a brother Franciscan friar who had been 
 his disciple, came across the Atlantic with him, was 
 his associate in the convent of San Fernando, his 
 companion in the expedition to California, his succes- 
 sor in the presidency of the Missions of Old Califor- 
 nia, his subordinate afterwards in New California, his 
 attendant at his death-bed, and his nearest friend for 
 forty years or more. Under the circumstances, Palou 
 had a right to record the life of his preceptor and 
 superior. 
 
 Junipero Serra was a typical Franciscan, a man to 
 whom his religion was everything. All his actions 
 were governed by the ever-present and predominant 
 idea that life is a brief probation, trembling between 
 eternal perdition on one side, and salvation on the 
 
THE INDIA N ERA . 35 
 
 other. Earth, for its own sake, had no joys for him. 
 His soul did not recognize this life as its home. He 
 turned with dislike from nearly all those sources of 
 pleasure in which the polished society of our age de- 
 lights. As a friar, he had in boyhood renounced all 
 the joys of love and the attractions of woman's 
 society. The conversation of his own sex was not a 
 source of amusement to him. He w T as habitually 
 serious. Laughter was inconsistent with the terrible 
 responsibilities of this probationary existence. Not a 
 joke or a jovial action is recorded of him. He de- 
 lighted in no joyous books. Art or poetry never 
 served to sharpen his wits, lighten his spirits, or solace 
 his weary moments. The sweet devotional poetry of 
 Fray Luis de Leon and the delicate humor of Cer- 
 vantes, notwithstanding the perfect piety of both, 
 were equally strange to him. He knew nothing of 
 the science and philosophy which threw all enlightened 
 nations into fermentation a hundred years ago. The 
 rights of man and the birth of chemistry did not with- 
 draw his fixed gaze from the other world wmich formed 
 the constant subject of his contemplation. 
 
 It was not enough for him to abstain from positive 
 pleasure; he considered it as his duty to inflict upon 
 himself bitter pain. He ate little, avoided meat and 
 wine, preferred fruit and fish, and never complained of 
 the quality of his food or sought to have it more 
 savory. He often lashed himself with ropes, sometimes 
 with wire; he was in the habit of beating himself in 
 the breast with stones, and at times he put a burning 
 
36 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 torch to his breast. These things he did while preachr 
 ing, or at the close of his sermons, his purpose being, 
 as his biographer says, not only to punish himself, but 
 also to move his auditory to penitence for their own 
 sins. Palou relates the following incident, which 
 occurred during a sermon which he delivered in Mex- 
 ico. The precise date and place are not given : 
 
 " Imitating- his devout San Francisco Solano, he drew out a 
 chain, and letting his habit fall below his shoulders, after hav- 
 ing exhorted his auditory to penance, he began to beat himself 
 so cruelly that all the spectators were moved to tears, and one 
 man rising up from among them went with all haste to the pul- 
 pit, and taking- the chain from the penitent father, came down 
 with it to the platform of the presbytery, and following the 
 example of the venerable preacher, he bared himself to the 
 waist and began to do public penance, saying, with tears and 
 sobs, ' I am the sinner, ungrateful to God, who ought to do 
 penance for my sins, and not the father, who is a saint.' So 
 cruel and pitiless were the blows, that in the sight of all the 
 people he fell down. They supposing him to be dead, the last 
 unction and sacrament were administered to him there, and 
 soon after that he died. We may believe with pious faith that 
 his soul is enjoying the presence of God." 
 
 Serra and his biographer did not receive the Protes- 
 tant doctrine, that there have been no miracles since 
 the apostolic age. They believed that the power pos- 
 sessed by the chief disciples of Jesus had been inher- 
 ited by Catholic priests of their time, and they 
 saw wonders where their contemporary clergymen, 
 like Conyers Middleton and Joseph Priestly, saw 
 nothing save natural mistakes. Palou records the 
 following story with unquestioning faith : 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 37 
 
 "When Serra was traveling -with a party of missionaries 
 through the province of Huasteca, in Mexico, many of the vil- 
 lagers did not go to hear the word of God, at the first village 
 where they stopped; but scarcely had the fathers left the place 
 when it was visited by an epidemic, which carried away sixty 
 villagers, all of whom, as the curate of the place wrote to the 
 Reverend Father Junipero, were persons who had not gone to 
 hear the missionaries. The rumor of the epidemic having gone 
 abroad, the people in other villages were dissatisfied with their 
 curates for admitting the missionaries; but when they heard that 
 only those died who did not listen to the sermons, they became 
 very punctual, not only the villagers, but the country people 
 dwelling upon ranchos many leagues distant. 
 
 " Their apostolic labors having been finished, they were upon 
 their way back, and at the end of a few days' journey when the 
 sun was about to set, they knew not where to spend the night, 
 and considered it certain that they must sleep on the open plain. 
 They were thinking about this when they saw near the road a 
 house, whither they went and solicited lodging. They found a 
 venerable man, with his wife and child, who received them with 
 much kindness and attention, and gave them supper. In the 
 morning the fathers thanked their hosts, and taking leave, pur- 
 sued their way. After having gone a little distance they met 
 some muleteers, who asked them where they I?~.d passed the 
 night. "When the place was described, the muleteers declared 
 that there was no house or rancho near the road, or within many 
 leagues. The missionaries attributed to Divine Providence, the 
 favor of that hospitality, and believed undoubtingly, that these 
 hosts were Jesus, Mary and Joseph, reflecting not only about 
 the order and cleanness of the house, though poor, and the affec- 
 tionate kindness with which they had been received, but also 
 about the extraordinary internal consolation which their hearts 
 had felt there." 
 
 The vessel in which Serra crossed the Atlantic, hav- 
 ing been caught by a terrible storm when within 
 sight of Vera Cruz, sprang a leak, and the water con- 
 
38 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 tinuing to rise in spite of the pumping, the sailors re- 
 quested the captain to run upon the beach as the only 
 way to escape from sinking in the open sea. He re- 
 fused and the sailors spoke of mutiny. From these 
 dangers Palou assures us, the ship was saved by a 
 miracle. The friars, including Junipero, put their 
 heads together and agreed that the proper thing to be 
 done was to apply to the proper saint, who was to be 
 found by lot. Each friar wrote the name of a saint on 
 a scrap of paper; the scraps were thrown together and 
 mixed up; and then one was taken out at random. It 
 had the name of Santa Barbara, and it so happened by 
 a fortunate coincidence that the day on which the event 
 occurred was consecrated to her in the Catholic calen- 
 dar. All on board shouted •" hurrah for Santa Bar- 
 bara" (viva Santa Barbara); at the moment the storm 
 ceased; the wind which had been adverse became 
 favorable, and in two days the vessel was at anchor in 
 the harbor of Vera Cruz. These passages in the 
 book of Palou must be supposed to represent the opin- 
 ions of Serra as well as his companion,, friend and 
 biographer. 
 
 From 1752 till 1767, Serra was a commissioner of 
 the inquisition in Mexico, the office was one which 
 Franciscans seldom held, and in which they never 
 distinguished themselves. We have no record of any 
 of Junipero's labors in that capacity. 
 
 His religious convictions found in him a congenial 
 mental constitution; he was even-tempered, temperate, 
 obedient, zealous, kindly in speech, humble and quiet. 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 39 
 
 His cowl covered neither creed, guile, hypocrisy nor 
 pride. He had no quarrels and made no enemies. He 
 sought to be a simple friar, and he was one in sincerity. 
 Probably few have approached nearer to the ideal 
 perfection of a monkish life than he. Even those who 
 think that he made great mistakes of judgment in re- 
 gard to the nature of existence and the duties of man 
 to society, must admire his earnest, honest and meek 
 character. 
 
 Sec. 8. First Expedition. Arrangements having 
 been previously made in Lower California by Inspec- 
 tor-general Jose Galvez, and President Junipero, two 
 expeditions were sent by sea and two by land to San 
 Diego. The little vessel " San Carlos" sailed from Cape 
 San Lucas on the eleventh of January with twenty- 
 five soldiers under Lieutenant Pedro Fages, and did 
 not reach her destination till after a lapse of three 
 months and a half, in which time she lost all her 
 sailors save one by scurvy. The companion vessel " San 
 Antonio" started a month later, and entered the harbor 
 after eight of her sailors had died, on the eleventh of 
 April, 1769, on which day the permanent occupation 
 of California by white men begun. Captain Bivera 
 and Friar Crespi, with the first land expedition reached 
 San Diego on the fourteenth of May; Captain Portala 
 (destined to be the governor of the territory), and 
 Father Junipero with the second on the first of July. 
 
 Sec. 9. First Missions. Not much time was lost 
 or spent in idleness. So soon as Junipero arrived, he 
 made preparations for active work. On the ninth of 
 
40 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 July the "San Antonio" sailed for San Bias to get a 
 number of sailors to supply the places of those who 
 had died of the scurvy. The occupation of Monterey 
 having been one of the most important objects of the 
 expedition, Gov. Portala set forth on the fourteenth 
 of July by land, with friars Juan Crespi and Gomez, 
 fifty-five other whites and some Indians, to find the 
 port. On the eleventh of July the Mission of San 
 Diego was founded — that is, a mass of unusual solem- 
 nity was said, and Father Junipero made a formal 
 declaration that the site had been chosen for an estab- 
 lishment where the savages of New California should 
 learn the doctrines of Christianity and the road of 
 salvation. 
 
 When Crespi and Portald,, in their northward 
 march, reached the mouth of the Salinas river, they 
 looked for the harbor of Monterey, but saw no secure 
 anchorage, and presuming that either there had been 
 a mistake in the latitude, as mentioned in the books, 
 or that the port had been filled up by sand in the cen- 
 tury and a half since Vizcaino had examined the har- 
 bor, they went northward in search of it, or another 
 port. Passing along the coast for several days after 
 leaving Monterey bay, they then crossed the mount- 
 ains to the western side of San Francisco bay, and 
 on the seventh of November reached the end of the 
 peninsula and discovered the Golden Gate. The diary 
 of friar Crespi contains the first distinct mention of 
 the bay, and with most authorities he has the credit 
 of the discovery, though Dr. Still man has made a 
 
THE INDIAN ERA. 41 
 
 plausible argument to prove that Drake is entitled to 
 the honor. 
 
 Sec. 10. Discovery of Bay. The Spanish ex- 
 plorers did not imagine that they had made a discov- 
 ery. They saw that the harbor was different from 
 that of Monterey, described by Vizcaino, but they 
 imagined it was the bay of San Francisco, mentioned 
 by their navigators as lying under shelter of Point 
 Reyes. Friar Juan Crespi, who may be considered 
 the head of the expedition, not knowing that he had 
 made a discovery, did on the seventh of November, 
 1709, discover the site and harbor of San Francisco, 
 and he gave to them the name which they now bear. 
 
 So soon as Crespi reported that he had found an 
 extensive and apparently a deep bay (he had no means 
 of sounding), the idea arose that the bay and its im- 
 mediate vicinity were destined to play an important 
 part in the future of California. Although the friars 
 had difficulties in maintaining the Missions ' already 
 established, and keeping up a connection between 
 them, they were anxious for another near the new 
 harbor; but the purpose was not carried into effect 
 until seven years later. Palou, in his biography of 
 Serra, says: 
 
 "As soon as I read this news, I attributed their failure to find 
 the harbor of Monterey at the place designated on the ancient 
 chart, to a divine disposal that they should continue their course 
 until they should arrive at the port of San Francisco, for the 
 reason that I am about to state: "When the venerable father, 
 Friar Junipero, was consulting with the illustrious inspector- 
 general about the first three Missions which he directed him to 
 
42 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 found in his New California, seeing the names and the patrons 
 ■which he had assigned to them, he said to him: ' Senor, and is 
 there no Mission for our father?' (St. Francis), to which Galvez 
 replied: ' If St. Francis desires a Mission, let him see that his 
 port is found, and it will be placed there/ The expedition 
 went up, arrived at the port of Monterey, stopped and planted 
 the cross without any of those of the party recognizing ifc, ac- 
 cording to the description of it in history; went up forty leagues 
 further, found the port of our father St. Francis, and recognized 
 it immediately by its agreement with the marks which they had. 
 In consideration of these facts, what shall we say but that our 
 father wished to have a Mission at his port ?" 
 
 Sec. 11. Privations. So soon as Portala reached 
 San Dieofo on his return, he made an examination of 
 the stock of provisions, and found it so small that 
 unless supplies should arrive before the twentieth of 
 March, it would be necessary to abandon the country 
 and return to the Missions of Lower California. The 
 "San Antonio" had been overdue for months, but navi- 
 gation was so uncertain in those days, and among 
 those people, that the hope of seeing her was almost 
 given up. As the time fixed for the departure ap- 
 proached, every preparation was made for the journey, 
 and on the twentieth all were ready to start, when a 
 sail was seen off the port. The vessel did not enter 
 the harbor until four days later, but the sight of her 
 put an end to all thoughts of abandonment. She 
 brought sailors, provisions, funds and letters of en- 
 couragement and promise from the viceroy and in- 
 spector-general. 
 
 The maintenance of San Diego having been secured, 
 it was determined that another attempt should be 
 
TIIE INDIAN ERA. 43 
 
 made to find Monterey. On the sixteenth of April, a 
 party set out by land, and the next day the "San An- 
 tonio" sailed with Father Junipero on board. The land 
 party reached the bay on the twenty-fourth May, and 
 the barque on the thirty-first. The port was found 
 precisely as described by Vizcaino, one hundred and 
 sixty-seven years before. On the third of June, the 
 Mission of San Carlos, and the presidio or fort of 
 Monterey were founded, and a formal declaration was 
 made that possession had been taken of the country 
 in the name of the king of Spain. The Indians did 
 not approach the Spaniards for several days, having 
 been frightened by the discharges of artillery and 
 musketry, but they soon recovered from their fears, 
 and from that time forward were very friendly with 
 the whites. The first savage was baptized on the 
 twenty-sixth December, seven months after the foun- 
 dation of the Mission. 
 
 The news of the establishment of the Mission and 
 presidio at Monterey reached the city of Mexico on 
 the tenth of August, 1770, and the viceroy, Marquis 
 de Croix, and the inspector-general, Galvez, consid- 
 ered the fact so important for " the glory of God, the 
 extension of our most holy Catholic religion, and the 
 honor of our Catholic monarch," that they ordered all 
 the church bells to ring in rejoicing. Accompanied 
 by the high officials of the city, they attended a 
 special mass, said for the occasion in the cathedral, 
 and afterwards the viceroy, as representative of the 
 
44 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 king, received the congratulations of tha principal 
 officers and citizens. A couple of days later, a circu- 
 lar was printed, reciting the leading facts of the estab- 
 lishment of the two Missions of New California. 
 
THE MISSION ERA, 45 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MISSION ERA. 
 
 Section 12. Visiting Expedition. As the Missions 
 prospered and the time was approaching when others 
 must be established farther north, an exploring ex- 
 pedition was sent out in March, 1772, from Monterey, 
 under charge of Friar Crespi. Instead of passing west 
 of the bay as in 1769, he followed the eastern shore; 
 on the twenty-sixth of that month passed the present 
 site of Oakland, and four days later after going through 
 Napa and Sonoma valleys, reached Russian river. 
 From a hill near Carquinez strait he saw the Sacra- 
 mento and San Joaquin valleys, thus seeing some of 
 the most fertile and beautiful portions of California in 
 his journey. The next time that the bay was seen 
 was in December, 1774, on the fourth of which month 
 Friar Palou, with a military escort, reached the end of 
 our peninsula, and then returned with reports con- 
 firming those made in 1769, and 1772 by Crespi. 
 
 Sefior Anza, who in 1774 had opened the land route 
 between Sonora and California, the next year, under 
 orders of the viceroy at Hermosillo, organized expedi- 
 tion of colonists, mostly married men, to settle at the 
 projected Missions of Santa Clara and San Francisco. 
 The news of this order was brought to Monterey in June, 
 1775, by the packet "San Carlos," under command 
 of Lieutenant Ayala, and he had instructions to survey 
 the great bay, which no vessel had yet visited, though 
 
46 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 six years had elapsed since Crespi and his companions 
 had first looked down from the hills upon the inland 
 sea and its magnificent entrance, though two sailing 
 vessels were regularly employed in the traffic between 
 Monterey and San Bias, and though the viceroy had 
 sent a vessel in 1774 to explore the coast as far north 
 as latitude fifty-five degrees. 
 
 Ayala entered the Golden Gate on the night of 
 August 11, spent forty days in the bay, reached 
 Monterey on the twenty-second of September, and 
 assured Father Junipero that it was not a harbor but 
 a multitude of harbors, in which all the navies of 
 Spain could play hide and seek. Friar Crespi accom- 
 panied by the navigator Heceta (as his name is gener- 
 ally spelled), and a military escort, went by land to 
 assist Ayala, if necessary, but did not arrive till the 
 latter had departed. 
 
 Another expedition was sent to San Francisco from 
 Monterey in the following March, and on the twenty- 
 second of that month the sites of the projected Mission 
 and Presidio, or fort, were selected. 
 
 We learn from the writings of Friar Palou, the 
 founder of our Mission, that the site as then selected 
 and afterwards occupied, was near a lagoon, the 
 situation and size of which he did not accurately de- 
 scribe. It had disappeared before 1819, the earliest 
 date to which witnesses now living can carry back 
 their distinct recollection. A map on a scale of two 
 miles to an inch of the end of our peninsula, in the 
 report of La Perouse's voyage in 1786, copied probably 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 47 
 
 from some Spanish chart (his expedition did not visit 
 any Californian port save Monterey), shows a lagoon 
 with an area of about three hundred acres in the 
 neighborhood of Mission Cove, but the lines are so in- 
 correct that it is impossible to ascertain from the map 
 whether this water was north, south or east of the 
 Mission, or how far from it. It was probably a hun- 
 dred yards or so to the north-eastward where the 
 ground is low. A slight ridge thrown across the little 
 valley there would make a lagoon again. Palou, in 
 his Notes on New California, speaking of the first visit 
 of the Spaniards to San Francisco, says that Portala, 
 the commander of the expedition, traveling from the 
 southward, along the shore of the bay, came to the 
 cove of Llorones (the cry-babies, so styled because the 
 Indians there began to weep when they saw the white 
 men), and " crossed a creek which is the outlet of a 
 larq-c lagoon called the Lagoon of Dolores, and this 
 appeared to him a good site for the Mission." The 
 oldest residents know nothing of any tradition of a lake 
 near the Mission, and we have no explanation for its 
 disappearance. 
 
 Sec. 13. First Settlement. All the preliminaries 
 having been arranged, the train of founders left Mon- 
 terey on the seventeenth of June, 1776, under Friars 
 Francisco Palou and Benito Cambon. The married 
 civilian settlers numbered seven, and there were seven- 
 teen dragoons, also married, with large families, under 
 command of Don Jose Moraga. They reached the 
 site of the Mission on the twenty-seventh of June, and 
 
48 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 after spending the night there, moved the next day to 
 the Presidio, which was to be the home of all save the 
 friars. This was the beginning of the permanent 
 settlement of white men on the site of San Francisco. 
 Work was immediately commenced on some rude 
 buildings, which were ready for occupation on the 
 seventeenth of September, and the occasion w T as not 
 allowed to pass without a public ceremony. Palou 
 blessed the establishment, celebrated a mass, elevated 
 and adored the holy cross, and chanted a Te Deum, after 
 which Commandant Moraga took possession of the 
 Presidio in the name of his royal master, the king of 
 all the Spains, and salutes were fired by the dragoons 
 and by the artillerymen with cannon, on land and on 
 the packet. 
 
 Rivera, who was acting-governor of Upper Cali- 
 fornia, had given orders that the Mission of San Fran- 
 cisco should not be founded until instructions were 
 received from him, and as they had not arrived, Moraga 
 went off to explore the rivers emptying into Suisun 
 bay ; hut, after crossing the San Joaqain river, he found 
 that the country was too extensive for his brief time 
 and short supplies, so he turned about and reached 
 San Francisco on the seventh of October. Nothing 
 had been heard from Rivera, and the friars were im- 
 patient to dedicate their Mission, where they had put 
 up some brush shelters, and Moraga authorized them 
 to make the dedication the next day, which they did. 
 A procession, comprising the entire male population, 
 soldiers, settlers and sailors, headed by the priests, who 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 49 
 
 bore aloft the banner of the cross and an image of 
 St. Francis, marched from the Presidio to the Mission, 
 where the sacred objects were placed on the altar. 
 Father Palou, as the senior friar, chanted a mass and 
 preached a sermon about the founder of his order, as 
 the patron saint of the Mission. At proper intervals 
 in the sacred ceremonies, the soldiers and sailors fired 
 salutes of musketry. 
 
 The Mission dates from October 8; the military 
 establishment from September 17, and the perma- 
 nent settlement of the colonists in San Francisco from 
 June 28, 1776. In the early history of California the 
 Missions were the chief centers of population and in- 
 fluence, the Presidios being secondary and, to a con- 
 siderable extent, subordinate. The soldiers were sent 
 mainly to assist and protect the friars. 
 
 Sec. 14. Mission Authority. The site of the Mis- 
 sion of San Francisco was selected because of its 
 political and commercial advantages. It was to be 
 the nucleus of a seaport town that should serve to 
 guard the dominion of Spain in its vicinity. Most of 
 the other Missions were founded in the midst of fertile 
 valleys, inhabited by large numbers of Indians; no 
 other had so little tillable land or so few aborigines 
 within a radius of ten miles. Even the few Indians 
 living on the end of our peninsula, when Friar Palou 
 and his party of founders arrived, soon left. On the 
 twelfth of August, a San Mateo tribe attacked a 
 rancheria, in or near Bay View valley, and gained 
 such a victory that the defeated survivors and the 
 
50 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 neighboring tribes, afraid to remain, fled to the mount- 
 ains north of the Golden Gate, or east of the bay, 
 and stayed for several months sending back scouts 
 occasionally to report upon the condition of affairs. 
 When their accounts became favorable, the fugitives 
 returned, but in December, some of them had a fight 
 with Spanish soldiers, who killed one and wounded 
 another. The consequence was another flight, and 
 again they did not come back, till after the lapse of 
 several months. It was on the first of June, 1777, 
 that the first converts were baptized; three of them 
 were received into the church on the same day. They 
 did not understand much Spanish, the only tongue in 
 which they were instructed, but they could repeat the 
 names of the persons of the holy trinity, of the saints, 
 and of the leading mysteries of the faith, over after 
 the friar; they could rehearse the prayers and a simple 
 creed, kneel before the cross and the images, and 
 when they could do all these things they were held 
 worthy of baptism. 
 
 The Indians soon found that the Mission was not 
 without its attractions. The Spaniards, provided with 
 potent fire-arms and with horses, soon put an end to 
 the petty wars between the tribes, and established a 
 feeling of security which had never been felt before; 
 relieving the red men from many anxieties and incon- 
 veniences* The adobe houses were more comfortable 
 than the reed huts. The Mission herds furnished a 
 regular supply of nutritious and palatable meat. The 
 Mission garden had its pumpkins, melons, beans, 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 51 
 
 turnips, and potatoes, and after a few years, the Mis- 
 sion orchard had its apples, pears, peaches and apricots. 
 Wheat and barley were brought from the fields culti- 
 vated on the peninsula at a distance of fifteen or twenty 
 miles or on the other side of the bay. The friars had 
 a large stock of beads, and these were of great value 
 in the eyes of the savages. Cloth and blankets from 
 Mexico, or woven -at the Mission, furnished better 
 material for clothing than anything used by the In- 
 dians before the settlement of the white men amonsf 
 them. 
 
 Sec. 15. Indian Women. The influence of the 
 women was used to strengthen the Missions. In their 
 savage condition, the squaws were most abject slaves. 
 If any work was especially tedious or disagreeable, 
 they had to do it. They were not entitled to respect 
 or sympathy under any circumstances, and the man 
 who would put himself on a level with his sister, his 
 mother, or his wife, was regarded as disreputable. The 
 friars took the squaws under their protection, gave as 
 much attention and instruction to them as to the men, 
 treated them with a consideration which they had 
 never received before, overthrew polygamy and its 
 
 grading influences, and shielded them against the 
 brutality of the men. The mode of life at the Mis- 
 sion, and the improvement in the dwellings, food, cloth- 
 ing and treatment in case of illness, were all of more 
 relative benefit to the women than to the men. Thus 
 their favor was won and control was obtained over the 
 children who held the future in their hands. 
 
52 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that the Indian 
 women occupied a high position at the Mission. They 
 were more happily situated than their sisters in the 
 entirely savage state; but their fate was not enviable. 
 Their clothing, food and dwellings were very rude, 
 and their ordinary dress was nothing but a short, 
 woolen j)etticoat. A piece of colored cotton to tie 
 about the neck was a rarity. A single blanket served 
 for bedding, and occasionally for a cloak. The head, 
 the feet, the upper part of the body and the limbs 
 were usually bare. The only article of kitchen fur- 
 niture was a water-tight basket, made of wiregrass 
 that grew on swampy land. When any boiled dish 
 was needed, the material to be cooked was put in the 
 basket with water, and heat was applied by throwing 
 in red-hot stones. Vessels of metal or crockery for 
 cooking or eating did not belong to the average house- 
 hold at the Mission. There was no mill to grind 
 grain for the Indians. The women had to mash it on 
 a flat stone, or grind it in a stone mortar by a slow 
 process that took a considerable part of their time. 
 There was no education for the women. They never 
 were taught to read or to become skillful in the pro- 
 duction of any article to which much value was at- 
 tached. They learned to spin and weave coarse wool; 
 but the loom was clumsy and slow, and the cloth 
 rough. In the dwelling there was no table-furniture 
 save a knife; no table, no bedstead, no bed-clothing 
 save the blanket of each person, no chair, no glass in 
 the windows, no chimney, and no wooden floor. In 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 53 
 
 such a rude condition of society, it was impossible 
 that woman could occupy a high position. 
 
 The unmarried women were locked up every night 
 under charge of old women, and were always care- 
 fully guarded. As they were fewer in number than 
 the men, the friars were careful to give the de- 
 sirable girls as wives to the industrious of the young 
 men, who thus had strong motives to be faithful. 
 
 Sec. 16. Indian Men. The life of the Indian men 
 was not luxurious. Their working-dress was nothing 
 but a cloth round the loins, and a shirt; their head, 
 legs and feet being bare. The vaqueros or herdsmen, 
 however, and the captains, were provided with trow- 
 sers and shoes. Some of the boys were taught to read 
 and to sing from notes, but they were very few; the 
 great majority were left in the most abject ignorance. 
 
 The Indians were treated like children. They were 
 not allowed to own property, to cultivate land on their 
 own account, to control their children, to select their 
 occupations or place of residence, to choose their cap- 
 tains, or to determine the times when they would 
 work or play, nor could they leave the Mission with- 
 out the consent of the Friar Superior. The red con- 
 verts, as well as the wild Indians, were designated in 
 the Spanish speech as gente sin razon, people without 
 reason or senseless; while the whites, or those con- 
 taining Spanish blood, were gente de razon, or reason- 
 ing beings. This contemptuous title for the Indians 
 was common in conversation and in official documents, 
 and was thus impressed upon the common mind. If 
 
54 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 the Indians refused to work or to attend religious 
 service, they were not secure against the lash, and we 
 are even told that sometimes the goad (a stick with a 
 sharp iron point) was used to keep order in church, 
 the beadle reaching over with it to punch the fellow 
 who did not show a proper spirit of devotion. 
 
 While the red men were believed to be very near 
 the brutes, intellectually, and were looked upon as in- 
 competent to take proper care of themselves, there 
 was little aversion on the part of the Spaniards or 
 Mexicans to association or inter-marriage with them; 
 and a large majority of the native Californians of 
 Spanish blood are the descendants of Indian women. 
 The numerous ties of influential relationship thus 
 established did not suffice to prevent the rapid decrease 
 of the pure Indian blood. No red man living at the 
 Mission of San Francisco founded a family that still 
 exists, or ever distinguished himself sufficiently to de- 
 serve special mention of his name in local history. As 
 a general rule, the Indians had no family name, as if 
 there was no expectation that they would leave de- 
 scendants who would feel any interest in their ancestry. 
 The red men are mentioned in the church records 
 simply as Juan, Pedro, or Pablo. 
 
 Sec. 17. Savage Life. The male Indians near the 
 Mission, before coming under the influence of the friars, 
 went naked, except that in cold weather they daubed 
 themselves over with mud, which they washed off 
 when the sun became warm. Acorns, hazel nuts, 
 wild seeds, the amole or soap plant, mussels, clams, 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 55 
 
 wild geese and ducks, seals and occasionally a putrid 
 whale landed on the beach, supplied most of their food. 
 Sec. 18. Convert Life. Of the converts Palou 
 says : 
 
 We have at this Mission baptized three infants, born within 
 two months, all children of one Gentile inanb}' three sisters, his 
 wives, and not content with this, he also had his mother-in-law 
 for a wife; but it pleased God that he and his four wives should 
 be converted, and he remained alone with the eldest sister, who 
 had been his first wife, and the others, after their baptism, were 
 married to other men according to the Roman ritual; and with 
 this example, and with that which is preached and explained to 
 them, they are abandoning polygamy and reducing themselves 
 to our holy Catholic faith, and all those reduced live in the 
 town within hearing of the bell, going twice daily to the church 
 to repeat the Christian doctrine, supporting themselves by the 
 harvests which they grow of wheat, maize, beans, and so forth. 
 They already gather fruits of the Castilian peaches, nectarines, 
 pomegranates, and so forth, which were planted in the begin- 
 ning. All are dressed in clothes obtained by the Mexican 
 fathers on account of the public treasury, and as gifts from vari- 
 ous benefactors. 
 
 Sec. 19. Indian Work. At sunrise all the peo- 
 ple near the Mission were summoned to mass by the 
 bell, and attendance was compulsory. After mass 
 came breakfast, and then all the men and the unmar- 
 ried women were required to work till eleven o'clock. 
 A rest of three hours was allowed at noon, after which 
 they worked till the afternoon mass, an hour before 
 sunset. The chief occupations of the men were 
 plowing, sowing, harrowing, harvesting, threshing and 
 hauling grain, herding the cattle, breaking horses, 
 cutting and bringing wood for fuel, building houses, 
 
56 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 baking tiles and weaving. There were a few carpen- 
 ters, blacksmiths, tanners and shoemakers at every 
 Mission, but they knew little of their trades, and had 
 a scanty supply of bad tools. 
 
 The processes of agricultural labor were extremely 
 rude. The plow was shod with a joiece of iron a 
 little larger than a man's hand, and it scratched the 
 ground but did not turn a furrow nor even cut one. 
 It was drawn by one yoke of oxen and the yoke was 
 tied to their horns with strips of rawhide. One plow 
 made a little scratch, another followed in the same 
 track, and then another, and six plows were required 
 to do as much work, though not so well, as one Ameri- 
 can would with an American plow. Horses were 
 not used for draft purposes; and there was not a light 
 wagon in the country. The only vehicle was the 
 carreta, or cart, with wheels of solid wood six inches 
 wide at the tire and eiofht or ten inches at the hub. 
 The carreta was twice as heavy as its load, and it 
 sometimes moved faster than a mile an hour. The 
 harrow was a branch of a tree; and grain was cut 
 with a sickle or pulled up by the roots, and threshed 
 by treading it out with horses, and separated from the 
 chaff by throwing it up into the air on a windy day. 
 
 Sec. 20. No Education. The submission of the 
 Indians to the friars; their acceptance of bagtism; their 
 repetition of the names of the mysteries, divine persons 
 and saints, their regular attendance at worship; their 
 observance of the disciplinary rules, even if under 
 compulsion; their freedom from all heretical ideas and 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 57 
 
 their veneration for the sacred images and other 
 emblems of the Catholic faith, were considered all that 
 was necessary to fit them for full membership in the 
 church. 
 
 The friars did not restrict themselves to persuasion 
 in getting converts after they had brought all the 
 tribes in the near vicinity of the Mission under their 
 power; they sent out soldiers with tame Indians to 
 bring in others. Such an expedition was despatched 
 from San Francisco nearly every winter in the early 
 part of this century, to the foot-hills of the Sierra 
 Nevada, and sometimes returned with a hundred or 
 more captives, who had been surprised in their ranch- 
 erias. To go out for a purpose was styled ir a la 
 conquista, " to go out conquering;" or hacer reducciones, 
 "to make reductions" for the cause of Jesus. The 
 attempts to catch subjects for conversion in the sum- 
 mer were usually failures, and were not always suc- 
 cessful in the winter. While Beechey was in San 
 Francisco bay with his exploring vessel in 1826, a 
 party from the Mission of Santa Clara were beaten 
 off in an attack on a rancheria in the Sierra Nevada 
 with a loss of thirty-four men, and a new expedition 
 sent out to the same place lost forty-one men, but 
 captured forty-four Indians, mostly women and chil- 
 dren. Sometimes the wild Indians came to the Mis- 
 sions voluntarily, under persuasion of their relatives; 
 and often the harboring of fugitives, or the stealing of 
 cattle from the Mission was the cause of attack on 
 wild tribes, whose proximity and hostility to the Mis- 
 sions were frequently the cause of trouble. 
 
58 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Sec. 21. Number of Indians. The increase in the 
 number of Indians under the control of the Mission 
 was due to the introduction of new stock from with- 
 out, and not to the increase from within by the nat- 
 ural surplus of births over deaths. The Indians of 
 California did not thrive anywhere under the care of 
 the friars; and perhaps there was no Mission where 
 they throve less than at San Francisco. The women 
 gave birth to few children, and reared four boys for 
 three girls. They must have discriminated in the 
 treatment of the two sexes. Nothing but deliberate 
 intention entertained by many mothers could account 
 for the small proportion of girls. Such a purpose to 
 check the increase of women has often been observed 
 among savages; and unless we suppose its existence 
 at the Mission, we cannot account for the excess of 
 males. 
 
 Very soon after the white men established them- 
 selves in the country, the Indians began to diminish. 
 Various destructive diseases, unknown before, made 
 their appearance. The small pox raged with fearful 
 violence ; the. measles carried off many adults as well 
 as children, and an infection caught from the soldiers 
 spread like a slow but sure poison. There was no 
 physician in the territory, nor any intelligent medical 
 attendance for any of the new diseases. Vaccination 
 was practiced on a few of the whites, but was not 
 applied to the red men, nor was the more convenient 
 and yet effective inoculation tried. The food was 
 sometimes scanty and not always wholesome ; and in- 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 59 
 
 jurious effects were attributed to the practice of 
 locking up the unmarried adults at night in close, 
 filthy chambers. 
 
 Sec. 22. Great Mortality. Whatever may have 
 been the causes of the mortality among the Indians 
 of the Mission of San Francisco, there is no room for 
 doubt about the results. The deaths, instead of being- 
 four for each hundred persons, as they are in sickly 
 seasons among highly civilized people, numbered from 
 ten to twenty annually, and sometimes even more. 
 The females, instead of being as numerous as the 
 males, were usually fewer by one fourth or a larger 
 proportion. The women should have reared three 
 children each on an average to prevent a decrease of 
 the population, but they did not rear two. About 
 half the children baptized were born of Gentile par- 
 ents, or of parents recently brought to the Mission. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that the Missions were 
 prosperous institutions until their secularization. They 
 were not even self-supporting. They were for a long 
 time a burden on the government. The friars com- 
 plained of serious inconvenience when their salaries of 
 four hundred dollars each (spent usually not for their 
 personal advantage, but for the purchase of articles 
 needed by the Missions) were cut off by the civil war 
 in [Mexico; and though there was a steady increase in 
 the number of Indians under control of the friars 
 until about 181.5, there was a rapid decrease of the 
 total number of Indians within reach of the Missions, 
 indicating the probability that the race would in a 
 
60 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 few centuries disappear, as it has since disappeared in 
 nearly all those districts of California once occupied 
 by the Missions. There could, of course, be no true 
 prosperity of the Indians with a steady and rapid de- 
 crease of their number. Such a decline is undeniable. 
 We might suspect that there was some physical weak- 
 ness in the Indian blood, but no proof can be found 
 to sustain such a supposition. The descendants of the 
 Indian women who married Spaniards became a 
 strong, large, healthy, and remarkably prolific race, 
 with pleasant countenances and respectable capacities. 
 Those Indians who never came to the Missions were 
 healthy and strong, and, though not very prolific, did 
 not commence to die off rapidly till after the Ameri- 
 cans took possession of their country. 
 
 The result was the same at most of the other Mis- 
 sions. Not an Indian remains at San Rafael, Sonoma, 
 San Jose or Santa Clara; and those who survive about 
 the Missions farther south do no credit as a class to 
 the instruction given to their fathers. But, however 
 defective may have been the system of the friars, we 
 have the most conclusive evidence that the weakening 
 and overthrow of the Spanish authority, the seculariza- 
 tion of the Missions, and the American conquest, were 
 more disastrous to the aborigines of California. They 
 were happier when the Missions were at the summit 
 of their power than ever afterward. From the time 
 when they first heard of the rebellion for independence 
 in Mexico until now, nearly every political change 
 affecting their condition has been a change seriously 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 61 
 
 for the worse as to them. If the Missions did not 
 succeed in establishing a high and permanent civiliza- 
 tion amonof the red men of California, the blame must 
 not be thrown upon the Franciscan friars. The Jesuit 
 Missions in Lower California, after the labors of three 
 quarters of a century, had not secured better results ; 
 and the reservations maintained by the federal govern- 
 ment in this state, for the last twenty years, have 
 been miserable failures. The Franciscan experiment 
 does not suffer by comparison with the influence of 
 the Jesuits, or of the Mexican or American politicians 
 upon the aborigines of the coast, and may even be said, 
 unsatisfactory as it was, to have been a relative suc- 
 cess. 
 
 It was perhaps well that the Indians were not capa- 
 ble, under such instructions as they received, of rais- 
 ing themselves to the level of Spanish civilization. It 
 would have been a great misfortune for California to 
 have been occupied in 1846 by a dense Indian popula- 
 tion, knowing just enough to support and defend them- 
 selves, ignorant, fanatical, idle, and hostile to foreigners 
 and foreign ideas, manners, machinery and mode of 
 working. There w r ould have been little room for 
 Americans, and the few, who would have come, would 
 have found themselves powerless unless they submitted 
 themselves to base prejudices, and thus sacrificed a 
 large part of their superiority. The state might have 
 struggled for centuries before its inhabitants reached 
 the highest level of civilization, as they have now 
 done in a single generation. 
 
62 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 The number of the Indians was never ascertained, 
 or officially estimated under Spanish or Mexican do- 
 minion, but several early travelers speak in vague 
 terms of multitudes in some of the larger valleys. As 
 they had no agriculture, commerce, manufacturing 
 industry, regular supply of wholesome food, or secure 
 peace, and they were exposed to the occasional, if not 
 the frequent, ravages of war, pestilence and famine, so 
 the land could not maintain a denser pojDulation, and it 
 probably never had more than one hundred thousand 
 or one hundred and fifty thousand aboriginal inhabi- 
 tants. 
 
 Sec. 23. Friars. It was the rule that there 
 should be two friars at each Mission; the elder, as su- 
 perior in authority, to conduct the worship on im- 
 portant occasions, to instruct and govern the Indians, 
 manage the finances and keep the records; the younger 
 to supervise the manual labor. Every year the Supe- 
 rior made a report of the number of the baptisms, mar- 
 riages, births, deaths, neat cattle, horses, sheep, goats, 
 swine, and bushels of grain harvested, to the Pres- 
 ident of the Missions, at Monterey; and he compiled 
 a table of all the Missions under him for the Vice- 
 roy of Mexico, who transmitted a copy to the King 
 at Madrid. The feeling between the Indians and the 
 friars was usually a very friendly one. The friar 
 when he met an Indian said to him, " Love God, my 
 son;" and the reply w r as, " Love God, father." 
 
 Eight or ten soldiers were stationed at each Mis- 
 sion. One was always on guard in front of the main 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 03 
 
 entrance; another was usually out as herdsman with 
 the horses and cattle; and when a friar was called 
 away from a Mission for any transient purpose, or 
 sent a letter, a soldier served as companion or mes- 
 senger. 
 
 The red men were spoken of as wards, who owned 
 the property of the Mission, and the friars were the 
 guardians, who had absolute control of the persons 
 and property of their wards. Humble and poor as 
 the Franciscan order claimed to be, the Franciscans in 
 California held and enjoyed nearly all the power and 
 wealth of the country, such as they were. Their au- 
 thority over the Indians was despotic, but it was not 
 used harshly. Every Indian was required to work, 
 but the labor was not arduous nor long continued. 
 Though the friars kept the best of everything for 
 themselves, the best was not very good. They dressed 
 meanly, had a simple table, and plain apartments. 
 
 Of the friars who had charge of the Mission of San 
 Francisco, we know little beyond the names, with 
 the exception of Francisco Palou, who reached higher 
 office than any of his associates, ending his career as 
 principal of the order in Mexico. Although he had 
 little education, and lived in the mental atmosphere 
 of the thirteenth instead of that of the latter part of 
 the seventeenth century, still he had good powers of 
 observation and an active mind, and was probably the 
 ablest of all the Franciscans who came to California. 
 He was the only one who wrote for the press, and 
 he has left the most enduring and accessible evidences 
 
G4 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 of his capacity. His biography of Junipero Serra 
 enables us to see nearly as much of his own as of his 
 hero's character, and entitles him to as much admira- 
 tion. This book and his Notes on New California, 
 have a permanent historical interest, for California at 
 least. 
 
 The later friars wrote little, save the annual statistical 
 reports, and nothing from which we can obtain dis- 
 tinct ideas of their character or influence. They fur- 
 nished no other material for the historian or antiqua- 
 rian. Soon after the death of Serra, which occurred 
 in 1787, Palou returned to Mexico, and Cambon, his 
 younger associate, became the Superior friar at San 
 Francisco, but was soon superseded by Danti; and he 
 by Abella, who served for twenty years, commencing 
 in 1797. Altimira was in charge when Mexico de- 
 clared her independence, but not liking the new 
 dominion, he left the country. Estenaga, who had 
 been his junior associate, succeeded him, and was 
 alone for twelve years, remaining until after the secu- 
 larization. 
 
 Sec. 24. Mission Buildings, Materials for a his- 
 tory of the Mission buildings are very scanty. The 
 adobe church, erected in the last century, is pre- 
 sumptively the same structure which still stands' on 
 Dolores street, near Sixteenth. Ten years is not an 
 unreasonable period to assume as the interval between 
 the foundation of the Mission and the final consecra- 
 tion of its permanent house of worship. The work 
 was nearly all done by the Indians, who had to be 
 
THE MISSION ERA. G5 
 
 previously converted, conciliated, and instructed in 
 Spanish and in various useful arts unknown to them 
 in their savage state. The making of a supply of 
 adobes sufficient for such a building was a simple pro- 
 cess, but it required a combination and persistence in 
 labor beyond the experience of the red men of Cali- 
 fornia. It was necessary, also, to get timbers for 
 rafters, and even if we suppose that these were noth- 
 ing but rude poles, to place them on the ground was 
 a serious task. Even as late as 1820, not a good 
 wagon or a good boat had heen made, nor even pur- 
 chased, for ordinary business purposes, by any Span- 
 ish Californian at San Francisco ; and it is probable 
 that many of the timbers used in building in the last 
 century were transported from the forests on the 
 shoulders of men. 
 
 Other matters required attention before the build- 
 ing of the church. The erection of dwellings for the 
 friars, soldiers and converts, the cultivation of the 
 ground and the herding of the cattle, took precedence. 
 All this went very slowly, because of the absolute 
 ignorance of the Indians, of whom there were for 
 years very few. The first converts were made in 1777, 
 when three were baptized ; and we have no report of 
 the numbers from that time until seven years later, 
 when there were two hundred and sixty red Chris- 
 tians. The average increase was about thirty in a 
 year, and not more than one in four was an adult 
 male competent to do much work. If the Indians 
 learned to speak Spanish, to break horses, to herd 
 
66 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 cattle, to plow, sow, reap and thresh, to make and lay- 
 adobes, and to cut and hew timber, besides building 
 their dwellings and their church, in ten years, they 
 must have been driven harder than it was the custom 
 of the friars to drive them in later times. 
 
 The church, when first built, was doubtless thatched 
 with flags or tules, which could be obtained without 
 trouble and supported on light poles; whereas the 
 molding and burning of tiles were comparatively ab- 
 struse arts, and the tiles when made required a strong 
 framework to bear their weight. 
 
 We do not find any account that the Mission church 
 at San Francisco was ever rebuilt or seriously injured. 
 An earthquake in 1808 shattered the houses at the 
 presidio, but the annual report of Friar Abella for that 
 year mentions no damage at the Mission. In 1812, 
 the church at San Juan Capistrano was thrown down, 
 and the buildings at Purisima, Santa Inez, San 
 Buenaventura and Santa Barbara injured; but San 
 Francisco was spared. So it was again in 1818, when 
 Santa Clara suffered so much by earthquake that a 
 new church was erected there. 
 
 Sec. 25. Mission Income. There was an average 
 increase of about thirty Indians annually at San Fran- 
 cisco, from its foundation for nearly forty years till 
 1813, when the number was one thousand two hundred 
 and five; and then there was a decrease at about the 
 same rate till the secularization in 1835. The most 
 remarkable break in the regularity of the figures oc- 
 curred between 1822, when there were nine hundred 
 
THE MISSION ERA. 67 
 
 and fifty eight Indians, and 1823, when only two hun- 
 dred were left. In 1808, eiofhtv-four Indians fled and 
 never were brought back; and in 1823 so many fled 
 that not enough remained to take care of the Mission 
 property. Part of the decrease in 1822 was caused 
 by the transfer of Indians to the new Missions of San 
 Rafael and Sonoma. The wealth of the Mission rose 
 and fell with the number of its subjects. The follow- 
 ing table shows how many Indians, neat cattle, horses 
 
 o 
 
 many 
 
 and sheep, and bushels of grain in annual crop, it had 
 in various years of its existence : 
 
 Years 1183 1793 1804 1813 1822 1832. 
 
 Indians 215 704 1103 1205 958 204 
 
 Cattle 308 2700 8120 9270 4049 5000 
 
 Sheep 183 2300 10400 10120 8830 3500 
 
 Horses 31 314 730 622 806 1000 
 
 Grain 2474 6114 4124 691 
 
 Before 1815, the Mission produced little that had 
 any salable value. The only vessels admitted into 
 the ports of the country for purposes of trade belonged 
 to Spain, and they were so slow and so badly managed 
 that the freight left no margin for profit in exportation. 
 It was not until after the independence of Mexico had 
 been established that the exportation of hides and 
 tallow became an extensive business. About 1840 a 
 ranchero could sell one fourth of his neat cattle every 
 year, getting five dollars from each animal slaughtered, 
 two dollars for its hide and three dollars for its tallow. 
 The management of the Missions was not so strict as 
 that of individuals, and the hides and tallow which 
 
68 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 the former could dispose of annually was as much as 
 they could get by killing one seventh of their neat 
 cattle. The Mission of San Francisco thus could ob- 
 tain from three thousand five hundred dollars to five 
 thousand dollars a year from its hides and tallow 
 annually, after 1822, and it had no other merchantable 
 article to spare. It needed all its grain for home con- 
 sumption, and horses and sheep were ordinarily not 
 salable. The pay for its exports was a small sum to 
 purchase imports for several hundred persons, and it 
 was besides usually given in merchandise not of the 
 best quality, and at high prices. 
 
 Sec. 26. Decay of Missions. The rebellion that 
 broke out in Mexico in 1810 soon made itself felt in 
 California, From 1811 to 1818 the government failed 
 to pay the four hundred dollars, promised annually to 
 each friar, and the government vessels which had 
 brought the imports and carried away the exports 
 ceased tomake their trips regularly. The revolutionary 
 and anti-ecclesiastical spirit of the time declared that 
 the Missions ought to be secularized, and the friars 
 and the people understood that this idea would be 
 made the basis of a law at some future period. The 
 civil and military officials, who had never agreed very 
 well with the friars, became more antagonistic to 
 them; and the latter, feeling less secure, were less con- 
 tented and less zealous. The friars born in Spain were 
 attached to the Spanish crown. They hated the rev- 
 olution and the institutions which it had established. 
 The new government, finding that the priests x and 
 
THE MISSION ERA. GO 
 
 friars were not friendly to it, became hostile to them; 
 and one measure of hostility was secularization, which 
 had been demanded by the Spanish Cortes as early as 
 1813. It meant that the Indians should be taken 
 from the control of the friars and converted into free 
 and independent citizens, with full power to own 
 property, select their place of residence, and direct 
 their own conduct ; that each head of a family should 
 be entitled to the gift of as much land as he could 
 cultivate ; that the herds and tools and other personal 
 property of each Mission should be divided among its 
 Indians; and that the surplus land should be given to 
 white colonists. While secularization was considered 
 just and patriotic, it was also in favor with the poli- 
 ticians as a measure that would reduce the political 
 power and money resources of the clergy. 
 
70 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE VILLAGE ERA. 
 
 Section 27. Secularization. The Mexican Con- 
 gress, assuming that the people were competent to 
 maintain an orderly republican government, and be- 
 lieving that the Mission Indians of California, most of 
 whom had been born under the dominion and bred 
 under the instruction of the friars, must be competent 
 for the duties of civilized life and equal political priv- 
 ileges, on August 17, 1833, passed a bill' announcing 
 that the government would proceed to secularize the 
 Missions of Upper and Lower California, but making 
 no provision for the time or manner of carrying the 
 intention into effect. 
 
 The matter was thus left to the discretion of the 
 executive department, and on August 9, 1834, Gov- 
 ernor Figueroa, of California, acting under instructions 
 from the President of the Republic, issued a decree 
 that he would, in August, 1835, convert ten of the 
 Missions into j^ueblos or towns. These ten were not 
 then nor afterwards named. The friars at the Mis- 
 sions were to be deprived of all control over the Mis- 
 sion property, which should be placed in charge of an 
 administrator, who should give to every adult male In- 
 dian a tract of twenty-eight acres; and his fair share of 
 one half of the domestic animals and tools of the Mis- 
 sion; the other half to be held for the benefit of the 
 government. 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 71 
 
 Subsequently, Gumecindo Flores was appointed 
 administrator of the Mission of San Francisco; but 
 between the time of the announcement that the secu- 
 larization would be made and his appointment, many 
 of the cattle had been driven off; the Indians, left 
 without control, went away; and soon there was noth- 
 ing to divide and nobody to receive the dividends. 
 We have no precise account of the manner in which 
 Flores administered his trust. We know, however, 
 that in the brief period of forty years since the secu- 
 larization, all the Indian tribes of the San Francisco 
 peninsula, so far at least as the pure blood is con- 
 cerned, have disappeared from the face of the earth. 
 Immediately upon the announcement that the friars 
 were to be deprived of their power, cultivation was 
 neglected; and the Indians, instead of proving their 
 capacity to become independent and prosperous citi- 
 zens, wasted what little property was given to them, 
 and fell into idle or dissolute habits. Some became 
 the servants of rancheros; others went to the mount- 
 ains and ran wild; and a few remained about the Mis- 
 sion in beggary, or on its verge. Such were the re- 
 sults of emancipating the Indians of San Francisco 
 from the subjection in which they had been bred. 
 
 When the friars were deprived of their authority 
 by the order of secularization, twenty-one Missions 
 were in existence, all near the coast, reaching from 
 San Diego to Sonoma, five hundred miles in a direct 
 line, but the average distance between neighboring? 
 Missions by the roads was forty miles, or a day's 
 
72 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ride. Their jurisdictions met, so that the whole coast 
 from Sonoma southward, was considered to be occu- 
 pied. The only towns were Los Angeles, Branciforte 
 (near Santa Cruz), and San Jose, and the entire white 
 population was estimated to number five thousand, 
 of whom all, save perhaps two score, were of Spanish 
 blood. The Mexicans relied on their herds for sup- 
 port, lived with little effort or care, and generally knew 
 nothing of schools, books, or newspapers. 
 
 Sec. 28. Land Grants. The private land titles of 
 the peninsula of San Francisco date from 1835, pre- 
 vious to which time the Mission held control for thirty 
 miles southward from the Golden Gate, meeting the 
 old domain of the Mission of Santa Clara at San 
 Francisquito creek. Although great abuses were 
 practiced in the overthrow, or, as it was officially 
 called, the " secularization " of the Missions, the 
 measure was demanded by sound statesmanship. 
 Without it there was no hope for the progress of the 
 country. It was required as a matter of justice to 
 the Spanish- American settlers, whose fathers had 
 been induced to come to California in 1773 with the 
 promise that they should be raised to the position of 
 independent colonists ; but after a lapse of sixty years 
 they, or rather their children, were still the tenants at 
 will of the Mission, with little chance of support save 
 such as they could find at the ruined presidio. The 
 government had forbidden them to own land, gave 
 them no encouragement to build houses, provided no 
 pasture for their cattle, discouraged the sale of their 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 73 
 
 produce to foreign vessels, and provided no market for 
 their labor. Such was the situation of the Spanish- 
 Americans, or, as they were called, gente de razon — - 
 " people of reason " — on the peninsula of San Fran- 
 cisco in 1835. To these citizens, the official announce- 
 ment in that year that the Missions were to be 
 secularized was very welcome, and they soon began to 
 apply for grants of land. The residents at the Mis- 
 sion, most of them formerly soldiers at the presidio, 
 were the grantees of a large part of the land on the 
 peninsula. In some cases years elapsed after the 
 first application before the grant was made in absolute 
 terms. 
 
 The first title issued for land on our peninsula, was 
 that of the Rancho Lacuna de la Merced — two thou- 
 sand two hundred and twenty acres — given in 1835 
 to J. A. Galindo. The San Pedro rancho, eiodit 
 thousand nine hundred and twenty-six acres, about 
 four miles south of lake Merced, was given to F. De 
 Haro, later in the same year. The Buri-Buri ran- 
 cho, of fifteen thousand seven hundred and ninety- 
 three acres, south of the San Bruno mountain, was 
 given to Francisco Sanchez. It was in 1840 that 
 Jose C. Bernal received the grant of the Potrero 
 Viejo, including Hunter's Point and the basin of 
 Islais creek, with an area of four thousand four hun- 
 dred and forty-six acres ; Jacob P. Leese, the only 
 foreigner among the grantees of ranchos on our penin- 
 sula, in 1841 obtained the Visitacion rancho, of eight 
 thousand eight hundred and eighty acres, adjoining 
 
74 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Bernal on the south ; and the San Miguel grant, of 
 four thousand four hundred and forty-three acres, in- 
 cluding the Mission hills and extending southward 
 nearly four miles, was given in 1845 to J. J. Noe. 
 
 Beside these grants, which were confirmed and have 
 become the foundation of the present titles, various 
 other grants were solicited, but the titles were not 
 perfected. Angel Island was given in 1838 to A. M. 
 Osio, but he never occupied it and the claim was re- 
 jected. The archives contain the petition of Joaquin 
 Pina for a square league of land at Point Lobos, and 
 also a favorable report from a local official to the effect 
 that the tract was vacant and could properly be 
 granted; but no grant was made, and the claim was 
 never presented to the courts. Francisco Guerrero 
 and H. D. Fitch made an. application on the thirteenth 
 of May, 1846, for two leagues and a half west of 
 Yerba Buena, but before action could be taken the 
 country had been conquered. A petition by Benito 
 Diaz for a league of land at the presidio was in the 
 same condition. F. De Haro obtained leave to pasture 
 his cattle on the potrero, including several thousand 
 acres between the Mission creek and Mission cove, 
 on the north and Islais cove on the south, and his 
 heirs laid claim to the land as theirs in fee-simple, but 
 the United States supreme court rejected the title. 
 One of the most troublesome claims to land, within the 
 city limits, was that of Peter Sherreback; purporting 
 to be a grant for two thousand two hundred acres, 
 seven hundred and twenty yards square, including most 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 75 
 
 of the land bounded by Third, Sixth, Howard and Bran- 
 nan streets. The title was confirmed by the United 
 States district court in 1859, but a new hearing was 
 granted, and the testimony indicative of fraud in 
 the matter of the boundaries was so strong that the 
 claim was abandoned. 
 
 A third class of claims consisted of those rejected 
 under suspicion or proof of fraud. No records pertain- 
 ing to them were found in the archives. Among these 
 were a grant for Goat Island, purporting to have been 
 made to Juan Castro in 1838; a grant for a square 
 league west of Yerba Buena, purporting to have 
 been made to Fernando Marchena, on the fourteenth 
 of August, 1844; the Santillan and the Limantour 
 grants. The Santillan, based on a paper dated on the 
 tenth of February, 1846, conveyed to Prudencio San- 
 tillan, at that time parish, priest at the Mission, all 
 the vacant lands that formerly belonged to the Mis- 
 sion, south of Yerba Buena and the presidio. Under 
 the Mexican customs, priests were considered incompe- 
 tent to become grantees of ranchos, and this grant was 
 unheard of until four years after its date. The federal 
 supreme court rejected it as a fraud. J. Y. Liman- 
 tour presented to the United States land commission 
 two papers purporting to grant lands within the 
 present limits of the city of San Francisco. One, 
 dated on the twenty-seventh of February, 1843, gave 
 to him the tract between California street and Mission 
 creek, extending out to the westward till it made two 
 leagues; and, also, a second tract of two leagues, west 
 
76 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 of Yerba Buena. The other gave to him Goat and 
 Alcatraz islands. Both documents were proved to be 
 forgeries. It is worthy of remark, that the fraudulent 
 claims of Santillan and Limantour covered about 
 twelve thousand acres of the same land, and within 
 the limits of both claims, Sherreback wanted his two 
 thousand two hundred acres. The invalid Mexican 
 grants were three deep over a considerable area. 
 
 Sec. 29. Pueblo. The Mexican congress had shown 
 its purpose in the colonization and secularization laws 
 and other enactments to encourage and aid the 
 establishment of a pueblo, or town, near every Mission; 
 and there was no Mission in California where a pueblo 
 was more urgently demanded by public considerations 
 than that of San Francisco. Although the population 
 was not so large as at most other Missions, still it had 
 already reached a respectable figure, and there was a 
 certainty of a steady increase in the extensive and 
 fertile valleys round the bay, and the value of the 
 harbor for commerce and incidentally for military and 
 naval purposes was universally admitted. The pueblos, 
 which Gov. Figueroa intended to found, and which 
 the law contemplated, were to be composed of white 
 men and Indians together. Hed men who had been 
 bred at the Missions, and were disposed to live among 
 the whites, and accept the mode of life common among 
 them, were to be recognized as full citizens, with all 
 the rights to demand lots in town and ranchos in the 
 country, enjoyed by any other class of citizens. There 
 was no provision for a white pueblo or an Indian 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 77 
 
 pueblo; nor any discrimination in political rights on 
 the ground of race, color or previous relation to the 
 authority of the Missions. The Mission Indians were 
 to be raised from the class of gente sin razon to gente de 
 razon, from unreasoning to reasoning beings. 
 
 This purpose failed throughout California. No 
 political or military leader attempted to secure to the 
 Indians the rights offered to them by the law, and the 
 reason was that they were so weak intellectually that 
 the attempt would certainly have failed, and their ad 
 vocate would have ruined himself without doing any 
 good to them. 
 
 The governor who had announced secularization and 
 promised the establishment of pueblos at ten of the 
 Missions, died in September, 1835, before he could 
 carry out his plans. After his death, the new gov- 
 ernor felt less regard for the purposes of the law in 
 reference to pueblos and the Indians, and in conse- 
 quence of repeated revolutions, the business of the 
 administration was in great confusion. 
 
 No order was ever issued establishing a pueblo 
 at San Francisco, but it was assumed that one was to 
 be established, though there was a question whether 
 it was to be at the Mission or at Yerba Buena, or 
 whether it was to include both places. In the sum- 
 mer of 1835, Wm. A. Richardson, an Englishman 
 who had settled in California in 1822, and had made 
 his home at Saucelito, moved to Yerba Buena, set up 
 a tent on the place now known as No. 811 Dupont 
 street, and went into the business of collecting hides 
 
78 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and tallow from various places on the bay. The Mis- 
 sion of San Francisco and that of San Jose had each 
 had a little thirty -ton schooner, which had been built 
 by the Russians at Fort Ross. These schooners, after 
 having been in service some time, got leaky, and sank 
 in the creeks of their respective Missions. Both had 
 been abandoned, when Richardson made his appear- 
 ance, and offered to raise their schooners and carry the 
 freight of the Missions free for the use of the vessels 
 and Indian crews. The offer was accepted, and Rich- 
 ardson had become regularly established in business 
 before the end of the year. He charged one dollar 
 per bag of tallow, and twelve and one half cents per 
 hide for bringing those articles from the various land- 
 ings on the bay to Yerba Buena cove, where they 
 were transferred to American vessels, which had pre- 
 viously anchored near the presidio or the Mission. 
 Richardson induced them to come to Yerba Buena. 
 
 Acting under the general law of Mexico, which per- 
 mitted towns to select their officials, the people at the 
 Mission, on the twenty-seventh of November, 1835, 
 held an election for alcalde, and chose J. J. Estudillo 
 to the place of alcalde for a term of one year, with 
 power to grant lots within the limits of the town, 
 which limits had not been and were not afterwards 
 authoritatively defined under Mexican law. The vil- 
 lage was usually called Dolores, which was also the 
 name of the creek, and was frequently substituted for 
 Assis in the name of the Mission, indifferently called 
 San Francisco de Assis or San Francisco de Dolores, 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 79 
 
 to distinguish it from San Francisco Solano, the name 
 of the Mission at Sonoma. Dolores is the Spanish 
 for sorrows or sufferings, and is a favorite name in the 
 Catholic church of Spain. 
 
 Sec. 30. Leese. In the winter of 1835-36, Jacob 
 P. Leese, an American then residing in Los Angeles, 
 and engaged in business there, was advised by some 
 shipmasters trading on the coast to establish a store 
 and commission house at San Francisco, where they 
 thought he might thrive. The annual exports in- 
 cluded twenty thousand hides, and two million pounds 
 of tallow, and the ships lost much time for the want 
 of some one to collect these articles. There was no 
 store or commission house at the place; the business 
 was increasing, and an American could succeed better 
 than a person of any other nationality, because the 
 ships were mostly from Boston and New York. 
 
 Mr. Leese determined to follow the advice of his 
 friends. In March, he went to Monterey, commu- 
 nicated his plans to his friends Nathan Spear and 
 Wm. Hinckley, and induced them to join him in a 
 partnership to establish a store. He returned to Los 
 Angeles, where he closed up his business, and then 
 started for San Francisco, which he had not yet 
 visited. 
 
 Shortly before he left Los Angeles, the first instance 
 of lynch law in California occurred there. A young 
 married woman named Verdugo deserted her husband 
 for another man, whom she loved better. Seiior Ver- 
 dugo applied to an alcalde for an order that his wife 
 
80 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 should live with him, and, after a deliberate examina- 
 tion, the order was granted. Thereupon Verdugo 
 took his wife on his horse and started for his ranch, 
 which he never reached. He was murdered on the 
 road by the wife and her paramour. The proof was 
 conclusive; the circumstances were revolting. Pop- 
 ular indignation rose to a great height. There was a 
 general demand for prompt punishment appropriate 
 to the offense. That could be obtained by lynch law 
 only. The Californian courts of jurisdiction in capital 
 cases never had taken decisive action; a case intrusted 
 to them never came to a decision. Homicides, though 
 frequent, were never punished by law. If the murder 
 of Verdugo should go unpunished, there could be no 
 security. The people who spoke thus, therefore, took 
 the law into their own hands, tried the offenders, con- 
 victed them, and sentenced them to death. Every- 
 thing was done in a very deliberate manner, and with 
 every respect for the moral rights of the accused. A 
 careful record was kept of the proceedings, and after 
 the conviction, the accused were kept for two days, 
 waiting for a priest to come from San Gabriel to con- 
 fess them. The alcaldes, who happened to be Don 
 Manuel Requena and Don Abel Stearns, favored the 
 proceeding, or at least did not attempt any serious re- 
 sistance. 
 
 Mr. Leese, as he intended to visit the capital of the 
 territory, Monterey, where he might be arrested for 
 a violation of the law, took a certified copy of the 
 record of the trial, and of the agreement, by which the 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 81 
 
 citizens ensued in it had bound themselves to stand 
 by one another. When he reached Santa Barbara, 
 he was told that a new governor had just arrived 
 from Mexico, and was invited to call upon him. Mr. 
 Leese went to the house of Don Carlos Carrillo, where 
 he found Governor Chico, who had been appointed by 
 the President of Mexico to succeed Governor 
 Gutierrez, governor ad interim, after the death of 
 Figueroa. Chico requested Leese to spend a day in 
 Santa Barbara, and keep him company to Monterey. 
 The young American, to whom a day was not of so 
 much importance as the favor of a governor might be 
 in a country where little attention was paid to written 
 laws, waited for the new official, and thus had his 
 company for several days. On the way, Chico asked 
 him for an account of the affair at Los Angeles, of 
 which Noriega, at Santa Barbara, had given him a 
 very unfavorable opinion. Leese told the circum- 
 stances, and produced the copy of the record, which 
 entirely satisfied the governor, who promised that he 
 should not be troubled about it. A desire to learn 
 the particulars of the execution at Los Angeles was 
 probably one of Chico's motives for requesting Leese's 
 company; and the conviction in his mind, that the 
 people acted properly, may have had some influence in 
 inducing him to give a letter that assisted Leese in 
 obtaining' the order for laying out the town of Yerba 
 Buena. In answer to questions about his plans, Leese 
 replied that he was going to San Francisco to establish 
 a mercantile house, which was much needed there. 
 
 G 
 
82 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Chico said that he desired to encourage commerce, and 
 he would give a letter to the local authorities, request- 
 ing them to grant a lot to him. At Monterey, Leese 
 was detained as a party to the Los Angeles vigilance 
 committee, by the order of Governor Gutierrez, but 
 was discharged so soon as Chico was installed; and 
 then he came on to San Francisco. 
 
 Sec. 31. Yerba Buena. At Yerba Buena, Leese 
 found nobody save Richardson. At least one Amer- 
 ican trading vessel visited the harbor every year; 
 four or five whalers put into Saucelito, and several 
 vessels came in from Sitka to purchase wheat, maize, 
 tallow and soap. The Russian trade then, or within 
 a few years, amounted to about forty thousand dol- 
 lars annually, and the purchases were paid for in drafts 
 drawn by the Russian- American company, payable 
 in St. Petersburg, which drafts were always taken at 
 par by the American trading vessels. 
 
 One of the institutions of Yerba Buena was an In- 
 dian sweat-house, or temascal, which stood at the 
 south-west corner of Sacramento and Montgomery 
 streets till 1842. The water from a ravine that ran 
 down the hillside about the line of Sacramento street 
 formed near Montgomery a little fresh water lagoon, 
 which Richardson's Indians considered a convenient 
 place for bathing; so they built their sweat-house 
 near it, and after taking a good steaming, would rush 
 out and plunge into the lagoon. 
 
 At the presidio there was no garrison, and only one 
 resident, a gray-haired soldier, named Joaquin Pina. 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 83 
 
 A mile and a half eastward from the presidio was the 
 residence of widow Briones and family. At the Mis- 
 sion the chief Spanish residents were Jose Sanchez 
 and his sons, Francisco and Jose de la Cruz, Cande- 
 lario Valencia and Francisco De Haro (these two 
 were sons-in-law of Jose Sanchez), Francisco Guerrero, 
 Gumecindo Flores, Jose Galindo, Tiburcio Vasquez, 
 Jose Antonio Alviso, Jose Corneiio Bernal, Vicente 
 Miramontes, Padre Gutierrez, and Jose de Jesus Noe. 
 All these, except the priest, were married, and many 
 of them had large families. A few years later De 
 Haro had two pairs of twins and six other children, 
 the eldest being fifteen years old; Tiburcio Vasquez 
 had ten children; and C. Miramontes had seven 
 children, of whom the eldest was only nine years 
 old. There were some other residents of less note, 
 mostly bachelors. The people at the Mission lived 
 upon their herds of cattle ; their dwellings were all of 
 adobe, and their furniture, food and clothing simple. 
 
 Mr. Leese examined the shore, from the Mission to 
 the presidio, and satisfied himself that the cove of 
 Yerba Buena was the best place for a settlement. The 
 anchorage, holding-ground and landing-place were bet- 
 ter than at either the Mission or the presidio. The 
 cove extended up to Montgomery street, to which 
 point high tide always reached. The landing-place 
 was at Clark's point, now the corner of Broadway and 
 Battery streets, the beach being shallow near fc the 
 middle of the cove. The district now bounded by 
 California, Pacific, Montgomery and Dupont streets, 
 
84 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 was an open, grassy slope, and over most of its area 
 had nearly the same level as at present. South and 
 west of this bare tract were hills, covered with bushes 
 and scrub oaks, like those which nourish at Lone 
 Mountain. No wagon or cart had ever visited Yerba 
 Buena cove, and the only roads from it were narrow 
 horse trails, where the rider had to take constant care 
 to save his person and his clothes from injury by the 
 bushes and trees. 
 
 Sec. 32. First House. Upon the arrival of Mr. 
 Leese, in June, 1836, he applied to the alcalde Estu- 
 dillo, who had his office at the Mission, though his 
 residence was on the bank of San Leandro creek, for 
 a grant of a lot at Yerba Buena. The alcalde replied 
 that he had no authority to grant a lot there, but he 
 would give him a lot at either the Mission or the pre- 
 sidio. Leese showed his letter from Chico, but Estu- 
 dillo said there was no express authority for him to 
 make a grant. The new settler thereupon went back 
 to Monterey, obtained from the Governor a peremp- 
 tory order for a grant, and returned with a little ves- 
 sel; carrying enough lumber for a small house. He 
 landed at the cove about the first of July, immediately 
 proceeded to the Mission, showed his order, obtained 
 permission to occupy a place south of Richardson's 
 tent; and with the help of the sailors and sea captains 
 in the harbor, succeeded in getting up his new house 
 in time to celebrate the fourth of July, with a hun- 
 dred guests or more, including the principal ranche- 
 ros on the northern or eastern shores of the bay, whose 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 85 
 
 trade and favor he was anxious to secure. The Amer- 
 ican flag was on this occasion hoisted for the first 
 time on the site of San Francisco. The rancheros 
 were glad to see a commercial house established, for 
 previously they had depended for making their pur- 
 chases upon foreign vessels, of which the harbor might 
 be destitute for two or three months at a time. 
 
 The house built in July, 1836, by Mr. Leese, was 
 after the survey of the town, on the south side of 
 Clay street, a few feet west of Dupont. The next 
 year, Mr. Leese obtained from Senor Martinez, who 
 was then alcalde, the right to occupy a hundred vara 
 lot on the west side of Montgomery, between Clay 
 and Sacramento streets, as they were afterwards laid 
 out, with the understanding that the lines must be 
 subject to the subsequent survey. On this lot, near 
 the corner of Commercial and Montgomery streets, 
 the first substantial frame building of the village was 
 erected. It was known in later times as the house of 
 the Pludson Bay company, to which association Mr. 
 Leese sold it. Richardson built his adobe house No. 
 811 Dupont street; and in the same year Senora Bri- 
 oncs built an adobe house on the north-east corner of 
 Powell and Filbert streets, the kitchen of which re- 
 mained there about thirty years. In April, 1838, the 
 first child of Yerba Buena, a daughter of Mr. Leese, 
 was born.. 
 
 The alcaldes elected under Mexican rule after 
 Estudillo were Ignacio Martinez, Francisco de Haro, 
 Francisco Guerrero, Jose Noe, Francisco Sanchez, 
 
86 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Win. Hinckley, J. N. Paclilla and Jose Sanchez 
 (these two in the same year), and Jose* Noe, whose 
 authority after six months of service was terminated 
 by the American conquest. The alcaldes granted a 
 lot fifty or one hundred varas square to every appli- 
 cant ready to build a house; the first grant mentioned 
 in the books being that to Richardson, dated in June, 
 1836. The record shows that the land was given to 
 him partly because of satisfaction with his services as 
 " bricklayer, surgeon and carpenter." 
 
 Between July 1, 1835, and. July 7, 1846, that is the 
 period of the Mexican town, the number of lots 
 granted by the alcaldes of San Francisco was eighty- 
 four. The grantees of thirty-four lots were of Spanish 
 blood, as we infer from their names; the others were 
 mostly Americans and English. One lot described in 
 the alcalde's book as being in San Francisco, is at 
 Dolores, the remainder at Yerba Buena. Sixty- four 
 of the lots were each fifty varas square, the others fifty 
 by one hundred varas, or one hundred varas square, 
 each vara being thirty-three inches. 
 
 Sec. 33. First Survey. The first survey was made 
 in 1839, by Jean Yioget, the lots previously granted 
 having been given at random, though they were after- 
 wards swung round to conform to the new lines. 
 Vioget's map was a ragged, irregular delineation of 
 about half the district, within the limits bounded by 
 Montgomery, California, Powell and Broadway streets. 
 It gave no name to any street, and the two main 
 streets on it were Kearny, shown as extending from 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 87 
 
 Sacramento to Pacific, and Dupont from Clay to 
 Pacific. Clay had two full blocks on each side from 
 Dupont to Montgomery; Sacramento, Washington and 
 Jackson, were not so long. The survey did not tres- 
 pass upon the lagoon, that covered several acres, with 
 its center near the intersection of Jackson and Mont- 
 gomery streets. All the streets mentioned had nearly 
 the same positions as at present, but one street ran 
 north-westward from the crossing of Clay and Dupont, 
 and on the west side of this street, Leese and Richard- 
 son each had a lot one hundred varas square, the first 
 two which were occupied in the town. The other 
 streets crossed each other in directions two and a half 
 decrees from a riojht ano-le. Of the eleven blocks, 
 most of them fractional shown on Vioget's map, only 
 three now have the original size and shape; not one 
 exactly the position given by him. 
 
 In the previous year a wagon road had been opened 
 from Yerba Buena to the Mission by cutting out the 
 bushes and scrub oaks for a width of eisdit feet alon^f 
 the line; but as the only vehicles to use it were the 
 Mexican carretas with solid wheels, the main benefit 
 of the road was that horsemen could pass without the 
 danger of beim*- scratched or having their clothes torn 
 by the chaparral. In 1840 there were four Americans, 
 as many Englishmen, and six other Europeans, in 
 Yerba Buena; and these owned and occupied most of 
 the houses. The next year Spear and Hinckley, Ameri- 
 cans, built a saw mill to run by horse-power, and 
 brought redwood loes for it from Cortc Madera, in 
 
88 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Marin County. The boards thus produced were used 
 for furniture and houses. 
 
 Sec. 34. Hudson Bay. About 1840, the Hudson 
 Bay company had a dispute with the Russian- Ameri- 
 can company about the exclusive right to hunt sea- 
 otter and trade with the Indians, in Queen Charlotte 
 Sound; and as competition in dealing with the warlike 
 savages of the northern coast might have been ruinous 
 to both parties, they made an agreement that the 
 Hudson Bay company should have the exclusive trade 
 of the Sound, and should deliver in Sitka, at certain 
 fixed prices, all the wheat, tallow, soap and maize 
 needed for that place. This last stipulation was made 
 by the Russians, with the intention of abandoning 
 their establishment at Fort Boss, to avoid trouble 
 with Mexico. Their occupation of that place had 
 been recognized by Spain; but the Russian emperor 
 had made no treaty with the Mexican government, 
 which considered the autocrat as an enemy, and feared 
 that he intended to lay permanent claim to a portion 
 of the coast. After the establishment of the Missions 
 and settlements north of the bay, for the avowed pur- 
 pose of heading off the Russians, General Yallejo 
 was sent to break up the settlement at Fort Ross, but 
 he soon came to the conclusion that discretion was the 
 better part of valor; and from that time the hostility 
 of the Mexican government was exhibited only on 
 paper. The rancheros were friendly with the people 
 at Fort Ross, and went there frequently to trade. At 
 last, however, the sea-otter began to become scarce.. 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 89 
 
 the establishment at Fort Ross ceased to be profitable; 
 the Russians had never intended to lay claim to the 
 coast there, and they offered their establishment for 
 sale. Mr. Leese proposed to give them twenty thou- 
 sand dollars, five thousand dollars cash and five thou- 
 sand dollars annually for three years. General Sutter 
 bid thirty thousand dollars, to be paid on time, and he 
 obtained the bargain. The Russians abandoned the 
 country, and were replaced by the Hudson Bay com- 
 pany, which, having undertaken to supply Sitka with 
 such produce as could be obtained only from California, 
 found it necessary to establish a j^ermanent agency, 
 and selected Yerba Buena as the place. Dr. Mc- 
 Laughlin, then the head of the company on the Pacific 
 coast, and a resident of Oregon, sent his son-in-law, 
 Mr. Ray, to take charge of the new agency; and Ray 
 saw that there was an excellent opportunity to 
 monopolize the trade of the bay. The great capital 
 of the company gave them an advantage over indi- 
 vidual competitors, and the profits of trade would 
 justify the attempt. Mr. Leese, unable to compete 
 with them, sold out his store and business to them, 
 and moved to Sonoma. The American merchants had 
 mid for their hides and tallow on delivery, in mer- 
 •haudise, upon which great profits were made. Ray 
 »ffered to pay half cash and half merchandise, and to 
 pay the merchandise share in advance. 
 
 These terms were so much better for the rancheros 
 than those of the Americans, that the latter could get 
 but little trade, and the Hudson Bay company rap- 
 
90 THE HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 idly grew in importance; but in 1844, Sir George 
 Simpson, the governor of the company, visited the 
 coast, condemned Ray's payment in advance, and re- 
 fused to approve the purchase of the house. About 
 the same time Ray made the mistake of lending the 
 ammunition of the company, placed in his charge for 
 purposes of trade, to Castro and Alvarado to aid them 
 in a revolt against Governor Micheltorena, expecting 
 to gain political influence, as well as to make a pecun- 
 iary profit by the transaction. In this he was dis- 
 appointed, for Sutter gathered a party of Americans 
 and Indians and took sides against the rebels. Ray 
 had another trouble. In consequence of his atten- 
 tions to a native Californian lady, he had a quarrel 
 with his wife, from whose father he had received his 
 position. He sought relief from these vexations in 
 intoxication, and closed one of his debauches by blow- 
 ing out his brains. This was the end of the brief 
 predominant influence of the Hudson Bay company 
 in Yerba Buena, though, it continued to maintain an 
 agency here till after the American conquest. In 
 1844, the houses of Yerba Buena were the Hudson 
 Bay house; the store of Spear k Hinckley; the store 
 of Wm. A. LeidesdorfT; the groceries of David 
 Cooper, J. J. Vioget, Peter Sherreback, and Victor 
 Prudon; the restaurant of John Fuller; the grog shops 
 of Gregorio Escalante (Manila man) and Jacinto Mo- 
 reno (a Lascar); the blacksmith-shop of Tinker k 
 Thompson; the carpenter-shops of Andrews, Davis, 
 and Reynolds k Rose; and the dwelling of Seilora 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 91 
 
 Briones. The town remained nearly stationary dur- 
 ing 1844, 1845, and the early part of 1846. It was ex- 
 pected, however, by the Americans and other foreign- 
 ers in the country that California would soon become 
 a part of the United States, and all looked to Yerba 
 Buena as the probable metropolis. 
 
 Sec. 35. Predictions. More than fifty years ago, 
 ambitious Americans looked forward to the time when 
 San Francisco bay and its vicinity would belong to the 
 United States. The revolt of Texas was foreseen, and 
 California was too valuable to be left in the possession 
 of a small population, content to remain stationary in the 
 pastoral condition, while surrounding nations were ad- 
 vancing with all the power and speed of steam. It was 
 evident that Mexico, involved in chronic civil wars, 
 could not continue to hold a country so remote, so 
 rich in resources, with a population that had already 
 outgrown many of its Mexican sympathies, and was 
 besides not numerous enough to offer much opposition 
 to conquest. The Americans considered themselves 
 best entitled to the prize, because their territory of 
 Oregon adjoined it, their whalers and other ships in 
 the Pacific were the most frequent visitors to it, and 
 with their adventurous and migrating disposition they 
 could soonest supply it with the people needed to de- 
 velop its natural wealth. A fewyears later they were 
 the largest class of foreigners in the country, and hav- 
 ing married into the most influential native Califor- 
 nian families, their presence supplied an additional 
 1m -is for their claim, which was then recognized to be 
 
92 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 the best; and all the travelers visiting the coast spoke 
 of the probability that the stars and stripes would 
 permanently wave over the future towns to be built 
 about the shores of San Francisco bay. 
 
 No experienced navigator or hydrographic engineer 
 has ever written of our bay^ after examining it, with- 
 out giving it liberal praise. Lieutenant Ayaia, the 
 first man to pass through the Golden Gate in com- 
 mand of a vessel, at least the first of whose entrance 
 there is no doubt, after making a survey of it in 
 1775, declared it "a collection of harbors in which 
 all the navies of Spain could hide from one another." 
 Vancouver visited it in 1792, and said it was "as fine 
 a port as the world affords;" and thought its possession 
 ought to be " a principal object of the Spanish crown." 
 The Russian navigator Kotzebue visited the bay in 
 in 1824, and the narrative of his voyage says: 
 
 It lias hitherto been the fate of this region, like that of mod- 
 est merit or humble virtue to remain unnoticed, but posterity 
 will do it justice. Towns and cities will hereafter nourish 
 where all is now desert. The water over which scarcely a soli- 
 tary boat is seen to glide, will reflect the flags of all nations, 
 and a happy, prosperous people, receiving with thankfulness 
 what prodigal nature bestows for their use, will disperse its 
 treasures over every part of the world. 
 
 The rush of whalemen to the North Pacific about 
 1820, made the Americans familiar with this coast; 
 and in the course of years, many of their ships came 
 to this harbor to get fresh water and provisions. The 
 sailors in their conversation after reaching home, and 
 in their letters while here, spoke in glowing terms of 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 93 
 
 the grand bay, which was undoubtedly well adapted, 
 by its position and circumstances, to maintain upon 
 its shore the chief American seaport on the Pacific. 
 
 Sec. 36. Morrell. The first book speaking of Cal- 
 ifornia, by an American, was written by Benjamin 
 Morrell, who, in command of the schooner "Tartar," 
 visited our harbor in 1825, and seven years later pub- 
 lished a book, in which he said : 
 
 The bay of San Francisco, connected with the surrounding 
 scenery, is the most delightful I have ever seen on the western 
 coast of America. It presents a broad sheet of water, of suffi- 
 cient extent to float all the British navy without crowding; the 
 circling grassy shore, indented with convenient coves, and the 
 whole surrounded with a verdant, blooming country, pleasingly 
 diversified with cultured fields and waving forests; meadows 
 clothed with the richest verdure in the gift of bounteous May; 
 pastures covered with grazing herds; hill and dale, mountain 
 and valley, noble rivers and gurgling brooks. Man, enlight- 
 ened, civilized man, alone is wanting to complete the picture, 
 and give a soul, a divinity, to the whole. Were these beauti- 
 ful regions, which have been so much libeled, and are so little 
 known, the property of the United States, our government 
 would never permit them to remain thus neglected. The east- 
 ern and middle states would pour out their thousands of emi- 
 grants, until magnificent cities would rise on the shores of every 
 inlet along the coast of New California, while the wilderness of 
 the intehor would be made to blossom like the rose. 
 
 Sec. 37. Beechey. Captain Beechey, in the course 
 of his exploring expedition with the British govern- 
 ment ship " Blossom," came into our bay in November, 
 1826, and his book, published before Morrell's, calls this 
 a "magnificent port," and said it "possesses almost all 
 the requisites for a great naval establishment, and is 
 
94 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 so advantageously situated with regard to North 
 America and China, and the Pacific in general, that 
 it will, no doubt, at some future time be of great im- 
 portance." 
 
 This opinion, expressed by a distinguished hydro- 
 graphic authority, after a careful examination of the 
 entrance and anchorage, corroborating the unanimous 
 declarations of the American shipmasters — Beechey 
 found seven whalers anchored at Saucelito at one 
 time — contributed to fix the determination of the 
 American government to acquire the bay and its 
 vicinity. In 1835, when the annexation of Texas was 
 confidently anticipated, the cabinet made an offer for 
 California to Mexico, but it was rejected; and soon 
 afterwards the expedition under Captain Wilkes was 
 sent out to make extensive explorations in the Pa- 
 cific; but his instructions directed him to visit Cal- 
 ifornia, "with special reference to the bay of San 
 Francisco," and the surveys ordered to be made in 
 other parts of the Pacific were presumably regarded 
 by the American government as of secondary and in- 
 cidental value. 
 
 Alexander Forbes, in his " History of California," 
 written in 1835, and published in 1839, says, "The 
 port of San Francisco is hardly surpassed by any in 
 the world;" and as to the general resources of the 
 adjacent regions, he expressed the opinion that, "per- 
 haps no country whatever can excel, or hardly vie 
 with, California in natural advantages." 
 
 Sec. 38. Wilkes, Etc. Wilkes visited San Fran- 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 95 
 
 cisco in 1841; returned to New York the next year, 
 and doubtless gave the chief points of his observations 
 to the cabinet in conversation. The official report of 
 his voyage appeared in 1845, and in it he says this is 
 " one of the finest, if not the very best harbor in the 
 world;" and he remarked, " the situation of California 
 will cause its separation from Mexico before many 
 years." Richard H. Dana's opinion, that "if Cali- 
 fornia ever becomes a prosperous country, this bay will 
 be the center of its, prosperity," an opinion formed 
 after visiting the bay as a sailor, in an American 
 vessel, that was here for hides, in the winter of 1835, 
 and recorded in a book which appeared in 1840, 
 found twenty times as many readers as did Wilkes's 
 ponderous volumes. 
 
 The annexation of Texas was looked forward to, 
 from 1837, as a certainty, and a consequent war with 
 Mexico as a probability; and there was a fixed deter- 
 mination in Washington, that one of the first things 
 to be done, in case of war, was to seize California. We 
 have no copy of the instructions issued to the Ameri- 
 can war-ships, of which there was, at least, one con- 
 stantly in the North Pacific; but we can infer some of 
 their character from the conduct of Commodore Jones, 
 who, having heard a rumor of war, arrived at Monterey 
 with the frigate " United States " and the corvette 
 "Cyane," on the nineteenth of October, 1842, and 
 seized the place as the capital of the country for his 
 government. He learned after a few hours that the 
 rumor was false, so the next day he hauled down his 
 
96 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 flag and apologized ; but he had already exposed the 
 purpose of the American cabinet, and if anything 
 could have been done by Mexico to avert the final 
 seizure, it would doubtless then have been done; but 
 it was too late ; Mexico was too weak, and the United 
 States too strong. When Mofras was at Los Angeles 
 in 1842, he heard a native woman sing a Spanish song, 
 which said that when the Americans should come 
 California would be lost, but when the Frenchmen 
 came the women would surrender. It was the com- 
 mon talk among the frontiersmen in the upper Mis- 
 sissippi valley, that California was to be settled by 
 Americans, then made independent, and finally an- 
 nexed; and it was confidence in such talk that stimu- 
 lated the migrations of 1843, 1844, 1845 and 1846, 
 across the continent from Missouri. 
 ^ Robert Greenhow, librarian of the Congressional 
 Library in 1840, published a book on the north-west 
 coast of America, afterward enlarged into a history 
 of Oregon, and in the first edition of his work spoke 
 of San Francisco bay as "one of the finest harbors in 
 the world, and possessing every requisite for a great 
 naval establishment," and " destined to be the center 
 of an extensive commerce." In the beginning of 1842, 
 Sir George Simpson, the head of the Hudson Bay 
 company, visited Yerba Buena, and five years later 
 published a book, in which he says the bay " is one of 
 the finest harbors in the world," "a miniature Medi- 
 terranean," and " an inland sea." 
 
 On the twenty-fourth of June, 1845, George Ban- 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 97 
 
 croft, then secretary of the navy, wrote to Commo- 
 dore Sloat, commanding the American squadron in 
 the North Pacific: "If you should ascertain, with cer- 
 tainty, that Mexico has declared war against the 
 United States, you will at once possess yourself of the 
 port of San Francisco, and blockade or occupy such 
 other ports as your force may permit." The great bay 
 Avas considered the most important point. 
 
 Commodore Sloat ; in his proclamation issued at 
 Monterey, on the seventh of July, 1846, predicted "a 
 great increase in the value of real estate;" and said 
 " the country cannot but improve more rapidly than 
 any other on the continent of America," under the 
 permanent dominion of the United States, then offici- 
 ally announced by him. 
 
 On the sixteenth of March, 1848, Edwin Bryant, 
 alcalde of San Francisco, published a notice that the 
 water lots in Yerba Buena cove, including thirty-five 
 blocks now occupied for business purposes between 
 Broadway and Folsom streets, would be sold at auc- 
 tion to the highest bidder, on the twenty-ninth of 
 June, and took the opportunity to say that the "town 
 is destined to become the commercial emporium of the 
 wotern side of the American continent." 
 
 The merchants of San Francisco, in March, 1848, 
 paid Sam. Brannan, publisher of the "California Star," 
 to print a number of his paper for circulation on the 
 Atlantic slope, and Dr. Fourgeaud, who died several 
 years since, furnished an article six columns long on 
 " The prospects of California," in which he explained 
 7 
 
98 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 its resources and foretold its prosperity; and of San 
 Francisco he said: " Our flourishing little town is des- 
 tined ere long to become the manufacturing metropo- 
 lis and commercial emporium of western America." 
 Within a month after that paper was published, the 
 little town was crazy with the gold excitement, and 
 soon it got such a fair swing that no more predictions 
 were needed. 
 
 Sec. 39. American Longing. The administration 
 of Polk, installed on the fourth of March, 1845, 
 looked forward to the acquisition of California as its 
 chief ambition. Although the purposes of the cab- 
 inet were kept secret, the idea of extending the 
 American dominion on the Pacific was familiar to 
 many minds. The Yankee traders on the coast, and 
 the trappers and the farmers in the Sacramento basin, 
 wrote letters glowing with praise of the climate and 
 soil of their new home by the sunset sea — letters that 
 frequently found their way into the newspapers. 
 Britons and Frenchmen also longed to seize the treas- 
 ure which they were convinced must soon become the 
 prize of the boldest. Duflot de Mofras, in his book 
 on Oregon and California, hinted that France ought 
 to take California in advance of England or the 
 United States. Forbes, in his history of California, 
 suggested that Great Britain should take it. The 
 Californians themselves were continually discussing 
 the matter, the preference being generally, among 
 those who favored a change, for the United. States, 
 which had a contiguous territory, the prestige of 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 99 
 
 progress, the advantage of extensive commercial rota- 
 tions, and a number of citizens already established in 
 the country. Most of the trade was in the hands of 
 American merchants, and the most formidable mili- 
 tary force in California consisted of American rifle- 
 men, who had on several occasions taken an important 
 part in the local political convulsions. 
 
 The people were dissatisfied with the Mexican gov- 
 ernment. It was remote and weak; it did nothing 
 for the advancement of the country, and sent govern- 
 ors who were unknown to the inhabitants, insolent in 
 their manners, and incompetent to properly perform 
 their duties. The Californians had, by long inter- 
 course with foreigners, grown to be distinct in charac- 
 ter and tastes from the Mexicans. On one occasion 
 they had declared themselves independent of Mexico ; 
 and they had expelled several Mexican governors. 
 Many of the leading families, such as the Carrillos, 
 Yallejos, Bandinis and Ortegas were connected by 
 marriage with Americans. 
 
 Sec. 40. Larkin. These facts were well known to 
 the Washington cabinet, which had been actively 
 scheming for several years to prepare the way for a 
 seizure of California. The American consul at Mon- 
 terey, Thomas 0. Larkin, had been instructed to get 
 all possible influence with the leading native Califor- 
 nians. In May, 1846, a circular had been issued 
 under the stimulus of his suggestions, calling a meet- 
 ing of thirty prominent men, including the chief offi- 
 cials, for the purpose of considering the condition of 
 
100 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 affairs, with special reference to continued adherence 
 to Mexico. Larkin advised the adoption of a memo- 
 rial to the central administration, praying for a better 
 government in California, and if that could not be 
 provided, for a sale of the territory to some other 
 power. It was Larkin's expectation that the discus- 
 sion of this matter, and the ill feeling that would 
 probably follow would prepare the people for a change; 
 and he was confident that whether money or force 
 should control the transfer, in either case the Amer- 
 icans would carry off the prize. 
 
 Sec. 41. Fremont's Blunder. Everything was 
 going along smoothly with Larkin's plans, when they 
 were disturbed by the folly and insolence of Fremont, 
 who had arrived early in the year with an armed ex- 
 ploring expedition, and instead of taking counsel with 
 Larkin, and court ins: and conciliating the local author- 
 ities, insulted and defied them. When he reached 
 the vicinity of Monterey, several of the native Cal- 
 ifornians claimed that some of the horses in the pos- 
 session of his party had been stolen from them, and 
 he refused to surrender them. Dolores Pacheco, 
 alcalde at San Jose, sent a letter to Fremont, stating 
 that a complaint had been made before him to recover 
 a stolen horse, and to demand satisfaction for insults 
 given when the owner demanded his property in the 
 American camp. Fremont replied that the horse 
 claimed by the native Californian had been brought 
 from the United States, and that the claimant might 
 consider himself fortunate in escaping without a se- 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 101 
 
 vere whipping, instead of being merely ordered to 
 leave the camp. He admitted that four horses had 
 been bought of Indians in Tulare valley, and offered, 
 if it could be shown that any of these had been stolen, 
 to surrender them, but no further communication 
 about the horse first claimed would receive his atten- 
 tion, and he added: "My duties will not permit me to 
 appear before the magistrate of your towns on the 
 complaint of every straggling vagabond." 
 
 Dolores Pacheco sent Fremont's letters to the pre- 
 fect of the district, Manuel Castro, who wrote to Fre- 
 mont, ordering him to leave the country immediately. 
 He refused to go. He wanted some supplies, and he 
 intended to stay till he could obtain them, whether 
 the officials liked his stay or not. This last defiance 
 provoked the authorities so that a military force 
 marched out to attack him; but the native Californians 
 were not accustomed to the use of the rifle, and after 
 taking a look at the bristling little camp, they with- 
 drew, leaving Fremont to move off as he did, going up 
 the Sacramento valley towards Oregon. 
 
 The more the natives heard of his conduct, the 
 angrier they got, and they extended their denunciations 
 to all Americans. The indignation was so strong that 
 Governor Pico was satisfied that the proposed con- 
 vention would do no good, so he withdrew his call for 
 it, and it never met. 
 
 The feeling, however, that had been awakened by 
 the call could not be suppressed. The attempts to 
 keep the movement a secret within a small circle 
 
102 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 failed, and the rumors which got out, alarmed one 
 party while they excited the other. Larkin wrote 
 thus to the American secretary of state on the fifteenth 
 of June : 
 
 He (Larkin, the writer) has felt certain that from the almost 
 certain train of events now in the course of production in Cali- 
 fornia, he would he called from his own private business to at- 
 tend to other affairs. By withdrawing from his pursuits, he has 
 been preparing himself and the department of state, by his 
 numerous and voluminous correspondence in 1844 and 1845, to 
 meet the ensuing events soon to be consummated. From a 
 favorable disposition on his part to aid what he saw was inevita- 
 ble, there has been no reluctance to expense and personal in- 
 convenience, which as begun would have been continued. It 
 therefore affords a sincere pleasure in being able by the new 
 proposal to have more power and room to carry out that already 
 begun. This will call for no remarks from natives or foreigners 
 residing here, as the parties and entertaining of company, and 
 several extra consular expenses, have been attributed to the 
 fancy, or advancement of position in life, of the undersigned. 
 The undersigned improves the opportunity of observing that 
 there cannot be brought forward, by the president against 
 Mexico, any claim or demand so strong and impetuous as the 
 unjust and cruel arrest, imprisonment and shipment in irons of 
 so many Americans from this port in April, 1840. Californians, 
 in California, committed this most outrageous act, and they and 
 their territory should be held responsible for the deed. 
 
 Sec. 42. Bear Flag. The folly of Fremont was 
 followed by the blunder of the Bear Flag party. The 
 unmeaning 1 threats of a few ignorant native Cali- 
 fornians irritated and perhaps alarmed the Americans 
 north of San Francisco bay, so much that without 
 taking; advice of the naval officers, of the American 
 consul, or of the influential and wealthy Americans, 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 103 
 
 living south of San Francisco, they revolted; seized 
 the town of Sonoma on the fourteenth of June; im- 
 prisoned General M. G. Vallejo, Captain S. Vallejo, 
 Colonel Prudon, and Mr. Leese (the last an Ameri- 
 can, but brother-in-law of the Vallejos) ; declared 
 California independent; and hoisted a flag showing a 
 bear on white ground with the words " California 
 Republic." Wm. B. Ide, who succeeded Captain S. 
 Merritt as commander of the bear flag party, issued 
 a proclamation in which he gave the reasons of the 
 movement, and declared that the Americans in the 
 territory had been " threatened by proclamation from 
 the chief officer of the aforesaid military despotism 
 [the government of California], with extermination if 
 they would not depart out of the country, leaving all 
 their property, arms, and beasts of burden." This was 
 a great mistake on the part of Ide and his -friends. 
 The governor of California had issued no such procla- 
 mation, nor was such a matter thought of. Although 
 the Bear Flag party acted with far more moderation 
 than rebels usually do, its conduct gave great offense 
 to the native Californians, and added to the difficulty 
 of the subsequent conquest of the country. 
 
 Sec. 43. American Flag. On the seventh of 
 June, 1846, Commodore Sloat,, while lying at Mazatlan 
 with the frigate " Savannah," received news of the 
 battles on the Iiio Grande. Without waiting for a 
 formal declaration of war, he set sail the next day for 
 Monterey, where he arrived on the second of July, 
 lie counseled with Consul Larkin upon a proclamation, 
 
104 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 the form of which was soon agreed upon, and on the 
 seventh of July he sent Captain Mervine ashore, with 
 instructions to take possession of the custom house and 
 Presidio, hoist the stars and stripes, and read the 
 proclamation. His instructions were obeyed without 
 resistance or objection from the native authorities or 
 population. Governor Pico and General Castro were 
 both absent, and no soldiers showed themselves. The 
 proclamation announced that "henceforth California 
 will be a portion of the United States," and promised 
 protection to the person and property of peaceable 
 citizens. 
 
 On the sixth, Sloat had sent a messenger to Captain 
 Montgomery, of the war sloop " Portsmouth," then 
 lying at Yerba Buena, giving him the news and in- 
 structing him to hoist the flag. On the eighth Mont- 
 gomery received the message, and hoisted the flag on 
 the plaza, or public square, which has since been called 
 Portsmouth Square; and, what was then the principal 
 street, was named after him who first asserted the 
 American authority in Yerba Buena. On the eleventh 
 Montgomery wrote back that the stars and stripes 
 waved at San Francisco, Sonoma, Bodega and New 
 Helvetia. Los Angeles and San Diego were taken 
 soon afterwards; and although there were subsequent 
 troubles, the American conquest dates from the seventh 
 of July, 1846. 
 
 The war lasted nearly two years, but there was 
 little fitrfitino: in California, and that little did not 
 come near Yerba Buena. Such as there was in the 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 105 
 
 southern districts was chargeable mainly to the indis- 
 cretion of Fremont and the haste of the Bear Flag 
 party. On the fourteenth of January, 1847, Larkin 
 wrote thus to the secretary of state : 
 
 It has been my object for some years to bring the Calif ornians 
 to look on our countrymen as their best friends. I am satisfied 
 very many were of that way of thinking, and more were becom- 
 ing so. General Castro, from the year 1842 to 184G, made 
 every demonstration in our favor, and opened plans for future 
 operations, granting passports to all the Americans whom I 
 presented to him. At the same time he made some foolish proc- 
 lamations, supposing they would only be believed in Mexico. 
 The sudden rising of the party ou the Sacramento under the 
 Bear Flag, taking Californians' property to a large amount, and 
 other acts, completely frustrated all hopes I had of the friend- 
 ship of the natives to my countrymen, and of General Castro, 
 through fear of his people, to come into the arrangements I ex- 
 pected. On the arrival of the war squadron, from June to Oc- 
 tober, this came to my knowledge more and more fully. During 
 the time I accompanied Commodore Stockton, I led him to be- 
 lieve that having taken the country the people would quietly 
 submit; yet he should leave some forces amongst them. Among 
 other objections of his were the expense and want of men. He 
 has again hoisted our flag in this place. Colonel Fremont has 
 done the same in Santa Barbara. * * * From this day it 
 will require fifteen hundred troops to keep California, at least, 
 or a different line of conduct to conciliate, which I think the 
 Commodore will pursue. My present object is, that the State 
 Department should know that the Californians were friendly, as 
 1 believe they were, but proper methods were not taken to con- 
 ciliate them. Had the officers left in command at different 
 towns in the country had the kind and friendly, yet firm man- 
 ner of Commodore Stockton, I am firm in the opinion that the 
 people would not have risen. During my imprisonment many 
 
 Calif ornian officers told me this, and said that the strict mili- 
 
106 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 taiy discipline pursued, and ignorance of their customs, forced 
 them to take up arms. 
 
 Sec. 44. Effect of Conquest. The conquest, made 
 a great change in Yerba Buena, which had been in- 
 ferior in population to the village of Dolores, three 
 miles distant, but now suddenly became the chief 
 town north of Monterey, with the expectation that it 
 would soon surpass the capital in importance. There 
 was the utmost confidence that the United States 
 would continue to hold the bay, with the shores and 
 country eastward and northward. Yerba Buena had 
 become j^redominantly American in its population; it 
 was the only American town; it was the chief seaport 
 of the laro;e region in which th<d Americans were most 
 numerous, and in which the large extent of unoccupied 
 fertile land would certainly at no distant time attract 
 many American settlers. These considerations con- 
 curred, with its superior advantages as a harbor, to 
 make it a preferred resort of the vessels that came to 
 the coast on business connected with the war. It was 
 evident that the American government could not hold 
 the country until the establishment of peace without 
 maintaining a considerable military force on its land and 
 a considerable naval force in its waters; nor after mak- 
 ing of peace without a considerable. American popula- 
 tion. These forces and this population would, it was 
 believed, bring most of their trade to Yerba Buena, 
 which thus became a place of great expectations. 
 
 One of the first -acts of American authority was the 
 appointment by Captain Montgomery of Washington 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 107 
 
 A. Bartlett, one of the lieutenants on the " Ports- 
 mouth," to the office of alcalde of Yerba Buena, to 
 supersede Noe, the Mexican alcalde residing at Dolo- 
 res. The Mexican dominion and the supremacy of 
 Dolores disappeared together. Under military au- 
 thority exercised by a naval officer, the chief magis- 
 trate of the town took a Spanish title and undertook 
 to administer Mexican law as modified by American 
 ideas and personal whims. There were neither stat- 
 utes nor precedents to guide the court in its judg- 
 ments, which were, however, probably as nearly just 
 as those precise and pretentious tribunals occupying 
 the same relative position in later times. 
 
 Sec. 45. Mormons. Three weeks after the hoisting 
 of the American flag, the " Portsmouth " and the 
 town were agitated by the report that a strange ves- 
 sel, with decks black with people, and evidently not 
 an American war-ship, had sailed into the Golden 
 Gate and was pursuing her course towards Yerba 
 Buena cove. Captain Montgomery immediately got 
 ready for fight, but as the strange ship came round 
 Clark's point, he saw that his preparation was un- 
 necessary. The number of women and children on 
 deck proved that there was no hostile intention, and 
 there was nothing to indicate a warlike character. 
 But who were these people who seemed to have 
 dropped from the sky? They carried the American 
 flag, but no such load of people had ever been seen on 
 the coast before. There was no report that an immi- 
 grant vessel was coming, and the government would 
 
108 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 surely not send out women and children to a country 
 en^aored in war. 
 
 The general curiosity was soon gratified. The ship 
 was the "Brooklyn." It had left New York under a 
 pretense of being bound for Oregon, on the sixth of 
 February, with two hundred and thirty-eight emi- 
 grants, all, save perhaps a dozen, Mormons, who, un- 
 der advice or instructions from the leaders of their 
 church, had selected San Francisco bay as their des- 
 tination, with the expectation that they would find on 
 its shores a place where they could build up a large 
 and prosperous colony, and where no government or 
 mob would be strong enough for many years to dis- 
 turb them on account of their religion. They were 
 dismayed by the news that the American flag floated 
 over California, and by the fear that the men among 
 them would be called upon to enlist to support a do- 
 minion to escape from which they had undertaken a 
 long voyage, with the intention of settling in the wil- 
 derness. However, they made no public declaration 
 of their feeling, and it was too late to change their 
 destination. 
 
 They were mostly natives of New York and New 
 England, and the men were all mechanics and farmers 
 and well provided with the skill and the tools neces- 
 sary for opening farms, building houses, and doing all 
 the work of starting and maintaining a settlement in 
 a wild country. Their leader was Samuel Brannan, 
 who had been the publisher of the " Prophet," a 
 Mormon paper in New York, and he brought his press, 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 109 
 
 typo and compositors with him. As head of the 
 company, he was the custodian of its property. The 
 disturbed condition of the country, the demand of the 
 officials that the men should enter the military ser- 
 vice, and the expectations, afterwards justified by the 
 res alt, that the chief council of the Mormon church 
 would abandon the project of establishing a large 
 colony in California, induced those of the men who 
 did not enlist and all the women and children to settle, 
 temporarily at least, in Yerba Buena, which then be- 
 came predominantly a Mormon town, for a brief period. 
 The men who remained in town were no idlers, and 
 the place soon showed signs of their activity in new 
 houses and shops. Brannan had his press at work in 
 September, finding occupation for some months in 
 striking off official notices, proclamations, blank deeds 
 and alcalde grants. About the end of October, the 
 first news sheet appeared; it was called "an extra in 
 advance of the ' California Star,' " and contained a 
 copy of General Taylor's official report of the battles 
 in Texas on the eighth and ninth of May. On the ninth 
 of January the " California Star" commenced its career 
 as a weekly paper. 
 
 The Mormons made little effort to gain converts, 
 said little about the popular dogmas of their sect, did 
 not then recognize polygamy ir> their creed, and 
 generally maintained harmonious and even cordial re- 
 lations in business and society with their neighbors. 
 The men were industrious, intelligent, and public- 
 spirited; the women chaste, and the children well- 
 
110 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 behaved. The " Brooklyn " immigrants and their de- 
 scendants now make up a small, but respectable portion 
 of the Californian population, and have generally 
 abandoned their former creed. 
 
 Sec. 46. Change of Name. The year 1847 was an 
 eventful one for Yerba Buena. In January a decree 
 was published by the alcalde (there was no town 
 council), changing the name to San Francisco, "to 
 prevent confusion and mistakes in public documents, 
 and that the town may have the advantage of the 
 name given in the public maps." There were other 
 motives not mentioned by Alcalde Bartlett. A rival 
 town had been laid off on the northern shore of 
 Carquinez strait, a place which had many advantages 
 for commerce, by Thomas 0. Larkin and Charles D. 
 Semple, who in wealth, political influence, general in- 
 telligence, and business capacity were among the first 
 Americans on the coast. They had purchased the 
 land from M. G. Yallejo, and named the town 
 Francesca, after his wife. The name was well devised, 
 suggestive of the bay, new, and not too long; but it 
 was unfortunate in one respect, it did not prevent the 
 appropriation of " San Francisco " by another place. 
 Bartlett and his advisers were aware that while 
 everybody knew about San Francisco bay, few had 
 heard of the village of Yerba Buena, or would re- 
 member it. The name had a foreign look, and would 
 not be naturalized into English spelling or pronuncia- 
 tion, until after much effort. It would not do to let 
 the prospective town at Carquinez make the impres- 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. Ill 
 
 sion in the Atlantic states by the mere similarity of 
 its name, that it was the chief town on San Francisco 
 bay. The remedy was very simple, change Yerba 
 Buena to San Francisco. There were no popular 
 prejudices to be overcome, no voters, or councilmen to 
 be consulted. The power of the alcalde was mo- 
 narchical, and his decree was final. It was issued with- 
 out the previous approval of the editor of the " Star," 
 and he refused for several weeks to recognize the new 
 name; but the people appreciated the policy of the 
 change, and the refractory journalist had to submit. 
 One reason why the people were pleased was, that 
 Larkin and Sernple were worried. They protested, 
 but protest was useless. The thing had been done, 
 the right to the name was secured, and San Francisco 
 was a genuine lively little town; while Francesca, 
 existed only upon paper, and in the anticipations of 
 its friends. The names were so much alike that who- 
 ever spoke of Francesca would be supposed to refer to 
 San Francisco; and its projectors took Benicia, a 
 second baptismal name of Senora Vallejo, as the title 
 of their place. Not long after this Captain Folsom, 
 of the United States quartermaster's department, hav- 
 ing considered the advantages claimed for Benicia, 
 selected San Francisco as the point where the military 
 stores of the United States should be kept, and thus 
 contributed materially to strengthen its position. 
 
 In February, meetings were held to send assistance 
 to the Donner party, who were starving in the mount- 
 ains. The sum of fifteen hundred dollars was col- 
 
112 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 lected, and the relief party from San Francisco arrived 
 in time at the famine camp near Donner lake to ren- 
 der effective service, though thirty-six out of eighty 
 in the original party had died. This was the first of 
 many liberal subscriptions made by San Francisco to 
 relieve distant suffering. 
 
 Sec. 47. Stevenson s Regiment. On the sixth of 
 March the ship " Thomas H. Perkins" arrived with 
 the first detachment of Stevenson's regiment of vol- 
 unteers, who had been enlisted in the interior of the 
 state of New York, under special instructions to ac- 
 cept only those men who would promise to make their 
 homes in California after the war, and who, by their 
 good character and skill in the industrial arts, would 
 be valuable settlers in a new country. When the 
 " Perkins " left New York, on the twentieth of Sep- 
 tember, no news had been received there of what had 
 been done on this coast since the declaration of war; 
 but there was no doubt that the navy had possession 
 of San Francisco at least, and that place was made 
 the destination of the voyage. Stevenson's men as a 
 class became permanent, many of them worthy, and 
 some of them prominent, citizens of California; thus 
 justifying the wisdom of the cabinet in devising its 
 plan of enlistment and selecting the agents who ac- 
 cepted the men. 
 
 The arrival of the "Brooklyn" and "Perkins" 
 with their immigrants, the business brought to the 
 town by them, and the general confidence felt in its 
 future, excited a desire among the residents to se- 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 113 
 
 cure lots for homes, business and speculation. The 
 few who had studied law seriously doubted whether 
 American officials could give valid titles to land with- 
 out any express authority from congress ; and indeed 
 legally the country had not yet become part of the 
 American dominion by treaty, without which Mexican 
 authority could not be formally terminated. The sale 
 or gift of town lots to accommodate settlers certainly 
 did not come under the military powers arising from 
 the war. Nevertheless, the citizens were willing and 
 anxious to take all the chances. They urgently de- 
 manded some kind of a paper from the government 
 officials showing that they had done all they could do 
 to obtain a title, trusting that congress and the courts 
 would not deprive them afterwards of the property in 
 their possession and made valuable by their labor and 
 enterprise. It was represented to General Kearny, 
 then military governor, that the sale of lots was not 
 only advisable to help in building up the town and 
 attracting immigration, but also to provide funds with 
 which the expenses of the town government should be 
 paid. In accordance with the general solicitation, 
 General Kearny, on the tenth of March, claiming to 
 act by authority vested in him by the president of the 
 United States, who had no such authority and never 
 undertook to confer it on his subordinate, issued a de- 
 cree granting to the town all the beach and water lots 
 between Clark's point and Rincon point, except such 
 as should be reserved for government uses by the sen- 
 ior navy officer stationed at San Francisco, under con- 
 
114 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 dition that these lots should be sold at auction for the 
 benefit of the town. 
 
 Sec. 48. (JFarrelVs Survey. Within a week after 
 the date of this decree, Edwin Bryant, who had suc- 
 ceeded Bartlett as alcalde on the twenty-seventh Feb- 
 ruary, issued a notice that the water lots would be 
 surveyed immediately, and would be sold on the 
 twenty-seventh of June. Jasper O'Farrell, an Irish 
 civil engineer, was selected to make the survey, which 
 so far as the water lots were concerned, consisted in 
 marking them off upon paper. George Hyde, having 
 succeeded to the position of alcalde, postponed the 
 sale till the twentieth of July, when two hundred 
 water lots, forty-five by one hundred and thirty-seven 
 and a half feet in size, out of four hundred and fifty 
 were sold at prices varying from fifty dollars to six 
 hundred dollars each, most of them being near the 
 former figure. The lots between Clay and Sacra- 
 mento, reserved for the possible uses of the govern- 
 ment, were sold six years and a half later, and brought 
 twelve thousand dollars each on an average — more 
 than one hundred times as much as in 1847. 
 
 But the water lots could not be occupied, and this 
 sale gave little satisfaction to the purchasers or im- 
 mediate benefit to the town. The people needed 
 solid ground for homes and shops, and so O'Farrell 
 was instructed to enlarge the bounds of the town. He 
 did so, and made the first careful survey, covering an 
 area of about eight hundred acres. His map included 
 the district bounded by the lines of Post, Leavenworth 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 115 
 
 and Francisco streets and the water front; and south 
 of Market street, it showed four full blocks fronting 
 on Fourth and eleven full blocks fronting on Second 
 street. There were besides a few fractional blocks. 
 O'Farrell disliked many things in Yioget's little sur- 
 vey, but some he could not change. Kearny and 
 Dupont streets were too narrow, but these could not 
 be widened without an expense of several thousand 
 dollars, which nobody wanted to incur. It was con- 
 sidered indispensable, however, that the acute and 
 obtuse angles of Yioget's lots should be corrected by 
 makinof the streets cross each other at rio4it angles, 
 and to do this, a change of two and a half decrees 
 was necessary in the direction of some of the streets. 
 This transferred the situation of all the lots, and was 
 subsequently called "O'Farrell's swing" of the city. 
 All the lot-holders save one Bennett, who had a place 
 between Kearny and Dupont on Pacific, accepted the 
 change. He refused to be swung out of any of the 
 lot originally granted to him; and his title to a strip 
 covered by the swing having passed to a Mr. Barth, 
 was sustained by a judgment of the twelfth district 
 court in 1859. For years, on account of the swing, 
 buildings were to be seen at various places projecting 
 a little beyond the general line of the street, but 
 nearly all, if not all, have now conformed to O'Far- 
 rell's lines. The corner of Kearny and Washington 
 streets was the pivot of the swing, and the main mon- 
 ument or starting point was established there. The 
 new map gave to the streets the names which they 
 
116 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 now have, and they were doubtless adopted with the 
 approval of the alcalde. They provided that all the 
 people of the future metropolis of the coast should be 
 reminded every day of Montgomery, Stockton and 
 Dupont, of the navy; of Kearny, Mason, Fremont and 
 Taylor, of the army; of Sutter, Howard, Brannan, Bry- 
 ant, Folsom, Harrison, Hyde, Leavenworth and Jones, 
 of the early residents of the city. Yallejo and Larkin, 
 prominent citizens of California, were also immortal- 
 ized. 
 
 The first delineation of Market street was made by 
 O'Farrell, who correctly appreciated the importance 
 of making the main streets in the southern part of the 
 town agree in general direction with the route followed 
 by people going from Yerba Buena cove to the Mis- 
 sion. The extension of the streets running with the 
 cardinal points to Mission creek would have been a 
 source of much inconvenience for many years. The 
 lots south of Market street were made four times as 
 large as those to the northward, smaller lots there not 
 being considered desirable property. 
 
 Sec. 49. Sale of Lots. In August, of the seven 
 hundred fiftv-vara lots, about four hundred had been 
 sold at sixteen dollars each, including the expense of 
 deed and recording; and of the one hundred and thirty 
 hundred- vara lots, about seventy had been sold at 
 twenty-nine dollars each, and the remainder were of- 
 fered for sale at the same rate. There was an express 
 condition in the conveyance of every upland lot that 
 the purchaser must erect a house on the land and en- 
 close it with a fence within a year, but this would 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 117 
 
 have required the construction of nearly eighty miles 
 of fencing, and of more houses than there were adults 
 in the town, and neither men, money nor lumber for 
 so much work could be had. The purchasers had got 
 the deeds and possession, and were willing to take 
 their chances that the lots would not be confiscated 
 for non-fulfillment of the conditions. Not one was so 
 confiscated. 
 
 Sec. 50. Census of 1847. Under instructions from 
 the governor, Lieutenant Edward Gilbert, of Steven- 
 son's regiment, took a census in August, 1847; and re- 
 ported a total population, exclusive of officers and 
 soldiers, at San Francisco, which then did not include 
 the village of Dolores, of four hundred and fifty-nine 
 persons, of whom more than half were natives of the 
 United States, and about forty each of Spanish Cali- 
 fornians, Indians and Kanakas. In the seventeen 
 months ending on the first of August, 1847, one hun- 
 dred and fifty-seven houses — one fourth adobe houses, 
 and the remainder shanties — had been erected in a 
 town which had only thirty houses before. The cen- 
 sus-taker considered it within the scope of his office 
 to argue the prospects of his town as compared with 
 the rival places, and his conclusion was that the latter 
 would be left behind in the race. The following ex- 
 tract from his remarks is worthy of repetition here, 
 as indicative of the opinion prevalent in the town, and 
 as predictions which have been abundantly verified : 
 
 In conclusion I cannot suppress a desire to say, that San 
 Trancisco is destined to become the great commercial emporium 
 
118 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 of the North Pacific coast. With the advantages of so fine a 
 harbor, and the enterprise of so hardy and intelligent a race of 
 pioneers, it can scarcely be otherwise. Notwithstanding these 
 conclusions are so obvious, I have heard it asserted that Mon- 
 terey is destined to outstrip it. That Monterey can never sur- 
 pass San Francisco, I think the following view will clearly 
 establish; 1. San Francisco has a safer and more commodious 
 harbor than Monterey; 2. The waters of the bay afford an easy 
 method of communication, and a facile means of transportation 
 between the town and the hundred lateral valleys which sur- 
 round the bay, and which are destined soon to become granaries 
 and hives of plenty; 3. It also has a ready means of communica- 
 tion by water with large and rich valleys of the San Joaquin, 
 the Sacramento and the American Fork, as all of these rivers are 
 tributaries to the bay. So far as my information goes, Monterey, 
 although it has a fine country at its back, has none of the 
 facilities for reaching and transporting the products of that 
 country which San Francisco possesses in regard to the country 
 that surrounds it. This, it seems to me, allowing all other 
 things to be equal, would give to San Francisco an insuperable 
 advantage. 
 
 Sec. 51. Leading Town. Although Monterey was 
 still the political capital of the territory, and had twice 
 or thrice as many people as San Francisco, the latter 
 was the point where the enterprise and surplus money 
 of the American population collected. Its superiority 
 as a place of business was so clear that the "Californian" 
 which had been established at Monterey in the previ- 
 ous August as a weekly paper, was in May moved to 
 San Francisco, which now had two papers, while no 
 other town in the territory had one, although half 
 dozen others had more inhabitants. 
 
 Sec. 52. Shipping in 184*7. The inland commerce 
 of San Francisco in 1847, was scanty. A twenty-ton 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 119 
 
 sloop belonging to Sutter, and manned by half a dozen 
 Indians, ran regularly to and from New Helvetia, 
 taking about three weeks usually for a round trip, and 
 having frequently little freight; but there were times 
 when one vessel could not accommodate the demand, 
 and then a smaller sloop, that usually plied to other 
 ])oints on the bay, would run up the Sacramento river. 
 Another sloop was employed between San Francisco 
 and the Mormon settlement on the Stanislaus. The 
 ocean shipping was more important. In the year end- 
 ing March 30, 1848, there were eighty-six arrivals by 
 sea; including four naval vessels, sixteen whalers, and 
 eight vessels from the Hawaiian Islands. The others 
 were from various ports of California and Oregon. 
 About a dozen of these were regularly employed in 
 the coasting trade. 
 
 The first square-rigged vessel to enter San Pablo 
 bay, was the brig u Francisco " of one hundred tons, 
 which on the twenty-second of August, 1847, took a 
 ear^o of lumber to Benicia. The first steamer to 
 paddle the water of San Francisco bay, the " Sitka," 
 a steam launch brought from Sitka on the deck of a 
 Russian vessel to be used in collecting hides and other 
 freiffht at the various landings, was tried in October 
 and found too weak to face the combined forces of 
 wind and tide. She succeeded in getting to Sacra- 
 mento, but an ox team, which left after she did on her 
 return, arrived at Benicia in advance of her. When 
 she reached her home port, her engine was taken out, 
 and she was eonverted into a sloop. 
 
120 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Sec. 53. Puff for California. Business, after hav- 
 ing been active for the year succeeding the commence- 
 ment of the war, became dull towards the close of 
 1847. No more troops were landed or transhipped, 
 the war vessels were sent away to doubtful points, no 
 more immigrants arrived by sea, the expected im- 
 migration by land did not exceed a dozen persons, and 
 those who came said that few would follow till the 
 close of the war. 
 
 The residents having bought their lots, and incurred 
 debts in the expectation of a steady and rapid growth 
 of the town, were now oppressed by fears of several 
 years of dullness. After much consultation they 
 agreed that they must make an effort to attract im- 
 migrants, war or no war, by circulating information 
 about California in Missouri, and adjacent states, and 
 by providing facilities for sending letters across the 
 continent at intervals of not more than a month during 
 the spring, summer and fall. 
 
 In accordance with this plan, an extra number of 
 the " California Star" was published in the latter part 
 of March, 1848, with special reference to circulation 
 in " the States," and it had an article six columns 
 long by Dr. V. J. Fourgeaud, on " The Prospects of 
 California," setting forth her attractions and resources 
 in highly laudatory and in some respects exaggerated 
 terms, but with much correct information, and many 
 judicious remarks. This first publication, designed 
 mainly to be sent overland, was received with general 
 favor, and liberal orders were given by the people of 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 121 
 
 town and country for copies. On the first of April, 
 the day on which the paper was dated, a courier was 
 dispatched with two thousand copies, and some letters 
 — the latter paid fifty cents each — across the conti- 
 nent, with the promise that he should reach Indepen- 
 dence, then the border of civilization in the Mississippi 
 basin, within sixty days. It was arranged that an- 
 other joaper, with other information for immigrants 
 should be printed on the first of June, and should be 
 sent to Missouri in the same way, but it never ap- 
 peared. Before the time for its publication arrived, 
 gold mining, which had been mentioned incidentally 
 in the extra edition of April 1, as a rumor that com- 
 manded no credit and had no importance, had taken 
 such dimensions that nobody thought about any effort 
 to attract emigrants. The diggings had provided an 
 advertisement that overshadowed everything else. 
 
 Sec. 54. Peace. The war had ended practically 
 on the fourteenth September, 1847, when the Amer- 
 ican army under General Scott occupied the Mexican 
 capital. From that time both parties were anxious 
 to make peace; but the Mexican chieftains for a long 
 
 time could not come to an agreement anionic them- 
 es © 
 
 selves. At last, on the second of February, 1848, a 
 treaty was made, and though there were some defects 
 in the authority of the negotiations on each side, yet 
 the terms agreed upon were considered satisfactory, 
 and both nations ratified them rather than expose them- 
 selves to the danger of delay. The rati ii cations were 
 exchanged on the thirtieth of May at Queretaro, where 
 
122 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 the document had been signed. The news of the 
 treaty reached San Francisco on the eighth of Au- 
 gust, and on the eleventh the people celebrated the 
 establishment of peace and the recognition of the 
 American title to California. This recognition was of 
 much influence in pacifying the native Californians. 
 There was no fear that Mexico could in any event 
 retake the country about San Francisco bay, but there 
 might have been serious trouble on the southern coast, 
 where murders, on account of antipathies of race were 
 not rare as late as 1858. Besides the other reasons 
 for rejoicing, there was the fulfillment of the promise, 
 made by Commodore Sloat in his proclamation issued 
 when he hoisted the American flag, that it would 
 bring prosperity to the country. Only twenty-five 
 months had elapsed, and already wonders had been 
 accomplished. 
 
 In the eleven years following secularization, the white 
 population had increased from five thousand to thir- 
 teen thousand, according to estimates, for no general 
 census had been taken in the meantime, but the Indi- 
 ans had decreased or disappeared rapidly. The towns 
 of San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Fran- 
 cisco and Sonoma had risen on the sites of the old 
 Missions. A wagon road had been opened from Mis- 
 souri, and rude trails from New Mexico and Oregon, 
 and settlers had come in by sea as well as land. 
 Americans, looking upon California as theirs by man- 
 ifest destiny, were the most numerous and influential. 
 They married into leading families of Los Angeles, 
 
THE VILLAGE ERA. 123 
 
 Santa Barbara, Monterey and Sonoma, obtained con- 
 trol of the valleys north of Carquinez strait, intro- 
 duced saw-mills, grist-mills, light wagons, improved 
 agricultural and mechanical tools, habits of reading 
 and industry, an appreciation of the value of the 
 country and a confidence that it would not be neg- 
 lected much longer. The American authority had 
 been established two years before the gold excitement 
 attracted general attention, and in that brief period, 
 though it was a time of hostility and confusion, Cali- 
 fornia had made considerable progress, indicating that 
 she would have prospered, even without the help of 
 any mines. 
 
124 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE GOLDEN ERA. 
 
 Section 55. Gold. James W. Marshal, an Amer- 
 ican employed by Sutter in building a saw-mill to be 
 driven by water, at Coloma, forty-five miles north- 
 eastward from Sacramento, on the nineteenth of Jan- 
 uary, 1848, found gold in the race or ditch, and hav- 
 ing heard of the gold mines in the Los Angeles 
 region, and being a man of excitable character and 
 active imagination, supposed he had made a great dis- 
 covery. He immediately began to talk of it to the 
 people round him, but they, like, himself, did not 
 know how to test gold or to separate it from clay and 
 gravel, and they ridiculed him for attaching so much 
 importance to his brass, as they called it. Neverthe- 
 less, whenever the water was stopped so that the ditch 
 was empty, they looked for pieces of metal which had 
 been exposed by the current, so that in a month, with- 
 out neglecting their work at the mill, they had got 
 several ounces together, most of it in very small 
 pieces, the largest as heavy as a ten-dollar coin. As 
 boiling in lye and touching with vinegar did not make 
 the stuff turn green, the workmen began to think 
 Marshal might be right; and in the latter part of Feb- 
 ruary one of their number, a Mr. Bennett, partly for 
 the purpose of ascertaining the value of Marshal's 
 gold, went to San Francisco. Soon after landing he 
 was introduced to Isaac Humphrey, who had been a 
 
 
THE GO L DEN ERA. 125 
 
 gold miner in Georgia. On examining the specimens, 
 of which Bennett had half tan ounce, he immediately 
 declared that it was gold, that the pieces were larger 
 than those found in Georgia, and that the mines must 
 be rich. 
 
 He tried to induce some of his friends to go with 
 him, but they had no money to spend in such " foolish- 
 ness," as they called it, and he and Bennett had to go 
 alone. On the seventh of March he arrived at the 
 mill ; and the next day, with a pan, prospected enough 
 to satisfy himself that the diggings would pay well. 
 He then made a rocker, went into the business of 
 washing gold, and was successful from the first. The 
 other men observed how he worked and imitated his 
 example. On the twenty-fifth of March the " Star " 
 stated that gold dust had become an article of traffic 
 at New Helvetia, and a few days later a party includ- 
 ing E. C. Kemble, editor of that journal, left San 
 Francisco to visit the diggings. At New Helvetia 
 they were joined by Captain Sutter, who was vexed 
 because his men, hired to run his mill, were neglect- 
 ing their work of getting out lumber; the mill labor- 
 ers, perhaps ashamed of the violation of their contract, 
 pretended while the visitors were there to be engaged 
 in lumbering, and Humphrey was probably away in 
 some distant ravine. Whatever was the cause, Kem- 
 ble could tind neither gold nor mines, and immediately 
 after his return he declared the mines " a sham." He 
 had scarcely printed his opinion before half a pound of 
 the dust was offered to the merchants in town, and 
 
126 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 after inquiring of a jeweler and a man who had seen gold 
 dust at Los Angeles, they took it at eight dollars an 
 ounce, charging a high price for their provisions. 
 Everybody went to look at the stuff in the store, and 
 before the end of April, so many had gone to Coloma, 
 that the population was perceptibly reduced. Every 
 schooner from New Helvetia brought more dust, some 
 of which sold for four dollars per ounce in coin. More 
 orders for provisions, and more favorable news caused 
 more people to go to the mines. On the twenty-ninth 
 of May, the " Californian " announced its own suspen- 
 sion, because of the general abandonment of the town, 
 and added that the whole country was resounding with 
 " the sordid cry of gold, gold, gold!" Two weeks later 
 the " Star " also suspended, compositors, editors and 
 devils, all going to the diggings. The San Francis- 
 cans were already greedy for news; and if there had 
 not been a complete stoppage of ordinary business, the 
 newspapers would have continued to appear. Three 
 fourths of the men had left, and town lots were offered 
 at one half, or one third of the price at which they had 
 been held a month before, the owners beinsf willing to 
 sacrifice all their property to reach the mines with a 
 good supply of tools and provisions. 
 
 Sec. 56. Trade Stimulated. But this condition of 
 affairs did not last long; many of those who went to 
 the placers saw that there was gold enough to attract 
 a large migration, which must pay a great tribute to 
 San Francisco. Those miners at the diggings, though 
 comparatively few, already demanded many articles 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 127 
 
 which must be obtained from Oregon, the Atlantic 
 states and Hawaiian Islands. Gold was abundant, and 
 there was no disposition to spare it. If certain com- 
 forts and luxuries of life could not be bought for the 
 ordinary price, they must still be procured, for the 
 miners would pay ten prices rather than do without 
 them. It was under considerations of this kind that 
 some of those who had left the little town at the bay, 
 soon returned and prepared themselves to profit by 
 its business and growth. 
 
 In June and July about two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand dollars of gold dust were received at San Francisco; 
 in the next two months, six hundred thousand dollars; 
 and the sums continued to increase. The exports of 
 1847 had been worth one hundred and sixty thousand 
 dollars; and after September, 1848, the monthly re- 
 ceipts from the mines were at least twice as much. 
 It was estimated that six thousand persons, includ- 
 ing tame Indians in the service of white masters, 
 were at work in the mines before the close of the 
 year. In September, a Honolulu paper announced 
 the arrival of a vessel therefrom San Francisco, with 
 "a cargo of gold dust and lumber." The gold export 
 of 1848, as shown by the custom-house statistics, 
 amounted to two million dollars, and the duties on 
 imports to one hundred and ninety-five thousand dol- 
 lars. 
 
 In May, the people in the mines were nearly all 
 from the valleys that send their waters to the ocean 
 through the Golden Gate; in June, many adventurers 
 
128 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 from Monterey and Santa Cruz had arrived; in July, 
 from Los Angeles; and in September and October, 
 from the Hawaiian Islands and Oregon. The farms 
 and gardens having been neglected, California could 
 not supply the demand of the miners for provisions; 
 and vessels, mostly schooners, were sent off to buy 
 flour, salted meat, dried fruit, sugar, coffee, rice, fresh 
 vegetables, distilled liquors, bedding, tent cloth and 
 ready-made clothes, at any price. The miners had not 
 only ceased to produce anything save gold, but their 
 capacity for consumption had suddenly trebled. Men 
 who had before lived upon five dollars a month now 
 spent three hundred. Many who had been idlers, 
 when they could make little by labor, were now 
 among the most industrious; others, who had be- 
 fore never wasted a day, became loungers, because 
 they could live with comparative comfort by gam- 
 bling, or with an occasional day of work. The gen- 
 eral results were a vast increase of wealth, an unex- 
 ampled industrial production, a constant excitement 
 that has contributed to form the intellectual character 
 of the Californians, and a vast commercial activity 
 which enriched San Francisco, the port through which 
 most of the supplies for the mines came, and through 
 which nearly all the immigrants by sea arrived. Much 
 of the coin at San Francisco had been carried off to 
 the mines, and gold dust had become current in its 
 place at twelve dollars an ounce, though in New York 
 it was worth about eighteen dollars. On the thirty- 
 first of July Governor Mason issued an order that the 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 129 
 
 duties at the custom-house might be paid in dust, and 
 on the ninth of September a public meeting of busi- 
 ness men agreed that gold dust should be accepted at 
 sixteen dollars per ounce. 
 
 Sec. 57. The Excitement in the East. From the 
 Hawaiian Islands the news of the gold discovery was 
 carried to ail the ports of the Pacific; and in October 
 the adventurers from Oregon, Mexico, Chile, Peru, 
 and the various Pacific -islands began to come in 
 throngs. Lieutenant E. P. Beale, of the navy, who left 
 Monterey on the first of July with official despatches, 
 crossed Mexico, and must have reached Washington 
 in August; but the earliest serious mention of the 
 gold discovery in the press of the Atlantic slope seems 
 to have been that made in the Baltimore " Sun" of 
 September 20. From that time forward nearly every 
 week brought its additions to the reports from the 
 diggings, though for months they were regarded with 
 general incredulity and ridicule. They came through 
 many different channels, all agreeing in the main fact 
 that there was an immense demand for provisions, tools, 
 and various other articles of merchandise, as well as 
 for labor. Letters were received in every State from 
 men in the mines advising their relatives and friends 
 to sell out at much sacrifice and start without delay. 
 At Portland, Mazatlan, San Bias, Guaymas, Panama, 
 Callao, Valparaiso, and Honolulu, there was an ex- 
 citement the like of which had never been seen, and 
 soon there was a similar excitement throughout the 
 United States. The main topic of conversation was 
 
 9 
 
130 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 California. It filled the papers; it was the subject of 
 the most popular songs; it suggested the plot and 
 dialogue of some of the most successful theatrical 
 pieces; it destroyed the popular interest in the re- 
 ligious revivals which were then worked up every 
 winter in several Atlantic cities; it added immensely 
 to the business and profits of fortune-tellers; it was a 
 common text for sermons deprecating the evil influ- 
 ence of a thirst for gold by clergymen who saw many 
 of their congregation preparing to depart; it was the 
 absorbing topic of conversation in every family; and 
 it was a remarkable experience for those who stayed 
 as home as well for those who went. The country 
 was in a condition of high prosperity, that prepared 
 a considerable proportion of the people to take a part 
 in the excitement* Money was abundant; the Mex- 
 ican war, besides being a grand military success, had 
 attracted a lars^e number of immigrants; and had 
 stimulated business and enterprise. Thousands of 
 young men, after sharing the triumphant campaigns 
 of Scott and Taylor, had not settled down yet to dull 
 labor, and were looking round for some new field of 
 inspiriting activity. To them the news from Cali- 
 fornia was a special delight; and as every week brought 
 additional confirmation of the wonderful reports, their 
 enthusiasm rose and extended to the whole popula- 
 tion, so that from Maine to Texas there was one uni- 
 versal frenzy. It occupied the thoughts of all; it 
 disturbed business; it prevented marriages; it broke 
 up families; it was the hope of those who could go,, 
 and the despair of those who could not. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 131 
 
 The noise of preparation filled the country. Most 
 of those taken with the gold fever in the Mississippi 
 basin prepared to start on the journey by land so soon 
 as the spring should open; those along the Atlantic 
 coast went by Cape Horn. The most active and en- 
 ergetic young men of every state were among the 
 adventurers. The New York " Tribune/' near the 
 close of January, said: 
 
 A resident of New York, coming back after a three month's 
 absence, would wonder at the word ' California/ seen every- 
 where in glaring letters, and at the columns of vessels adver- 
 tised in the papers about to sail for San Francisco. He would 
 be puzzled at seeing a new class of men in the streets, in a pe- 
 culiar costume — broad felt hats of a reddish brown hue, loose, 
 rough coats reaching to the knee, and high boots. Californians 
 throng the streets; several of the hotels are almost filled with 
 them; and though large numbers leave every day, there is no 
 apparent diminution of their numbers. Even those who have 
 watched the gradual progress of the excitement are astonished 
 at its extent and intensity. The ordinary course of business 
 seems for the time to be changed; bakers keep their ovens hot 
 day and night, turning out immense quantities of ship bread, 
 without supplying the demand; the provision stores of all kinds 
 are besieged by orders; manufacturers of rubber goods, rifles, 
 pistols, bowie knives, etc., can scarcely supply the demand. 
 
 In his "Seeking the Golden Fleece," Dr. Stillman 
 
 says: 
 
 At the close of the month of January, ninety vessels had sailed 
 from the various ports, carrying nearly eight thousand men, and 
 seventy more ships were up for passage. Never since the cru- 
 sades was such a movement known; not a family but had one or 
 more representatives gone or preparing to go. Every man was 
 a walking arsenal, prepared for every emergency but that of not 
 coming back loaded with gold. Companies fur mining and trad- 
 
132 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ing were formed in every considerable town, and those who 
 could not go subscribed to the stock and sent a representative. 
 Editors, who in the columns of their papers had discouraged the 
 movement and exhorted the young men to be satisfied with the 
 slow gains of home industry and stand by their households, sold 
 out, and by virtue of their character as representatives of the 
 press, obtained extraordinary facilities for transportation, and 
 anticipated the quickest of us at the gold mines by at least a 
 month. Ministers of the gospel raised their voices against the 
 dangers of riches, and, like Cassandra, prophesied unutterable 
 woes upon the country, and started in the first ship as mission- 
 aries to San Francisco. Physicians, impatient at the slow ac- 
 tion of alterants, sold their horses, and leaving their uncollected 
 accounts with their families, procured a good supply of musket 
 balls and Dupont's best rifle powder, and shoved off for the 
 land of gold, to the tune of " Oh, Susanna." 
 
 The song here referred to " The California Emi- 
 grant," gave the California fever to thousands, who 
 without its stimulus would have remained in their 
 native towns. Written by Jonathan Nichols, who left 
 Salem, Massachusetts, in the ship ei Eliza," on the 
 twenty-first of December, 1848, for the land of gold, 
 it was sung everywhere and by everybody, and at 
 concerts, and in the theatres, even when poorly 
 rendered, was received with more fervor by the multi- 
 tude than was shown to the well executed airs from 
 the most brilliant operas. This song bears to Cali- 
 fornia a relation similar to that borne to the United 
 States by the music of Yankee Doodle. 
 
 Sec. 58. 1849. The year of 1849 was marked by 
 the arrival of, at least, three times as many immi- 
 grants as the entire previous population of the terri- 
 tory, and on account of the very large proportion of 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 133 
 
 young, intelligent, active men, skilled in the industrial 
 arts, the productive power was increased, at least, five 
 fold; by the increase of San Francisco from a popula- 
 tion of about two thousand to six or eight times as 
 many ; by the establishment of a line of mail steamers 
 to New York, running each way every month, and 
 by a line of river steamers between San Francisco and 
 Sacramento, running each way every day; by the 
 popular movement or mob to punish the ruffians 
 known as "the hounds;" by the adoption of a state 
 constitution; by the rapid spread of gold washing 
 between Mariposa and Trinity river over extensive 
 districts where no placers had been discovered or 
 worked in the previous year; by the collection in San 
 Francisco harbor of four hundred ships which had been 
 deserted by their sailors; by the sale of a large num- 
 ber of city lots ; by the construction of a good wharf; 
 and by a serious conflagration. 
 
 Sec. 59. First Great Fire. The first of the great 
 fires of San Francisco came on the twenty-fourth of 
 December, and burned down all of the buildings on 
 Kearny street, between Washington and Clay, and at 
 that time those were the most valuable in the city, 
 including the Parker House, a two-story frame, which 
 served as a hotel and gambling-house. The entire loss 
 was one million dollars. 
 
 The high expense of landing merchandise in light- 
 ers, when laborers charged from eii^ht to sixteen dol- 
 lars a day, at a place where the greater part of the 
 water-front was a wide mud flat, except at high tide, 
 
134 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and where the rocks of Clark's Point could not accom- 
 modate one tenth of the business, induced Alcalde 
 Leavenworth in May to give the block bounded by 
 Clay, Sacramento, Battery and Front streets, to en- 
 courage the building of a wharf projected on the line 
 of Commercial street. Six months later the structure 
 on the line of that street, known for years as Long 
 Wharf, extended out eight hundred feet, reaching 
 nearly to the line of Front street, and the water at 
 its end was so deep that the largest ships could lie 
 there at low tide. It became the landing-place for 
 most of the steamers, and for much merchandise. 
 Business houses crowded both sides of the street above 
 the wharf, and for several years it was one of the 
 chief centers of retail traffic. 
 
 Sec. 60. Telegraph Hill. The urgent demand for 
 the earliest possible information about the entrance of 
 vessels into the harbor, a result of the rapid increase 
 of commerce, and the large profits of the merchants, 
 led in September to the erection of a house on Tele- 
 graph Hill, for the purpose of making signals visible 
 throughout the city. A couple of arms, which could 
 be raised or lowered at pleasure on a high pole, indi- 
 cated by their position whether any water-craft was 
 coming in at the Golden Gate, and, if so, what its 
 character; if a steamer, whether a side-wheeler or 
 screw steamer; if a sailing vessel, whether ship, brig 
 or schooner. All the business men and many of the 
 women and children were familiar with the signs, and 
 those not in sight of the station made inquiries at 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 135 
 
 brief intervals what vessels had arrived. When the 
 telegraph signalled a side-wheeler about the time 
 when the Panama steamer was due, the city fluttered 
 with excitement, and thousands of men rushed to see 
 friends, to hear the news, and to look after letters. 
 The moment after the steamer reached the dock, the 
 streets were full of boys crying the New York papers, 
 the sale of which was a source of lar^e revenue to the 
 newsmen. At a theater one evening, a stupid actor 
 rushed upon the stage with his arms stretched out 
 awkwardly, asking, " What means this, my lord;" 
 the actor who was to respond hesitated, in ignorance 
 of his part, but a newsboy in the third tier shouted 
 out: " Side-wheel steamer." The answer was so ap- 
 propriate, that the house instantaneously recognized 
 and applauded it loud and long. 
 
 Sec. 61. Edward Everett. Among the notable 
 pioneer vessels for California was the " Edward 
 Everett," which sailed from Boston on the thirteenth 
 of January, 1849, and arrived at San Francisco on the 
 seventh of July with one hundred and fifty-two pas- 
 sengers, or rather owners, for they bought the ship, 
 each paying for a share and contributing to the fund 
 with which her supplies were furnished. The dis- 
 tinguished gentleman, after whom she was named, was 
 then president of Harvard college, and having heard 
 that many of the company were young men of good 
 education and character, he sent a box with three 
 hundred volumes of standard books for their entertain- 
 ment and instruction during the long voyage before 
 
136 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 them. The passengers made good use of his liberal 
 gift, and many of them proved, by their subsequent 
 lives, that they were worthy of his bounty. The plan 
 of forming clubs to purchase ships to carry the mem- 
 bers to California was adopted in numerous instances. 
 
 Sec. 62. First Steamer. In the forenoon of the 
 twenty-eighth of February, 1849, the news ran through 
 the town that a merchant steamer had entered the 
 Golden Gate, and as the first boat of the Pacific Mail 
 company, from which great benefits were expected, 
 was overdue, the people ran out in joyful excitement, 
 some going to the top of Telegraph Hill, and others 
 to Clark's Point, the landing place. The sun was 
 bright, the sky clear, the atmosphere quiet, the tem- 
 perature warm, the bay still, and the hills green, the 
 beauty of the day contributing to the general happi- 
 ness. At last San Francisco was bound to the Atlan- 
 tic coast by steam. As the vessel, black with its 
 wondering passengers, came round Clark's Point, a 
 couple of American war-ships at anchor in the cove 
 welcomed the new-comers with a display of flags, the 
 playing of national airs by the bands, salutes from the 
 guns, the manning of the yards, and cheer after cheer 
 from the crews — cheers that were repeated upon the 
 shore and answered from the steamer until the echoes 
 came back from the hills. The occasion was one never 
 to be forgotten by those present. 
 
 So soon as the stea/mer could come to anchor, for 
 she could not reach the wharf, the boats went off and 
 there was an anxious interchange of inquiries. The 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 137 
 
 passengers, greedy to know whether the stories of the 
 gold discoveries Averc true, were told that the mines 
 were rich beyond example, yielding several millions 
 every month, a report that could well be believed; for 
 instead of seeing, as they expected, a harbor nearly 
 empty and a dull village, they saw a bay crowded 
 with ships, and a town that looked like the camp of an 
 army. In return for the news from the mines, the 
 town people were told that two othe steamers belong- 
 ing to the Pacific Mail company had started to come 
 round Cape Horn, and that the monthly service with 
 New York by way of Panama had now commenced 
 regularly. This provided facilities for travel and the 
 transmission of neAvs, with the help of which the 
 mines would soon fill up with people. The San Fran- 
 ciscans feared nothing else so much as the difficulties 
 of access to the Atlantic slope, and the lack of mail 
 transportation. The arrival of this steamer was a 
 great epoch in the early history of the city, and the 
 general appreciation of its importance was shown by 
 the gatherings of the people to congratulate one an- 
 other and talk over the news, by the firing of pistols, 
 and by an illumination in the evening. 
 
 Congress had passed an act on the third of March, 
 1847 — before Mexico had ceded her claim to Califor- 
 nia, and even before General Scott had taken Vera 
 Cruz — providing that a semi-monthly mail should be 
 carried from New York to Panama, and authorizing ;l 
 contract for a monthly mail each way between Pan- 
 ama and Oregon. It was not until after the Avar had 
 
138 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 been closed that the contract thus offered could find 
 a responsible bidder, but the Pacific Mail steamship 
 company, having been organized on the twelfth of 
 April, 1848, finally took it, with the promise of two 
 hundred thousand dollars annual subsidy, and the ob- 
 ligation of maintaining three steamers on the route 
 between Panama and Astoria, by way of San Fran- 
 cisco. The three steamers, the "California," " Ore- 
 gon " and "Panama/" each measuring about one thou- 
 sand tons, were all built without delay and started 
 promptly, though the last had an accident soon after 
 getting to sea, so that she was compelled to return 
 and refit. All rendered long and good service on the 
 Pacific coast. The " California " brought no passen- 
 gers round the Horn, but when she touched at Panama 
 she found there the passengers of the steamer " Fal- 
 con," which had left New York on the first of Decem- 
 ber. Most of them had engaged passage before much 
 was said about the gold discoveries, and they attached 
 little importance to the story until they arrived at 
 Panama, where they found some of the dust and saw 
 the excitement that had reached all the western coast 
 of the continent. Among the passengers were Gen- 
 eral Persifer Smith, who was to have chief command 
 of the American forces on the Pacific coast; Major 
 Canby, Eugene Sullivan, Alexander Austin, E. T. 
 Batturs, Alfred Robinson, Malachi Fallon, Pacificus 
 Ord, R. M. Price, Wrn. Van Voorhees, H. F. Will- 
 iams, Dr. A. B. Stout, Rev. 0. C. Wheeler, Rev. S. 
 H. Willey, and others since prominent in the history 
 or business of the state. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 139 
 
 The "California" was immediately deserted by her 
 crew, so she had to lie in the harbor for several weeks 
 before entering upon her regular mail service. The 
 " Oregon " arrived on the thirty-first of March, with 
 John W. Geary, first postmaster at San Francisco. 
 He brought the first mail sent by the post-office de- 
 partment to the Pacific coast, and he had authority to 
 establish the post-offices and to make contracts for 
 carrying the mails. 
 
 Sec. 63. Immigration by Sea. The average dura- 
 tion of the voyages made under sail from the Ameri- 
 can Atlantic ports was about five months, many of the 
 ships sent out being old tubs which had been built 
 with more regard for solidity than speed, and not a 
 few of them so old that they would never have made 
 another voyage but for the extraordinary demand of 
 the gold excitement. In April two vessels arrived 
 from the Atlantic, having started in November ; in 
 May only one came ; in June, eleven ; in July, forty ; 
 in August, forty-three ; in September, sixty-six ; in 
 October, twenty-eight ; in November, twenty-three ; 
 and in December, nineteen, a total of two hundred and 
 thirty-three in nine months. In addition to these, 
 three hundred and sixteen vessels arrived in that peri- 
 od from other ports, making a total of five hundred 
 and forty-nine arrivals, and an average of two vessels 
 a day. The passengers of the year arriving by sea 
 numbered thirty-five thousand, including twenty-three 
 thousand Americans. Besides these passengers, three 
 thousand sailors deserted their ships, and in the be- 
 
140 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ginning of August two hundred square-rigged vessels 
 were lying in the bay unable to get sailors. The 
 number of immigrants who arrived overland in the 
 course of the year was estimated to be forty-two thou- 
 sand, including thirty-three thousand Americans. The 
 large proportion of Americans secured their predom- 
 inance in the mines where previously the aliens, mostly 
 Spanish- Americans, had a majority. At the close of 
 the year it was estimated that the population of Cali- 
 fornia numbered one hundred thousand souls. 
 
 Sec. 64. Call for Convention. As population and 
 business increased, the want of a better government 
 was felt in many ways. It was already clear in the 
 fall of 1848, that California would soon have enough 
 inhabitants for a state, but it was understood that there 
 would be difficulty in securing its admission. The 
 members of congress from the south were dissatisfied 
 upon finding that California would demand admission 
 as a free state, thus destroying what they called "the 
 balance of power," — the thirty states then composing 
 the union being equally divided between free and slave. 
 It was with the anticipation that the next year would 
 surely bring a large immigration, and that congress 
 might be unable to provide for a government, that on 
 the twenty-ninth of December a public meeting in San 
 Francisco requested the election in January of dele- 
 gates to a constitutional convention which should meet 
 in March ; but many of the districts held no election, 
 and the time for holding the convention was post- 
 poned. When in the spring of 1849, there was no 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 141 
 
 longer any doubt throughout the union that California 
 must soon be a state, and that the ill feeling between 
 slavery extensionists and their opponents would prob- 
 ably be embittered by delay, the cabinet sent word to 
 General Riley, military governor, that California 
 should not wait for preliminary action by congress, 
 but should adopt a constitution and thus save the ad- 
 ministration from much bother. In accordance with 
 the suggestion of his superiors, sent to him unofficially, 
 Governor Riley, on the third of June, issued a proc- 
 lamation calling a constitutional convention, to consist 
 of thirty-seven members, five of them from San Fran- 
 cisco, to meet at Monterey on the first of September. 
 This document made no mention of the previous pop- 
 ular movement for a convention, and did not recognize 
 those gentlemen who had been chosen delegates. 
 There were some angry protests, but they amounted to 
 nothing. 
 
 Sec. 65. Ayuntamiento. The governor had also 
 given much offense by his action in reference to the 
 city affairs. The people were dissatisfied with the 
 administration of Alcalde Leavenworth, who did not 
 efficiently preserve order or administer criminal jus- 
 tice. They felt the want of a deliberative body, and af- 
 ter a preliminary meeting, on the twenty-seventh De- 
 cember, they held an election for a town council, but 
 the old council or ayuntamiento appointed by the alcalde 
 declaring the election void, on the ground that the 
 votes of aliens had been received, refused to surrender 
 the books; and ordered an election for the fifteenth of 
 
142 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 January. The number of voters at this second elec- 
 tion having been so small that the council thus chosen 
 did not command general confidence, a public meeting 
 passed resolutions requesting both councils to resign, 
 and ordering an election on the twenty-first February 
 of a legislative assembly which should take chief man- 
 agement of the government of the city. This election 
 was held and the two councils disbanded; but Leaven- 
 worth, the alcalde, would not surrender his office, which 
 controlled the sale of town-lots, then the chief source of 
 revenue, thus depriving the Assembly of much of the 
 importance which they expected to enjoy. They took 
 measures with little delay to eject him by legal pro- 
 cess from his position, but before they could accom- 
 plish that purpose, Governor Riley issued another 
 proclamation declaring the legislative assembly an 
 illegal body, forbidding the payment of any money to 
 them or their subordinates on municipal account, 
 recognizing Leavenworth as still in authority, and or- 
 dering an election to be held on the first August — 
 the dav for choosing delegates to the constitutional 
 convention — for a prefect, first alcalde, second alcalde, 
 and an ayuntamiento. The legislative assembly de- 
 nounced the governor, and desired the people to ex- 
 press their wishes through the ballot-box on the ninth 
 July. Only one hundred and sixty-nine votes were 
 then given in favor of the legislative assembly, and 
 though but seven were cast on the other side, the 
 decision was regarded as favorable to the Governor's 
 course, and further opposition was abandoned. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 143 
 
 Sec. G6. City Government. On the first of 
 August, fifteen hundred and sixteen votes were 
 polled; Edward Gilbert, Myron Norton, W. M. 
 Gwin, J. Hobson, W. M. Stewart, F. J. Lippitt, 
 A. J. Ellis, R M. Price, W. D. M. Howard 
 and Francisco Sanchez, were elected delegates to 
 the constitutional convention, the last five as alter- 
 nates, and the last two did not serve. J. "W. Geary 
 was unanimously elected first alcalde, an official 
 similar in authority to that of mayor. At the first 
 meeting of the new ayuntamiento, Mr. Geary sub- 
 mitted a message reviewing the general condition of 
 municipal affairs, informing them that there was no 
 office room for the transaction of government busi- 
 ness, no police, no provision for the care of the indi- 
 gent sick, and no fund for the burial of the pauper 
 dead. He advised them that, in the absence of any 
 state legislative authority, they were supreme in the 
 district; and if they confined themselves within the 
 legitimate sphere of their duty, their acts would be 
 approved by the governor and confirmed by the leg- 
 islature when it should be organized. He recom- 
 mended the licensing of gambling — a piece of advice 
 which was soon adopted and adhered to for nearly 
 five years. The new administration went to work 
 vigorously, especially in the matter of levying license 
 taxes on business, and soon supplied all those things, 
 about the lack of which Mr. Geary had complained. 
 The first public building purchased for the purposes 
 of the city government was the hulk of the brig 
 
144 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 " Euphemia," anchored in the bay at the crossing of 
 Jackson and Battery streets, for use as a prison. 
 
 Sec. 67. Constitution. The constitutional con- 
 vention, composed of forty-seven members, of whom 
 eio*ht were from San Francisco, three of the alter- 
 nates having been admitted as full members, met at 
 Monterey on the first of September, and after com- 
 pleting its work, adjourned on the thirteenth of 
 October. Nearly all the sections were quoted, word 
 for word, from the constitutions of other states. 
 There were few questions that excited much inter- 
 est. The convention was almost unanimous in accept- 
 ing the ideas that slavery should be forbidden; that 
 the people had the right to settle the slavery ques- 
 tion; that the people had the right to form a consti- 
 tution without the intermediation of congress, or of a 
 territorial government; and that the coast, from Ore- 
 gon to Mexico, should be one state. These proposi- 
 tions were all the subjects of much debate afterwards 
 in congress; but in the convention little was said 
 against them. The question which excited more feel- 
 ing than any other was the mode of raising the reve- 
 nue. The people along the southern coast were afraid 
 that all the taxes would be put on the land and cattle, 
 and none on property in the mining districts; and 
 they succeeded in carrying the clause that "all prop- 
 erty shall be taxed according to its value," intending 
 to deprive the legislature of the power of exempting 
 any large class of property to the injury of any portion 
 of the state. There was also much dispute about 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 145 
 
 the eastern boundary, many of the members desiring 
 to include Salt Lake. 
 
 The new constitution was submitted to the people 
 on the thirteenth of November, and accepted by a 
 large majority, with only five negative against two 
 thousand and fifty-one affirmative votes in San Fran- 
 cisco. These negatives were doubtless cast by advo- 
 cates of slavery, against which the general sentiment 
 was emphatic, and had been expressed at several 
 public meetings held in the city in the previous 
 summer. The first legislature was to consist of six- 
 teen senators, including two from San Francisco, and 
 thirty-seven assemblymen, including five from the 
 city. The capital was transferred from Monterey to 
 San Jose. As there was no time to be lost, and there 
 was no prospect of having any proper government till 
 the state authorities should assume power, the people, 
 when voting on the constitution, also elected a full 
 ticket of state officials and two congressmen, though the 
 population was not large enough for more than one." 
 Peter H. Burnett was chosen governor, and Edward 
 Gilbert and George W. Wright, congressmen. The 
 constitution provided that in case of its adoption the 
 administration chosen at the same time should enter 
 upon its duties without waiting for the action of con- 
 gress. This course superseded Governor Riley, who, 
 in accordance with the spirit of his instructions, or 
 confidential advices from Washington, on the twentieth 
 of December issued an order relinquishing the admin- 
 istration of civil affairs in California to the state 
 10 
 
146 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 administration, which had been installed five days 
 before. 
 
 Sec. 68. Summer of 1849. In the summer of 
 1849 San Francisco was a remarkable town. It cov- 
 ered an area of about half a mile square, the bounda- 
 ries being California, Powell and Vallejo streets, and 
 the water liue, which for nearly a quarter of a mile 
 south of Jackson street was near Montgomery street. 
 Many of the people lived in tents, and most of the 
 remainder in shanties or mere shells of houses. The 
 tents and shanties were in some places built along the 
 sides of trails or roads over the hills, without regard 
 to the lines of the streets. The hill from Vallejo to 
 California street, above Stockton, had much chapar- 
 ral. There was no grading, planking, or paving in 
 any of the streets; nor was there any wharf extend- 
 ing out to deep water. There were two small wharves, 
 one about seventy feet long between Sacramento and 
 California, its outer end being west of Sansome street 
 and having five feet of water at low tide; the other, 
 perhaps thirty feet long, on Commercial street, with 
 not more than two feet of water at low tide at its 
 outer end. This smaller wharf was used mainly for 
 row-boats. The chief landing-place, besides the 
 wharves, was at Clark's Point, near the intersection of 
 Broadway and Battery streets, where the deep water 
 came close up to the rocky shore. The beach along 
 the front of the town was a sticky mud ; south of Pine 
 street it was sandy. 
 
 Among the notable buildings were the custom- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 147 
 
 house (an adobe building of one story on the south- 
 western corner of Brenham Place and Washington 
 street), the city hotel (an adobe of one story and a 
 half on the south-western corner of Clay and Kearny), 
 Mr. Mowry's dwelling (one story adobe on the north- 
 eastern corner of Broadway and Powell), the adobe res- 
 idence of Senora Briones(on the north-eastern corner of 
 Powell and Filbert), a brick dwelling on the north- 
 western corner of Washington and Powell, (originally 
 of two stories, but now of four, two others having been 
 added beneath, because the streets in front of it have 
 been cut down about sixteenfeet), and the Parker House 
 (which was built at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, 
 and rented at fifteen thousand dollars per month for a 
 gambling-house), a two-story frame building on the site 
 of the old city hall, fronting on Portsmouth Square. 
 The south-eastern corner of Kearny and Washington 
 streets w^as occupied by a large tent called the El 
 Dorado, and that, too, was used for gambling. The 
 Parker House was burned in December, 1849, and 
 having been rebuilt, was converted into the Jenny 
 Lind theatre, Thomas Ma^uire bein^ the manager. 
 It was burned again in May, 1850, and in June, 1851; 
 and after the last fire the theater was rebuilt of brick 
 with a stone front, which still stands as a part of the 
 old city hall. 
 
 The population was not counted in 1849, but it in- 
 creased rapidly. The number of inhabitants was esti- 
 mated to be two thousand in February, three thousand 
 in March, and fi\e thousand in July. In November, at 
 
148 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 the election on the adoption of the constitution, and 
 the choice of a full state ticket, an occasion that ex- 
 cited much interest, only two thousand and fifty-six 
 votes were cast; and as no previous residence was re- 
 quired for voting, it is probable that more than one 
 half the people of the city at that time were author- 
 ized to vote. After making all allowances for lack of 
 interest among new comers, and the unwillingness to 
 neglect profitable occupations for the sake of going to 
 the polls, the entire population probably did not ex- 
 ceed eight thousand. 
 
 Sec. 69. Hounds, Before the installation of Geary 
 as first alcalde, there was no systematic administration 
 of justice, and criminals not content with exemption 
 from public prosecution, organized themselves into an 
 association called "the hounds," held parades and made 
 attacks in open day upon Spanish- Americans, who 
 were assailed under the pretext that they were for- 
 eigners and were taking away the gold of the Ameri- 
 cans without any right. One excuse for this hostility 
 was an unauthorized proclamation published by Gen- 
 eral Persifer Smith, at Panama, in January, where he 
 had been told that the aliens, especially the Spanish- 
 Americans, were becoming so numerous in California 
 that neither gold nor room would be left for Ameri- 
 cans. Notwithstanding the animosity of "the hounds" 
 towards foreigners, many of them were new-comers 
 from Australia, and English sailors who had never 
 been in the Atlantic states. These fellows were more 
 zealous for the rights of Americans than the Ameri- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 149 
 
 cans themselves. At night they were ready to rob 
 without regard to nationality, and at last they became 
 so outrageous and the inefficiency of Alcalde Leaven- 
 worth so manifest, that on the sixteenth of July a pub- 
 lic meeting of citizens demanded the arrest and pun- 
 ishment of the leaders. A popular court was organ- 
 ized, attorneys for the accused were appointed, and 
 after a fair trial two of the hound leaders were sen- 
 tenced to ten years imprisonment and others to shorter 
 terms; some were required to give bonds for keeping 
 the peace, and all were frightened so that their or- 
 ganization was abandoned and most of them fled, some 
 of them going off by sea. Those sentenced to impris- 
 onment were soon released, as the judgment was not 
 authorized by law or signed by any official, but they 
 understood that San Francisco was not a safe place for 
 them and they avoided it. 
 
 Sec. 70. Auctions. There was a wonderful dispro- 
 portion between the vast amount of merchandise daily 
 arriving and the scanty room in the store-houses of the 
 town; for this reason, and partly also because the mer- 
 chants of San Francisco were unknown by reputation 
 or even by name to many of those who shipped goods 
 to California, it became a common custom to sell car- 
 goes by auction, the master, supercargo, or consignee 
 selecting the auctioneer soon after his arrival. A man 
 occupying a shanty with a sign " auction " over the 
 front door, would sell property worth millions in a 
 year. As capital, credit and fire-proof store-room in- 
 creased, the auction sales lost much of their relative 
 
150 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 prominence, but they still hold an important place in 
 the business of San Francisco. 
 
 Sec. 71. More Lot Sales. While adventurers con- 
 tinued to crowd in at the rate of several thousand 
 every month, while the city grew and its trade in- 
 creased with marvelous rapidity, while the harbor 
 was filled with large vessels deserted by sailors, and 
 while the gold dust, notwithstanding the large expor- 
 tation, was accumulating by millions, the people were 
 not indifferent on the subject of town lots. Nearly 
 all the lots surveyed by O'Farrell had been sold before 
 midsummer of 1849; and on the third of October the 
 ayuntamiento ordered city surveyor Eddy to extend 
 the survey north of Post street to Larkin street, and 
 south of Post to Leavenworth and Eighth streets. 
 The lots thus added to the city map, were soon offered 
 for sale at auction, and some remaining unsold, the 
 alcalde was authorized to sell them at private sale, 
 the price for the hundred- vara lot being five hundred 
 dollars, and for the fifty-vara lot two hundred dollars. 
 These lots are now worth on the average several hun- 
 dred times as much as they were in 1849, and some 
 of them a thousand times as much. But the purchase 
 did not look very promising then. Several of the 
 buyers boasted of their prudence in examining the 
 land in advance, so that they could get lots which had 
 enough scrub oak for firewood to return the greater 
 part of the price, and thus they could not lose much. 
 
 Sec. 72. Inland Steamboats. The arrival of the 
 ocean steamer "McKira," on the third of October, 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA 151 
 
 was an important addition to the small steam fleet of 
 the North Pacific. She was the first steamboat to 
 run regularly between San Francisco and Sacramento, 
 beginning her trips three weeks after she entered the 
 Golden Gate. Previously most of the passengers and 
 all the freight went by sailing vessels, which rarely 
 made the distance in less than four days, and some- 
 times required two weeks, especially in seasons of high 
 water or contrary winds. Occasionally passengers 
 would go to Benicia in a sailing vessel, and from there 
 take a row-boat, or walk or ride across the country. 
 There were no stages, and teamsters could find the 
 most profitable employment in hauling from Sacra- 
 mento to the mines. The " McKim" was a slow boat, 
 but she could make the distance of one hundred and 
 twenty miles in fourteen hours, going up one day and 
 coming down the next. This was a matter of vast 
 convenience and economy, even when she charged 
 thirty dollars fare for the trip. She had been running 
 only a few weeks when the " Senator," a faster boat 
 and much better fitted for the business, arrived and 
 began to run to Sacramento, taking alternate days, so 
 that there was a boat each way every day. The two 
 boats were able to carry all the passengers and most 
 of the freight. The "Gold-hunter" arrived early in 1850, 
 and being a superior boat replaced the "McKim." 
 
 Sec. 73. Plank Road. The demand for some 
 communication with the Mission, better than the road 
 over loose sand winding about to avoid some hills and 
 crossing others which could not be avoided, led to the 
 
152 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 passing of an ordinance in November, 1850, granting 
 a franchise for the Mission plank road, as it was 
 called, running by Kearny, Third and Mission streets, 
 from California to Fifteenth street, a distance of three 
 and a quarter miles. The work was commenced 
 within a few weeks after the passage of the ordi- 
 nance, and was finished the next spring. The toll on 
 it was half a dollar for a horse and cart, and a dollar 
 for a four-horse team. Mission street was preferred 
 for the route to Market, because the latter was occu- 
 pied from Second to Fifth street by a high ridge, and 
 Kearny was preferred to Montgomery because the 
 latter would have required a longer and more costly 
 route. The chief expense of the enterprise was the 
 grading, including deep cuts through several sand 
 hills crossing Kearny street. One of these was near 
 Post street, and in that cut, as a place which team- 
 sters could not avoid, the toll-gate was established. 
 One of the features of the road was a bridge about 
 a hundred yards long built across a swamp that ex- 
 tended from near the corner of Mission and Seventh 
 streets in an eastward direction to Mission cove. The 
 road company made a contract for the construction of 
 this bridge upon a pile foundation, but that plan had 
 to be abandoned, because to the astonishment and dis- 
 may of the contractor, the first pile, forty feet long, 
 at the first blow of the pile-driver sank out of sight; 
 indicating that there was no bottom within forty feet 
 to support a bridge. One pile having disappeared, the 
 contractor hoisted another immediately over the first, 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 153 
 
 and in two blows drove the second one down beyond 
 the reach of the hammer. It was supposed that the 
 second pile had driven the first one under it, and if so, 
 there was no foundation within eighty feet. The 
 project of piling was abandoned, and cribs of logs 
 were laid upon the turf so as to get a wider basis than 
 that offered by piles. The bridge thus made always 
 shook when crossed by heavy teams, and gradually 
 settled till it was in the middle about five feet below 
 the original level. 
 
 The cost of the road was ninety-six thousand dol- 
 lars, about thirty thousand dollars per mile, a sum 
 that would now be sufficient to supply a good rail- 
 road. The stock of the company was one hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars, and the dividends amounted 
 to nearly eight per cent, a month on the investment. 
 As the city grew and the number of people at the 
 Mission increased, they began to talk about opening 
 a free road on a parallel street; and to ward off that 
 danger, the plank road company obtained another 
 franchise for a road on Folsom street, which could be 
 graded at a much less expense than Howard or Mar- 
 ket. The Folsom street road ran for nearly half a 
 mile across swamps, between Third and Eighth streets, 
 and the builders had serious difficulty in filling up 
 with sand until a permanent road-bed was made. In 
 1854 a high tide overflowed the road between Fourth 
 and Fifth streets, and floated off the planking. The 
 tolls on the two roads paid about three per cent, a 
 month net on the capital invested from 1853 to 1858, 
 when they became free. 
 
154 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Sec. 74. Winter of 1849. The winter of 1849-50 
 was very wet. The streets were soon worked into a 
 deep mud by the traffic, and in many places it became 
 little better than a swamp. Not unfrequently men 
 were in danger of sinking out of sight in the mire, 
 and it was a common occurrence to see them in up to 
 their waists. Two horses sank so deep in the mud in 
 Montgomery street, between Clay and Sacramento, 
 that they w^ere left there to die; and die they did of 
 starvation, while hundreds of merciful men would 
 have been glad to relieve them, but could not. Be- 
 tween Washington and Jackson streets, three men 
 got into the mud of Montgomery street at night, 
 probably in a state of intoxication, and were suffo- 
 cated. Dirt and brush were thrown into the street at 
 some of the crossings, but no travel or lumber could 
 be hauled to the places most in need of improvement, 
 nor was there any arrangement to pay for such work 
 out of any city fund. Labor and materials of all 
 kinds could not be obtained for less than five or in 
 some cases even twenty times as much as in New 
 York, and all that could be done was to lay a board 
 here and there, or throw a box, barrel or a keg into 
 the mud. The people waded through the winter as 
 well as they could. 
 
 The abundant rain was, however, not an unmixed 
 evil. The merchants soon observed that gold dust 
 was far more abundant than before. The monthly 
 yield of the mines was three times greater after No- 
 vember than it had been in the summer. Thirty thou- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 155 
 
 sand men at least of the new arrivals did not get well 
 at work until the wet weather commenced. The rise 
 of the rivers drove the old miners from the river bars 
 where they had been employed, and they were aston- 
 ished to find that the ravines offered far more exten- 
 sive, and to the majority, more remunerative diggings. 
 The vast increase in the production was soon felt as a 
 stimulus to the trade of San Francisco, which made 
 rapid advances so soon as the streets began to dry in 
 the spring of 1850. The monthly gold yield of 1848 
 averaged perhaps three hundred thousand dollars; that 
 of 1849, one million five hundred thousand dollars; and 
 that of 1850, three millions of dollars. At any rate 
 the supply of dust increased with great rapidity, and 
 also the demand for supplies. 
 
 Sec. 75. 1850, The admission of California leofal- 
 ized the state administration chosen in the previous 
 year, the statutes adopted at the first session of the 
 legislature — including a city charter for San Francisco 
 — and the election of a full set of city officials in May 
 with John W. Geary as first mayor. The exportation 
 of gold, as reported at the custom-house, amounted to 
 twenty-seven millions six hundred thousand dollars, 
 and the number of immigrants by sea was thirty-six 
 thousand, and by land probably twenty thousand more. 
 A federal census taken in June showed a total popula- 
 tion of ninety-two thousand five hundred and ninety- 
 seven in the state, but did not include San Francisco, 
 Santa Clara and Contra Costa, the returns from which 
 were lost. These counties two years later had forty- 
 
156 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 five thousand seven hundred and four inhabitants, and 
 doubtless had thirty thousand in 1850, so that the en- 
 tire population of the state was then not less than one 
 hundred and twenty -two thousand. The taking of the 
 census was an unprofitable business in those days, and 
 was done in a manner that deserved little confidence. 
 The building on Brenham Place, previously occu- 
 pied for the city offices, being no longer adequate for 
 the increased business, the Graham House, a four- 
 story wooden building on the northwest corner of 
 Kearny and Pacific streets, built for a hotel, was bought 
 for a city hall at the price of one hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars. The new government soon got into 
 full operation, though the officials as a class were reck- 
 less and extravagant. The council voted themselves 
 salaries of six thousand dollars each, but as- their work 
 occupied only two evenings of the week, a storm of 
 popular indignation arose, and the ordinance was de- 
 feated by the mayor's veto. Not satisfied with this 
 discreditable check, when the admission of the state 
 was celebrated they voted themselves large gold med- 
 als, commemorative of the occasion, but as their liber- 
 ality to themselves was severely condemned by public 
 opinion, the municipal medals were never exhibited 
 with pride. 
 
 Sec. 76. Second Great Fire. The second great 
 fire occurred on the fourth of May and burned three 
 blocks, of which two were between Clay, Jackson, 
 Kearny and Montgomery, and one bounded by Wash- 
 ington, Kearny, Jackson and Dupont. The first fire 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 157 
 
 in the previous December had injured the gamblers 
 and speculators chiefly; the second fell severely on the 
 merchants, who lost about three million dollars. The 
 third conflagration, six weeks later, on the fourteenth 
 of June, swept away everything between Clay, Cali- 
 fornia, Kearny and the water front, which was then 
 near Sansome. The amount of the loss was about the 
 same as in the preceding fire. The ground burned 
 over was in a few months covered with better build- 
 ings than before; and the growth and business of the 
 city appeared to be rather stimulated than checked by 
 the disaster. A fire-limit ordinance followed, pro- 
 hibiting the erection of buildings covered with cotton 
 cloth, but placing^ no restriction upon the use of wood. 
 The purpose was rather to improve the appearance 
 than to increase the security of the city. Numerous 
 houses arrived in pieces on shipboard from eastern 
 cities and were put up, some of them south of Market 
 street in Happy Valley, which became the chief resi- 
 dence district of the city. The first directory was 
 published in September, and had two thousand five 
 hundred names. 
 
 Sec. 77. Legislative Work. The legislature met 
 in January, and elected W. M. Gwin and J. C. Fre- 
 mont federal senators. These two, like Gilbert and 
 Wright were residents of San Francisco, which thus 
 received four of the highest political honors which could 
 then be conferred by California. No American stat- 
 utory law having ever been adopted, and the law of 
 Mexico having been superseded, the legislature was 
 
158 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 called upon to transact an immense amount of busi- 
 ness, which was wonderfully well done, the circum- 
 stances of the case being considered. Among the bills 
 passed was one to incorporate the city of San Fran- 
 cisco: the charter limits on the west being: a line near 
 the present Buchanan street, and on the south a line 
 near Santa Clara street, both lines being considerably 
 beyond any street surveys made up to that time. The 
 limit on the north and east was the water front, and 
 the south-western corner was near the Mission church. 
 The area thus included was about two thousand seven 
 hundred acres. The charter declared that the city 
 should be the successor of the pueblo of Yerba Buena. 
 The city government was to be intrusted to a common 
 council in two chambers, the aldermen and assistant 
 aldermen, each board containing eio-ht members. The 
 chief executive officer was the mayor. At an election 
 held on the first of May, under the charter, Geary 
 was chosen mayor, and all the other city offices were 
 filled. Thus the city government was at last put into 
 complete operation under American law. Besides the 
 city of San Francisco, the legislature organized the 
 county of the same name, including the entire penin- 
 sula for a distance of thirty miles from the Golden 
 Gate, the southern boundary being San Francisquito 
 creek. The county of San Mateo, afterwards organ- 
 ized, took about fifteen sixteenths of the area of the 
 original county of San Francisco. The county had 
 its legislative, executive and judicial officers, so that 
 there were two local administrations in the city. 
 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 159 
 
 Sec. 78. Admission. The Californian senators and 
 congressmen reached Washington in February, 1850, 
 and, on the thirteenth of that month, President Taylor 
 transmitted the constitution to the United States sen- 
 ate, with a message recommending the admission of 
 the state. The ultra southerners did everything to 
 delay or defeat the bill, which was drawn up by Doug- 
 las, as chairman of the committee on territories. Nu- 
 merous amendments were proposed, and secession was 
 openly threatened if the bill should be adopted. At 
 last it passed the senate on the tenth of August, by a 
 vote of thirty-four ayes against eighteen noes. The 
 latter were all southerners, and among them were 
 Jefferson Davis, Wm. P. King, J. Y. Mason, Pierre 
 Soule, and P. M. T. Hunter. Four days later ten 
 southerners, including Davis, presented a protest, 
 which the senate refused to receive. The following is 
 an extract from it : 
 
 We have dissented from this bill because it gives the sanction 
 of law, and thus imparts validity to the unauthorized action of a 
 portion of the inhabitants of California, by which an odious dis- 
 crimination is made against the property of the fifteen slave- 
 holding states of the union, who are thus deprived of that por- 
 tion of equality which the constitution so manifestly designs, 
 and which constitutes the onry sure and stable foundation on 
 which this union can repose. * * * Against this conclusion 
 [the dedication of all California to freedom] we must now and 
 forever protest, as it is destructive of the safety and liberties of 
 those whose rights have been committed to our care, fatal to 
 the peace and equality of the states which we represent, and 
 must lead, if persisted in, to the dissolution of that confederacy 
 in which the slave-holding states have not sought more than 
 equality, and in which they will not be content to remain with less. 
 
160 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 The threat contained in this protest was far more 
 moderate in language than the resolutions adopted at 
 many public meetings held in various southern states. 
 A mass meeting at Montgomery, Alabama, on the 
 seventeenth of August, declared that the application 
 of California for admission was a stupendous fraud, and 
 that the southern states ought to take measures to 
 vindicate their rights — secession beins^ hinted at in 
 unmistakable terms. The pretext for the opposition 
 was that slavery was excluded from the territory south 
 of latitude thirty- six degrees thirty minutes, but the 
 admission of a state which would give a majority to 
 freedom in the senate was scarcely less offensive to the 
 slave interest, though it was not considered politic to 
 base the opposition on that point. The temper of the 
 north was up, however, and all the attempts to throw 
 the Californian bill into the unfinished business failed. 
 On the seventh of September it came to a vote in the 
 house of representatives, and passed — ayes, one hun- 
 and fifty; noes, fifty-six, the latter all southern men. 
 Two days later the president signed the bill, so the 
 attempt to devote the southern part of California to 
 slavery failed; the state was admitted, and the free 
 states obtained a majority in the United States senate. 
 
 Sec. 79. Rejoicing. The news of the passage of 
 the bill by the Senate was received with much satis- 
 faction in California, and it was confidently asserted 
 and generally believed that there would be no long 
 delay in the lower house. When the time came near 
 for the arrival of the October steamer from Panama, 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 1G1 
 
 the people of San Francisco were waiting to hear 
 that their state had been admitted. On the morning 
 of the eighteenth signal guns were heard, and persons 
 who had been watching on the hills, came rushing 
 down into the town with the report that the mail 
 steamer had entered the Golden Gate with an un- 
 usual display of bunting, indicating that there was 
 some special cause of rejoicing. It was understood 
 at once to mean admission, and the news flew over 
 the town as fast as men could cany it. The story of 
 the reception and celebration of the news is thus told 
 in "The Annals of San Francisco:" 
 
 October 29th. This day was set apart to celebrate the ad- 
 mission of California into the Union. When, on the eighteenth 
 instant the mail steamer ' ' Oregon " was entering the bay, she 
 fired repeated preconcerted signal guns which warned the citi- 
 zens of the glorious news. Immediately the whole of the 
 inhabitants were afoot, and grew half wild with excitement 
 until they heard definitely that the tidings were as they had 
 expected. Business of almost every description was instantly 
 suspended, the courte adjourned in the midst of their work, 
 and men rushed from every house into the streets and towards 
 the wharves, to hail the harbinger of the welcome news. "When 
 the steamer rounded Clark's Point and came in front of the 
 city, her masts literally covered with flags and signals, a uni- 
 versal shout arose from ten thousand voices on the wharves, in 
 the streets, upon the hills, house-tops, and the world of ship- 
 ping in the bay: again and again were huzzas repeated, adding 
 more and more every moment to the intense excitement and 
 unprecedented enthusiasm. Every public place was soon 
 crowded with eager seekers after the particulars of the news, 
 and the first papers issued an hour after tho appearance of the 
 " Oregon" were sold by the newsboys at from one to five dol- 
 lars each. The enthusiasm increased as the day advanced. 
 11 
 
 i 
 
162 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Flags of every nation were run up on a thousand masts and 
 peaks and staffs, and a couple of large guns placed upon the 
 Plaza were constantly discharged. At night every public thor- 
 oughfare was crowded with the rejoicing populace. Almost 
 every large building, all the public saloons and places of amuse- 
 ment were brilliantly illuminated; music from a hundred bands 
 assisted the excitement; numerous balls and parties were hasti- 
 ly got up; bonfires blazed upon the hills, and rockets were 
 incessantly thrown into the air, until the dawn of the following 
 day. Such an occasion beyond all others demanded a proper 
 celebration at San Francisco; and the citizens, accordingly, one 
 and all united to make the day memorable. On the twenty- 
 ninth instant, a procession of the various public bodies and 
 inhabitants of the city, with appropriate banners, devices, 
 music and the like, marched through the principal streets to 
 the plaza. The Chinese turned out in large numbers on this 
 occasion, and formed a striking feature in the ceremonies of 
 the day. The Hon. Nathaniel Bennett, of the supreme court, 
 delivered a suitable oration to the people on the plaza, and an 
 ode, composed for the occasion by Mrs. Wills, was sung by a 
 full choir. During the day repeated discharges of fire-arms 
 and a proper salute from great guns carried off some of the 
 popular excitement, while the shipping displayed innumerable 
 flags. In the evening public bonfires and fireworks were ex- 
 hibited from Telegraph Hill, Eincon Point, and the islands in 
 the bay. The houses were likewise brilliantly illuminated, and 
 the rejoicings were everywhere loudly continued during the 
 night. Some five hundred gentlemen and three hundred ladies 
 met at the grandest public ball that had yet been witnessed in 
 the city, and danced and made merry till daylight, in the 
 pride and joy of their hearts that California was truly now the 
 thirty-first state of the Union. 
 
 Sec. 80. Clipper Ships. The California clippers, 
 sailing vessels measuring one thousand tons or more, 
 with sharp bows, sides modeled with careful regard 
 for ease of motion through the water, tall masts, long 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 163 
 
 bowsprit and yards, and capacity to carry a great 
 spread of canvas, made their appearance in the latter 
 part of this year, in answer to the demand for the 
 quick transportation of large quantities of freight to 
 San Francisco. They were as much superior in size 
 and elegance of marine architecture to the Indiamen 
 of England as these were to the clumsy luggers of 
 Holland. Time being precious in reaching the golden 
 market, they charged for several years on certain 
 kinds of freight fifty dollars a ton, or about four times 
 as much as had been paid usually to sailing vessels 
 for voyages of the same distance; and in return they 
 kept all sail set to the limit of safety. They made 
 the trip from New York to San Francisco often in 
 less than three months, and ordinarily took one third 
 less time than the old style ships. With a good 
 breeze, they could leave ocean steamers behind. Sail- 
 ors saw them at first with amazement and have not 
 yet lost their admiration, though clipper ships have 
 ceased to be the exclusive possession of American 
 shipowners, or to be employed entirely in the Cali- 
 fornian trade. The early clippers earned nearly 
 enough to pay for their cost by the freight of a single 
 voyage; and on several occasions when the cargo was 
 shipped by the owners, the profit on it was twice the 
 cost of the ship. 
 
 The names of the early clippers, unlike the "Eliza," 
 the " Euphemia," the " Thomas H. Perkins," the 
 " Mary Jane," and the titles fashionable for the slow 
 ships, were frequently suggestive of the romance of a 
 
164 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 sailor's life. The " White Squall," the "Flying 
 Cloud," the " Typhoon," the " Trade Wind," and the 
 " Sovereign of the Seas," were among the notable 
 pioneer vessels that did honor to the American flag 
 on both the great oceans. As the expenses of lying 
 at a wharf in San Francisco were very high, one hun- 
 dred dollars or even two hundred dollars a day for 
 large ships, it was feared that the long time required 
 for discharging two thousand tons of freight, and tak- 
 ing in a cargo of ballast, would eat up much of the 
 profits. Instead, however, of taking a month for the 
 work, the stevedores, under the stimulus of extra pay, 
 succeeded in doing in a day what elsewhere consumed 
 a week. 
 
 Sec. 81. Pioneer Society. Some of the citizens of 
 San Francisco, impressed with the remarkable events 
 in which they had taken an active part, in August or- 
 ganized the Society of California Pioneers, to which 
 anybody who had arrived before the preceding Janu- 
 ary might be admitted. Much fault has been found 
 with them of late that the admission of the state was 
 not the limit of date, but such a limit could not be 
 fixed when the state had not been admitted. 
 
 Sec. 82. Wharf Contracts. As the company own- 
 ing Commercial street wharf made an immense profit 
 from it, and as there was ten times as much business 
 as it could accommodate, it was evident that notwith- 
 standing the high cost of wharves, they offered excel- 
 lent opportunities for investments, so there was a rush 
 for franchises. In October, 1850, Market street wharf 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 165 
 
 had extended out from the shore line six hundred feet 
 into the bay; California, four hundred; Sacramento, 
 eight hundred; Clay, nine hundred; Washington, two 
 hundred and seventy-five; Jackson, five hundred and 
 fifty-two; Pacific, five hundred and twenty-five, and 
 Broadway, two hundred and fifty. Other wharves or 
 piers running along the water front, and named after 
 individual owners, were fifteen hundred feet long*. 
 The aggregate length of all the wharves was more 
 than six thousand feet, and the cost to that date 
 about one million dollars. 
 
 Soon after the wharf builders began their march 
 out into the bay, the graders started to follow, crowd- 
 ing upon their heels. The first filling in of a water 
 lot was done by Captain Folsom, on California street, 
 west of the site of the present Bank of California, 
 and although the work was extremely expensive, it 
 was immediately recognized as a good investment, and 
 others imitated the example. After the wharves were 
 built out on Clay and the parallel streets into the bay, 
 it was found convenient to build cross streets on piles, 
 thus inclosing the blocks, and in more than a score of 
 instances shutting in old hulks which had lonsf been 
 dismantled and had been used as storehouses. Of 
 these, the "Niantic" subsequently became the most 
 notable. She measured four hundred and fifty tons 
 and was hauled up at high water to the lot . on the 
 north-west corner of Sansome and Clay streets. Her 
 masts were taken out, her rigging and some of her 
 ballast removed, piles were driven on each side to 
 
166 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 keep her from turning upon her side, and she was 
 used for storing merchandise. The May fire of 1851 
 destroyed all save that part of her hull below the 
 level of the ground and some of her ribs, and on the 
 site was erected a hotel called the "Niantic," the 
 foundation of which rested on the remains of the hull. 
 •In 1872 the wooden building was torn down and the 
 hull dug out to make room for the foundation and cel- 
 lar of the brick building which now occupies the 
 place. In the course of their digging the laborers 
 found that the bottom of the hull was filled with dirt, 
 covering various articles of merchandise, including 
 several dozens of champagne, which had been buried 
 for twenty-one years. The dirt was doubtless washed 
 in on the occasion of the fire, and nobody had in the 
 meantime thought it worth while to examine what lay 
 buried there. 
 
 Sec. 83. 1851. In 1851, the gold manifested at 
 the San Francisco custom-house for shipment amount- 
 ed to thirty-four million dollars, and the number of 
 immigrants by sea was twenty -seven thousand. It 
 was now considered certain that the gold mines would 
 not be exhausted in a life-time; that they would con- 
 tribute immensely to the wealth of the nation, and 
 that California would continue for years to attract 
 immigrants — points about which there had previously 
 been serious doubts. The establishment of a semi- 
 monthly mail was ordered; the statute " to settle pri- 
 vate land claims in California," as it was called, though 
 a more appropriate term, as suggested by its results, 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 1G7 
 
 would have been, " An act to despoil owners of land 
 under Mexican grants," was adopted; large federal 
 appropriations were obtained for various public works 
 in California. All these measures were carried 
 through congress mainly by the influence of Senator 
 Gwin, who now rose into prominence as the leading 
 representative of the state in congress. His associate, 
 Senator Fremont, and the two representatives Gilbert 
 and Wright, were young men without legislative ex- 
 perience, and their terms expired in a few months 
 after they took their seats. Gwin had been in con- 
 gress before, had many personal friends at Wash- 
 ington, was in political sympathy with men occupying 
 high positions in the administration, was industrious, 
 and had the ability and tact required for success in 
 American politics. 
 
 The legislature confirmed all the sales of water lots 
 ill the city previously made without legal authority 
 by any ayuntamiento, town council, or alcalde, thus 
 perfecting the titles of the occupants, and putting an 
 end to much uneasiness amongf the citizens. A new 
 legislative apportionment gave the city one ninth of 
 the members of the legislature, whereas previously 
 it had one eighth. The city debt had grown to one 
 million and a half dollars, and as the current expendi- 
 tures were equal to any sum that could be raised by 
 taxation, the legislature had to pass a funding act. 
 The police was inefficient, and the frequency of un- 
 punished crime led in February to the organization of 
 a vigilance committee, which in July and August 
 
168 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 hanged three murderers after extra-constitutional but 
 deliberate and orderly trials. Two great fires in May 
 and June swept away property valued at thirteen mil- 
 lion dollars. The Jenny Lind theater, now the old 
 city hall, the American theater on the north-east 
 corner of Sansome and Halleck streets, and two free 
 schools established under the authority of the state, 
 were opened in the last quarter of the year. 
 
 Meantime the city continued to grow in population 
 and increase in business. The adventurers became citi- 
 zens; tents gave way to frame houses, and frames 
 gave way to brick. It became a matter of vast im- 
 portance to obtain security against fire, and the erec- 
 tion of fire-proof buildings was commenced. 
 
 Sec. 84. Fourth and Fifth Fires. The fourth 
 fire, called the great fire, as surpassing all the others, 
 came on the anniversary of the May fire of the prev- 
 ious year, and destroyed property valued at seven 
 million dollars. It really commenced a little before 
 twelve on the night of the third of May, but was 
 called the fire of the fourth. It swept away the en- 
 tire business portion of the city, and that included 
 nearly everything, for there were few families or fine 
 dwellings in those days. The burned district was 
 three quarters of a mile long and a quarter of a mile 
 wide, and more than fifteen hundred houses were de- 
 stroyed. Sixteen blocks were burned, including ten 
 bounded by Pine, Jackson, Kearny and Sansome; five 
 bounded by Sansome, Battery, Sacramento and Broad- 
 way; one bounded by Kearny, Montgomery, Wash- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 1G9 
 
 inofton and Jackson, and fractions of five other blocks. 
 Many of the brick buildings supposed to be fire-proof, 
 were unable to withstand the intense heat of half a 
 mile of flame fanned by a high wind. Vast quanti- 
 ties of goods were destroyed, and the destruction of 
 these contributed greatly to swell the loss. Among 
 the buildings burned were the custom-house, the 
 Jenny Lind theater, the Union hotel, on the north- 
 eastern corner of Kearny and Commercial streets, 
 and the banks of Page, Bacon & Co., Burgoyne & Co., 
 and Wells & Co. The banks of Argenti, James King, 
 and H. M. Naglee, escaped. These six were the 
 principal banks of San Francisco in those days; not 
 one of them remains, nor is any partner of either of 
 them engaged in banking in this city now. The El 
 Dorado and the Verandah, both gambling houses, on 
 the eastern corners of Kearny and Washington, suc- 
 cessfully defied the flames. The custom-house, a 
 three-story building on the north-western corner of 
 Montgomery and California streets, was burned, with 
 a large amount of goods. A number of persons 
 perished in the fire — how many was not known. In 
 some cases men stayed inside of the brick stores with 
 barrels of water, intending to risk their lives in the 
 hopes of saving their buildings and goods. Twelve 
 men were shut up in Naglee's building for three 
 hours, in the midst of intense heat and almost suffo- 
 cating smoke, but they survived. Six who remained 
 in the store of Taaffe, McCahill & Co., were not so 
 fortunate; the store was destroyed, and they lost their 
 lives in it. 
 
170 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 The fifth and last fire (loss two million dollars), 
 that of June 22, 1851, began on Pacific, near Powell, 
 and burned eight blocks, bounded by Broadway, Jack- 
 son, Powell and Montgomery; three blocks between 
 Stockton, Montgomery, Jackson and Washington; and 
 fractions of five other blocks. The principal buildings 
 burned were the city hall (formerly the Graham 
 House), the city hospital, the Jenny Lind theater, 
 and the old adobe on the plaza. The losses may ap- 
 pear great for a city which had so few fine buildings, 
 but a shanty in those days with its merchandise might 
 cost almost as much as a palace now. 
 
 These fires exercised great influence upon the politics, 
 building and trade of the city. The May fire in 1851 
 was attributed to incendiarism; and it was reported 
 that one man charged with arson was beaten to death 
 while the fire was raging. The amount of property ex- 
 posed in the streets was so great that the citizens organ- 
 ized into a patrol or committee of vigilance, which soon 
 extended its jurisdiction, and hanged murderers as 
 well as protected property. Merchants, unable to 
 secure their property on land, put their goods into 
 store ships, and the harbor was filled with old hulks 
 until 1854, when the brick stores, really fire-proof, 
 began to furnish room and safety on shore. Unable 
 to make bricks or to cut stone, except at terrific 
 prices, orders were sent abroad for incombustible 
 building materials. Granite was brought from China 
 and Quincy; lava from Honolulu; and bricks from 
 Sydney, New York and London. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 171 
 
 The scenes at confl aerations were as remarkable as 
 was the city itself. Most of the inhabitants were 
 men between the ages of twenty and forty, of rare 
 activity and energy, and deeply interested in protect- 
 ing the place against destruction. At the cry of 
 fire, they rushed out, anxious to check the flames at 
 the start, and the streets became the scene of won- 
 derful confusion. At first there was a current of peo- 
 ple running at full speed to the fire, with engines and 
 hose carts thundering over the sonorous planks; fore- 
 men shouting through their hoarse speaking-trumpets, 
 while the men at the ropes yelled mutual encourage- 
 ment for higher speed. When the conflagration be- 
 came large, the scene was terrific and sublime. The 
 roaring of the fire, the crackling of the timbers, and 
 the shouts of the firemen and of the citizens en^a^ed 
 in saving merchandise or furniture, combined to make 
 a frightful noise. The flames of the light pine and 
 redwood shot up in immense sheets, dense clouds of 
 smoke made a contrast to the bright fire, and the 
 furious gusts of wind carried up into the air burning 
 shingles, and large pieces of blazing wood. The fire- 
 men rushed desperately into the most dangerous posi- 
 tions with their hose, their axes, their hooks and lad- 
 ders; and an excited crowd of Americans, Frenchmen, 
 Germans, Mexicans, and Chinamen struggled to carry 
 away furniture, clothing, and other valuables beyond 
 the reach of the danger. Man and fire engaged in a 
 fierce but brief struggle; in a few hours the destruc- 
 tive element had exhausted its fury; millions of prop- 
 
172 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 erty had been destroyed; hundreds of men before 
 wealthy were almost penniless, and smouldering ruins 
 were all that remained of costly edifices and precious 
 merchandise. 
 
 The day after the fire another wonderful scene was 
 presented. Instead of sorrow, idleness or despair, the 
 city seemed to be gifted with new life. The ground 
 burned over was covered with men pouring water 
 upon the embers ; wagons were busy everywhere haul- 
 ing away the ashes or unloading bricks and lumber; 
 the saw and hammer were heard on every hand. The 
 price of labor and building materials rose suddenly; 
 the merchant of the day before had become a laborer 
 or mechanic, and within a week many of the houses 
 were already open for business again. 
 
 Sec. 85. Vigilance Committee of 1851. On the 
 twenty-second of February, a mob collected to pun- 
 ish two men arrested under the names of Stuart 
 and Windred on a charge of having robbed and tried 
 to murder C. J. Jansen. Though grave crimes had 
 been committed in large numbers, none of the of- 
 fenders had been punished. The police were ineffi- 
 cient if not criminal, and the judges and prosecuting 
 attorneys showed no zeal in their business. The 
 people saw that if they wanted an effective adminis- 
 tration of justice they must take charge of it them- 
 selves, and accordingly about three thousand citizens 
 gathered at the City Hall to take decisive action. 
 Twelve men were selected as a jury; W. T. Coleman 
 was appointed public prosecutor, and D. D. Shattuck 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 173 
 
 and Hall McAllister, lawyers, were designated to de- 
 fend the accused, who were then tried. Jansen testi- 
 fied that the prisoner called Stuart, who however 
 truly declared that his name was Burdue, was one of 
 the robbers who attacked him in his store on the 
 nineteenth of February, and as the prosecuting wit- 
 ness bore a good reputation, and had no known motive 
 for perjury, the multitude were convinced. But three 
 of the jury refused to convict, whereupon many of 
 the outsiders demanded the acceptance of the verdict 
 of the majority, and cried, "hang them !" being dis- 
 posed to execute Windred too, though Jansen did not 
 recognize him distinctly, and the chief evidence against 
 him was that he had been caught in Burdue's com- 
 pany. The leaders would not disregard the decision 
 of their own jury, but they had great difficulty in 
 preventing the execution of the prisoners by the mob, 
 which surrounded and threatened the City Hall till 
 one o'clock the next morningf. Burdue was dis- 
 charged. 
 
 In the first week of June some of the same persons, 
 who had been active in the previous February, held 
 meetings, and formed " a committee of vigilance," with 
 a constitution, records and officials. The main pur- 
 pose was to punish incendiaries suspected of having set 
 the great fires, but they soon found other work to do. 
 They had scarcely organized, when, on the evening of 
 June tenth, John Jenkins, reputed to be an ex-convict 
 from Sydney, was caught in a boat while carrying off 
 a small safe which he obtained by burglary from a 
 
174 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 store on Commercial street. The evidence against him 
 was conclusive, and the committee, after trying him in 
 its rooms, pronounced a verdict of guilty, and sen- 
 tenced him to death. The multitude outside approved 
 the verdict, and at two o'clock in the morning he was 
 hanged to a beam of an adobe building on Brenham 
 Place, opposite to Portsmouth Square. 
 
 Sec. 86. Coroner s Verdict. A coroner's jury, on 
 the twelfth of June, found a verdict that Jenkins was 
 executed by certain persons styling themselves " a 
 committee of vigilance," of which nine persons, 
 whose names were given, were members. The publi- 
 cation of this verdict was immediately followed by a 
 manifesto signed by one hundred and eighty-two citi- 
 zens of the committee, expressing their surprise at the 
 invidious verdict after the signers had informed the 
 jury that they were all participators in the trial and 
 execution, and declaring that the nine persons named 
 were unnecessarily picked out from the members of 
 the committee, when the jury had full evidence that 
 all were equally implicated and equally responsible. 
 These one hundred and eighty-two signers included a 
 majority of the leading business men of the city, and 
 their conduct was generally approved by the citizens 
 who had not joined their organization. Nobody doubt- 
 ed the guilt of Jenkins, the inefficiency of the courts, 
 or the intention of the committee to exercise its power 
 with prudence and decision. They made no secret 
 that they had violated the law, and were leagued to- 
 gether to violate the law in the future, but they were 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 175 
 
 faithful servants of the cause of justice, for whose sake 
 they assumed very serious personal responsibilities. 
 When they made a public avowal of their participation 
 in the execution of Jenkins, they could not know what 
 the future had in store for them. At the same time 
 that they protested against any attempt to single out 
 a few of their number for prosecution or odium, they 
 published an address stating that they were convinced 
 of the presence of a band of robbers and incendiaries 
 in the city, that the criminals arrested by the police 
 had escaped punishment, that the committee was ready 
 to receive information about crime and criminals, that 
 convicts then in the city should leave within five days, 
 and that convicts arriving by sea should be forbidden 
 to land. 
 
 Sec. 87. Execution of Stuart, The committee soon 
 found more work to do. James Stuart, a professional 
 murderer and robber, for whom Thomas Burdue had 
 been arrested by mistake in February and tried, fell 
 into their hands in July, and on the eleventh of that 
 month was tried. He complained during the progress 
 of the trial that the proceedings were "tiresome," 
 asked for a chew of tobacco, and confessed that he 
 had committed a multitude of capital crimes. The 
 evidence was conclusive, the verdict guilty, and the 
 sentence hanging on the same day. He was left two 
 hours with a clergyman, and then marched down to 
 the end of Market street wharf, where a framework, 
 built to support a pulley used in hoisting freight in 
 and out of vessels, served for the execution. 
 
176 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCICCO. 
 
 A grand jury of the county soon afterwards made 
 a report containing the following justification of the 
 course of the committee : 
 
 When we recall the delays, and the inefficient, and we believe 
 that with truth it may be said, the corrupt, administration of 
 the law, the incapacity and indifference of those who are its 
 sworn guardians and ministers, the frequent and unnecessary 
 postponement of important trials in the district court, the disre- 
 gard of duty and impatience while attending to perform it man- 
 ifested by some of our judges having criminal jurisdiction, the 
 many notorious villains who have gone unwhipped of justice, 
 lead us to believe that the members of the association have been 
 governed by a feeling of opposition to the manner in which the 
 law has been administered and those who have administered it, 
 rather than a determination to disregard the law itself. * * 
 The grand jurors, believing, whilst they deplore their acts, that 
 the association styling themselves "the vigilance committee," 
 at a great personal sacrifice to themselves, have been influenced 
 in their actions by no personal or private malice, but for the 
 best interest of the whole, and at a time, too, when all other 
 means of preventing crime and bringing criminals to direct pun- 
 ishment had failed, here dismiss the matter. 
 
 Sec. 88. Whittaker and McKenzie. Soon after the 
 execution of Stuart, the committee arrested Samuel 
 Whittaker and Robert McKenzie, who, on the twen- 
 ty-first of August, before dawn, were taken from the 
 rooms of the committee by the sheriff, under a w T rit of 
 habeas corpus, issued on petition of Governor Mc- 
 Dougal. At half-past two, p. m., on Sunday, August 
 24, twenty-nine members of the committee went to 
 the county jail, overawed the jailors, took the two 
 prisoners to the rooms of the committee on Battery 
 street between Pine and California, and there, amidst 
 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 177 
 
 a vast concourse of people summoned by the tap of 
 the fire-alarm bell, hanged them. This was the last 
 public act of that committee. It never dissolved for- 
 mally, but it ceased to hold its meetings. No judicial 
 proceedings Avere ever taken against its members on 
 behalf of the state, but several suits for damages 
 were instituted by those whom the committee had 
 treated as suspicious characters. 
 
 After Burdue had been released by the committee, 
 he was arrested by the police as James Stuart, to 
 whom he bore a resemblance so close that their famil- 
 iar acquaintances could not readily see any difference. 
 A criminal court found him guilty of robbery and 
 afterwards of murder, and he would doubtless have 
 been hanged (the judicial tribunal made a mistake 
 which the mob of February 22 avoided), had not the 
 right man been caught in time. One of the vigilan- 
 tes took the proper steps to secure the release of 
 Burdue, who was thrice saved from unmerited punish- 
 ment by the influence of the committee. It thus 
 protected the innocent as well as punished the guilty. 
 
 The committee ordered many professional criminals 
 to leave, and having obtained a list of vessels which 
 had carried convicts from England to Australia, with 
 the names of the passengers on each, sent a commit- 
 tee on board of every vessel from that country so soon 
 as she entered the harbor, and made inquiry about the 
 time when, and conveyance by which, every native of 
 Great Britain had reached the colony; and if it ap- 
 peared that he or she had been transported for crime, 
 
178 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 permission to land was denied, and the passage-money 
 for the return was paid. The precise number of Aus- 
 tralian convicts exiled and ordered to return before 
 landing was never reported, but probably exceeded 
 fifty. ' 
 
 Sec. 89. Land Commission. Congress passed the 
 act to settle the land titles in California in March, 
 1851, providing a special tribunal or board of commis- 
 sioners with authority to examine all claims made to 
 land under grant under Mexico, and confirm all valid 
 grants. The act made no reference to the promise 
 given by Commodore Sloat in his proclamation issued 
 on the seventh of July, 1846, when in taking posses- 
 sion of the country on behalf of the American govern- 
 ment, he declared that thenceforth California would 
 be a portion of the United States; and as an induce- 
 ment for accepting cordially, or at least peaceably, the 
 change, he assured the people that " all persons hold- 
 ing titles to real estate, or in quiet possession of land 
 under color of right, shall have those titles guaranteed 
 to them." This lanefuaore was doubtless used under 
 express instruction from the cabinet; we know that 
 Commodore Sloat had been ordered in 1845, to seize 
 California at the first outbreak of hostilities, and we 
 may presume that directions were given to him in re- 
 gard to what he should say when he made the seizure. 
 " Color of right " is a phrase common in American 
 jurisprudence, and would not have been adopted ex- 
 cept under the suggestion of a lawyer. Even if Sloat 
 exceeded the authority conferred by his instructions, 
 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 179 
 
 that fact could not be known to the native Californians, 
 and they were justified in believing that he had full 
 power to make the promise, which thus became a sol- 
 emn contract under the law of nations with every one 
 who submitted to the American authority. 
 
 The phrase " quiet possession of land, under color of 
 right," means any possession authorized by the law; 
 or any possession that is not a wrong to the govern- 
 ment or some individual. A tenancy at will — the 
 weakest of all lawful tenures — which may be termi- 
 nated by the owner at any moment and Avithout notice 
 or condition, is a tenure under color of right. By 
 Sloat's promise, the government was bound in honor 
 and law to confirm the titles of all the Californians 
 who had taken possession of ranchos with permission 
 of the local authorities, and had petitioned the govern- 
 ment for grants. They held " under color of right." 
 They were entitled to the confirmation of their titles, 
 after an examination as brief and simple as the circum- 
 stances would permit, and with as little expense as 
 possible to the claimants. The government should 
 have made a list of all ranchos, the possession of which 
 was matter of common notoriety, and mentioned in the 
 archives; should have confirmed them summarily, then 
 surveyed them and issued patents for them. The 
 claims which were not mentioned in the archives or 
 had not been reduced to possession, might properly 
 have been subjected to a careful judicial inquiry. 
 Above all things, it was important, in a country that 
 changed so rapidly as California did after the treaty of 
 
180 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 cession, that the action should be prompt. To leave 
 the land titles in doubt was to deprive the people of 
 their property. 
 
 These plain principles of justice and reason were 
 utterly disregarded by congress and the politicians. 
 No provision was made for confirming claims held 
 under mere color of right ; those which had been held 
 in notorious possession for generations, as well as 
 those of the most suspicious character, were alike 
 subjected to a hostile, costly and tedious investiga- 
 tion, a large part of the cost being thrown upon the 
 owners. 
 
 The Mexican land system was entirely different 
 from that of the United States. The Californian 
 ranchos were granted not by the acre, but by the 
 square league. There were no surveys, seldom any 
 precise boundaries. It was sufficient in the descrip- 
 tion of a rancho to say that it was a tract of ten 
 square leagues, including a certain place, or that it 
 was a small valley, or that it extended from one range 
 of hills to another. The change from that system to 
 the new one should have been made at the expense 
 of the new government, not of the claimants, and 
 especially not at a time when the government denied 
 their title. The native Californians suddenly sur- 
 rounded by a strange population, strange laws, a 
 strange language, strange customs, and strange in- 
 dustries, were virtually deprived of the bulk of their 
 wealth, and then compelled to raise money to defend 
 themselves against complete spoliation by the gov- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 181 
 
 ernment. They had to go to San Francisco, where 
 all the cases were tried (though some witnesses were 
 heard at Los Angeles) take their witnesses with them, 
 and employ lawyers who in many cases measured 
 their fees by thousands of dollars or thousands of 
 acres. 
 
 Nor did the trouble and expense thus imposed upon 
 the land owner come to an end when he had gained 
 his case in the land commission. As the boundaries 
 as well as the titles were in doubt, the Americans, 
 who wanted to buy farms for the purposes of making 
 permanent homes, were afraid to pay for deeds in 
 which they could place no confidence. Under com- 
 pulsion, it may be said, they became squatters, that 
 is they seized and occupied, as their own, land claimed 
 under Mexican grant. Having once made their set- 
 tlement, they acquired interests which they defended 
 in the courts. If they could defeat the Mexican 
 grants they would acquire the land for a trifle. They 
 were numerous, and became a political power. The 
 governor, the legislature, the courts, the federal sen- 
 ators, the congressmen, and the federal attorneys, who 
 managed the suits against the Mexican grants, 
 courted them. Squatterism tainted legislation and 
 jurisprudence. Senator Gwin went so far in sub- 
 serviency to it that he introduced a bill providing 
 that if the courts should finally confirm any Mexican 
 grant, including land occupied before March 3, 1851, 
 by a squatter, the latter should hold the property and 
 the lawful owmer.mi^ht take the same amount of land 
 
182 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 elsewhere, perhaps in some remote place. The federal 
 attorney, instead of striving to do justice, made e very- 
 effort to defeat and delay the confirmation of hundreds 
 of claims since recognized as valid, appealed them 
 first to the United States district court, and from 
 there to the United States supreme court, making 
 three trials on the title, and as many on the bound- 
 aries, and each at great expense to the owners. 
 There were squatter governors, squatter legislatures, 
 and a squatter press. An act was passed in 1856 to 
 provide that all lands should be deemed public till 
 the legal title had passed from the government to 
 private parties (Mexican grants were declared not 
 legal titles till finally confirmed); that actual and 
 peaceable possession should be presumptive proof of 
 the right of possession; and that in ejectment suits, 
 if the verdict were against the defendant, the jury 
 should appraise the value of the improvements put 
 upon the land by the defendant, and the value of the 
 land without the improvements; and the plaintiff 
 could get the land by paying for the improvements, 
 or take the money-price fixed upon the land. The 
 juries were impaneled by squatter sheriffs, and the 
 appraisements were always in favor of the squatter 
 defendants. The statute was declared unconstitu- 
 tional, so that plundering trick was defeated. 
 
 The general result was that the rancheros had to 
 give on the average half of their land to get their 
 titles confirmed, and then waited eight years before they 
 could get out the patent. To obtain the means of 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 183 
 
 living in the meantime, they had to sacrifice a consid- 
 erable part of what was left to them by the lawyers 
 and the courts. The Noe } Bernal, Sanchez, De Haro, 
 Peralta, Moraga, Alvarado, Vasquez, Yallejo, Soto, 
 Estudillo, and Castro families, which once owned lands 
 now worth one hundred million dollars in and near 
 San Francisco have entirely disappeared, or are re- 
 duced to a few pitiful acres. But for all this injus- 
 tice to the native Calif ornians~there was a compensation 
 — the lawyers of San Francisco accumulated great 
 wealth, and they and their grantees hold hundreds / 
 of leagues of the most valuable land in the state. 
 
 The land commission opened its sessions in San Fran- 
 cisco on the second January, 1852, and received claims 
 till the third of March, 1853, the total number being 
 eight hundred and twelve. The filing of some of the 
 petitions relating to lands in or near to San Francisco, 
 made a lively sensation in the city. Among these 
 the most notable were those of Limantour, Santillan, 
 and Sherreback, who laid claim to nearly everything 
 worth having south of California street. 
 
 Sec. 90. 1852. The gold shipment of 1852, as 
 recorded in the custom-house books, was forty- six 
 million dollars, and the number of immigrants by sea 
 sixty-seven thousand; both figures showing a large 
 increase over those of former years. According to a 
 state census taken in June, California had a total pop- 
 ulation of two hundred and fifty-five thousand one 
 hundred and twenty-two, including thirty-six thou- 
 sand one hundred and fifty-four in San Francisco, or 
 
184 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 about one seventh of the inhabitants of the state. 
 The federal commission appointed to settle private 
 land claims began its sessions, and made a very large 
 and very profitable business for lawyers. The city 
 council, acting jointly with the supervisors represent- 
 ing the county, bought the Jenny Lind theater for a 
 city hall and court house, paying two hundred thou- 
 sand dollars for it (twice as much as it was worth), or 
 rather promising to pay, for, in those times, the city 
 debtors received scrip in payment, and the council, 
 relying on the paper-mill for funds, was not troubled 
 by any anxiety to make both ends meet. One public 
 creditor, Dr. Peter Smith, who had maintained a hos- 
 pital for the indigent sick of the city in 1850, having 
 demanded payment of his dues in vain, (and nobody 
 denied the debt), obtained judgment, and the council, 
 instead of paying him, allowed him to sell a large 
 area of land claimed by the city at sheriff's sale. It 
 went for a mere trifle, because prominent officials de- 
 clared that purchasers would get no title. The Peter 
 Smith sales were sustained by the courts for much of 
 the land, and the city was despoiled. 
 
 The " Herald's" insinuations of fraud in the pur- 
 chase of the Jenny Lind theater provoked Alderman 
 Cotter so much that he challenged John Nugent, its 
 editor, and healed the official honor by breaking a 
 journalistic arm. Edward Gilbert, editor of the 
 " Alta," was killed by J. W. Denver, for ridiculing 
 Governor Bigler, under whose appointment Denver 
 held an office. Yerba Buena cemetery was opened 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 185 
 
 for general use, and the removal to it of the remains 
 in the cemetery near North Beach was commenced. 
 Paousset went to Sonora with his first expedition of J 
 Frenchmen. The streets were lighted for the first 
 time with city lamps, oil burners, of which there were 
 ninety. A station for signaling vessels was erected 
 on a hill near Point Lobos, and the signals repeated 
 at Telegraph Hill, gave information of the arrival of 
 ships when they were fifteen miles or more from the 
 Golden Gate. v 
 
 Sec. 91. French Immigration. Some Frenchmen 
 who had been scattered over the Pacific islands and 
 Spanish- America arrived in California with the first 
 rush of adventurers in 1848, and their letters encour- 
 aged their countrymen to come to the gold mines. 
 Facilities for migration were offered by the frequent 
 departure of vessels from Bordeaux with wines, bran- 
 dies, sardines, olive-oil, sauces, canned meats, bottled 
 fruits, and various other French products that found a 
 ready sale in the diggings. In 1850, the Parisian 
 "lottery of the golden ingot," in which a bar of gold 
 was the chief bait, offered many passages to Califor- 
 nia among its prizes, and in 1851 about five hundred 
 French men and women, most of them nearly penni- 
 less, were transported to San Francisco by their suc- 
 cessful tickets. The advertisements of the lottery, 
 and the articles about it in the newspapers, caused a 
 gold fever in Paris, such as did not prevail in any 
 other part of Europe, and the " ingots," as the lottery 
 immigrants were called in France, instead of finding 
 
186 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 themselves the majority of the adventurers from their 
 country, were outnumbered by others, so that the 
 French became one of the prominent features of the 
 population of California; and even now, after a con- 
 tinuous decrease of the French residents for nearly a 
 quarter of a century, San Francisco has yet relatively 
 more Frenchmen than any other city in the Union 
 save New Orleans. 
 
 They were at a great disadvantage as compared 
 with the British, Irish, Germans and Scandinavians, 
 because as a class they did not learn English, and 
 they would not be naturalized. Most of them went 
 to the mines, but in several of the camps where they 
 were most numerous they were attacked by bands of 
 ruffians and robbed of their claims, the dema^osfue of- 
 fice-holders refusing to protect men who had no votes. 
 
 The expulsion of the French miners from many of 
 their claims was most unfortunate for California, since 
 if they had been protected and encouraged, the im- 
 miof ration from France would have been larofe and 
 continuous, giving to the country a class of people 
 who would have been of great value to its agriculture 
 and commerce, as well as to its mining. Those who 
 came contributed not a little to the industry of San 
 Francisco, where most of them collected after the 
 outbreaks at the diggings. Few of them knew any 
 mechanical trade at which they could earn much 
 money, and on account of their ignorance of English 
 they were excluded from occupations which they 
 could otherwise have pursued with profit. Sev- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 187 
 
 eral thousand of them were dissatisfied, and though 
 generally peaceable, they offered excellent material 
 for some desperate enterprise. 
 
 Sec. 92. Raousset. Gaston de Raousset Boulbon, 
 a count by birth, a native of Provence, thirty-five 
 years of age, thought he could give them congenial 
 employment that would accrue to his own honor and 
 to the benefit of his country. He knew the sting of 
 disappointed ambition. Notwithstanding his noble 
 title, excellent education and superior talents, after 
 coming to California almost penniless, he had been in 
 the mines, then fisherman, hunter, stevedore and 
 shoveller of sand, and had not, in any capacity, ob- 
 tained more than a scanty compensation. He thought 
 Sonora was a field suitable for himself and his adven- 
 turous countrymen in California. Here they were 
 subordinate and powerless; there they might obtain 
 dominion. It was supposed and confidently asserted 
 that the basin of the Gila was as rich in gold as the 
 western slope of the Sierra Nevada, and it was known 
 there were, besides, many silver mines fully opened, 
 and wanting nothing but the expulsion of the Apaches 
 to enable the Mexicans to render them productive 
 within a few months. 
 
 He spoke to his friends of organizing a party of 
 Frenchmen to settle in Sonora, and they encouraged 
 him. In the latter part of 1851 he went to Mexico, 
 where he was received with much favor by Levasseur^ 
 French minister, under whose counsel a company called 
 the restauradora, or restorer, was organized, to occupy 
 
188 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and work the mines of Arizona. President Arista 
 approved the plan of the company, promised to assist 
 it, and advised capitalists to take stock in it. Many 
 of the mines to be occupied were well known by name 
 and reputation, but they had long been abandoned. 
 The fame of the richness of these mines, the opinion 
 that Sonora exceeded all other portions of Mexico in 
 its mineral wealth, the promise of governmental pro- 
 tection, and the advice of the French minister induced 
 the banking house of Jecker, Torre & Co., which had 
 French sympathies, to contribute a large part of the 
 funds needed for the undertaking. 
 
 With this aid Raousset returned to San Francisco, 
 and found no difficulty in gathering followers. He 
 was required by his contract with the government to 
 take at least one hundred and fifty armed Frenchmen 
 to Sonora but he took two hundred and fifty, landing 
 at Guaymas on the tenth of June. Instead, however, 
 of being welcomed with open arms by the local author- 
 ities, as he expected, there was a feeling of ill-con- 
 cealed hostility. Soon after he left the capital, intrigue 
 had been commenced to prejudice the administration 
 and the people against him. The English feared the 
 dominance of French political influence, and the con- 
 trol of the treasure shipments and foreign commerce 
 of Mexico by French merchants. Some Mexicans 
 were afraid the French would repeat in Sonora the 
 game which the Americans had played in Texas. 
 Assertions were made that Raousset had told his 
 friends that he intended to establish a colony that 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 189 
 
 would be of more value to France, and that would at- 
 tract more French settlers than Algeria. If the pn 
 ident, Arista, was not convinced, he at least became 
 apprehensive, and authorized a company, headed by 
 the wealthy British banking house of Barron, Forbes 
 & Co., to take the same mines which had been previ- 
 ously set apart for the French company. 
 
 Sec. 93. Fighting in Sonora. General Blanco, 
 Governor of Sonora, doubtless followed instructions 
 from the capital when he refused to fulfil the condi- 
 tions of the French contract, but he acted as if he 
 had a personal grievance, and as if the entrance of 
 anybody into his state with an independent command 
 was an insult to himself. He was mean as well as 
 hostile. He attempted to get the French commander 
 away from his men, and finding that he could not suc- 
 ceed by that kind of treachery, he sent word on the 
 twenty-eighth of August, when Baousset was at 
 Saric, near the northern frontier, that the Frenchmen 
 must enter the Mexican army, take out letters of se- 
 curity as aliens without the right of owning any mine 
 or real estate, or reduce their military organization to 
 fifty men under a Mexican commandant. All these 
 demands were submitted to the adventurers in mass 
 meeting, and were instantaneously, indignantly and 
 finally rejected, with the declaration that they would 
 fight to the last rather than submit to any one of 
 them. So soon as the governor of Sonora learned 
 their reply, he sent word to the local authorities near 
 Saric that the French were not to be recognized as the 
 owners or lawful occupants of any mines. 
 
190 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 On the sixth of October, Raousset, seeing that 
 nothing could be done where he was, started for the 
 capital of the state, determined to see what could be 
 done there. If he had submitted without protest to 
 the gross insults offered, and pecuniary wrongs done 
 by the Mexican officials, he could have left the coun- 
 try in peace, but neither he nor his men felt like sac- 
 rificing a point of honor, as well as of business inter- 
 est, for the sake of avoiding danger, so they marched 
 gallantly and gaily to the chief city of the state, 
 stopping for several days at Magdalena to enjoy the 
 amusement of a religious festival and a large popular 
 gathering. They were a jolly set of fellows, and 
 made friends with the common people there and at 
 all other places where they stopped. 
 
 They entered Hermosillo on the morning of the 
 fourteenth of October, driving out Governor Blanco 
 and his twelve hundred soldiers, who had a defensive 
 position selected in advance, the shelter of thick adobe 
 walls, and all the advantages of fighting among their 
 own people. Blanco had a narrow escape from cap- 
 ture. Raousset was now in possession of the chief 
 city of Sonora, and he determined to hold the state 
 with the assistance of those inhabitants friendly to 
 him and hostile to the central government. He con- 
 sulted several influential citizens, who promised to aid 
 him, and they told him they would organize a general 
 revolt. He depended upon them, and they did noth- 
 ing — probably they never intended to do anything. 
 Before he could discover their inefficiency or bad faith, 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 191 
 
 dysentery, with which he had been troubled before, 
 became severe, and reduced him to a helpless condi- 
 tion. None of his subordinates was capable of lead- 
 ing the party, and they could not maintain themselves 
 where they were, so they marched to Guaymas, 
 carrying their commander in a litter. Arrived at the 
 port, they made a treaty with Blanco, he paying forty 
 thousand dollars, and they leaving Sonora. They 
 returned to San Francisco, where they learned that 
 the news of the battle of Hermosillo had been re- 
 garded throughout California as the conquest of 
 Sonora, and thousands of Frenchmen would soon have 
 gone to their aid. A party of six hundred men, well 
 provided with arms, was ready to sail. 
 
 Kaousset, who was not a party to the treaty, 
 so soon as able to move, went from Guaymas to 
 Mazatlan, and thence to San Francisco, where he 
 was received with distinction, his men giving him 
 high praise for courage, capacity, generosity, and 
 considerate attention to their feelings and mate- 
 rial wants, declared themselves ready to follow him 
 aofain. All the dissatisfied Frenchmen in Califor- 
 nia hoped that he would make another trial with 
 better luck the next time. He was determined to 
 make another effort; he had wrongs to avenge, he 
 had convinced himself that a considerable party in 
 Sonora would favor independence, and he believed 
 that, with his reputation, all that was necessary for 
 success was a good start. 
 
 He was encouraged by Dillon, French consul in 
 
192 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 San Francisco, and affairs in Mexico turned in his 
 favor. President Arista was dethroned in January, 
 1853, by Ceballos, he by Lombardini in February, 
 and he by Santa Anna in April. In June, under an 
 invitation from Levasseur, Haousset went to Mexico, 
 where Santa Anna received him with favor, promised 
 to compensate him for the injustice done by Arista, 
 and made a contract with him for the introduction of 
 a company of five hundred armed Frenchmen into 
 Sonora. They were to receive one hundred and 
 eighteen thousand dollars a month as regular pay, 
 besides fifty thousand dollars in advance, for trans- 
 portation and equipment. The contract was written 
 out, approved by the council, signed by Santa Anna, 
 and then annulled by him. To pacify the ambitious 
 Frenchman, he offered him the command of a regi- 
 ment in the Mexican army, but Raousset refused, 
 and wrote a note to the president stating that he had 
 come not so much for his own gain as to get justice 
 for the Frenchmen who had been defrauded by the 
 Mexican government, and hinted plainly that Mexi- 
 cans are liars. He returned to San Francisco to find 
 that in the meantime a filibustering party of Ameri- 
 cans under Walker had left San Francisco to seize 
 Sonora. If they should get hold of the prize for 
 which he had been scheming, there would be no 
 chance there for France. He could not afford to waste 
 any time. 
 
 Sec. 94. Obstacles. Raousset and his poorer friends 
 had before vainly appealed repeatedly to all the French 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 193 
 
 capitalists of San Francisco for aid in seizing Sonora 
 for France, but now three houses came forward and 
 subscribed three hundred thousand dollars, enough to 
 arm and transport one thousand five hundred men and 
 maintain them till they could get control of the rev- 
 enues of Sonora. Before any of the money thus sub- 
 scribed was paid, a report was published that the 
 American government had bought Sonora, and though 
 not generally credited, there was good reason to be- 
 lieve that the Washington cabinet was negotiating for 
 the cession of at least part of Sonora. The capitalists 
 would advance no money under these circumstances. 
 
 "While matters were in this position, Santa Anna, 
 frightened by the proceedings of Walker, and consid- 
 ering the French the only secure protection against 
 the American filibusters, instructed Del Valle, the 
 Mexican consul at San Francisco, to send three thou- 
 sand Frenchmen to settle as a military colony in So- 
 nora. This order filled Baousset with ecstacy. The 
 Mexican government, at its own expense, was provid- 
 ing for him far more than he demanded for his tri- 
 umphs. He told his men to go, and in a few days 
 eight hundred had applied to Del Valle and had been 
 accepted. But the friends of the filibusters were not 
 indifferent to this danger. They saw that if these 
 Frenchmen should get secure foothold in Sonora, no 
 room would be left there for Walker, slavery or an- 
 nexation. The federal attorney in San Francisco had 
 Del Valle and Dillon arrested, and the " Challenge " 
 seized for violating the neutrality laws of the United 
 
 13 
 
194 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 States. There was much doubt whether those laws 
 had been violated, but there was no doubt that the 
 charge must be made if the Frenchmen were to be 
 headed off. It succeeded. The " Challenge " sailed 
 on the twentieth of April with three hundred col- 
 onists, but many of them were men whom Raousset 
 would not have taken, and few others followed. The 
 delay gave time to Santa Anna to see that there was 
 no serious danger in Walker, and to recover from his 
 scare. He felt grateful to the American authorities 
 for protecting him against the three thousand French- 
 men. Raousset was in despair. The American offi- 
 cials would permit no emigration of French military 
 colonists, and there was no other way of getting the 
 force needed to establish French authority in Sonora. 
 Louis Napoleon, though solicited for aid, had refused. 
 If a great conquest was to be made for France, it must 
 be made by the three hundred who went in the 
 " Challenge." Some of them had gone at Raousset's 
 request, and with the assurance that he would follow, 
 so he determined to go. He saw that in all proba- 
 bility the venture would be fatal to him, but there 
 was a remote possibility of conquering for France not 
 Sonora alone but all Mexico, and with that purpose 
 distinctly avowed to a few friends he left San Fran- 
 cisco, in a sloop of ten tons, on the night of May 
 twenty-fourth. He made his departure in the dark- 
 ness to avoid arrest, for he had been informed that a 
 warrant had been issued against him for violating the 
 neutrality laws. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 195 
 
 Sec. 95. End of Raousset. It was his plan to 
 land in secret, join the " Challenge " party, seize Guay- 
 rnas or some other sea-port town and wait for reinforce- 
 ments from San Francisco, or a revolution in his 
 favor in the interior. His arrival was announced be- 
 fore he landed, so Gen. Yanez in command at Guay- 
 mas, where the "Challenge" party had remained, could 
 not be taken by surprise. Raousset went ashore and 
 was received politely. The Mexicans anticipated 
 trouble. When the French went out into the streets 
 they were assailed by the populace. Yanez had a 
 reoiment of Mexican soldiers, and on the morning of 
 the thirteenth of July more troops arrived from the 
 interior, raising his force to twelve hundred men, and 
 it was reported that eighteen thousand were to arrive 
 the next day. The French would not wait to be 
 attacked. They went to the house where Raousset 
 was, called on him to lead them. He refused to take 
 command, but joined them in a disastrous attempt to 
 storm the Mexican barracks. After a hundred had 
 fallen, the remainder surrendered, under a promise by 
 the French consul on behalf of the Mexican authori- 
 ties that the lives of all should be spared. The con- 
 ditions first offered to the French included life to all 
 save Raousset, if they would lay down their arms, 
 but they refused, and then the exception was with- 
 drawn. Notwithstanding this explicit promise, Raous- 
 set was shot on the twelfth of August, dying with 
 free hands, open eyes, and a firm countenance. Of 
 these we are told by witnesses of his execution; and 
 
196 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 that his heart was gay we learn from his letters writ- 
 ten on the night before his execution. As one of his 
 biographers says, "he was a Cortez slain at the begin- 
 ning of his enterprise." He had the material but not 
 the opportunity for a great conqueror. If he had re- 
 ceived a little assistance from Louis Napoleon he 
 might and probably would have done far more for 
 France in Mexico than Maximilian did ten years 
 later. His death was the end of the scheming among 
 the Frenchmen of San Francisco for the conquest of 
 Sonora. 
 
 Sec. 96. 1853. In 1853, the gold exportation 
 culminated at fifty-five millions, as officially reported, 
 though the yield of the placers had probably reached 
 its highest point in the previous year. Mining being 
 the chief industry, and the one upon which all others 
 depended, everything was affected by its decline, 
 which, however, was not generally understood or 
 discovered by merchants and bankers in San Fran- 
 cisco till the close of the year, and even then many of 
 them were not fully convinced. There was a decrease 
 in the rate of wages; and for the first time there was 
 a large return migration to the Atlantic states, so 
 that the gain of population by sea was only three 
 thousand, or at least seventeen thousand less than in 
 any of the previous four years. At the same time 
 there was a great falling off in the immigration by 
 land, and it did not again approach its previous mag- 
 nitude until after the railroad had been completed. 
 
 'The period within which Mexican land grants had 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 197 
 
 to be filed in the land commission under penalty of con- 
 fiscation of the title, expired in March, and as the spec- 
 ulation in city land had been the source of much 
 wealth, and was looked to for much more in the fu- 
 ture, the citizens were not a little concerned to find 
 that two claims had been filed for nearly everything 
 south of California street, and a third one claimed 
 eight hundred acres in the district south of Market 
 and west of Second street. While the Limantour, 
 Santillan and Sherreback claims covered three deep 
 much of the best upland, the " Peter Smith men," as 
 the purchasers at the sheriff's sale in the previous year 
 were called, were trying to seize a strip six hundred 
 feet wide outside of the permanent water front, by 
 the help of the legislature, and Governor Bigler. In- 
 tense indignation prevailed among the citizens against 
 the proposed fraud, and after it had jmssed the assem- 
 bly, it was defeated in the senate by the casting vote 
 of Lieutenant Governor Purdy. Notwithstanding 
 Bigler's efforts in favor of the extension bill, and his 
 great unpopularity in San Francisco, he was renomi- 
 nated under the influence of Broderick, who had ob- 
 tained a predominant influence in the Democratic con- 
 ventions of the city and state. The chivalry poli- 
 ticians hated Broderick and Bigler, and many of them 
 voted against the latter; so the former, as chairman of 
 the state committee, published an address to the peo- 
 ple, denouncing them as traitors to the party. 
 
 The real estate prices, which had been rising rapidly 
 since the fall of 1848, culminated in December, 1853, 
 
n! 
 
 198 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 when two full blocks, known as the " city slip," be- 
 tween Clay and Sacramento streets, east of Davis, 
 were sold at public auction. This land was intersec- 
 ted bv the wharf of Commercial street, and included 
 lots then believed to be among the most valuable sites 
 for business houses in the city. Montgomery, between 
 Pacific and Pine, had now become the street of the 
 most elegant stores; Stockton street and Pincon Hill 
 had the most costly residences. 
 
 The construction of the plank road on Folsoni 
 street to the Mission, gave access to an extensive area 
 previously, on account of the sand hills and swamps, 
 inaccessible for wagons. Puss's garden, on the corner 
 of Sixth and Harrison streets, became the first popu- 
 lar suburban Sunday resort. The erection of a tele- 
 graph line to Point Lobos, and the connection of the 
 wires with the Merchants' Exchange, led to the aban- 
 donment of Telegraph Hill as a station for signaling 
 vessels. An electric telegraph brought the city into 
 instantaneous communication with San Jose, Stockton, 
 Sacramento and Marys ville. The Metropolitan thea- 
 ter on the west side of Montgomery street, between 
 Washington and Jackson, one of the largest and most 
 elegant buildings of the kind in the United States, and 
 the Union theater on Commercial street, above Kear- 
 ny, offered opportunities for dramatic performances, in 
 addition to the American theater on Sansome street, 
 and the Adelphi, occupied by a French company, on 
 the west side of Dupont, north of Clay. The First 
 Unitarian church on Stockton street, between Clay 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 199 
 
 and Sacramento, and the First Congregational church 
 on the south-west corner of Dupont and California, 
 were completed, and St. Mary's cathedral was com- 
 menced on the corner diagonally opposite. These were 
 three of the leading congregations of San Francisco at 
 the time, and the situation of their buildings was in 
 the vicinity of the fashionable residence district. 
 Other notable events of this year were the sailing of 
 Walker's expedition to conquer Sonora and Lower 
 California, the foundation of the Mercantile Library, 
 the adoption of a comprehensive system of grades, the 
 erection of Montofomerv block, and the election of 
 C. K. Garrison to the office of mayor. 
 
 Sec. 97. City Slip Sale. In December the city 
 council passed an ordinance to sell the city slip water- 
 lots — they were covered by the bay, some of them to 
 a depth of twenty-five feet at low tide — in the two 
 blocks bounded by Clay, Sacramento, Davis and East 
 streets. This slip had been set apart by ordinance for 
 a public dock, but it was evident, after Commercial, 
 Clay and Sacramento street wharves had been built 
 out, that the place would soon fill up, and the project 
 to sell was, therefore, a wise and proper one. The 
 council consisted of two boards, each containing eight 
 members, one for each ward. The ordinance to sell 
 having received a majority in the board of aldermen, 
 and four out of seven votes in the board of assistants 
 (one member had resigned), was declared passed, and 
 the property was sold on the twenty-sixth of Decem- 
 ber, at public auction, the average price of the lots 
 
200 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 being nine thousand seven hundred and eighty-four 
 dollars; the total, one million one hundred and ninety- 
 three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars. One 
 fourth was to be paid down, one half in two months, 
 and the remaining fourth in four months from the day 
 of sale. The Sacramento street and Commercial street 
 wharf companies threatened to enjoin the sale, on the 
 ground that they had built their wharves on the faith 
 of the ordinance setting off this property for a public 
 dock, and the council, on the day of sale, passed an 
 ordinance giving one hundred and eighty-five thousand 
 dollars out of the proceeds to those companies as a 
 compensation for the injury done to them. 
 
 Sec. 98. Filibuster Walker. The expedition of 
 Raousset with his Frenchmen to Sonora, in 1852, 
 under a contract with the Mexican government, pro- 
 voked much angry comment among the American 
 slavery extensionists. They looked forward to the 
 conquest of Mexico as a matter of manifest destiny, 
 and the introduction of negro slavery there as a 
 source of much wealth and political influence to the 
 gulf states. The establishment of a large French 
 population anywhere in the sister republic, and espe- 
 cially near the border, was represented as the delib- 
 erate planting of an obstacle in the path of the Union, 
 and as an act of monarchical intervention in the af- 
 fairs of the republican hemisphere. It was partly for 
 the purpose of excluding Raousset from the southern 
 half of the Gila basin, which was supposed to be the 
 richest part of Sonora in mineral wealth, that in 1853 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 201 
 
 a treaty was negotiated by the cabinet of Washington 
 with Santa Anna for a region that now forms a con- 
 siderable portion of Arizona. This treaty, however, 
 left abundant room in Mexico for the ambitious French- 
 man, and before anything was known of the negotia- 
 tions for it, some of the slavery extensionists in San 
 Francisco thought that the responsibility of defeating 
 Eaousset's purposes rested upon them. The leading 
 men among them, mostly lawyers from the slave 
 states, had numerous consultations upon the subject, 
 and they agreed, in the summer of 1853, that the 
 proper remedy for the danger of a French occupation 
 of Sonora was the conquest of the country by a fili- 
 bustering expedition. 
 
 William Walker, a native of Tennessee, then thir- 
 ty-three years of age, who had been a lawyer and ed- 
 itor in California, was selected as commander by the 
 San Francisco conspirators. He was a ready writer 
 and speaker, a man of moderate ability in every 
 respect, but brave and willing to risk everything 
 rather than live in obscurity. He imagined that he 
 was destined to establish the dominion of the United 
 States over Mexico and Central America, and misled 
 by that fancy, spent years with small bands of ruf- 
 fians in fighting and plundering the unfortunate Span- 
 ish-Americans in those districts which he selected as 
 the fields of his exploits. Money was subscribed, 
 bonds of the new republic of Sonora and Lower Cal- 
 ifornia were printed and sold, a flag was made, and 
 meetings were held in the city hall, where the men 
 
202 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 considered desirable recruits for the expedition were 
 brought together under injunctions of secrecy, ad- 
 dressed upon the brilliant promise of the adventure, 
 and enlisted. There was no difficulty in getting men; 
 money enough was gathered to buy arms and charter 
 the brig " Arrow;" but when she was nearly ready to 
 sail, General Hitchcock, commander of the United 
 States forces in California, seized her on a charge of 
 violating the neutrality laws. This procedure gave 
 great offense to the federal officials generally, most of 
 them slavery extensionists, and the federal attorney 
 ordered the release of the vessel, on the pretext that 
 there was not " a scintilla of evidence " against her. 
 
 General Hitchcock could do nothing in the matter 
 without the support of the civil authorities, so he 
 made no farther effort in that direction, more espe- 
 cially as he found that he had not the approval of 
 those whose influence was most potent with the fed- 
 eral administration. Almost as soon as replies could 
 be received from Washington, it was rumored that he 
 would be degraded, and in the following February he 
 was superseded by General Wool, who was required to 
 transfer his headquarters from San Francisco to Be- 
 nicia, so that if any further filibustering expeditions 
 should be organized, they might leave without pass- 
 ing under his nose. Jefferson Davis, then secretary 
 of war, received credit from the friends of Walker for 
 the excellence of his management. 
 
 The seizure of the "Arrow" did not defeat the enter- 
 prise nor long delay it. The arms and stores were 
 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 203 
 
 transferred to the bark "Caroline," which sailed on 
 the sixteenth of October with forty-six men, a small 
 force to be used in conquering an empire as large as 
 France, and inhabited by one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand people. But Walker had the promise that rein- 
 forcements should be sent so soon as he had obtained 
 a foothold. He landed at La Paz, the capital of 
 Lower California, took possession of the town, and 
 issued a proclamation declaring Lower California an 
 independent republic, whereupon his followers elected 
 him president, and he published a decree adopting the 
 code of Louisiana as the law of the land. He and 
 his chivalry friends in San Francisco wished to legal- 
 ize slavery without mentioning it, and the adoption of 
 the Louisiana code seemed to them the best method 
 of attaining their ends. Beina- unable to maintain 
 himself at La Paz, after a brief stay, he and his army 
 of conquest set sail for Magdalena bay on the west 
 coast of Lower California, and thence they moved in 
 a few days to Muertos, a point on the coast about a 
 dozen miles from the American boundary, whence in 
 case of attack they could soon escape to friendly terri- 
 tory, and whence they could conveniently send letters 
 describing their victories over the enemy. These 
 letters as given in the San Francisco papers excited 
 an ardent desire among moneyless scamps to share 
 the glories "of extending the area of freedom" over 
 the bare mountains and cactus covered plains of north- 
 western Mexico. The flag of the new republic was 
 hoisted at the corner of Kearny and Commercial 
 
204 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 streets ; its bonds were exhibited in the shop-windows 
 and sold openly; the money paid for them by the 
 original purchasers being generally considered as so 
 much thrown away; enlistments of filibusters were 
 made without concealment, and. on the thirteenth of 
 December the bark u Anita " sailed with about two 
 hundred men. Their main reliance for provisions 
 was the cattle of the country, taken without com- 
 punction of conscience, and if the owners were not 
 satisfied with the only pay offered by Walker's band, 
 they were insulted, and in some cases beaten or even 
 shot. Unable to contend on equal terms with the 
 invaders, most of the Mexican rancheros in the vicin- 
 ity fled with their families and cattle, and the filibus- 
 ters were compelled to move sooner than they had 
 intended, though they never expected to stay long at 
 Muertos. 
 
 Walker announced his intention of marching to 
 Sonora, and issued a proclamation annexing that 
 state to his dominion and announcing that the name 
 of the nation was the Republic of Sonora. All this 
 was done with the most solemn sincerity on his part, 
 but the men ridiculed the procedure and had no in- 
 tention of marching, without proper supplies, four 
 hundred miles through a desolate country and then 
 entering the settled districts of Sonora with less than 
 three hundred men. They were desperate, but not 
 insane. They did not object to danger, but they 
 wanted some reasonable hope of compensation. They 
 were willing to plunder the Mexicans, but the pros- 
 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 205 
 
 pect of a long march through a desert, with the pos- 
 sibility that just after crossing it they would be shot 
 down like dogs, did not suit them. So most of them 
 deserted, crossed the line, and became peaceful Amer- 
 ican citizens again. Walker took a serious view of 
 their desertion, regarding it as treason to his au- 
 thority, and having caught some of the offenders, 
 shot two and drummed two others out of camp after 
 a severe flogging. He shortly afterwards started on 
 his march with about one hundred men, but the 
 Mexicans harassed them so much that there was no 
 hope of saving the cattle on which they depended for 
 food, and they were glad to reach the American ter- 
 ritory and surrender themselves to federal officers 
 who had been informed of their coming. They w T ere 
 taken as prisoners to San Francisco, where President 
 Walker, Vice-President Watkins and Secretary of 
 State Emory were indicted for violating the neutral- 
 ity laws. Watkins was convicted after a long trial, 
 and fined fifteen hundred dollars; but as there was no 
 alternative of imprisonment, and as he never paid the 
 fine, there was no punishment. He might have saved 
 some time for himself, and much needless trouble to 
 the federal officials, by pleading guilty. Emory hav- 
 ing seen that the vindication of the neutrality law 
 was not a very grave matter, pleaded guilty, and 
 was in like manner ordered to pay fifteen hundred 
 dollars into the United States treasury, an order 
 which he never condescended to obey. Walker him- 
 self w T as acquitted, and his republic of Sonora and 
 
206 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Lower California disappeared from the records of the 
 criminal courts and the chronological tables. 
 
 Sec. 99. Six Years' Work. The period of nearly 
 six years from the beginning of the gold excitement 
 till the end of 1853, was marked by a steady and rapid 
 increase in the production, or at least in the exportation 
 of gold, and therefore called "The Golden Era," saw 
 San Francisco rise suddenly from the condition of an 
 insignificant village, almost unknown to commerce and 
 geography, to that of one of the leading seaports, with 
 a semi-monthly steam communication by way of Pan- 
 ama with New York, and the illumination of the 
 North Pacific ocean and its shores with the bright 
 light of high civilization. The tents and shanties that 
 made up a large part of the city for several years after 
 the gold discovery, having been cleared away by the 
 great fires, were succeeded by substantial brick build- 
 ings, and a hundred acres of the bay were filled in to 
 make room for more. Everything that was necessary 
 for a metropolitan center of business — warehouses, 
 wharves, banks, large stocks of merchandise, extensive 
 relations with distant markets, and able newspapers, 
 as well as the social wants of schools, theaters, libraries 
 and churches — were supplied at short notice. 
 
 California, like San Francisco, rose as if at one bound 
 from the stagnation of semi-barbarous pastoral life to 
 the varied arts and restless activity of a refined civ- 
 ilization. Ail the energies were drawn to the mines 
 and the means of supplying them. Agriculture and 
 the agricultural districts were neglected. Although 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA. 207 
 
 money was abundant and there was a great rush of 
 people to the mineral regions, their apparent pros- 
 perity was delusive. The miners generally lived in 
 tents and rude cabins, without wives or female rela- 
 tives, without permanence of residence or regularity of 
 occupation. Deprived of the influences of home life, 
 many became dissipated or extravagant and lost the 
 disposition, if they ever had the capacity, to save their 
 earnings. The government did. not permit them to 
 acquire fee-simple titles to their claims, or even to 
 farms in the vicinity, and having no opportunity to 
 enrich the land they despoiled it. The more they 
 made, the poorer it became. The wagon roads were 
 bad, or were covered by heavy tolls; there were no 
 railroads; and business generally was conducted on the 
 hand-to-mouth principle as nearly as possible. Gam- 
 bling was carried on publicly in all the towns, and the 
 most costly champagnes and cigars were imported 
 from France and Havana for men who supported 
 themselves by the pick and shovel. In 1850, settle- 
 ments had been made in nearly all the towns now ex- 
 isting in the mining districts on the western slope of 
 the Sierra Nevada between Mariposa and Orovillo; 
 El Dorado was the most populous county in the state; 
 Sacramento, Stockton and Marysville were the chief 
 river ports where the miners got their supplies; and 
 Petaluma, Vallejo, Napa, Santa Rosa, San Rafael, 
 Martinez, Santa Clara, Redwood, and Eureka on Hum- 
 boldt bay, were centers of business in the coast region. 
 
208 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 
 
 Section 100. 1854. The flush times of 1853 were fol- 
 lowed by a serious depression in the next year. There 
 was a decline of four million dollars in the gold export- 
 ation, a decrease of one fourth in the tonnage of the 
 vessels entering the port, and a still greater decrease in 
 the prices of real estate. A fever for erecting fire-proof 
 brick buildings had followed the great conflagration of 
 1851 and had outrun the demand, and now hundreds 
 of the business houses were vacant. The increase of 
 agricultural production* in the state had greatly reduced 
 the demand for imports; and having supplied nothing 
 of note for exportation, it cut off much of the traffic of 
 resident merchants, as well as of foreign shipowners. 
 Mr. Broderick attempted to take advantage of the state 
 by getting himself elected to the federal senate a year 
 in advance of the proper time, but failed, and the people 
 gave an overwhelming majority at the September elec- 
 tion to his opponents, the chivalry candidates. The 
 gas works went into operation and furnished light for 
 the streets in February. Omnibuses began to run be- 
 tween North Beach and South Park at intervals of half 
 an hour. The owners of the steamboats plying on the 
 inland waters tributary to the Golden Gate, combined 
 in the California Steam Navigation Company, which for 
 fifteen years afterwards had control of the passenger and 
 freight traffic between San Francisco and the chief in- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 209 
 
 land ports. The Hoadley grades were modified, sav- 
 ing about one hundred feet on the top of Telegraph Hill, 
 which Hoadley had proposed to cut down so much. 
 Portsmouth square, previously open, uneven and filthy, 
 was graded, supplied with an iron fence, and planted 
 with grass, ornamental trees and shrubs. In October, 
 Henry Meiggs failed for eight hundred thousand dollars, 
 and lied to Chile, after issuing forged city warrants, 
 forged promissory notes and fraudulent shares in a lum- 
 ber company to the amount of two hundred thousand 
 dollars or more. Paving with cobble stones, as prefer- 
 able to planking, was introduced in those blocks where 
 land was most valuable, and among the streets thus 
 improved were Montgomery between California and 
 Washington, and Washington between Montgomery and 
 Dupont, Powell street was graded from Clay to North 
 Beach. Pacific was graded between Montgomery and 
 Sansome, by a deep cut through rock. A road to North 
 Beach was opened along the eastern base of Telegraph 
 Hill. Meiggs' wharf was built, and Lone Mountain 
 cemetery was opened, superseding Yerba Buena cemetery 
 for general use. 
 
 Sec. 101. Dillon and Del Valle. The arrest of Del 
 Yalle, Mexican consul in San Francisco, as principal, 
 and of Dillon. French consul, as accomplice in the vio- 
 lation of the neutrality laws of the United States, by en- 
 listing Frenchmen to serve in the Mexican army, was 
 followed by trials which excited great interest at the 
 time. The testimony showed that the men were en- 
 gaged as colonists, not as soldiers; but it was understood 
 
 14 
 
210 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 they might be required to serve in the Mexican army, 
 especially if the American filibusters should become 
 troublesome, and the jury, perhaps influenced by the 
 feeling prevalent in the community, that the French 
 should not be permitted to put any obstacle in the way 
 of the march of American annexation, found Del Yalle 
 guilty. In the case of Dillon the jury disagreed. Del 
 Yalle was never sentenced, and the American govern- 
 ment apologized to Mr. Dillon for having arrested him 
 illegally for refusing to appear as a witness in the Del 
 Yalle case. Before the trials were ended, Raousset had 
 been executed, and all fears of a French occupation of 
 Sonora had been dissipated. 
 
 Sec. 102. Mercantile Business. The business of the 
 merchant in San Francisco for years after the gold dis- 
 covery was exposed to frequent and violent fluctuations, 
 which could not be avoided by any experience or pru- 
 dence. The city was the sole port of the only large and 
 highly civilized community on the north Pacific. It 
 was far from the other notable seaports in the same ocean, 
 and as a market for imports was nearly equal to all the 
 others together. No other Pacific port could exercise 
 much influence by relieving the extremes of demand or 
 supply at San Francisco ; none could furnish the articles 
 most needed by the miners. Oregon had only thirteen 
 thousand inhabitants in 1850, and most of them were 
 new settlers and busy in opening farms, so that they had 
 little to export. Mexico had nothing to sell save silver ; 
 Asia nothing that California wanted save rice and sugar ; 
 Australia and Chile little save flour, and that was not to 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 211 
 
 be had regularly in large supply. The north Atlantic 
 was the source from which nearly everything was brought. 
 
 The distance from New York to San Francisco by the 
 sailing route was nineteen thousand miles, and the time 
 four months and a half, though the trip was repeatedly 
 made in three months. All the freight before the open- 
 ing of the Panama railroad, in 1855, came by way of 
 Cape Horn. Letters by the isthmus required nearly a 
 month ; and after the receipt at New York of an order 
 for merchandise to be sent to California, two or three 
 weeks usually elapsed before a ship willing to take addi- 
 tional freight would sail. Thus, between the date of the 
 order sent from San Francisco and that of the final de- 
 livery of the merchandise, there was an interval of six 
 months, and there might be great fluctuations in that 
 time. The merchant had to take the chances that the 
 market would be overstocked or exhausted. He could 
 not learn precisely what had been ordered by others, for 
 the manifests sent out by mail and published after the 
 departure of each ship from New York with a cargo for 
 California, classed many articles as sundries, and often 
 gave the number of packages without weight or size, so 
 that when the article shipped was known, there was no 
 clear indication of the quantity. 
 
 For many reasons it was not possible to keep large 
 stocks on hand. The rate of interest in 1849 was ten 
 per cent, per month, so that it was better to sell an 
 article immediately after receipt for one dollar and loan 
 the money than to keep it a year and then sell for 
 two dollars. Such warehouses as there were, were not 
 
212 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 secure against fire. Merchandise could be put in store- 
 ships, but the storage was from two to ten dollars a 
 month per ton, and the lighterage, or transfer from the 
 ship to the shore, was three or four dollars per ton. 
 The merchants were newcomers, many of them inexpe- 
 rienced in the business, or men under thirty, so that they 
 could not have long-established reputations. All the 
 houses were highly combustible and liable to be swept 
 away at two hours' notice by a conflagration, and the 
 land-titles were defective, thus leaving the people without 
 such basis for credit in their real estate as every com- 
 munity should have for high prosperity. The popula- 
 tion was migratory, and sudden reverses of fortune were 
 frequent. If there was not enough of an article, it would 
 go up ten, a hundred, even three hundred-fold: if there 
 was an overstock it might go down to nothing. The 
 arrival of one ship often changed the condition from 
 scarcity to glut, and made or marred several fortunes. 
 Lumber was worth four hundred dollars a thousand 
 feet in the fall of 1849, twelve times the present price, 
 and in the spring of 1850 it w r ould not sell for enough to 
 pay freight. Tobacco, which had commanded two dollars 
 per pound, had been imported so abundantly that in 
 the winter of 1849 boxes of it were thrown into the mud 
 as a substitute for stepping-stones, and other boxes of it 
 were used to make a foundation of a wooden house on 
 the eastern side of Montgomery street, near Jackson. 
 Saleratus, which could be bought in New York for four 
 cents a pound, ran up to twelve and fifteen dollars. The 
 miners generally having no professional bakers, nor yeast, 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 213 
 
 nor skill in baking, depended upon it to make their 
 bread light, and would have paid twenty dollars a pound 
 rather than go without. Dried apples fluctuated from 
 five to seventy-live cents a pound ; whisky from forty 
 cents to two dollars per gallon ; carpet-tacks, which sold 
 for ten cents a paper in New York, sold here at one time 
 for one dollar and twenty-five cents; common candles 
 rose to one dollar and twenty-five cents a pound, and 
 Xew York butter, after rising to eight}', fell to six cents. 
 
 Apothecaries' scales, used in every business place 
 for weighing gold dust, commanded high prices. Spring 
 balances, worth three dollars a dozen in New York, sold 
 for seventy-five dollars in San Francisco. Ueavy canvas 
 was used extensively for tents; and the rough boarding 
 on the inside of wooden houses — or if there were no 
 boards, the studding — was hidden under white muslin, 
 which was fastened with tacks, of which, as well as of 
 the muslin, there was a large consumption. 
 
 An example of the urgency with which things were 
 wanted when the}-' were w T anted, was furnished by the 
 keeper of a saloon who needed a large punch bowl in 
 1 840, but could find none for sale. The nearest ap- 
 proach to it was a soup tureen, and not being able to 
 buy it separately, he took the whole dinner set to which 
 it belonged, though he had no use for the other pieces. 
 Another keeper of a liquor shop having failed to find 
 any white sugar in the market, bought barrels of Chinese 
 candy and had it ground fine, as preferable to brown 
 
 In 1850 four firms made an agreement to take all the 
 
214 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 flour that should be delivered by a certain house from 
 Chile within a limited period, the amount to be not less 
 than one hundred thousand nor more than two hun- 
 dred thousand barrels, at fourteen dollars per barrel. 
 Each firm assumes a responsibility of seven hundred 
 thousand dollars, and there was a forfeit of one hundred 
 thousand dollars for a failure to comply with the con- 
 tract. Soon after the flour began to arrive the purchasers 
 thought they were secure of a vast profit, the market 
 price being from twenty-live to thirty dollars per barrel. 
 They had pocketed several hundred thousand dollars, 
 and could have paid the one hundred thousand dollars 
 forfeit, thrown up the contract, and had a nice surplus 
 for themselves ; but they kept on taking the flour, which 
 began to fall under the influence of the large importa- 
 tions till it went down to ten dollars, and they lost all 
 they had made and something more. 
 
 Sec. 103. Staple Imports. As a result of the necessity 
 of importing provisions, the diet of the miners was pe- 
 culiar. The leading articles of food imported, such as 
 would bear the voyage round Cape Horn (passing twice 
 through the torrid zone) with least injury, and possessing 
 the most nourishment in the least bulk, were flour, salt 
 meat, salt fish, beans, hard bread, rice, dried apples, 
 coffee and sugar. Even so late as 1853, six thousand 
 tons of hard bread were imported in one year from New 
 York. 
 
 The San Francisco market was remarkable not less 
 for its fluctuations than for its leading articles, which 
 were different from those of any other city. Women 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 215 
 
 were very rare in the mines, and the business dependent 
 upon their patronage was scarcely worthy of mention. 
 There was not much more demand for fine broadcloth 
 than for ribbons and laces; but a large proportion of the 
 articles which elsewhere every farm or neighborhood pro- 
 duces for itself, and which therefore do not pay tribute 
 to metropolitan merchants, were here imported. There 
 were no farms, in or near the mines, producing fresh 
 vegetables, fresh fruit, milk, butter, eggs, chickens and 
 pigs ; no housewives making soap, candles, pickles, sweet- 
 meats or clothing ; no flax or cotton was grown ; no sheep 
 were shorn ; no cloth was woven ; no leather was tanned ; 
 no clothes, shoes or hats were made; no pottery was 
 burned; no iron was smelted. A little wheat was 
 ground, scarcely enough to be taken into consideration. 
 The Californians had to send to New York for their 
 provisions, clothing, tools, cooking utensils, table furni- 
 ture, and many of the articles needed in building their 
 houses. Other communities imported only a few ar- 
 ticles relatively, and those few of subordinate value in 
 the ordinary business of life. Not so in California. If 
 they had been deprived of what they obtained from 
 abroad, the Californians could scarcely have lived for a 
 day. 
 
 Sec. 104. Commercial Panic. Early in 1854 a severe 
 panic smote the mercantile business. The marvelous 
 prosperity of the period from the beginning of 1851 till 
 the middle of 1853 had led to overspeculation. Men 
 supposed that the gold production, the imports, the value 
 of real estate, the demand for storage, and the population 
 
216 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 would go on increasing at the same ratio as in the pre- 
 vious two years ; and they made this supposition the basis 
 of their calculations and contracts. They bought lots, 
 built fire-proof houses, and ordered cargoes of merchan- 
 dise from the east, and would have doubled their capital 
 twice in a year, if their expectations of a continued in- 
 crease in the yield of the mines and in the number of 
 miners at the same rates as from 1849 to 1852 had been 
 verified ; but the mining production had already culmin- 
 ated in the winter of 1852-3, though the fact was not 
 known or appreciated until several years later. The 
 yield was probably larger in 1852 than in any other 
 calendar year, though the exportation as officially report- 
 ed was largest in 1853, when it reached fifty-seven mil- 
 lions; the next year it fell to fifty-one, and in 1855 to 
 forty-three. The decline was at first attributed to un- 
 favorable seasons; to the lack of water in the diggings, 
 and to the early floods that swept away the dams and 
 flumes just when vast sums were about to be taken from 
 the beds of the rivers. 
 
 Whatever were the causes, the miners as a class felt 
 the results. Many returned to the eastern states ; others 
 removed to the valleys and sought employment on the 
 farms; thousands of claims previously highly productive 
 were abandoned; only thirty- three thousand immigrants 
 came in 1853 by sea, though sixty-six thousand had 
 come in the previous year; the decline in production 
 frightened the people in the mines, and many of them 
 undertook to be economical; consumption decreased, and 
 the prices of merchandise and land, and the rates of in- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 217 
 
 terest fell in San Francisco. The city had more stores 
 and warehouses than she could use. Out of a thousand 
 business houses in the middle of 1854 more than three 
 hundred were unoccupied. Many of those who had 
 bought large supplies of merchandise, or built costly 
 fire-proof houses, failed in 1855, when they could bear 
 up no longer. There were two hundred voluntary bank- 
 rupts, with deficits of forty thousand dollars each, on the 
 average, in a city that probably had not forty thousand 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Something of the decay of business in the city must 
 be attributed to the growth of agriculture. Many of the 
 immigrants of 1852 had gone to farming, and they were 
 joined by thousands of miners in the next year, so that 
 there was a large increase in the production of grain and 
 vegetables, and a correspondent decline in the quantity of 
 flour imported, in the number of ships needed, and 
 in the profit of the consignees, warehousemen, jobbers, 
 and draymen in the city. The value of certain kinds 
 of provisions and grain imported was fourteen millions 
 in 1853, only five in 1854, two the next year, and one 
 in 1855. There was no compensating increase in the 
 exports, exclusive of the precious metals. Quicksilver 
 was more than one third in value of the exports between 
 1854 and 1857, and there was not enough of it in a year 
 to load one large clipper ship. The shipping entering 
 the harbor fell from four hundred and seven thousand 
 tons (not counting steamers which carried little freight, 
 or coasters) in 1853, to one hundred and ninety-seven 
 thousand in 1857. 
 
218 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Sec. 105. Meiggs. By superior knowledge of busi- 
 ness, attention to it, capacity, tact and manners, Henry 
 Meiggs became a prominent citizen of San Francisco in 
 1850. With a prepossessing appearance and address, a 
 kindly greeting for everybody, and a purse open for 
 every public need and for every call of meritorious pri- 
 vate charity, he was a general favorite. His decision 
 upon bargains proposed to him was quick and clear. 
 People had confidence in his judgment. His occupation 
 in San Francisco was, as it had been in his native state, 
 New York, that of buying and selling lumber. His 
 place of business was at North Beach, where he built a 
 little wharf and a planing and sawing mill. He also 
 organized a company which erected in Mendocino county 
 one of the largest and best sawmills in the state. 
 
 Meeting every day with the people owning land at 
 North Beach, listening to their predictions of the ad- 
 vance of their part of the city, he adopted their ideas, 
 became more sanguine than any of them, and satisfied 
 himself that by speculation in lots there he could make 
 millions. It was less than a mile from the business 
 center of the city ; it was nearer the Golden Gate ; it 
 had a larger area of level land ; it had a water front 
 where ships could anchor securely, though the winds 
 and waves w r ere higher than in Yerba Buena cove; it 
 might be reached on a level road by a cut round the 
 base of Telegraph Hill, and by Stockton street, over an 
 elevation that did not exceed eighty-five feet in height; 
 the titles of land were better than at any place south of 
 California street, and the prices not one quarter of those 
 
THE GOLDEN EUA IN DECLINE. 219 
 
 in the district south of Pacific and east of Stockton. 
 The city must grow, and every circumstance indicated 
 in Meiggs' opinion, that, by proper management, a large 
 part of its most valuable growth might be turned to 
 North Beach. The more he thought of it, the clearer it 
 became to him. Millions had been made by the owners 
 of water lots in Yerba Buena cove, and he imagined that 
 he could make as much out of the lots in North Beach. 
 They could be had cheap, so he bought extensively, per- 
 suaded his friends to buy, built Meiggs' wharf two thou- 
 sand feet long, and filled in some lots. 
 
 Having done more than anybody else for the improve- 
 ment of the northern end of the city, he became so popu- 
 lar in that neighborhood that there was a general demand 
 that he should represent it in the city council, and he 
 took the place. The cemetery in the block bounded by 
 Powell, Stockton, Lombard and Chestnut streets, was 
 regarded as a drawback to the growth of that part of 
 the city, and he obtained the passage of ordinances to 
 close it, and to remove the bones of those who had been 
 buried there to the new cemetery to be opened on the 
 block now occupied by the new city hall. He graded 
 part of Stockton street, and under his influence contracts 
 were let for grading Powell street from Clay to North 
 Beach, Francisco street through the northern end of 
 Telegraph Hill, and several other streets along the north- 
 ern and eastern sides of the hill, thus facilitating access 
 to North Beach from the business centre of the city. 
 
 Sec. 10G. Forged Warrants. But these improvements, 
 the taxes and the street assessments, demanded more 
 
220 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 money than he could spare from his business. He had 
 expected that his lots would now advance considerably 
 in value, so that he could sell a few at a high profit, and 
 obtain the means for going on with his plans; but the 
 people could not be made to believe in North Beach, 
 and besides, just at the time when he expected to sell — 
 that is, in the spring of 1854 — there was a serious de- 
 cline of real estate throughout the city. He was a 
 bankrupt ; but that fact was his own secret, and he under- 
 took to save himself by forgery, going into the business 
 extensive^. The city was then doing business on trust, 
 giving to her creditors warrants or municipal promissory 
 notes, without interest, attested by the signatures of the 
 mayor and controller. Those officials were engaged in 
 private business, and did not guard the blank warrants 
 with proper care. Meiggs, as an alderman and business 
 man of high position, was a frequent visitor in their 
 offices. He was attorney in fact for a contractor, who 
 was entitled to a large number of warrants for street 
 work, and while getting them, could see where and how 
 the blank warrants were kept. The blanks were sup- 
 plied to the controller in book form, and it is supposed 
 that, for the convenience of the officials, the controller 
 signed a lot of blanks in advance, then the mayor signed 
 also, and the paper was ready to be filled with the 
 amount, name of creditor, date and number, torn out 
 and given to the creditor. This was not less careless 
 than convenient. 
 
 The city warrants were considered good security for 
 one half their nominal value. Many of them were used 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 221 
 
 by Meiggs as security for borrowed money. lie was 
 constitutionally a borrower. From tbe time when be 
 undertook his North Beach speculation, be was never 
 out of debt; be was nearly always pushed. " Shinning 
 round " for money was a large part of his regular busi- 
 ness. He said, in a joke, that it seemed an unnatural 
 situation to him if he left his dwelling in the morning 
 without having to hunt up a loan of forty thousand dol- 
 lars in the course of tbe day. He found that nothing 
 was accepted as security by the borrowers generally 
 with less objection, delay and suspicion than city war- 
 rants ; nor when be came to examine the circumstances, 
 could he find any other fraudulent paper which he could 
 obtain or use with so little danger to himself. 
 
 There is reason to believe (for the facts were never 
 judicially or officially investigated) that Meiggs took a 
 book of blank warrants already signed by the mayor and 
 controller, and filled them up with the name, sum, date 
 and number, in some cases copying the warrants which 
 he had previouslj' received, so that it would be a difficult 
 matter for the officials to distinguish between the original 
 and tbe duplicate. As no interest was to be paid on 
 them, and there were no funds with which to redeem 
 them, and no suspicions had been excited as to their gen- 
 uineness, the holders did not take them to the controllers 
 office for examination. Thus month after month went 
 by without tbe discovery of tbe forgery, and meantime 
 Meiggs was getting deeper and deeper into difficult}'. To 
 prevent detection it was necessary for him to pay interest 
 punctually every month. Many of the lenders discov- 
 
222 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ered that he was ready to pay more than the market 
 rate and they exacted from three to ten per cent, a month, 
 and some of them, it is said, even took One per cent, a 
 day. His burden rapidly accumulated until his debts 
 reached eight hundred thousand dollars; that was the 
 figure fixed by common rumor, and, if correct, he prob- 
 ably had to pay not less than thirty thousand dollars 
 monthly of interest. So long as he paid this, his cred- 
 itors generally were satisfied to let the debt stand, and 
 each might imagine that he was the only one to whom 
 Meiggs was paying heavy tribute. 
 
 Sec. 107. Other Frauds. .The forged warrants were 
 not the only fraudulent resource of Meiggs. He used a 
 number of forged promissory notes, and it is supposed 
 that as he was not a skillful penman, the signatures, 
 which were very well done, were executed by a clerk in 
 his service. It is possible that some signatures repudi- 
 ated as forgeries after Meiggs' flight, would never have 
 been questioned if he had remained to defend himself. 
 By his course he placed himself at the mercy of some 
 who were worse morally than he was ; but never having 
 been publicly exposed, they could safely charge him with 
 offences which he had never committed, and b}^ this in- 
 justice to him they avoided the payment of honest debts. 
 Among the forged notes used by Meiggs was one for fif- 
 teen thousand dollars, purporting to be drawn by Thomp- 
 son k Co. A member of the firm discovered the fraud, 
 but consented, under the influence of Meiggs' pleading, 
 to conceal it, told the holder of the note that it was all 
 right, and afterwards was compelled to pay it. Meiggs 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 223 
 
 made a fraudulent overissue of stock of the lumber com- 
 pany of which he was president to the amount of three 
 hundred thousand dollars, and upon this he obtained 
 seventy-five thousand dollars; so said rumor, accepted 
 at the time, but never proved to be true. 
 
 Sec. 108. Meiggs Flight. At last, in September, 1854, 
 it became evident to Meiggs that detection could not be 
 avoided much longer. His only chance to escape bank- 
 ruptcy and the consequent exposure of his frauds was 
 based upon the hope that real estate at North Beach 
 would come into demand ; but many circumstances indi- 
 cated that business would continue to grow worse rather 
 better. Besides, the manner of people towards him be- 
 gan to change; his continuous solicitations for money, 
 his payment of high rates, and the multitude of his loans 
 became a subject of conversation and suspicion among 
 the brokers and bankers. They foresaw his failure. Re- 
 mark was made about his relation to street contracts, in 
 some of which it was supposed that he had an improper 
 interest. It was time for him to leave San Francisco. 
 
 He bought or chartered the brig ''American," of sev- 
 eral hundred tons, supplied it with a good lot of provis- 
 ions and fine stores, including canned meats and wines, 
 told his friends that he was going out to sail on the bay, 
 took his family and brother along, and on the sixth of 
 October sailed out through the Golden Gate and disap- 
 peared from the horizon of California. It was reported 
 on the same day that he had failed for eight hundred 
 thousand dollars, and when it was announced the next 
 day that he had fled there was a terrific excitement. 
 
224 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 The holders of the Meiggs warrants rushed to the City 
 Hall, and there manj^ learned that they had nothing save 
 worthless paper as security. They numbered hundreds, 
 and belonged to all classes, including bankers, merchants, 
 city officials, mechanics, draj'tnen and public women. 
 He had taken advantage of the people to whom he fur- 
 nished employment, and even his laundress was not 
 spared. The city treasurer was a victim to the extent of 
 twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 His brother, John G. Meiggs, who went with him, had 
 been elected city controller a month before, but had not 
 yet entered upon the duties of his office. His nomina- 
 tion was secured by Henry's influence, who perhaps 
 hoped to have an opportunity of managing the forged 
 warrants, so that their character would never become 
 known to the public. There was no reason to suppose 
 that John knew anything of the forgeries. 
 
 As there was no opportunity for trying him, the char- 
 acter and extent of his crimes were never established 
 judicially. Many of those robbed by him considered it 
 better for their credit to say nothing of the loss, save to 
 their intimate friends. It was reported in the news- 
 papers, at the time, that the nominal value of his forged 
 paper- warrants, stocks and notes, amounted to two million 
 dollars, and that he carried away live hundred thousand 
 dollars with him ; but afterwards the former figure was 
 reduced to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the 
 latter to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 The bark "American" touched at Tahiti, and went 
 thence to Chile, where soon after his arrival he found 
 
THE GOLDEN EEA IN DECLINE. 285 
 
 employment as an overseer of a small gang of men. His 
 story had followed him, and people generally regarded 
 him at first with suspicion and dislike ; but the railroad 
 contractors found that he was useful, and gave him a 
 chance to exercise his talents. The work was very 
 difficult, and the country poor in men competent to 
 take charge of a large number of laborers in an enter- 
 prise of this kind. It was new to Meiggs, but he had 
 high capacities, and was soon able to surpass all his 
 rivals. He became a contractor, succeeded, and built 
 the most difficult parts of the road between Valparaiso 
 and Santiago. He said afterwards that he landed in 
 Chile with only eight thousand two hundred dollars, 
 and that he was at one time so poor that he was com- 
 pelled to pawn his watch. Whether this was true or 
 not, it is certain that in a short time he was recognized 
 as a wealthy man, able to take contracts which required 
 the advance of large sums of money. After he became 
 well known, it was universally admitted that his arrival 
 in Chile had been a great benefit to the country. The 
 government, bankers, engineers, sub-contractors and 
 laborers agreed in praising him. 
 
 His fame filled South America, When Peru under- 
 took the construction of her system of railroads, he 
 was invited to become the principal contractor, and he 
 accepted the invitation. The possession of capital, ex- 
 perience and confidence gave him political influence, and 
 he became one of the leading men of Lima. lie built 
 eight hundred miles of railroad, including some of the 
 most difficult work of the kind in the world, and re- 
 
 15 
 
226 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ceived on his contracts more than one hundred million 
 dollars in Peru. As in California, before his departure, 
 and in Chile, he succeeded in gaining general esteem. 
 
 For years he was anxious to return to San Francisco. 
 By agents he bought up nearly all his notes, though paying 
 in many cases only a small percentage of the principal 
 originally loaned to him. In 1873, his friends applied to 
 the legislature of California for the passage of a bill to 
 exempt him from trial for his crimes, in case he should 
 return. Both houses passed the bill, but the governor 
 vetoed it, and that was the end of it. If signed, it 
 would have been void ; for the constitution does not con- 
 fer the pardoning power upon the legislature. So Mr. 
 Meiggs stayed in Peru, where he died in 1877, and was 
 followed to the grave by the lamentations of the whole 
 people, who admired him not less for his amiable char- 
 acter and charitable deeds among them than for his 
 signal services to the country in the construction of its 
 railroads. 
 
 Sec. 109. 1855. As compared with 1854, which 
 had been a year of panic in real estate and great loss in 
 mercantile business for San Francisco, 1855 showed a 
 decrease of six million dollars in the gold shipment, and 
 of eighteen thousand in the number of immigrants arriv- 
 ing by sea. In February Page, Bacon k Co.'s bank, 
 which had bought twenty million dollars' worth of gold 
 dust in the previous year, and was the leading financial 
 establishment of the state, failed in consequence of the 
 embarrassments of its parent house in St. Louis. This 
 disaster was followed by the failure of Adams & Co., the 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 227 
 
 chief express company of California, and of many other 
 banking houses, most of which never resumed. Adams 
 & Co., who had built up the express traffic, and had a 
 much larger business (counting transportation, banking, 
 and the number of their servants together) than any 
 other house in the state, disappeared forever, and Wells, 
 Fargo & Co., the rival establishment, succeeded to the 
 place. An excitement about the Kern river mines 
 agitated the whole state, disturbed business in San Fran- 
 cisco during February, and then suddenly died out when 
 the truth became known. Broderick obtained control of 
 the democratic state convention and secured the renom- 
 i nation of Bigler, whereupon the chivalry leaders joined 
 the new secret political society of the know-nothings, who 
 obtained control of the state and city administrations, 
 the Whig party having disappeared. The duty of the 
 legislature to elect a federal senator this year was not 
 performed, the members being unable to agree in a choice. 
 The floating debt of the city was funded, three hundred 
 and twenty-two thousand dollars in bonds being issued 
 for two million fifty-nine thousand dollars in city war- 
 rants, most of which were repudiated, while others were 
 acknowledged to be worth about one third of the sums 
 which the city had solemnly promised to pay. This was 
 an act of repudiation, the only one in the history of the 
 city, but was so represented to the people that they did 
 not fully appreciate the dishonesty of refusing to pay the 
 explicit obligations incurred by the officials. 
 
 Sec. 110. i & Co. Jn 1849, the house of 
 
 Adams k Co.. expressmen, of Boston, sent D. II. lias: 
 
228 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 as resident partner to found a branch house in San Fran- 
 cisco, where he arrived on the thirty-first October; and 
 in a few weeks Adams & Co. made larger shipments of 
 gold to New York than any other house. The business 
 increased rapidly, and a banking department was added 
 to the express, at the urgent solicitation of merchants. 
 At first Adams & Co. did not extend their routes beyond 
 Sacramento and Stockton, connecting at the former city 
 with .Freeman k Co.'s express, which had routes thence 
 to the " northern mines," as they were then called, and 
 at the latter city with Newell & Co., which had offices 
 in the camps of the southern mines. Subsequently the 
 firms of Freeman and Newell were bought out, and 
 Adams & Co. had their offices and agents in all the 
 towns of any note in California. They were, in 1853, 
 unquestionably the leading business house of the state, 
 dealing with more people, furnishing more accommoda- 
 tion to commerce and industry, handling more money, 
 and probably making more profit than any other estab- 
 lishment. They undertook a careful system of assays to 
 ascertain the value of the gold dust from different camps 
 — ranging from fourteen dollars and fifty cents in parts of 
 Mariposa county to nineteen dollars and fifty cents on the 
 Lower Yuba — and they paid the miners the value, less 
 a moderate discount. Wherever they opened an agency, 
 the price of gold dust rose. By Adams & Co. the miners 
 sent money to their families in the eastern states — pro- 
 bably aggregating ^ve hundred thousand dollars month- 
 ly — and also obtained their letters, which were often 
 addressed to San Francisco, and were there hunted out 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 229 
 
 by the express for their customers, scattered through the 
 Sierra Nevada. They used their influence efficiently to 
 introduce the private gold coin — five, ten and twenty 
 dollar pieces — struck by J. G. Kellogg and TVass, Molitor 
 & Co. This money, though not authorized by law, con- 
 tained as much gold as the government mintage of the 
 same respective figures, and, in the scarcity of the other 
 coins, was a great convenience to the public. Some of 
 the bankers, expecting their profits in exchange and 
 gold dust to be diminished by the general acceptance of 
 the private coin, tried to excite prejudice against it, but 
 were defeated partly by the influence of Adams & Co. 
 
 In May, 1854, the eastern branch of Adams & Co. 
 was merged into a joint stock company, and the Califor- 
 nian branch was reorganized, with D. H. Haskell and I. 
 C. Woods as general partners and Alvin Adams as a 
 special partner, the business remaining* under the same 
 style and management, and continuing to extend and 
 gain favor. The profits of the express department were 
 about fifty thousand dollars a month, and the house had 
 a capital of two million dollars. A New York bank 
 which had promised to assist Page, Bacon & Co., of St. 
 Louis, in building and raising the money for a railroad 
 from that city to Cincinnati, having failed to keep its 
 engagement, the former house saw itself on the verge of 
 failure, and sent one of its partners to San Francisco to 
 get as much gold dust as possible. Unfortunately for the 
 Californians, the next steamer from Panama with the 
 news of the St. Louis trouble was behind time, so that 
 two steamers left San Francisco after the arrival of the 
 
230 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 partner and before the people knew that a disaster was 
 coming. The result was that about one million dollars 
 more had been carried away than w^ould have been if the 
 merchants and bankers had had the usual warning, and 
 the lack of that sum was probably the main cause of the 
 completeness of the crash that smote San Francisco on 
 the twenty-third February. 
 
 On the day when the run began on Page, Bacon 
 & Co., it became evident to Adams & Co.'s bank that 
 they would have to close the next day, and that the 
 attachments issued after the closing would not only 
 be a source of ruinous expense, but would give such 
 assets as might be saved from the ruin to a few cred- 
 itors, leaving the others to lose everything. The house 
 owed perhaps two million dollars to depositors — mostly 
 poor men, there were no savings banks then — and 
 the alarm was so great and general that it would all 
 be demanded the next day, though there was not cash 
 on hand to pay one tenth of it. A large portion of the 
 capital was in fire-proof brick buildings, which had de- 
 creased much in value with the decline of the mining 
 towns, and yet would pay a good profit on the invest- 
 ment if the express business could be continued, as the 
 resident partners hoped it would be. 
 
 To preserve the popularity and good- will of the ex- 
 press department, if possible, the resident partners con- 
 sidered it important to secure a ratable distribution of 
 the assets of the bank among the creditors. There was 
 then no federal bankrupt act, and the state law gave the 
 property to the attaching creditors according to the date 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 231 
 
 of their levies; so the first might get paid in full, while 
 those later got nothing. To avoid the injustice of the 
 attachment law, if possible, it was considered advisable 
 to obtain the appointment of a receiver, who should act 
 as trustee for all the creditors and pay his fair share to 
 each. An amicable suit was therefore commenced in 
 the name of Adams against the other partners, and under 
 this proceeding, A. A. Cohen was appointed assignee, 
 with instructions to take charge of all the property. 
 
 The popular excitement was intense throughout the 
 state, the number of losers being great in the interior, as 
 well as in the metropolis. The officers of the law in 
 various towns refused to recognize the receiver, seized 
 the assets within their reach, and distributed them to 
 the resident creditors, pajdng in many cases not only the 
 principal debt, but considerable sums for legal expenses, 
 arising from attachment suits. In one town the bank 
 was broken open by a mob and the money and dust in 
 the vault were paid out by a committee of citizens to 
 persons producing certificates of deposit, or claims backed 
 by writs of attachment. It was soon evident that neither 
 the banking nor express business could ever be revived. 
 Much of the property had been taken illegally, but the 
 costs of recovering it would far exceed its value. 
 
 On the night of his appointment as receiver, Mr. 
 Cohen, acting with the advice of his counsel, moved the 
 cash in the vault, for fear of a mob, from the house of 
 Adams k Co. to that of Alsop & Co., bankers. The 
 receivership having been declared illegal, under the 
 state insolvent law, the creditors held a meeting and 
 
232 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 elected A. A. Cohen, Richard Roman, formerly state 
 treasurer, and Jones, of the firm of Palmer, Cook k Co., 
 assignees, and by them the assets were transferred from 
 the house of Alsop k Co. to that of Palmer, Cook k Co. 
 Cohen, having obtained permission to leave the state for 
 three months, went to New York, and while there, Naglee, 
 who had been appointed receiver, demanded from Roman 
 and Jones the possession of the assets ; but in the mean- 
 time garnishments had been served by creditors on Pal- 
 mer, Cook k Co., and the assignees pleaded inability to 
 get the funds from the bank. The same demand was 
 made on Cohen, as one of the assignees, when he re- 
 turned, and he responded with the same plea. In a suit 
 by Naglee against Cohen, before Judge Hager, judgment 
 was rendered for two hundred and sixty-nine thousand 
 dollars, and he was imprisoned for contempt when he did 
 not pay. Meantime, the vigilance committee broke out; 
 Heydenfeldt, one of the three justices of the supreme 
 court, left the state ; Terry, another, was imprisoned by 
 the committee j Murray, the third justice, could not hold 
 court alone, and no other tribunal could release Cohen. 
 He was held in durance for six months, but when his 
 case was heard he was released on his plea that it was 
 an impossibility to get the assets from Palmer, Cook 
 &Co. 
 
 The law provided that a bank could not be discharged 
 under the insolvent law, and this principle had the corol- 
 lary that the assets of a bank could not be distributed 
 equitably among the creditors, so the assets of Adams k 
 Co. became the subject of a general scramble by creditors 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 233 
 
 and lawyers, and reams of paper were required to con- 
 tain the legal records of the proceedings. Most of the 
 creditors got a trifle; some got payment three or five 
 times over; others, after partial collections, sold their 
 certificates to others, who collected again. Men who got 
 hold of property of Adams k Co. bought up claims, em- 
 ployed agents to garnishee them, and otherwise managed 
 to keep what they had. The litigation continued for 
 seven }~ears, and most of the property was eaten up by the 
 litigation, or disposed of so that no judicial decree showed 
 what had become of it. A storm of obloquy for years 
 followed the manager and the first receiver. The poor 
 depositors, who would have got most of the mone}^ in the 
 bank if the doors had not closed for the purpose of giving 
 the money to a receiver, obtained nothing, and they and 
 the press generally denounced the proceedings as a de- 
 liberate fraud, but the accusation was never made the 
 subject of trial in a criminal suit. 
 
 Sec. 111. Panama Railroad. The first railroad 
 train crossed the isthmus of Panama, from ocean to 
 ocean, on the twenty- third of January. Work had 
 been commenced in 1850 with the expectation that 
 the road would be finished within a year or two, at a 
 cost of not more than one million and a half dollars. 
 It was only forty-eight miles long; its highest eleva- 
 tion was three hundred feet above the sea; for a con- 
 siderable distance it ran over ground nearly level; it 
 had neither long tunnels, deep rock cuttings, nor any 
 great river to cross; and the right of way cost little. 
 It had none of the difficulties that make railroads ex- 
 
234 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ceptionally expensive in the United States. Its pro- 
 jectors thought they had an immense fortune in their 
 hands, but they soon found unexpected obstacles. The 
 ignorance and indolence of the natives, and the fearful 
 mortality of the imported laborers were beyond all 
 calculation. Graders died by thousands. The num- 
 ber of victims was never reported, and was studiously 
 concealed. The line at the eastern end ran for eisfht 
 miles through a swamp which smote nearly all who 
 worked in it with pestilence. While the laborers were 
 struck down with fever on the road, the New York 
 capitalists who had undertaken the enterprise were 
 borne down by the fearful expense. The millionaires, 
 Howland and Aspinwall, were induced to take hold 
 of the enterprise, and even they were in danger. At 
 last, however, by the help of Senator Gwin, hav- 
 ing obtained a mail contract which assured a large 
 revenue, and improved credit to them, they were 
 enabled to see the work finished, after seven and a 
 half millions of dollars had been spent upon it. The 
 discomfort of riding thirty miles on a mule, and trav- 
 eling thirty-five miles in a canoe under charge of rude 
 and nearly nude negroes, and the danger of catching 
 the virulent Panama fever, by sleeping on the ground, 
 were thus obviated, and the voyage between New 
 York and San Francisco became relatively a pleasant 
 trip, as well as cheaper than before. Travelers, espec- 
 ially those with large trunks, not unfrequently had to 
 pay seventy -five dollars to get from Chagres to Pan- 
 ama by boat and mule. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 235 
 
 After the construction of the road, the number of 
 lady immigrants to California rapidly increased, and 
 so did the Californians of both sexes returning to the 
 east for short trips, to see their relatives and visit 
 their old homes. These travelers demanded cabin 
 passages, with luxurious accommodations — they did 
 not ox) in the steerage, as in earlier vears — and the 
 Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which had previ- 
 ously built boats larger, more commodious, more ele- 
 gant, and higher above the water than any used or 
 that could with any reasonable degree of safety be 
 used on the stormy Atlantic, ordered other boats still 
 larger and more elegant — veritable ocean palaces. 
 Though the road and the Pacific mail steamers were 
 owned in New York, California supplied the motives 
 and the money for building them, and they were rela- 
 tively of more importance to San Francisco than to 
 any other city. 
 
 Sec. 112. Gambling. Gambling was a prominent 
 feature of San Francisco life before 1855. It had 
 been permitted under the Mexican dominion, had not 
 been punished under the military government that 
 came with the conquest, and was made a source of 
 revenue by the ayuntamiento in August, 1849. Tins 
 legalization coinciding with the great influx of i mini- 
 grants by sea and land, and a large increase in the 
 gold yield, raised gambling to be one of the most 
 prominent branches of business in the city. The 
 gamblers had the best buildings in the busiest streets, 
 paid the largest rents, and had the most customers. 
 
236 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Their halls on a level with the street were crowded 
 with people from dark till late in the night. Every- 
 thing was done to make these halls attractive. They 
 were brilliantly lighted, fine orchestras or companies 
 of vocalists furnished music, and elegant pictures 
 adorned the walls. On one side was a bar where 
 liquor could be had, but the main business was done 
 at the green tables rented to gamblers. And there 
 they sat with their gambling implements so long as 
 there was business or hope for it. There was usually 
 no lack of it, for these gambling saloons were the 
 general resort in the evening, and there could be 
 found officials, lawyers, merchants, mechanics and 
 hod-carriers. The professional gamblers were chiefly 
 Americans, French and Mexicans. The first class 
 had the faro tables, with the last monte was the favor- 
 ite, and. the Frenchman preferred rouge-et-noir and 
 roulette. The games were such that there was no 
 limit to the number of participants, and that nobody 
 but the dealers should handle the cards or other im- 
 plements. Chairs were placed round the table, and 
 outside of the persons occupying seats stood sev- 
 eral lines of men, interested either in betting or in 
 watching the bets of others. Not unfrequently the 
 dealer had an assistant, sometimes a woman of pre- 
 possessing appearance elegantly dressed, seated on 
 the opposite side of the table, to collect the winnings 
 and pay the losses. The dealer usually called out be- 
 fore dealing "make your bets, gentlemen;" after a 
 few minutes he added, "the game is made; all down, no 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 237 
 
 more." Then he dealt, gathered in, paid out, and 
 went on as before. In front of the dealer was piled 
 up a stack of gold and silver coin. Mexican doub- 
 loons or ounces and Mexican dollars were in 1849 the 
 bulk of the money; later the slug or fifty dollar pieces 
 and the American half dollars occupied a large place. 
 Not unfrequently nuggets or purses of dust were 
 thrown upon the table, and if the owner won he 
 stated the weight, and the gambler examined the 
 article for a moment, and if he thought the statement 
 correct, or nearly so, he paid over its value in coin, 
 sometimes sacrificing something to avoid delay or 
 prevent complaints. 
 
 Anions the notable sfamblino- houses were the El 
 Dorado, on the south-east corner of Kearny and 
 Washington, the Verandah on the opposite side of 
 Washington, the Bella Union, on the other corner, 
 the California Exchange, on the north-eastern corner 
 of Clay and Kearny, the Arcade, the Casino, and the 
 .Polka on Clay and Commercial streets. 
 
 At one time a dozen large houses were occupied, 
 and each had from five to fifteen tables, with nearly a 
 hundred tables in all, and the coin displayed was 
 sometimes more than ten thousand dollars to a table, 
 the attraction increasing with the amount exhibited. 
 An adventurer would frequently pass a table with a 
 small stock of money, saying there was not so much 
 as he would win if .the luck turned in his favor. 
 
 Sec. 113. Walker in Nicaragua. Walker's thirst 
 for filibuster glory was not satisfied by his campaign 
 
238 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 in Lower California. His reputation for courage, and 
 his ability to command the services of men worthy of 
 such a leader, brought an invitation to him from the 
 defeated rebels in Nicaragua. That country had been 
 devastated by a civil war between two hostile races, 
 the Spaniards on one side, and the Indians on the 
 other, the former having their chief strength in the 
 city of Grenada, the latter at Leon. The Grenadinos 
 having triumphed, the Leoneses, willing to sacrifice 
 their country rather than submit to enemies of their 
 own nationality, appealed to Walker. The oppor- 
 tunity of obtaining power in any portion of Spanish- 
 America was welcome to him, so he collected sixty 
 desperate followers, left San Francisco, landed in Nic- 
 aragua, and with the help of the Leoneses soon scat- 
 tered the Grenadino troops and reached a position, in 
 which, with prudence and patience, he could have be- 
 come the virtual ruler of all Central America. But 
 prudence and patience were not among his qualities. 
 He did not know how to pacify the hostile, nor even 
 to confirm the friendly in their favorable dispositions. 
 He would neither regard rights nor conciliate preju- 
 dices, if he thought he could attain his end by over- 
 riding them, and he greatly overestimated his own 
 capacity. Thus it was that soon after conquering the 
 Spanish party, and while the Indians were willing to 
 concede to him the substance, though for their own 
 safety they could not surrender the show of power, 
 he defied them, assumed dictatorial power, and treated 
 disobedience to his orders as treason, to be punished 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 239 
 
 with death. Not content with offending the people 
 by turning upon his benefactors and excluding the 
 natives of the country from the highest offices, he un- 
 dertook to change its institutions, and abrogate the 
 laws prohibiting slavery. 
 
 Yanderbilt controlled the Nicaragua steamer line 
 connecting New York with San Francisco, and though 
 he carried recruits and supplies to Walker gratuitously 
 or cheaply, he did not comply with all the demands 
 of the arch-filibuster who then ordered a sale of the 
 transit franchise across Nicaragua; and C. K. Gar- 
 rison, who had been Vanderbilt's a^ent, became the 
 purchaser. The Leoneses and Grenadinos were now 
 united against him, and Colonel Cauty, an English- 
 man, another agent of Yanderbilt, managed, at the 
 head of a Costa Rica army, to sieze the steamer on the 
 lake, thus broke up the transit business, and deprived 
 Walker of a large part of the revenue and of the hope 
 of re-enforcements. 
 
 Through nearly two years of bloodshed and confu- 
 sion Walker ruled like a stolid madman, till he was 
 compelled by native victories to escape by surrender- 
 ing himself to United States officers, who took him 
 back to their country, whence he returned after 
 months, but was captured by an American naval v 
 sel and taken again to New ( )rleans. lie vi 
 Central America once more as a filibuster, and landed 
 in Honduras where he was shot in Septeml 
 
 Sec. 114. 1856. The general ' 
 which began two yeai through 
 
240 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 The general conviction rising in the public mind, that 
 the state had wonderful agricultural and horticultural 
 resources, the great areas of unoccupied federal land, 
 the final settlement of the titles of many of the large 
 Mexican grants, and the high wages, led to a demand 
 for immigration, and meetings were held to devise 
 means for constructing a good wagon road over the 
 Sierra Nevada, thus removing one of the chief obsta- 
 cles to the journey overland. Several years later the 
 road was completed from Placerville to Genoa in time 
 to render great service to the development of the Corn- 
 stock lode. The merchants had, in 1854, reduced the 
 current value of francs from twenty-five to twenty 
 cents; in 1855 they refused to accept the octagonal 
 fifty dollar piece or slugs, coined by Moffatt & Co., and 
 in the year of 1856 they rejected the eagles, double 
 eagles and half eagles of private coinage, thus restrict- 
 ing themselves to o^old and silver from the American 
 mints. Although under ordinary circumstances the 
 coinage of money without government authority is 
 treated as a crime, yet the demands of business in Cal- 
 ifornia were so imperious that millions of dollars, not 
 in imitation of the mint stamps, however, were coined 
 without secrecy by citizens in San Francisco, circu- 
 lated with the favor of leading business men and ac- 
 cepted by everybody at par. The material was gold, 
 usually mixed with about twelve per cent, of silver, 
 and without copper; and as each piece contained as 
 much gold as one of an equal denomination issued by 
 the government, and had the silver besides, it would 
 sell for more in the European market. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 241 
 
 Something of the improvement in the city admin- 
 istration observable after this year, is to be credited 
 to the adoption of the consolidation act, or new city 
 charter, which created the county of San Mateo out 
 of what had previously been the southern part of the 
 county of San Francisco, and organized the city and 
 county of San Francisco as it now exists. There had 
 formerly been a county government and a city gov- 
 ernment, making much unnecessary expense, and giv- 
 ing many opportunities for political fraud. The aver- 
 age annual expenditure of the city government for 
 seven years from 1849 to 1856 was two million dol- 
 lars; and for the next seven years only six hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars, justifying the inference that 
 one million three hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
 had been wasted or stolen every year before the time 
 of the vigilance committee. 
 
 Sec. 115. Political Corruption. The American 
 political system had in 1855 reached, a greater depth 
 of corruption in San Francisco than in any other part 
 of the United States. The people were new-comers, 
 not long acquainted with their leading men, and their 
 officials were selected at random. The profits of mer- 
 cantile business and mechanical labor far exceeded the 
 salaries of most of the government offices, which, be- 
 sides, were as a class beyond the reach of men who 
 would not bribe conventions and descend to low 
 associations. The sudden and complete formation of 
 the American government of California was not more 
 wonderful than was the organization of the spoils sys 
 16 
 
242 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 tern of party management in San Francisco, under the 
 lead of men who had received the highest education 
 in political corruption before they left New York, 
 which city furnished about one sixth of the population 
 of the Californian metropolis, including a majority of 
 those who controlled the dominant faction of the dom- 
 inant party. All the arts founded or perfected by 
 Tammany Hall or the Albany Regency for defrauding 
 the people out of a fair choice in the nomination of 
 candidates or the election of officials were practised by 
 master hands in San Francisco. Paiiy conventions, 
 as expressions of public opinion, became a farce. The 
 vilest ruffians were publicly employed by prominent 
 politicians with instructions that they must carry such 
 and such wards. When election day approached, as- 
 sociations were publicly formed for the purpose of 
 selling their votes to the highest bidders. Gan^s of 
 men marched or went in wagons from one precinct to 
 another, voting in every ward. There were several 
 voting places where the ballot box was in charge of 
 men ready to take out the genuine ballots, in case of 
 need, and substitute others; and some of the boxes had 
 false sides, in which the fraudulent tickets were hid- 
 den in advance. 
 
 Most of the policemen were appointed to reward 
 partisan service, and were grossly inefficient and cor- 
 rupt. They could be trusted for untiring labor in 
 elections, but little was to be expected from them in 
 the matter of arresting criminals who had money or 
 influence. Some of the judges were honest, but the 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 243 
 
 laws were full of technicalities for the benefit of the 
 guilty, and the executive officers whose duty it was 
 to collect evidence against criminals neglected their 
 duty. In fact, some of the boldest and most danger- 
 ous criminals in California were themselves officials. 
 A thousand homicides had been committed in the 
 city between 1849 and 1856; and there had been only 
 seven executions. The crimes upon the ballot-box, 
 the corruptions of the public service, the prominence 
 of notorious ruffians and their patrons in city offices, 
 the forgeries of Meiggs, and the failure of the courts 
 to administer criminal justice promptly, or to clearly 
 fix the blame for the failure of Adams & Co., upon 
 some individual, had tried the patience and provoked 
 the indignation of the people, until there was a gen- 
 eral desperation. The opinion prevailed that ft was 
 impossible to correct these political crimes in accord- 
 ance with law; the only remedy was to be reached by 
 a disregard of the law. 
 
 Sec. 116. Murder of King. While popular feeling 
 was thus excited, at least among the more respectable 
 classes of society, the " Bulletin" made its appearance 
 and devoted its bitter energies to the denunciation of 
 the crimes and criminals that had given most offense. 
 Many of its attacks upon individuals were not sus- 
 tained by any proof, or even plausible testimony, and 
 others were unjust and even inexcusable; but t! 
 mistakes were overlooked by the people generally for 
 the sake of the good motives attributed to Mr. Kii 
 the editor; and he was regarded, if not by the ma- 
 
244 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 jority, at least by a considerable portion of the com- 
 munity, as the man who should lead to a purification 
 in the management of public business. No editor had 
 before or has since in California reached so exalted a 
 position as a hero in popular estimation. 
 
 Such were the circumstances when on Tuesday, 
 May 14, 1856, he mentioned in his journal the fact 
 that James P. Casey (who recently, while inspector of 
 election in the Twelfth ward, at a time when he was 
 not known as a candidate for office, had stuffed tickets 
 with his own name on them as a supervisor into the 
 ballot-box and then declared himself elected.) was a 
 graduate of the New York state prison at Sing Sing. 
 This statement was true; but Casey, who, though he 
 had committed many breaches of the peace at San 
 Francisco without subjecting himself to any punish- 
 ment, thought he could safely wash out the exposure 
 of his convict character with blood. The " Bulletin" 
 containing the offensive article was published about 
 three p. m., and two hours later, King on his way 
 home was stopped at the corner of Montgomery and 
 Washington streets by Casey, who when about fifteen 
 steps distant, called out to him " Draw and defend 
 yourself;" and a second later, before King could draw 
 his pistol, fired. The bullet struck him in the left 
 breast, passed through his lung, and came out under 
 his shoulder blade. He stasrffered into an office near 
 by, and sank helpless. The wound was evidently 
 dangerous, and whether it was to be fatal or not, there 
 was no doubt of Casey's murderous intent. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 245 
 
 The news that the popular editor had been shot 
 spread through the city in half an hour, and at six 
 o'clock the sheriff was afraid that the angry multitude 
 collected around the jail, to which Casey had been 
 hurried for safety by his friends, would take him out 
 by force. The mayor vainly harangued them in favor 
 of law and order. They hooted him, and remained 
 there till a late hour of the night waiting for a leader, 
 but none came. 
 
 Sec. 117. Vigilance Committee of 1856. The en- 
 emies of the prevalent political corruption, including 
 many who had no special admiration for Mr. King, saw 
 the opportunity in the popular excitement, to correct 
 some of the abuses of the government. The recollec- 
 tion of the vigilance committee of 1851 was still fresh 
 in the minds of many who had participated in it, and 
 its reputation was good with those who had come to 
 the city since. Its method of procedure was a pre- 
 cedent; its members were solicited to become the 
 leaders in a new organization. All the men of the 
 city were in the street that evening, and there was a 
 general demand for a vigilance committee. 
 
 About nine o'clock notice was circulated that a 
 meeting would be held in Cunningham's warehouse on 
 Battery street, near Union, for the purpose of forming 
 a committee. After several hundred persons had col- 
 lected an attempt was made to organize, but some of 
 the most active persons were looked upon with suspi- 
 cion, and there was no cordial support of any proposal. 
 Many of those present moved off into another room 
 
246 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and they, too, failed to agree upon and plan of action. 
 Other later efforts had similar abortive results, and 
 finally they separated without doing anything. 
 
 The next morning notice was published that there 
 would be a meeting at a house on Sacramento street, 
 below Battery. The place had been occupied for a 
 Know-nothing lodge, was spacious and had double 
 doors with wickets, well fitted for holding secret meet- 
 ings. Door-keepers excluded all who were not vouched 
 for by the few who engaged the hall, and these few 
 were mostly ex-members of the committee of 1851. 
 So soon as the people learned the character of the 
 movement there was a great rush for admission, but 
 much caution was used and they got in slowly. Some 
 of the prominent business men made a little gathering 
 and discussed the method of organization. Sugges- 
 tions that an oath, should be taken, that every member 
 should sign his name, and that he should be known 
 by the number in the order of his signature were 
 favorably received. A book was obtained, an oath 
 written in it, and a clerk placed in charge of the rec- 
 ord. There had been an executive committee five 
 vears before, and W. T. Coleman, one of its active 
 members, a ready talker, a good worker, and a popular 
 man, was urged to become one of the new executive 
 committee. Finding that his excuses Were not accept- 
 ed, and that his efforts to put others before him were 
 overruled, he yielded, and then asked a dozen or more of 
 the merchants near him, one by one, whether they 
 would serve with him. They said "yes," and thus 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 247 
 
 was formed the nucleus of the executive committee. 
 Afterwards they elected about a score of others, some 
 of them being chosen to represent certain nationalities 
 and occupations, so as to command the support and 
 confidence of the people generally. The executive 
 committee had full control, originated every order, and 
 decided every question. The members were not chosen 
 by the body which they governed; their names were 
 not submitted to it for approval. The power appeared 
 to be thrust into their hands, and after the start had 
 been made neither they nor the multitude objected, 
 though if the duration of the work, and the expense, 
 which far exceeded expectation, could have been fore- 
 seen, the organization would doubtless have been made 
 in a different manner. Some of the executive com- 
 mittee were indiscreet, and others inefficient, but the 
 result proved that it had a large preponderance of pru- 
 dence and administrative capacity. Isaac Bluxome, 
 who had been secretary of the executive committee in 
 the first organization, had the same position in the 
 second. In many ways the experience of 1851 was 
 made available in 1856. 
 
 Sec. 118. Swift Organization. So many members 
 were received on the first day that no room in the 
 building on Sacramento street could hold those who 
 wanted to stay there, and the place of asseml)L> 
 was transferred to the large hall of the Turn-verein 
 building on Bush street near Powell. This i>lace 
 
 O J- 
 
 was filling up in the evening when the president of 
 the executive committee gave notice that all the 
 
248 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 members numbered from one to one hundred inclusive 
 would form a military company, and should meet in 
 a designated corner of the hall and elect their officers, 
 subject to approval by the executive committee; 
 while those numbered from one hundred and one to 
 two hundred should meet in another corner and form 
 another company, and so on. The French, however, 
 who were numerous, and were scattered irregularly, 
 as to their numbers, among the others, and were 
 ordered to organize separate companies, because few 
 of them could speak English. 
 
 This distribution of the members into military com- 
 panies gave occupation to all, as the arming and 
 drilling began immediately; and partially relieved the 
 executive committee from questions and advice. 
 The executive committee distributed its work among 
 sub-committees. Great zeal was shown by the offi- 
 cials generally, and with marvelous rapidity three 
 thousand men were armed, drilled and established 
 in armories, while arrangements were made at the 
 same time for covering a large expense, and meeting 
 many contingencies of political or other character. 
 Several of the militia companies in the city dis- 
 banded because they were unwilling to be called into 
 service against the committee, which they then joined, 
 taking their muskets with them; and arms were ob- 
 tained from various sources, so that there was soon a 
 good supply. On the second day several companies 
 under arms were stationed in the streets near head- 
 quarters to prevent any interruption of the proceed- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 249 
 
 ings. There was a general suspension of business, so 
 that citizens could attend to what they considered the 
 most pressing duty. They devoted themselves to it, 
 and in three days had got into good working order. 
 
 Sec. 119. Execution of Casey and Cora. The first 
 meeting had been held on Wednesday, and on Satur- 
 day the executive committee instructed a sub-commit- 
 tee to make arrangements for taking Casey from the 
 jail the next day. Twenty-four companies were called 
 to assemble at nine o'clock on Sundav niorninir at 
 their respective armories in different parts of the city; 
 and then further orders were delivered to each cap- 
 tain to march to a certain position on Broadway, near 
 Dupont. No information had been given to the pub- 
 lic, nor to the captains, beyond the brief note sent to 
 each, but it was well understood that when the vig- 
 ilance committee moved something serious was to be 
 expected. The streets bristled with bayonets; mili- 
 tary companies marched without music, noise or con- 
 fusion to their designated stations; and citizens, not 
 members of the organization, filled the streets and 
 covered the hills near the jail to watch the proceed- 
 ings. An artillery company with a brass cannon halted 
 in front of the jail and turned the gun upon it. AYhen 
 all the military arrangements had been made, two 
 vigilance officials went to the door and informed 
 Sheriff Scannell that the}' had come to take Mr. 
 Casey. They were told that no resistance would be 
 made. Casey begged permission to speak ten minutes 
 before he should be hanged, his expectation being evi- 
 
250 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 dently that he would be executed without delay. He 
 was assured that he should have a fair and deliberate 
 trial, with a right to be heard in his defense. He 
 submitted then with a good grace, was led out, placed 
 in a carriage, and driven under strong guard to the 
 vigilance headquarters, where he was securely im- 
 mured. Charles Cora, who had murdered United 
 States Marshal Richardson, and had* been tried once, 
 with a disagreement of the jury, was also taken from 
 the jail to the same place. On Monday King died, 
 and on Tuesda}^ the executive committee, acting as a 
 jury, tried Casey. No person was present at the trial 
 save the accused, members of the vigilance committee 
 and witnesses. The testimony was given under oath 
 though there was no lawful authority for its administra- 
 tion. Hearsay testimony was excluded; the general 
 rules of evidence observed in the courts were adopted; 
 the accused heard all the witnesses, cross-examined 
 those against him, summoned such as he wanted in 
 his favor, had an attorney to assist him, and was per- 
 mitted to make an argument by himself or his attorney 
 in his own defense. Both Casey and Cora were con- 
 victed. 
 
 On Wednesday, King was buried with a grand and 
 solemn funeral, the whole city being draped in mourn- 
 ing; and while the procession was on the way to the 
 cemetery, and in sight of it, Casey and Cora were 
 hanged in front of the vigilance headquarters. Both 
 claiming to be Catholics, were shrived by priests of 
 their faith before execution, and their corpses were 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 251 
 
 buried by their respective friends with much display. 
 Casey at the time of his death was foreman of a vol- 
 unteer fire company, which erected a monument over 
 him in the graveyard of the old Mission church, 
 with an inscription, "The Lord have mercy on my 
 persecutors." The public woman who had supported 
 Cora during the latter year of his life, and bad been 
 married to him in prison, provided a monument for 
 him. 
 
 Before the execution of the two criminals, the 
 sentences were submitted to and approved by the 
 board of delegates, consisting of three members from 
 each company, one of the delegates being usually its 
 captain. This board was designed to prevent the 
 adoption by the executive committee of any measure 
 that would not give satisfaction to the majority of 
 the members, and to exclude the suspicion of an in- 
 tention to make a dangerous use of power. 
 
 Sec. 120. Ballot-box Stuffers. Having got rid of 
 Casey, whose execution required urgency, the execu- 
 tive committee settled down into reoular business. 
 They established a kitchen in their building, required 
 half a dozen or more of their members to be present 
 at all hours, and went to work to correct political 
 abuses. They arrested half a dozen persona on chargi 
 of ballot-box stuffing, and amcnii* these was James 
 Sullivan, a native of Ireland, a prize-fighter, a con- 
 victed felon, a refugee from New South Wales, to 
 which colony he had been transported, and a ballot- 
 box stuffer, in which last capacity he had helped 
 
252 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Casey to the place of supervisor. Demoralized by 
 fright, he confessed his crimes and the promise that, 
 as he was not guilty of murder, he would not be 
 hanged, did not suffice to give him confidence. He 
 committed suicida by cutting an artery in his arm 
 with a table knife. It was the impression of those 
 who observed him for several days before his death, 
 that the unwonted deprivation of distilled liquor 
 which he had used largely every day for years, pro- 
 duced a disease in some respects similar to delirium 
 tremens. 
 
 The executive committee were careful to take no 
 evidence except that which would be received in the 
 courts, and to execute no prisoner unless he had com- 
 mitted a crime punishable with death under the law 
 of California. What should be done with the crimi- 
 nals guilty of ballot-box stuffing and frauds upon the 
 public treasury ? They could not be consigned to the 
 government prisons nor compelled to pay fines; and 
 these were the usual punishments. No penalty seemed 
 so convenient as banishment; about a score were taken 
 to vessels bound for foreign ports, most of them to 
 the Panama steamers, when about to leave the wharf, 
 put on board, told that they would be hanged if they 
 should come back, and sent away. One of the exiles 
 returned while the committee was still in existence; 
 but instead of executing him the committee explained 
 that he would be spared because, on account of his 
 nervous condition, his sentence with the penalty of 
 death for return was not read to him. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 253 
 
 The vigilance organization did not interfere in any 
 way with the ordinary business of the courts and the 
 police. The district courts sat every day to try suits 
 involving rights of property, and the criminal courts 
 sentenced offenders for theft, assault and drunkenness 
 as in ordinary times. The city was far more orderly 
 than ever before or since. The professional criminals, 
 as a class, fled in terror. Thev would rather work for 
 a living than face the danger of prompt and severe 
 justice. Everybody was on his good behavior. 
 
 Sec. 121. Law and Order Party. Meantime the 
 state authorities were not idle. The governor selected 
 AY. T. Sherman (who had before been in the federal 
 army, and is now its highest general) to command 
 the militia in the district of San Francisco, and put 
 down the committee by force. Sherman entered 
 upon the duties of his position with zeal, but found 
 himself confronted by many difficulties. The com- 
 mittee, supported by a strong public opinion and 
 liberal money contributions, had obtained nearly all 
 the arms in the city. The law and order party were 
 divided amon^ themselves and almost without funds. 
 A public meeting held by the law and order party 
 to organize opposition to the committee was a failure. 
 The governor applied to General Wool of the United 
 States army for aid with the federal troops, and was 
 denied. Some of the responsibility for this action was 
 attributed to Dr. Gwin, who, according to report, was 
 pleased to see the manner in which Broderick's polit- 
 ical friends were treated. Certainly Gwin did not 
 
254 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 distinguish himself by hostility to the committee; nor 
 would it have been politic for him or his party to do 
 so on the eve of a presidential election. Sherman, 
 rinding that he could not procure arms, and that his 
 views did not agree with those of Governor Johnson, 
 resigned. Volney E. Howard was appointed to suc- 
 ceed him, but did nothing of note. 
 
 Sec. 122. Arrest of Terry. The next step of Gov- 
 ernor Johnson was to request President Pierce to 
 order the military and naval forces of the United 
 States to attack the committee; and he reported that 
 the committee was hostile to the federal authority, and 
 meant secession. This assertion commanded no credit, 
 and injured the influence of Governor Johnson. His 
 application was denied. 
 
 On the twenty-first of June, S. A. Hopkins, a 
 vigilance sergeant, with two soldiers, was ordered to 
 arrest Peuben Maloney, who was wanted as a witness 
 to testify in reference to some state arms which had 
 been shipped in his custody for the state troops from 
 Sacramento to San Francisco on a schooner which J. L. 
 Durkee, under order from the committee, had seized at 
 the strait between San Pablo and San Francisco bays. 
 Maloney was in a room with D. S. Terry, chief justice 
 of the supreme court of the state, and a friend, and 
 they said Maloney should not be arrested in their 
 presence. The sergeant went off, soon returning with 
 reinforcements, met Malony and his companions going 
 to the state armory, and undertook to make the ar- 
 rest there. Resistance was offered, and Hopkins hav- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 255 
 
 ing seized Terry's gun, the latter stabbed him in the 
 neck, inflicting a wound which it was supposed would 
 prove fatal, though fortunately it soon healed. Terry 
 was held a close prisoner for seven weeks, went through 
 a long trial, and was at last released, because Hopkins 
 recovered. 
 
 The discharge of Terry gave great offense to many 
 vigilantes, as the members of the committee were 
 called, and the complaints were so loud, that the ex- 
 ecutive committee called a meeting: of the general 
 committee, the first time the latter body had been 
 brought together, and explained the motives of their 
 conduct. It was approved, partly because it could 
 not be undone. There were many hot heads who did 
 not understand the serious dangers to which the 
 movement and its leaders had been exposed on ac- 
 count of Terry. If he had been executed for defend- 
 ing a citizen against arrest by an organization estab- 
 lished to defy the law, the state authorities would 
 have made renewed efforts to punish the offenders, 
 and the federal administration would probably have 
 interfered. While Terry was in prison, the legisla- 
 ture of Texas, where he had formerly resided, ad- 
 dressed a memorial to Congress, praying for action to 
 protect him. Soon after his arrest application was 
 made to Judge McAllister, of the United States cir- 
 cuit court, for a writ of habeas corpus, but the old 
 gentleman did not wish to provoke the animosity of 
 the people among whom he made his home and he 
 refused, thus committing a glaring violation of his 
 
256 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 official duty. The committee would probably have 
 made no resistance, for they did not want to come 
 into conflict with the federal authority, and they con- 
 sidered themselves extremely fortunate when the 
 judge would not issue the writ. Before the arrest of 
 Terry a writ of habeas corpus issued by one of the 
 justices of the state supreme court, was treated with 
 a show of respect, though the prisoner was not sur- 
 rendered. He was taken from the vigilance building 
 secretly and concealed elsewhere, and when the officer 
 came with the writ he was politely conducted through 
 all the rooms and assured by the persons in charge 
 that nobody was deprived of his liberty by them. 
 The committee felt safe in evading the order of a 
 state court which was not supported by popular opin- 
 ion, but to defy the federal government would have 
 been a far more serious matter. 
 
 The general dissatisfaction among the members of 
 the committee, with the discharge of Terry, was 
 partly due to the prevalence of a rumor that he had 
 boasted before going to the city that he would sweep 
 the vigilantes into the bav; and although his en- 
 counter with Hopkins had not occurred under circum- 
 stances that permitted him to exercise his judicial 
 authority, he had shown that he was not afraid to 
 assume responsibility, or to defy the most serious 
 danger. His release was regarded by some persons 
 as giving power to the most formidable enemy of the 
 reform movement. Terry's interference prolonged 
 the existence of the organization. The executive 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 257 
 
 committee had nearly finished all the work that ap- 
 peared urgent to them, and they would probably have 
 adopted a resolution for disbanding six weeks earlier 
 than they did. 
 
 Sec. 125. McGowan. The main object of the ex- 
 ecutive committee was from the first, in the opinion 
 of some members at least, to secure political justice; 
 the administration of criminal justice was regarded as 
 of secondary importance, and of value mainly in so far 
 as it could be made serviceable to the more important 
 purpose. Political swindlers, under the pretense of 
 managing the city government, had robbed the prop- 
 erty owners of millions upon millions, and the duty 
 now most pressing was to deprive them of their power. 
 But for this object, the committee would, perhaps, 
 have dissolved within a couple of weeks after the exe- 
 cution of Casey. Several ballot-box staffers (base and 
 ignorant tools of cunning tricksters who devised the 
 political frauds, and took their chief honors and prof- 
 its,) confessed their crimes upon the ballot-box, and 
 conveyed the idea that they had been guided by Ed- 
 ward McGowan, who, having been accused of being 
 an accomplice of Casey in the murder of King, had 
 absconded. The committee made extraordinary efforts 
 to get McGowan, gave him a close chase, and many 
 narrow escapes, and sent parties after him by land and 
 sea as far as Santa Barbara, but failed t<> catch him. 
 
 Sec. 124. Hetherington and Brace. On the twenty- 
 ninth of July, two months after the execution of ( 
 and Cora, two other murderers, Joseph Hetherington 
 17 
 
258 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and Philander Brace were hanged. The crime of the 
 latter had been committed two years before, and he 
 had been tried by a criminal court, and acquitted in 
 defiance of reason. These four executions were the 
 only ones ordered by the vigilance committee of 1856. 
 In every case the prisoner was, in the general opinion 
 of the community, undoubtedly guilty of a capital 
 crime, was kept several days in custody by the com- 
 mittee before execution, so as to avoid all danger from 
 hasty action, was tried deliberately, and was executed 
 by daylight, publicly, and in the presence of a multi- 
 tude of quiet people; the entire proceeding being as 
 orderly, solemn, and respectful to the feelings of the 
 criminals and their friends as if the execution had 
 been conducted by a sheriff under the order of a high 
 constitutional court. 
 
 Sec. 125. Disbandment. The executive committee 
 were now T anxious to close their labors, which de- 
 manded much of their time, endangered their prop- 
 erty and lives (for their executions, though justifiable 
 morally, were murders in the eye of the law), exposed 
 them to animosities that injured them in business and 
 discommoded them in their social relations, and sub- 
 jected them to a severe pecuniary tax. The expense 
 of the committee, amounting for part of the time to 
 five hundred dollars a day, had to be paid by subscrip- 
 tion of the members and sympathizers. The burdens, 
 dangers and inconveniencies were willingly borne 
 while the committee had an abundance of important 
 work to do, but after they had been in session two 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 259 
 
 months and a half they came to the conclusion that a 
 longer maintenance of the organization would be of 
 doubtful benefit. There was no prospect of getting 
 any new light on the political frauds; it would not do 
 to hang offenders on general principles (that is, with- 
 out legal proof of capital crimes), though there was 
 no lack of hot heads in the general committee de- 
 manding such a course; and it would be folly to 
 maintain the organization for the purpose of punishing 
 the ordinary murders that might be committed in the 
 future. 
 
 Under the influence of such considerations, the 
 executive committee, with the approval of the board 
 of delegates, adopted a resolution to disband the 
 forces. On the eighteenth of August the city took a 
 general holiday to witness the celebration of the dis- 
 banding of the vigilance committee, and thousands 
 came from interior towns to see the men who had 
 defied the law in the interest of justice and honesty 
 for three months. The streets were bright with flasks 
 and flowers; the sidewalks were lined with ladies in 
 brilliant dresses along the line adopted by the proces- 
 sion, or rather the army, which contained five thou- 
 sand one hundred and thirty-seven men, including 
 three artillery companies with eighteen pieces of can- 
 non, twenty-nine members of the executive committee, 
 two hundred and ninety dragoons, forty-nine surgeons 
 and physicians, one hundred and fifty members of the 
 committee of vigilance of 1851, vigilant police, hun- 
 dreds of citizens on horseback, thirty-three companies 
 
260 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 of the vigilant infantry, and numerous military bands. 
 The troops were reviewed, and a farewell address was 
 published by the executive committee, congratulating 
 the general committee and the community on the val- 
 uable service rendered, and promising that the organ- 
 ization should be revived, if it were necessary, to 
 protect its members against violence or malicious pros- 
 ecution on account of the action of the committee, or 
 to guard the purity of the ballot-box. It was never 
 formally dissolved. 
 
 Sec. 126. Work of the Committee. This was the 
 end of the active work of the committee. There 
 never was any necessity or demand for the resumption 
 of its activity. Durkee was tried on a charge of 
 piracy, for taking state arms consigned to the law and 
 order forces from the schooner " Julia " in the bay, 
 but was acquitted. Several suits for damages were 
 commenced by the exiles, but in most cases the plaint- 
 iffs did not recover enough to pay expenses. Though 
 the committee was practically dissolved, its influence 
 lived; its members and sympathizers, having the con- 
 fidence and favor of the people, obtained control of 
 the city government, held it for nearly twenty years, 
 and established and maintained the best and most 
 economical city government in the United States — 
 the municipal administration where the spoils system 
 had less power than anywhere else under American 
 dominion. 
 
 After the dissolution, many good citizens who had 
 been opposed to the committe, partly because they 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 20 1 
 
 feared that it would lead to great riots and reckless 
 violence, expressed their satisfaction and surprise at 
 the good results secured, and resumed their former 
 relations of social friendship with the vigilance lead- 
 ers. Others, however, cherished the bitterness against 
 the committee, and after a lapse of twenty years some 
 indications of it still crop out here and there. 
 
 The vigilance committees of San Francisco in 1851 
 and 1856 were in many important respects unlike any 
 other extra-judicial movement to administer justice. 
 They were not common mobs; they were organized 
 for weeks or months of labor, deliberate in their 
 movements, careful to keep records of their proceed- 
 ings, strictly attentive to the rules of evidence and 
 the penalties for crime accepted by civilized nations, 
 confident of their power, and of their justification by 
 public opinion, and not afraid of taking the public 
 responsibility of their acts. 
 
 Many mobs in Montana, Colorado, Nevada, and 
 other sparsely settled parts of the United States, 
 have assumed or received the name of "vigilance 
 committee" thus made respectable in San Francisco, 
 but not one was governed by similar principles. They 
 have been simple mobs, which collected on the first 
 impulse of popular excitement and executed an of- 
 fender or several within half a day and then dis- 
 persed; or if there was an organization to be main- 
 tained more than a day, it was composed of a few 
 members, bound to secrecy, and they seized and exe- 
 cuted their prisoners when masked or at night. It 
 
262 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 would be grossly unjust to judge the San Francisco 
 vigilance committee by the acts of any other organiza- 
 tion with a similar name elsewhere. The Fehm- 
 Gericht of Westphalia, and the Santa Hermandad of 
 Spain, though maintained for a longer period as extra- 
 judicial organizations to administer justice, were de- 
 cidedly inferior in efficiency, and in the precautions to 
 prevent errors arising from haste or secrecy of pro- 
 cedure. 
 
 The two San Francisco committees pursued the 
 same system. It was entirely original, the out- 
 growth of the local circumstances, and the best 
 remedy in the judgment of many good citizens for 
 public evils which had become intolerable. In 1851, 
 as in 1856, quiet men said either they or the scoun- 
 drels must leave San Francisco. The main work in 
 the former year was to punish convicts from Austra- 
 lia; in the latter it was to correct the abuses intro- 
 duced by political tricksters from eastern cities. 
 Each committee executed four men; each banished 
 several scores; both were highly successful and earned 
 an honorable place in history. 
 
 Sec. 127. Peoples Party. On the approach of 
 the first city election held after the organization of 
 the vigilance committee, a mass meeting called by 
 some of its members appointed a convention of twenty- 
 one respectable and prominent citizens to nominate 
 candidates for the city offices. This convention se- 
 lected its nominees from men who had been members 
 of the committee, or sympathizers with it. The gen- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 263 
 
 eral of the vigilance army was selected for sheriff; the 
 marshal of the vigilance police, for chief of the city 
 police. The nominees as a class were far superior in 
 business capacity and moral character to the previous 
 city officials. The ticket included northern and south- 
 ern men, republicans, democrats, and know-nothings, 
 jews, catholics, and protestants. It deserved and 
 commanded public confidence, and was elected. 
 
 The new administration was a marvel of economy. 
 The expenses of the city and county had been two 
 millions six hundred and forty-six thousand dollars in 
 1855, and in 1857 they were only three hundred and 
 fifty-three thousand dollars. Much of this saving- 
 was due to the consolidation act adopted by the legis- 
 lature in April, 1856; but a large part of it to the new 
 officials. There w T as no doubt that the spirit of the 
 administration was different from that of any of its 
 predecessors. There was an entire absence of the 
 partisan trickery, low scheming, and disreputable per- 
 sonal association common about the city hall in pre- 
 vious years. The general opinion of the men recog- 
 nized as persons of influence in the city government 
 demanded zealous devotion to the public interests in 
 all the officials. Something of the reduction of ex- 
 penditures was secured by cutting off needful supplies. 
 Although there was a considerable increase in the 
 number of school children every year, yet the average 
 attendance in the public schools was four hundred 
 less in 1857 than in 185G; so many children were ex- 
 cluded from the public schools for the purpose of re- 
 
264 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 clucing expenditures. In the street department, a 
 great saving was made by stopping the work of grad- 
 ing, sewering and planking. The use of gas in the 
 street lamps was stopped for a time, and when re- 
 sumed, the quantity burned was smaller than before. 
 These economies caused some inconvenience to the 
 citizens, but they were delighted with the large reduc- 
 tion of taxes; the more so on account of the general 
 depression under which mercantile business and real 
 estate had suffered for several years. 
 
 When the time for the election came in 1858, sev- 
 eral thousand citizens signed a petition requesting the 
 nominating convention of 1857 to appoint a new con- 
 vention for the people's party, and it did so. The 
 new organization resolved that none of its own mem- 
 bers, and none of the members of the preceding con- 
 vention should be nominated; that solicitation for a 
 nomination by the candidate in person should be con- 
 sidered an objection; that it was desirable that those 
 officials who had performed their duties in a satis- 
 factory manner should be retained; and that the 
 nominations should be kept as independent as possible 
 of national parties. The ticket was worthy of these 
 prudent rules, and was elected by the people. With 
 some minor changes and slight interruptions, this in- 
 dependent city party had control of the government 
 until 1874, a period of eighteen years. 
 
 The method of nomination was always substantially 
 the same. A convention, the list of which had been 
 prepared beforehand by a few persons, was submitted 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 2G5 
 
 to a public meeting which had been called without 
 notice of its main purpose, the names of the members 
 of this convention submitted in a lump, without time 
 for consideration, without an opportunity to reject or 
 accept each individual by a separate vote, or to decide 
 whether some other person would be preferred, was 
 the foundation of all the subsequent nominations, and 
 was the only people's party nominating convention 
 that was ever submitted to any kind of a popular 
 vote. There were no primary elections, no ward 
 meetings, none of the trickery of professional politi- 
 cians. 
 
 Yet this system of obtaining nominating commit- 
 tees, so different from that customary in American 
 politics, and defiant of the common rule that the nom- 
 inating conventions must be selected every year at 
 a public meeting or primary election open to every 
 member of the party, was doubtless one of the causes 
 of the success of the people's party. Lacking the 
 element of popular participation, the leading men of 
 the party understood that the nominating convention 
 must be composed of men occupying reputable posi- 
 tions in business and society. They were so composed, 
 and they commanded the confidence of the public, 
 whereas the democratic and republican conventions 
 included many ruffians and men without property or 
 reputable occupation. 11. H. Dana, jr., a lawyer and 
 statesman of high ability and strict veracity, haying 
 visited California in 1859, when the acts of the com- 
 mittee were fresh in the minds of the people, and its 
 
266 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 influence over the municipal administration dominant, 
 wrote thus: 
 
 And now the most quiet and well-governed city in the United 
 States. But it has been through its season of heaven-defying 
 crime, violence and blood, from which it was rescued and 
 handed back to soberness, morality and good goverment by that 
 peculiar invention of Anglo-Saxon republican America, the sol- 
 emn, awe-inspiring vigilance committee of the most grave aud 
 responsible citizens, the last resort of the thinking and the 
 good, taken only when vice, fraud and ruffianism have en- 
 trenched themselves behind the forms of law, suffrage and 
 ballot. 
 
 Sec. 128. 1857. As compared with the preced- 
 ing eight years, 1857 in San Francisco was quiet and 
 dull. There was no remarkable mining excitement; 
 no great speculation or panic in business; no great 
 crime against life or property; no revolt of the people 
 against their rulers. The city government, installed 
 by the people's party, was extremely economical. 
 Thieves and murderers stayed away for fear that the 
 vigilance committee might resume power. Business 
 continued to suffer under the depression that began 
 three years before. Broderick having secured a ma- 
 jority of the members of the legislature in the state 
 election of 1856, in January took the prize of the 
 federal senatorship, and then holding the power, gave 
 the other senatorship to Dr. Gwin. 
 
 Some adventurers from the city joined Crabb's 
 party, which started on the twenty-first of January, 
 to conquer Sonora, and perished with it. The claim 
 of Santillan for several thousands of acres of land be- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 2G7 
 
 tween California street and Mission creek, was con- 
 firmed by the United States district court in April, 
 but the decision was not final, and general confidence 
 was felt that it would be finally overthrown. The 
 first savings bank was opened with success from the 
 start, and the first industrial fair of the Mechanics' 
 Institute was held in a building erected for the pur- 
 pose on the site now occupied by the Lick House. 
 The greater part of the state debt having been de- 
 clared unconstitutional by the state supreme court, 
 was ratified at the election in September, by the peo- 
 ple who thus accepted the legal responsibility for its 
 payment, and did much to strengthen the credit of 
 the state at home and abroad. 
 
 The sinking of the " Central America," in Septem- 
 ber, off the coast of Florida, on her way to New 
 York, with passengers and treasure from California, 
 was one of the notable events of the year. The 
 steamer having sprung a leak in a fearful hurricane, the 
 water rose slowly for thirty-three hours, until she sank. 
 At three o'clock in the afternoon of the second day, 
 when it had become evident that she must go down 
 before the next morning, a brig, which had suffered 
 in the storm, came near and offered to receive the 
 passengers; but as she was not very manageable, or 
 near, the sea was rough, and the only conveyances 
 were three small boats, the transfer went slowly. 
 When night came on all the twenty-six women and 
 twenty-seven children, besides four adult male pas- 
 sengers, had reached the brig, leaving more than five 
 
268 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 hundred men behind to what appeared almost inevit- 
 able death. Though many were armed and nearly all 
 were rough in appearance, they were content that the 
 women and children should be saved first; and if here 
 and there a grumble was heard, it received little en- 
 couragement. Never did so many men face death 
 near at hand more quietly or decorously. About 
 eight o'clock in the evening the ill-fated steamer gave 
 a final plunge and disappeared forever, carrying down 
 with her into the vortex of the sea many of her pas- 
 sengers, and leaving others afloat, supported by life- 
 preservers or pieces of wood from the wreck. Of 
 these, more than one hundred were picked up the next 
 day, out of five hundred and eighty-two persons on 
 board, four hundred and nineteen were drowned. A 
 commercial panic caused or greatly intensified in the 
 Atlantic states by the loss of one million five hundred 
 thousand dollars in gold dust with the steamer, was a 
 startling proof of the dependence of the business of 
 the nation on the mines of California. 
 
 Sec. 129. Crabb. Walker was not the last Cali- 
 fornian to undertake a quixotic conquest in Spanish- 
 America. Henry A. Crabb, a resident of Stockton, 
 a prominent man in the whig party of California, a 
 lawyer and public speaker of decided ability, an offi- 
 cial of experience and good repute, and an ardent 
 advocate of slavery, was the husband of a lady who 
 had been born in the state of Sonora, and had rela- 
 tives still living there. It was through the relatives 
 of his wife that he received an invitation from a de- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 2G0 
 
 feated chieftain in that state to bring an armed force 
 for the purpose of overthrowing Governor Gandara, 
 who had long been master there. He accepted the 
 invitation, collected a force of one hundred men, on 
 the twenty-first of January sailed from San Francisco 
 to San Pedro and thence marched to Sonora, where 
 he was met near the line, attacked, defeated, and com- 
 pelled to surrender at discretion, after twenty-five of 
 his men had been killed in battle. He and fifty-eight 
 companions were promptly executed. Nearly a hun- 
 dred men who were on their way to aid him heard of 
 the catastrophe before reaching Sonora. Those natives 
 of that state who had invited him made no attempt to 
 assist him. They expected that he would appear with 
 a much larger force, and said it was useless for them 
 to come out openly in his favor when there was no 
 hope of success. The disasters and tragical deaths 
 of Raousset, Walker and Crabb were serious discour- 
 agements to filibustering, and twenty years have now 
 gone by without any new enterprises of that kind. 
 
 Sec. 130. 185S. The most notable feature of 
 1858, in the history of the city and state, was the 
 Fraser fever, of which more will be said in a subse- 
 quent section. An overland mail, connecting San 
 Francisco with St. Louis, by the southern route 
 through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, was estab- 
 lisheg in September; and though the time from New 
 York was not less than by Panama, yet the mail had 
 the great advantage of being semi-weekly, wher< 
 the steamer mail came only once in a fortnight. 
 
270 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Water was brought into the city in an aqueduct from 
 Lobos creek, and was carried round in carts until 
 pipes could be laid. As they were supplied, the carts 
 upon which the city had previously depended gradu- 
 ally disappeared. At the election in September the 
 slavery extension wing of the democracy elected 
 more than two thirds of the legislature. The docu- 
 ment submitted to the courts by Limantour as a grant 
 for about six thousand acres within the limits of the 
 city was proved to be a forgery, and the claim was 
 finally defeated. The privilege of collecting tolls on 
 the Mission and Folsom street plank-roads having 
 expired, the roads became free. The fare on the 
 ferry-boat to Oakland previously fifty cents, was re- 
 duced to twenty-five cents; and the construction of 
 the San Bruno turnpike gave a new and nearly level 
 road much of the way along the shore of the bay 
 from the Mission to the plain of San Mateo, offering 
 the first pleasant drive on the peninsula in the vicin- 
 ity of the city and outside of its limits. 
 
 The supreme court was subjected to much ridicule 
 on account of a decision in the case of the negro 
 Archy, brought as a slave to California from Alabama 
 by Mr. Stovall, who supposed the negro would follow 
 and obey him anywhere. Archy used his freedom; 
 the master applied to the supreme court, and P. H. 
 Burnett, the chief justice, rendered his opinion that 
 the applicant was not entitled to the custody of 
 Archy under the law, but as Stovall " was a young 
 man traveling mainly for his health," and the court 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 271 
 
 was " not disposed to rigidly enforce the rule for the 
 first time," therefore he might take Archy; but fair 
 notice was given in the opinion that in all future 
 cases, the court would decide the other way. " The 
 law was given to the north and the nigger to the 
 south." Joseph Baldwin, who succeeded Burnett as 
 chief justice, prepared a syllabus of the decision, in- 
 ferring that the constitution does not apply to young 
 men traveling for their health; that it does not apply 
 the first time; and that the decisions of the supreme 
 court are not to be taken as precedents. Ludicrous as 
 this decision was when considered from a legal stand- 
 point, and lamentable in its disregard of personal right 
 and public policy, it was written by a man who had 
 previously been the governor of the state, and has 
 since been the president of a bank in San Francisco; 
 and perhaps no man in California has a higher reputa- 
 tion for kindliness and integrity. His blunder is an 
 example of the great wrong that may result from con- 
 fused logic combined with amiable weakness, if such 
 name could properly be given to a motive in which 
 there was no malice, and more regard for the claims 
 of one class than for the rights of another. 
 
 Sec. 131. Mining Excitements. Regions contain- 
 ing extensive placer mines are peculiarly subject to 
 sudden migrations of the miners to districts reported 
 to be richer. The more abundant the gold, the more 
 unsettled the population. They who are doing well, 
 instead of being attached by their prosperity to their 
 claims, are the more ready to move because they have 
 
272 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 money to spare. They will not wait till the value of 
 the new diggings has been conclusively proved, for 
 fear that before such proof can be furnished all or 
 nearly all the best claims have been taken up, and 
 then the discovery would be of no benefit to them. 
 They would abandon a good claim for the chance of 
 getting a better one. Such conduct may appear in- 
 comprehensible to men who have never seen a placer 
 mining community, but it was common among the 
 gold hunters of California before 1860. They did not 
 understand the geological laws under which gold was 
 distributed through the gravel beds of living or dead 
 rivers, and they had seen such wonderful deposits of 
 it, and many of them were so ignorant that no rumor 
 of its abundance seemed incredible to them. There 
 were many intelligent and prudent men among them, 
 but these could not prevent the others from being car- 
 ried away by excitements. 
 
 Many of the reported new discoveries which at- 
 tracted hundreds or even thousands of adventurers 
 from gold diggings, and never paid them for their 
 trouble, were on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada and 
 were reached by the miners without passing through 
 San Francisco, and the influence of the excitement in 
 such case was scarcely felt here. 
 
 The first rush that affected the city was that to 
 Gold Bluff on the beach of Humboldt county, in 
 January, 1851. The secretary of a mining company, 
 which had a claim there (and hundreds of others 
 equally good could be taken up), published a state- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 273 
 
 ment that according to the representation of persons 
 who had examined the ground, it would yield four 
 hundred and thirty million dollars to each member of 
 the company. On the eleventh of January eight 
 vessels were advertised to sail for Gold Bluff, but 
 before they departed, the exaggerations were exposed, 
 the applicants for passage drew back, and the mem- 
 bers of the millionaire company never received a cent 
 of dividend from their claims. 
 
 Three years later wonderful stories were published 
 in the Panama journals about rich placers on the 
 head waters of the Amazon in eastern Peru, and one 
 thousand adventurers from California were astonished 
 on landing at Callao to find that nobody there knew 
 anything of such mines. Several parties having come 
 so far, thought they might as well do some prospect- 
 ing on the eastern slope of the Andes, and after 
 making the journey at great expense and trouble, 
 they found nothing. 
 
 In February and March, 1855, a number of letters 
 full of falsehoods, about extensive and rich placers in 
 the basin of Kern river were published in the Stock- 
 ton and Los Angeles papers, and five thousand per- 
 sons started for the new Eldorado. Many of them 
 abandoned good claims or profitable employment, and 
 ten thousand more were getting ready to follow very 
 soon, when letters came back that there was not work 
 for more than one hundred men. 
 
 Sec. 132. Fraser Fever. These rushes were mere 
 trifles, however, as compared with the Fraser fever, 
 
 18 
 
274 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 which pre vailed from April till September, 1858. 
 Gold had been found in the banks and bars of Eraser 
 river in British Columbia, about one hundred miles 
 from the ocean, and some sanguine miners there, sup- 
 posing that there must be a large and rich placer 
 mining region in the basin of the stream, converted 
 their inferences into assertions in letters which were 
 given to the public. Many thousands of the Cali- 
 fornian miners, unwilling to adapt themselves to the 
 relative impoverishment of the diggings of the Sierra 
 Nevada, received with joyous credulity the rumors of 
 great gold fields in what was then known to the law 
 and to the map-makers as "New Caledonia." The 
 first adventurers generally were men who had money 
 enough to go to Eraser river, and return in comfort 
 even if they should find nothing there; and they went 
 as other parties have gone to examine every district 
 reported to have much precious metal within the 
 limits of our continent. Their reports were that 
 there was no doubt of the existence of gold in the 
 bars of the river, and that the stream was much 
 larger than any of the rich Californian rivers, but 
 that the water was too high to permit as yet of profit- 
 able work in the bars or in the river bed, or even of 
 any thorough prospecting. 
 
 All this was true literally, and did not mean much 
 directly, but most extravagant deductions were drawn 
 from it, then accepted as a proper basis for action, 
 and confirmed by the writers of sensational letters, 
 some of whom may have been paid by the owners of 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 275 
 
 the steamships, which reaped a rich harvest from the 
 excitement. So great was the rush that California 
 seemed in danger of being depopulated. The custom- 
 house records say that between the twentieth of April 
 and the ninth of August, the limits of the Fraser fever, 
 fifteen thousand and eighty-eight passengers left San 
 Francisco in one hundred and twelve vessels for the 
 new Eldorado; but the " Prices Current," a carefully 
 edited commercial journal, said the number of adven- 
 turers was twenty- three thousand four hundred and 
 twenty-eight, the reports to the custom-house being 
 greatly below the truth in many cases. In the mid- 
 dle of August only two thousand three hundred per- 
 sons had returned. The twenty-three thousand five 
 hundred who went to Fraser river were six in a 
 hundred of the entire population of the state, a very 
 large proportion to leave within four months; and 
 they were relatively fifteen times as many as left the 
 Atlantic slope for California in 1849, when the world 
 was astonished at the magnitude of the migration, 
 and when all the business relations of the country 
 were disturbed. Not only did one in sixteen of the 
 men in California start for Fraser river, but one third 
 of the others were preparing to go when the folly of 
 the excitement became clear to the common com- 
 prehension. For a time, fears had prevailed that the 
 state would be depopulated, and that San Francisco 
 would be stationary for many years, while Victoria, 
 the chief port of the gold mines of British America, 
 would become the metropolis of the coast. Real es- 
 
276 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 tate lost half its market value; lots on Montgomery 
 street, between Bush and Sutter, were offered at two 
 hundred dollars a front foot, and found no takers, 
 though since in demand at eighteen hundred to two 
 thousand dollars; and Blythe's gore, between Market 
 and Geary, for which according to common report an 
 offer of one million and a half dollars was rejected in 
 1876, was considered dear at thirty thousand dollars. 
 For several months California appeared to be on the 
 verge of dissolution under the influence of the Fraser 
 river. Some of the mining towns lost half their in- 
 habitants. Placer claims that yielded ten dollars per 
 day, net, to the man, were almost unsalable. Seats 
 in the stages from the mining towns to Sacramento 
 and Stockton were engaged for weeks in advance. 
 Real estate fell in many places eighty per cent, in 
 market value. In San Francisco, through which all 
 the emigrants passed, and to which they paid a large 
 tribute in many ways, there was a ruinous decline. 
 Bankers, lawyers, wholesale merchants and real estate 
 speculators began to make arrangements for transfer- 
 ring their business to Victoria. The confident belief 
 that New Caledonia would produce as much gold, and 
 would be as lively in business as California had been 
 in 1849, was extensive if not general; and to be in 
 the midst of such another storm of gold dust would 
 well be worth the sacrifice of a few thousand dollars. 
 Before the middle of July, the credulous acceptance 
 of the stories about the mineral wealth of the Fraser 
 basin was seriously discredited by the failure to find 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 211 
 
 any extensive diggings; early in August the excite- 
 ment had become a subject of ridicule; and in Sep- 
 tember the people wondered how they could ever have 
 believed that there was any reason for an excitement. 
 It was calculated that the adventurers who went to 
 Fraser river lost nine million dollars in the aggregate, 
 including sixty dollars fare, sixty days time and one 
 hundred dollars for outfit and freight money for each 
 man on an average. The estimate was probably ex- 
 travagant for the direct loss, but the indirect loss was 
 much greater, especially in the depreciation of prop- 
 erty in the mining districts. San Francisco, however, 
 gained far more than she lost. The panic which 
 threatened her with disaster, and for a few months 
 caused many serious losses to individuals, soon re- 
 acted, and made busines more active than before. 
 The Fraser fever was really a turning point in the 
 fortunes of the city. The money wasted by the miners 
 had gone into the pockets of San Franciscan owners 
 of steamers, stages, hotels and supplies. Here the 
 adventurers all stopped, purchased outfits and paid 
 passage money to transportation companies. The 
 shipping of the port, which had been decreasing for 
 five years, now began to increase. The report of the 
 excitement attracted many people from the Atlantic 
 states, and the gain of population by sea was thirteen 
 thousand, whereas it had been only five thousand 
 annually, on an average, for the three preceding years. 
 The temporary decline in city lots caused severe loss 
 to individuals, but there was an equal profit for others; 
 
278 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and as the disappointed miners generally declared 
 when they got back, many of them having in the 
 mean time traveled through the basins of the Colum- 
 bia and Frazer rivers and Puget sound, that they 
 would never leave California again, whatever mines 
 might be discovered at a distance — these were the 
 men who called this " God's country " — there was a 
 heightened feeling of confidence in the permanent 
 prosperity of the state. Before the end of the year, 
 real estate in San Francisco was in more demand than 
 it had been since 1855. 
 
 Sec. 133. 1859. The large increase in the pro- 
 duction of wheat and wool, the extensive plantings of 
 fruit trees and vines, the conviction, now taking strong 
 hold of the public mind, that California had wonder- 
 ful resources for agriculture, especially in its horticul- 
 tural department, and a growing disposition on the 
 part of many of the people to regard the state as a 
 desirable place for permanent homes, contributed in 
 1859 to strengthen the era of prosperity that had its 
 beginning in the previous year. The settlement of 
 the titles of many large Mexican ranchos, and the 
 belief that all the large claims to land in the city or 
 its settled districts would be defeated, had favorable 
 influences. Land rose in value, and building again 
 became active. The Hayes tract of one hundred and 
 fifty acres, south of Turk street and west of Lark in, 
 including Hayes Valley, was sold at auction, bringing 
 about one hundred and fifty dollars on an average for 
 lots twenty-five feet in front by one hundred and ten 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 279 
 
 feet deep. Several manufacturing establishments 
 were erected, including a woolen mill and a glass fac- 
 tory. The steam-paddy, which had been idle for six 
 years, resumed work. Foreign coin was thrown out 
 by the banks, thus excluding" it from common cir- 
 culation. The first reports of the discovery of the 
 silver deposits of the Comstock lode were published 
 in the summer, and before the end of the winter, 
 forty tons of the ore, worked at San Francisco, 
 had yielded one hundred thousand dollars net, after 
 paying five hundred dollars per ton for transpor- 
 tation and reduction. The political campaign of the 
 year was very bitter. The people at the polls, by a 
 large majority condemned the conduct of Mr. Brod- 
 erick as senator, and a few days later he was mortally 
 wounded in a duel. 
 
 Sec. 134. Early Politics. There had been no 
 organization of political parties in California before 
 its admission into the Union. But most of the citi- 
 zens had brought with them from the East their old 
 partisan opinions and prejudices, and were ready to 
 unite or divide on party lines whenever opportunity 
 should occur. The two national parties at that time 
 were, in California at least, nearly agreed upon most 
 of the questions which had agitated the country for 
 ten years before, save the extension of slavery; and 
 even in reference to that, the difference was under- 
 stood rather than explicitly defined. Its most ardent 
 advocates were all democrats; its most active oppon- 
 ents, as a class, were whigs. Because of the pro- 
 
280 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 hibition of slavery in her constitution, the admission 
 of California had been resisted by the democrats in 
 Congress, and thus the people of the state were much 
 offended, and driven towards the whig- party, whose 
 representatives had been the steadfast friends of the 
 new state, and to whose support she mainly owed her 
 triumph over the slavery men. But the favor which 
 the Avhig party gained on account of democratic hos- 
 tility to the admission of California, was more than 
 counterbalanced by the blunders of the whig admin- 
 istration in its treatment of her. Congress, absorbed 
 with slavery and questions incidental to it, neglected 
 the new state, which, on account of rapid growth, 
 needed great attention. President Fillmore recom- 
 mended the taxation of the mines, and thus irritated 
 her people. The chief federal officials instead of be- 
 ing selected from the old residents, were strangers 
 sent out to take the honors and profits after others 
 had faced the danger and done the work of pioneer 
 life; and these " carpet-bag politicians," as their class 
 was afterwards called, proved themselves in many 
 cases incompetent and corrupt. 
 
 Thus it was that in all legislatures and in most of 
 the counties, until the middle of 1854, the democrats 
 had the majority. In 1851 they elected to the gov- 
 ernorship John Bigler, a man who had neither the 
 capacity, the education, nor the manners to grace the 
 position. But as a good fellow with the multitude, 
 he was an available candidate. The better democrats 
 were ashamed of him, and especially the southern 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 281 
 
 men, who could not pardon his coarseness, though 
 they could have overlooked the unscrupulous manner 
 in which he abused his official power for the benefit 
 of his political friends. It was necessary that there 
 should be a contention in the party for its control, 
 and it divided into two nearly equal factions; the 
 chivalry, or men from the slave states, in one, and the 
 Tammany, or foreigners and natives of the free states, 
 in the other. The line of separation was not dis- 
 tinctly drawn; that is, there was no authoritative 
 declaration of principles on either side, but a strong 
 antagonism had broken out so early as 1852. 
 
 Sec. 135. BrodericL Among the pioneer citizens 
 of California who arrived in 1849 was David C. 
 Broderick, then about thirty years old, who, though 
 a native of the national capital, had spent most of his 
 years in New York City, where he had kept an ale 
 house, had been a member of a fire company, had 
 learned that he could manage men, and had acquired 
 such popularity with a considerable proportion of 
 voters that he had been a candidate for congress. 
 His defeat in a district in which his party had 
 fifteen hundred majority, and the public criticisms 
 upon his career and associations, contributed to dis- 
 gust him with his position in New York, and he was 
 glad when he saw the prospect of commencing life 
 again in California. 
 
 He made his home in San Francisco, and asram got 
 into politics through the fire department. He was a 
 leader in the organization of the first fire company, 
 
282 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 but he took care to avoid the mistake of putting him- 
 self on a level with all his fellow members. Though 
 his early education had been limited, he had given 
 much time to reading, and not without profit to him- 
 self. The reward soon came. He had been in San. 
 Francisco but a few months when, with the help of 
 the "boys" who had known him in New York, and his 
 skill in partisan management, he was chosen state 
 senator to represent the city. 
 
 Neither lawyer, statesman, nor orator, he attracted 
 little attention in the first session of the legislature, 
 when an entire code of laws had to be enacted. It 
 was observed, however, that he was versed in parlia- 
 mentary law; he could well explain those matters 
 with which he was familiar; all his knowledge was 
 ready at his tongue's end whenever required, and he 
 had a character that gave him authority, influence, 
 and the promise of political preferment. Governor 
 Burnett having resigned and having been succeeded 
 by John McDougal, when the senate met in 1851 it 
 had to elect a president, who thus became lieutenant- 
 governor. Broderick was chosen for the place. 
 
 That legislature had also to elect a senator of the 
 United States, and Broderick wanted the office, but 
 he had not yet enough influence. Other men were far 
 better known and more popular, and among them were 
 Fremont, John B. Weller, who had been a member 
 of congress from Ohio, and others. While he did 
 not succeed in getting the place, he was gratified by 
 the failure of the legislature to agree — a result to 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 283 
 
 which he contributed — and by the postponement of 
 the election to the next year, thus giving him more 
 time. He worked industriously, and not without 
 effect, for though he had not been recognized as a 
 candidate in 1851, in 1852 he gave John B. Weller a 
 hard contest in the democratic caucus, and the latter 
 did not triumph till the fifth ballot and then by only 
 two majority. The defeat was a great disappointment 
 to Mr. Broderick, but it gave him a high place in the 
 party, and made him the head of its northern faction. 
 Sec. 136. Hostility to Slavery. The first oppor- 
 tunity for Mr. Broderick to show his hostility to the 
 chivalry on a question relating to slavery was when a 
 bill was introduced permitting southern men who had 
 brought negroes as slaves to California before the ad- 
 mission of the state, to take them back by force. 
 Although the majority of his party were for this 
 measure, he opposed it energetically, and when a bill 
 was introduced to provide for the enforcement of labor 
 contracts (the purpose being to encourage the import- 
 ation of a large number of Chinamen under agreement 
 to work for cheap labor), Broderick denounced it as 
 a substitute for slavery, and contributed to its defeat. 
 Notwithstanding his dislike of slavery, he was not dis- 
 posed to leave the democratic party, which was 
 the stronghold of the pro-slavery party. When 
 in 1852, the democratic national convention, sub- 
 mitting to the dictation of the fire eaters, adopted 
 the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798 and 
 1799 as " one of the main foundations of their polit- 
 
284 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ical creed," and declared an intention "to carry them 
 out in their obvious meaning and import," thus reject- 
 ing President Madison's attempt made during the 
 nullification excitement to show that they did not 
 justify nullification and secession; — when in accord- 
 ance with the spirit of that platform the Missouri 
 compromise was repealed in 1854, opening all the ter- 
 ritories to slavery; — and when in 1856 the national con- 
 vention re-adopted the resolutions of 1798 and 1799, 
 asserting for every state the right of judging for itself 
 whether the federal constitution had been violated, 
 and what should be the mode and measure of redress, 
 thus pledging the national administration to permit 
 secession; — when all these things were done in the 
 interest of slavery, Mr. Broderick, whose position re- 
 quired him to understand their purposes and tenden- 
 cies, submitted to them quietly. 
 
 At the presidential election of 1852, the state gave 
 a majority of eight thousand, out of a total vote of 
 eighty thousand, to Pierce, and thus the democratic 
 character of California seemed to be well established 
 at the first opportunity of taking part in a national 
 political contest. The result was considered by Mr. 
 Broderick as a promise that he should have the sen- 
 atorship if he could get the control of the party organ- 
 ization, and he devoted all his energies to that point. 
 
 Sec. 137. Campaign of 1853. In the democratic 
 state convention held in the spring of 1853 to nomi- 
 nate a governor and state ticket, he proved his power. 
 He was acknowledged by the representatives of the 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 285 
 
 party as their leader, and by his influence John Big- 
 ler, notwithstanding the opposition of the southern 
 faction and the protest of San Francisco, where he 
 was especially unpopular, was renominated. The 
 elections returns gave a majority to Bigler, though it 
 was a common opinion, and probably a correct one, 
 that if an honest count had been made, he would have 
 been defeated by not less than five thousand. The 
 men in charge of several of the election precincts in 
 San Francisco were professional ruffians and political 
 swindlers, and if they did not commit frauds upon the 
 ballot-box, it was not because their reputations were 
 too good, or the precautions of the law to prevent 
 abuses too careful and judicious. 
 
 Mr. Broderick could look upon the election as a 
 great triumph for himself; the executive officers of 
 the state had been selected by him, the majority of 
 the members of the legislature looked to him as their 
 leader, and he was the chairman of the state demo- 
 cratic committee which had charge of the general 
 business of the party. The circumstances were full 
 of promise for him. He was suspected of being the 
 manager of serious election frauds in San Francisco; 
 he was known to be the employer and protector of 
 the ruffians who had taken charge of the ballot boxes, 
 and he had given some needless offense to various in- 
 fluential southern politicians; but lie now stood so 
 high that he could have discarded his base supporters, 
 conciliated the leaders of the adverse faction, and 
 strengthened his influence in many ways. 
 
286 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Sec. 138. Hammond Denounced. But such a 
 method of procedure was contrary to his tastes. He 
 could be gentle in his demeanor towards his friends, 
 and he owed much of his ascendency to his manners; 
 but in political tactics it was his rule to completely 
 crush the enemy who fell into his power. He tried 
 the crushing process upon the chivalry men in fed- 
 eral offices, and especially upon R. P. Hammond, col- 
 lector of customs and a member of the Southern 
 faction, who, disliking Bigler and Broderick, had re- 
 fused to contribute personally or to assess his subordi- 
 nates for the campaign funds. In November, 1853, 
 two months after election, Mr. Broderick, as chairman 
 of the state committee, issued a proclamation to the 
 party, congratulating it upon the victory, and com- 
 plaining that many of those who held federal offices 
 under a democratic administration, and bound by the 
 usages of the country to furnish the sinews of war, 
 had refused to contribute in the late critical contest, 
 and denouncing them as traitors. The following is 
 an extract from this proclamation: 
 
 We made the next appeal to the stipendiaries of the na- 
 tional purse who owed their offices and ingots to the permission 
 of the party in this state. "We had a peculiar right to look in 
 that direction for relief. We had responded to the appeal of 
 the first national election in our history by four electoral votes, 
 and we felt entitled to expect that the influence and aid of the 
 general administration would be cheerfully reciprocated by its 
 agents here in fair requital for that profound pledge of our de- 
 votion. W T e invoked the aid, therefore, of those who held ap- 
 pointments under the government at Washington. But, except 
 in a few honorable instances, our hopes were vain. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 287 
 
 Sec. 139. Grab for Senatorship. Mr. Broderick 
 supposed that this language would be approved by the 
 party generally, and would greatly weaken, if it did 
 not destroy the power of the chivalry leaders; but as 
 they had both the federal senatorships — Weller, 
 though a native of a free state, being in full harmonv 
 with them — all of the federal offices, many of the 
 county offices, and the devoted adherence of a large 
 faction, the excommunication was generally regarded 
 as a cause of discord which would seriously endanger 
 the success of the party in the future. It failed to 
 produce the effect upon which Mr. Broderick had cal- 
 culated, and indeed it reacted and seriously damaged 
 him. He had cherished a plan which he revealed to 
 his friends so soon as the election returns assured him 
 of the preponderance of his faction in the state admin- 
 istration. The democrats had majorities in both 
 houses of the legislature, and most of them were his 
 friends. He proposed that a federal senator should 
 be elected without delay for the term to commence 
 March 4, 1855. Objections that such an election, a 
 year before the time fixed by custom, would be highly 
 unpopular as well as unlawful; that if the legislature 
 meeting in January, 1854, could choose a senator for 
 the term commencing in March, 1855, it could with 
 equal right and propriety elect for the terms com- 
 mencing in 1857, 1861, 1865, and so on indefinitely, 
 thus robbing future legislatures of their rights; mid 
 that the members of this legislature had not been 
 selected with any reference to this question, and there- 
 
288 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 fore could not properly act upon it — all such objections 
 were overruled by Mr. Broderick, who answered that 
 custom was not good authority; that no statutory or 
 constitutional provision fixed the time when the sena- 
 torial election should be held; that the party might 
 not have a majority in the next legislature, and that 
 it is the rule of politics to take every prize within 
 reach, leaving nothing to the enemy. A large pro- 
 portion of the democratic members of the legislature 
 accepted the ungenerous dictation of Mr. Broderick, 
 and labored strenuously to bring on the senatorial 
 election, but a few of the Tammany men refused to 
 sacrifice themselves to gratify an unscrupulous leader, 
 and these, with the southern democrats, whigs, and 
 independents, defeated the scheme. They had one 
 vote more than all those under Mr. Broderick's con- 
 trol. 
 
 The struofo-le to elect Mr. Broderick was not fin- 
 ished in a day, or limited by a single vote, but it 
 absorbed the attention of the legislature for two 
 months, and had many serious accompaniments and 
 consequences. One of the members of the legislature 
 reported that J. C. Palmer, a banker friendly to the 
 senatorial aspirant, had offered to pay him for his 
 vote, and a trial for bribery followed. The evidence 
 was conflicting, and the verdict acquittal; but the cus- 
 tody of certain public funds was taken from the house 
 of Palmer, Cook & Co. — a severe punishment in itself. 
 The angry journalistic disputations about the propri- 
 ety of then electing a senator, led to a duel between 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 289 
 
 two editors, each prominent on his side; and C. A. 
 Washburn received a troublesome bullet in his shoul- 
 der from the rifle of his opponent, B. F. Washington. 
 To prevent a second attempt to seize the senatorship 
 before the proper time, the legislature at its next ses- 
 sion passed an act prescribing the manner in which 
 future elections should be held, reserving to the legis- 
 lature, which should begin its session next before the 
 commencement of the senatorial term, the privilege of 
 making the selection. It was an official and appro- 
 priate rebuke of a discreditable plot. 
 
 Sec. 140. Chivalry Triumph. Complete as had 
 been the control of Mr. Broderick over the majority 
 of the democratic members of the legislature, the 
 party was against him, and when a state convention 
 met, a few months later, his faction was in a woeful 
 minority. Rather than submit to the rule of his ene- 
 mies, he managed affairs so that the convention di- 
 vided into two conventions, each claiming to be the 
 fair representative of the organization. The claim 
 was honestly made on the chivalry side. The only 
 officers to be elected by general vote of the state in 
 that year were two congressmen, and there were three 
 tickets in the field. The chivalry democrats obtained 
 thirty-seven thousand votes, the whigs thirty-five 
 thousand, and the Broderickites ten thousand. These 
 figures looked like political destruction to the man 
 who a few months before considered himself master of 
 the state. 
 
 But the whirligig of fickle fortune soon turned 
 
 19 
 
290 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 again in his favor. In the year of 1854 the Mis- 
 souri compromise, prohibiting slavery in the territories 
 north of latitude 36° 30', was repealed at the demand 
 of the slavery extensionists, and many of the whig 
 leaders favored the repeal. This was the death-blow 
 of the whig party, on the ruins of which rose the 
 know-nothing party, whose main purposes were to ex- 
 clude all foreign-born citizens from office, and to dis- 
 courage immigration. 
 
 The slaveholders complained that the rush of immi- 
 grants occupied the territories, and thus prevented 
 them from getting any benefit from their half owner- 
 ship of the southern states in the public lands. Their 
 dislike of foreigners shared by the chivalry faction of 
 the democracy in California, made discord in the com- 
 bination which had overwhelmed Mr. Broderick. 
 Many of the northern democrats who had voted to 
 punish him for his attempt to grab the unripe sen- 
 atorship, were galled by the manner of the chivalry 
 leaders towards them, and were unwilling to be used 
 against the interests of free soil. The election of 1854 
 had elevated Dr. Gwin to the dictatorship of the party. 
 He was a southerner by birth, a politician of much 
 experience, ability and tact, an industrious public 
 servant, a hospitable entertainer, and a gentleman in 
 his manners. His social position, his attractive home, 
 the good character of his most intimate associates, 
 and his refusal, perhaps his inability, to manage pri- 
 maries, or personally employ ruffians or swindlers for 
 service in conventions and elections, gave him a su- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 291 
 
 periority in the estimation of many genteel people 
 over Broderick. When the latter was overwhelmed 
 by the election of 1854, Gwin was recognized as the 
 master. He was the senior senator, and the head of 
 the dominant faction. Inferior as a political orator, 
 he was much superior as a party manager and influen- 
 tial member of congress to his senatorial colleague, 
 John B. Weller, who made no effort to control the fed- 
 eral patronage. The two representatives in the lower 
 house acknowledged the authority of Gwin, and no 
 important federal appointment was made without his 
 consent. 
 
 Now, as on previous occasions, he used his power 
 unwisely. He gave the best offices to ultra southern 
 men. The democrats of northern birth could get 
 nothing, unless they had southern principles and 
 were hostile to Broderick; and even then the inferior 
 men were preferred, and usually got only inferior 
 places. No encouragement was to be given to the 
 northern faction of the party. Under this policy the 
 federal spoils in California were distributed, and the 
 public buildings swarmed with men whose chief qual- 
 ification for government service were their southern 
 birth and advocacy of the extension of slavery. 
 
 S. W. Inge, of Alabama, United States district at- 
 torney, and Yolney E. Howard, of Texas, law agent of 
 the United States in the land commission, had as mem- 
 bers of congress in 1850 voted against the admission 
 of California, because its territory was dedicated to 
 freedom. Mr. Inge was succeeded by Mr. Delia 
 
292 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Torre, of South Carolina. The highest federal j udicial 
 officer, appointed before Dr. Gwin obtained much 
 power, was Judge Hoffman, a native of New York, 
 who held his place during good behavior ; so he could 
 not be removed, but another federal court was placed 
 over him, with Judge McAllister, of Alabama, pre- 
 siding. The custom-house, the chief field of federal 
 patronage, swarmed w^ith southern men, and several 
 years later was nicknamed " The Virginia Poorhouse," 
 because of the multitude of penniless men belonging 
 to noted families of the old dominion there provided 
 with refuge. 
 
 It was partly because of his sacrifice of the party 
 to his southern feelings that Gwin was not re- 
 elected senator by the legislature that began its 
 session in January, 1855. Most of the democrats 
 were devoted to him; but in violation of custom the 
 minority refused to go into caucus, or to be governed 
 by the majority, and the know-nothings and anti- 
 Gwin democrats were strong enough to prevent a 
 choice. It was a triumph for Broderick to prevent 
 his rival from grasping the prize. 
 
 Sec. 141. Know- Nothing Triumph. When the 
 democratic state convention met in the spring of 1855, 
 to nominate a full ticket of state executive officers, 
 notwithstanding the dissatisfaction among the Irish- 
 men, Germans and northern democrats with Gwin, 
 the chivalry faction still had undoubtedly a large ma- 
 jority of the party; but it had no manager of primaries 
 equal to Broderick; no one so willing to make pecun- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 293 
 
 iaiy sacrifices for the sake of success; no one for whom 
 personal friends would so freely contribute their money. 
 To the great astonishment of the general public, 
 when the two factions came to vote on the nomina- 
 tion for governor, they were about equally divided, 
 neither having a majority. A squad of delegates 
 from the northern end of the state had the balance 
 of power, and would not decide till its leader had 
 time to consider the situation. He took a walk dur- 
 ing a recess of the convention with Mr. Broderick, 
 and at the next vote the chivalry were defeated 
 and Mr. Broderick was again the dictator of the 
 party. This was too much for the chivalry; they 
 had been overreached in the primaries, defeated in 
 the state convention, and rather than submit would 
 defeat the democratic ticket. Circumstances per- 
 mitted them to do this conveniently. The whig party 
 had disappeared, the republican organization w T as as 
 yet in embryo, and the native American order a 
 secret society, the nucleus of a national party, had 
 run, like electricity, throughout the Union. The 
 branch of it established in California struck out the 
 hostility to Catholics, and thus deprived it of any 
 sectarian character. The chivalry democrats went 
 into the lodges in swarms, and J. N. Johnson, the 
 know-nothing nominee for governor had a majority of 
 nearly five thousand in a state where the previous 
 year the democrats had a plurality of twelve thou- 
 sand. 
 
 Sec. 142. H. S. Foote. Again Broderick had 
 
294 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 been defeated before the people; again there was to 
 be a senatorial election, and he had no chance. Again 
 he was subjected to the ridicule of his enemies, and 
 the complaint of pretended friends. However, he had 
 the satisfaction of seeing that the know-nothings could 
 not grasp the sena/torial prize, of which they consid- 
 ered themselves secure. They had a majority of one, 
 but that one was a man of decided free soil jDrinciples, 
 and he refused to vote for the know-nothing nominee, 
 Henry S. Foote, a native of Mississippi, an advocate 
 of slavery extension, who, if rumor were true, had 
 come to California on purpose to be elected senator. 
 Thus it happened that again the senatorial election was 
 defeated; again the state was left without complete 
 representation in the federal senate; again Mr. Brod- 
 erick could have a chance in a struggle at the prima- 
 ries for the great prize of his life. 
 
 Sec. 143. Chivalry in Discredit. He went to 
 work industriously early in the spring of 1856 to get 
 control of the county conventions, so that the legisla- 
 tive candidates throughout the state should be pledged 
 to his service. Circumstances turned strongly in his 
 favor. The policy pursued by the chivalry leaders 
 to defeat him in the previous year now reacted against 
 them with strong effect. The know-nothings had 
 been demoralized by their inability to elect a senator. 
 They saw that they had not the elements for the 
 maintenance of a national party, and letters from their 
 friends in the eastern states said there was little hope 
 for the new organization there. The foreign born 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 295 
 
 voters, with the aid of the large class of Americans 
 who appreciated the immense benefit of immigration 
 to the country, together made up a majority of the 
 votes. 
 
 Having withdrawn in 1855 and given serious offense 
 to the Irish and Germans, the chivalry leaders could 
 not regain control of the party in the spring of 1856. 
 As Broderick had been previously the chief enemy 
 of the southern faction, so now, when that faction was 
 overthrown, the power naturally fell into his hands. 
 The prize seemed at last to have come within his 
 reach. 
 
 Sec. 144. Vigilantes against Broderick. But the 
 kaleidoscope of fate had not yet exhausted its black 
 pictures for him. It took another and a fearful turn 
 in May, 1856. The rise of the vigilance committee 
 was a rebuke to Mr. Broderick. Its main purpose 
 and its most valuable results were to drive from power 
 the tricksters by whose help he held control of the 
 democratic organization in San Francisco. The city 
 officials recently installed had been selected with his 
 approval, and with special regard to the service they 
 could render him. The vinlance committee, while it 
 did not expel them from office, deprived them of in- 
 fluence and disgraced them. The intelligence, the 
 respectability and the weight of the city were with 
 the committee. The adherents of Broderick had cap- 
 tured most of the counties before the vigilance com- 
 mittee broke out; and though that movement brought 
 great discredit upon him in the opinion of the general 
 
296 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 public, yet it gave him strength among the managers 
 of his party. It was regarded by them and their fol- 
 lowers as an act of hostility to the democracy. Some 
 chivalry leaders who disliked Mr. Broderick, by giv- 
 ing their countenance to the committee, excluded 
 themselves from the partisan councils and left the 
 power to his followers. Thus it was that many of the 
 nominations for the legislature — and they form a large 
 part of a senatorial contest in California, as in other 
 states of the Union — belonged to him. 
 
 Sec. 145. Senator at Last. The popular election 
 was not less favorable. The people were called upon 
 to elect a president in 1856, and they had to choose 
 between the democratic and republican candidates. 
 Know-nothingism had sunk back into insignificance. 
 The people were not ready to accept the republican 
 doctrines; the democrats carried away the offices in 
 California, as well as in some other free states, and 
 their success implied the triumph of Mr. Broderick. 
 There was now no question about his predominance in 
 the party. Two senators were to be chosen, and before 
 election by the legislature, were to be nominated by a 
 caucus of the democratic members. No candidate 
 had an absolute majority, but Broderick was much 
 stronger than Gwin, Latham, or Weller (each had his 
 adherents), and it was conceded that he must be nom- 
 inated first, and could control the nomination of the 
 other. He lacked three of a majority, and as he said 
 he would prefer Latham to anybody else for his col- 
 league, four Latham men voted for him in the caucus 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 297 
 
 and gave him the nomination, expecting that their 
 man would be nominated immediately afterwards. 
 
 Sec. 146. Sale of Second Senator ship. This was 
 a reasonable expectation; but when Mr. Broderick 
 had gained his part of the spoils, he interrupted the 
 proceedings. At his dictation, the caucus adjourned 
 to give him time for intrigue. Having obtained the 
 end of his great ambition, he ought to have been 
 satisfied; but now that he had so much, he wanted 
 more. The selection of the higher federal officials in 
 California had been the privilege or perquisite of the 
 senators, and Mr. Broderick wanted it all for himself. 
 As the Tammany faction of the party had a majority 
 in the legislature, custom demanded that it should 
 select another of its members to- the other senator- 
 ship, but that did not suit Mr. Broderick. The fac- 
 tion, indeed, had few leaders whose election would 
 have done credit to the state. Mr. Broderick's 
 method of requiring complete submission repelled 
 men of ability, who otherwise would willingly have 
 worked with him. Besides, he wanted to impose 
 humiliating conditions upon his colleague, and he 
 could not propose them to any of his friends. 
 
 Having been elected on the tenth of January, his 
 first step was to send for Dr. Gwin, who, in compli- 
 ance with the invitation, went to see him on that 
 night. Of the conversation between these eminent 
 politicians on this occasion we have no record, but we 
 know that Dr. Gwin, having received what he con- 
 sidered satisfactory assurauce that he should have 
 
298 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Mr. Broderick's support for the senatorship, addressed 
 to him the folloAving letter, which, though evidently 
 confidential, was afterwards published by the recipient 
 and acknowledged to be correct by the author: 
 
 Sacramento, January 10, 1857. 
 Dear Sir: I am likely to be the victim of the unparalleled 
 treachery of those who have been placed in power through my 
 aid. The most potential portion of the federal patronage is in 
 the hands of those who, by every principle that should govern 
 men of honor, should be my supporters instead of enemies, and 
 it is being used for my destruction. My participation in the 
 distribution of this patronage has been the source of number- 
 less slanders upon me, that have fastened a prejudice in the 
 public mind against me, and have created enmities that have 
 been destructive of my happiness and peace of mind for years. 
 It has entailed untold evils upon me; and while in the senate, 
 I will not recommend a single individual for appointment to 
 office in this state. Provided I am elected, you shall have the 
 exclusive control of this patronage, so far as I am concerned, 
 and in its distribution I shall only ask that it may be used with 
 magnanimity, and not for the advantage of those who have 
 been our mutual enemies, and unwearied in their exertions to 
 destroy us. This determination is unalterable; and in making 
 this declaration I do not expect you to support me for that 
 reason, or in any way to be governed by it. But as I have 
 been betrayed by those who should have been my friends, I am 
 powerless myself, and dependent on your magnanimity. 
 
 W. M. Gwin. 
 
 The pretext of disgust with federal patronage on 
 account of the ingratitude of his appointees was per- 
 haps the best excuse for making such a bargain. 
 Many of those who had fawned upon him when he 
 was master of the party, did the same to Mr. Brod- 
 erick when he became the dictator, and the motive 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 299 
 
 was no worse in one case than in the other. The cus- 
 tom of the spoils doctrine requires that the official 
 appointed by the influence of a patron should be his 
 partisan, under obligations of fidelity to him. The 
 men placed in office by Gwin were guilty of treason 
 when they went over to his enemy. 
 
 Sec. 147. Offer to Sell it Again. Mr. Broderick, 
 not content with having such a letter from Dr. Gwin, 
 the next evening, January 11, sent for Mr. Latham, 
 and when they met expressed his preference for him 
 as a colleague among all the senatorial aspirants, and 
 offered the senatorship to him if he would promise not 
 to interfere with the federal patronage. Mr. Latham 
 said he had a few friends to whom he was under ob- 
 ligations, and if he were senator he must recommend 
 them for office. When Mr. Broderick learned their 
 names, he said they were men who had not been his 
 enemies, and he would join in the recommendation; 
 and as they were thus agreed, he would like to have 
 a written memorandum of the agreement, signed by 
 Mr. Latham, promising that he would not try to in- 
 fluence the federal patronage in California. Mr. 
 Latham refused to put his name upon any such paper, 
 and Broderick gave him to understand that he could 
 not have the prize. 
 
 What would have occurred if the signature had 
 been given cannot now be known. It is evident that 
 Broderick intended to play a trick upon Gwin or 
 Latham, perhaps upon both. J. M. Estell, who was 
 active in the negotiations as Brodurick's intimate 
 
300 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 friend and confidential adviser, said afterwards that if 
 Latham had signed the document demanded, the two 
 letters would have been produced in caucus to ruin the 
 reputation and political influence of both Gwin and 
 Latham. Other friends of Broderick are confident 
 that he meant in good faith to to elect Latham, if 
 they could agree upon the terms. 
 
 Sec. 148. Reception of Gwiris Letter. On the 
 evening of the twelfth the democratic caucus nomi- 
 nated Dr. Gwin; the next day he was elected; and 
 on the following day a letter addressed by him " to 
 the people " was published. It was similar in its 
 ideas and expressions to his letter of the tenth, ac- 
 knowledging his indebtedness to Broderick for his 
 election, and declaring that having been betrayed by 
 those whom he had put in office, he should have 
 nothing to do with the federal patronage. A politi- 
 cal tempest followed the publication. The federal 
 officers, who were all Gwin men, finding that they 
 had been deserted, complained bitterly of their leader; 
 the friends of Latham and Weller denounced the let- 
 ter as a sale of the senatorship to the injury of men 
 who were above base bargains; and the independent 
 newspapers cited the transaction as proof of the depth 
 of political corruption. All Dr. G win's protests that 
 the renunciation of all claims upon the federal pat- 
 ronage was written without any kind of a bargain, 
 was in harmony with his declarations made freely to 
 his friends before he expected any aid from Mr. 
 Broderick, and was the reasonable results of a most 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 301 
 
 humiliating and vexatious experience, were treated as 
 unworthy of serious consideration, however plausible 
 they might appear if looked at from his side only. 
 
 To Broderick's great astonishment the people would 
 not see the letter with his eyes. They blamed the 
 seller of the senatorship more than the buyer. The 
 transaction was held up as disgraceful to the nation, 
 and as injurious to the democratic party; and if grave 
 political considerations had not demanded the silence 
 of the majority in the senate, both Gwin and Brod- 
 erick would probably have been expelled. Some of 
 Mr. G win's fellow-senators who had long been his in- 
 timate friends, and who had systematically sought 
 and followed his advice, were disposed, when they 
 first heard of the affair, to turn their backs upon him, 
 but they were assured that he submitted to the hu- 
 miliation as the best thing that could be done for the 
 party, and they finally accepted the explanation and 
 received him as before, while they reserved their chief 
 indignation for Mr. Broderick. 
 
 Sec. 149. No Patronage to Broderick. That 
 gentleman was not less astonished with his own chill- 
 ing reception at Washington than he had been by the 
 reception of Gwin's letter by the public in San Fran- 
 cisco. President Buchanan, a warm personal friend 
 of Mr. Gwin, regarded the exaction of the letter in 
 the first place, and its publication afterwards, as two 
 separate offenses, each discreditable to the govern- 
 ment, and especially dangerous to the party at a time 
 when it needed all its strength to meet the republican 
 
302 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 excitement which was carrying everything before it 
 in the north, and threatening to soon overwhelm the 
 democracy. As Mr. Broderick seemed to stand alone, 
 the president thought he could safely treat him with 
 neglect. 
 
 Notwithstanding the coolness in the personal de- 
 meanor of the president towards him, Mr. Broderick 
 made out a list of the friends to whom he proposed 
 to distribute the chief federal offices in California, 
 filed the names in the appropriate departments, and 
 mentioned them to the president and members of the 
 cabinet, who took no notice of them. It was a mat- 
 ter of notoriety that Mr. Gwin was in much higher 
 favor personally than his colleague with the adminis- 
 tration, and before long it began to appear that his 
 advice was sought and followed in reference to polit- 
 ical appointments. The control of the patronage was 
 in the opinion of Mr. Broderick, if not the most valu- 
 able attribute of his senatorship, at least essential to 
 its dignity; without it he could not reward his friends, 
 punish his enemies, or maintain his power. The loss 
 of it was a bitter humiliation to him, and a great dis- 
 appointment to his followers, who accused Gwin of 
 violating his contract. The answer ' made to this by 
 Gwin's friends was that he had not volunteered advice 
 to the administration; but when solicited for inform- 
 ation or his opinion, he had given it, in compliance 
 with his duty. The accusation, if not the defense, 
 implied the existence of a bargain. 
 
 Sec. 150. Insult to Buchanan. When the ques- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 303 
 
 tion of introducing slavery into Kansas came before 
 the senate, Mr. Broderick took the side against the 
 administration, and he could do that without exposing 
 himself to the charge of treason to the party, for he had 
 the example and protection of Senator Douglas, by 
 many considered the ablest politician of the country, 
 and of excellent standing in the organization. Presi- 
 dent Buchanan claimed that the laws of the United 
 States carried slavery with them into the territories, 
 and that it could not be excluded until after the state 
 had been admitted into the Union. Douglas argued 
 that the territorial legislature could prohibit it. He 
 called the doctrine " popular sovereignty," a title well 
 designed to catch the favor of the people. So far 
 from sacrificing such popularity as he had in Cali- 
 fornia, Mr. Broderick really added much to it, by 
 adopting that doctrine, and yet by so doing he 
 wounded Mr. Buchanan and the pro-slavery democrats 
 in a most tender point, for every defection from the 
 administration strengthened the frenzy of the great 
 northern party, which was determined that the exten- 
 sion of slavery should stop. It is highly probable 
 that if even if Mr. Broderick had been on the best 
 terms with the administration, he would have adopted 
 Douglas's views upon the legal rights of the slave- 
 holders in the territories, for the slave party in Cali- 
 fornia had long been and were still his bitter enemies; 
 and his sympathies derived from northern associations 
 in favor of freedom were strengthened by the inter- 
 ests of his personal ambition and the animosities of 
 his political quarrels. 
 
304 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 His control over a majority of the democrats in the 
 legislature of 1854 had been followed within a few 
 months by the overwhelming triumph of the chivalry, 
 and events took a similar course in 1857. The state 
 convention which met in June, was under the con- 
 trol of his enemies, and so was the legislature chosen 
 in that year, as well as in the next one. The major- 
 ity of the people were democrats, but they did not 
 recognize Mr. Broderick as a true representative. In 
 1859 the democratic legislature adopted resolutions 
 denouncing, as a disgrace to the nation, the language 
 used by him in the United States senate when he 
 said that the policy of the administration towards 
 Kansas should be ascribed to "the fading intellect, 
 the petulant passion, and the trembling dotage of an 
 old man on the verge of the grave." This studied 
 insult wounded the feelings of the president, violated 
 the proprieties of parliamentary debate, and was with- 
 out foundation in fact. Mr. Buchanan was doubtless 
 wrong, at least the people have since decided that he 
 Avas, but his error was that of his party, and, it may 
 be said, that of his country, for his policy towards 
 Kansas was nothing more than the legitimate devel- 
 opment of the course pursued by the democratic lead- 
 ers and approved by the party in the two preceding 
 presidential elections. He was gentlemanly in his 
 manners, upright in his official position, and entitled 
 to respect in his errors of judgment. On no other 
 occasion has the legislature of California complained 
 that the state had been disgraced by one of its sen- 
 ators. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 305 
 
 Sec. 151. Campaign of 1859. The democrats had 
 now divided into two wings, the Lecompton, Buchan- 
 an or pro-slavery on one side, and the anti-Lecomp- 
 ton, Douglas or popular sovereignty faction on the 
 other. Each nominated its ticket, and the republi- 
 cans had theirs also, so there were three tickets in 
 the field. The campaign was bitter; Broderick, for 
 the first time in his life, made speeches before mass 
 meetings, and in these spoke abusively of Gwin, 
 accusing him of having been bribed by the Pacific 
 Mail company, and by the owners of Lime Point, on 
 the northern shore of the Golden Gate (they de- 
 manded and came near getting an outrageous price for 
 a piece of land valuable only for military purposes), 
 and denouncing his " utter worthlessness of character," 
 his " unreliability of word," and his " sneaking man- 
 ner of acting " He also claimed that a letter had 
 been stolen from him by the connivance of Latham. 
 Both gentlemen denied these accusations, and repaid 
 them with interest. Latham declared that Broderick's 
 speeches were written for him, and that he had not 
 ability to make one of his own. Gwin said that Brod- 
 erick intended to use his senatorial power to compen- 
 sate his friends for money loaned to him. Before the 
 day of election a fusion was agreed upon between the 
 leading republicans and anti-Lecomptonites as to the 
 candidates for congress, so that instead of two anti- 
 administration tickets, with two congressional candi- 
 dates on each, there was only one, so far as congress 
 was concerned, with one candidate for each party. 
 
 20 
 
306 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Even this did not avail. The Lecomptonites elected 
 their congressmen, as well as their governor. Thus 
 Broderick was again rejected by the people. 
 
 And now came the tragic end of his checkered 
 career. In June, David S. Terry, chief justice of the 
 sapreme court of the state, in a speech to a conven- 
 tion before which he was a candidate for renomina- 
 tion, said that Broderick's claim of having followed 
 the lead of Douglas, needed the explanation that it was 
 the lead, not of Stephen A. Douglas, the statesman, 
 but of Frederick Douglass, the mulatto. Broderick was 
 at the breakfast-table in the International Hotel 
 when he read the report of this speech, and speaking 
 to a friend so loud that others could hear, said he had 
 spoken of Terry as the only honest man on the bench, 
 but now he took it back. D. W. Perley, a friend of 
 Terry, happening to be present, spoke up showing his 
 intention to take Broderick's remark seriously, left 
 the table, where some ladies were seated, and soon 
 afterwards sent a challenge. Broderick refused to 
 accept it, and in a note to the challenger, said he 
 could not fight with an alien — Perley was a British 
 subject — who had no political rights to be affected by 
 taking part in a duel, and then added the following : 
 
 For many years, and up to the time of my elevation to the 
 position that I now occupy, it was well known that I would not 
 have avoided any issue of the character proposed. If compelled 
 to accept a challenge it could only be with a gentleman holding 
 a position equally elevated and responsible; and tbere are no 
 circumstances which could induce me even to do this during 
 the pendency of the present canvass. When I authorized the 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 307 
 
 announcement that I would address the people of California 
 during the campaign, it was suggested that efforts would be 
 made to force me into difficulties, and I determined to take no 
 notice of attacks from any source during the canvass. If I were 
 to accept your challenge, there are probably many other gen- 
 tlemen who would seek similar opportunities for hostile meet- 
 ings, for the purpose of accomplishing a political object or to 
 obtain public notoriety. I cannot afford, at the present time 
 to descend to a violation of the constitution and the state laws 
 to subserve either their or your purposes. 
 
 The note was one that could not be justified by 
 any code. The penalties affixed to duelling in the 
 laws of California, never having been enforced, were 
 practically void; and the principle that the rights of 
 gentlemen were limited by citizenship had never been 
 accepted. The challenge might with entire propriety 
 have been refused on the ground that the remark 
 about Terry was none of Mr. Perley's business; and 
 when it was declined there was no need of inserting 
 the indirect invitation for a challenge from a gentle- 
 man holding a position equally elevated and respon- 
 sible. 
 
 Sec. 152. Deadly Duel. Mr. Broderick did not 
 write thus without a purpose, which was "to kill old 
 Gwin," as he freely expressed it in conversation. 
 "When he suggested his desire to fight with a gentle- 
 man holding a position equally elevated and responsi- 
 ble, he thought only of his senatorial colleague, who 
 might choose between shunning a duel and facing a 
 practiced pistol. But Mr. Broderick was caught in 
 his own trap. David S. Terry was not the man to 
 abandon his friend Perley or to let Gwin assume his 
 
308 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 quarrel. As he could not fight a duel while on the 
 bench without violating his oath of office, he resigned 
 on the day after the election and immediately sent the 
 challenge. Broderick was astonished and chagrined. 
 Without any thought of Terry he had invited his 
 challenge. The remark made at the breakfast table 
 was a serious public insult; the letter to Perley was 
 a declaration that he was ready to accept a challenge 
 from a high official. No excuse could be found in 
 Terry's character or position for avoiding his polite 
 invitation to slaughter. Instead, however, of giving 
 a simple acceptance, he explained that when com- 
 menting on Terry's speech he said that " during Judge 
 Terry's incarceration by the vigilance committee, I 
 paid two hundred dollars a week to support a news- 
 paper in his defense." This attempt to conciliate 
 Terry failed, for it was never a rule in "the code of 
 honor" that a favor at one time was a justification 
 for an insult at another, but the assertion itself was 
 untrue, for though Broderick and his friends did 
 maintain a newspaper while Terry was incarcerated, 
 yet it was not supported for the purpose of defending 
 Terry. Its defense of him was merely an incident of 
 its general policy of hostility to the vigilance com- 
 mittee. 
 
 The duel was fought in San Mateo county, ten 
 miles from San Francisco, on the thirteenth of Sep- 
 tember, with dueling pistols, at a distance of ten 
 yards. Both men were excellent marksmen, familiar 
 with the weapons and brave ; but Broderick, suffering 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 309 
 
 with diarrhea and the piles, was nervous, while Terry 
 was cool. When the signal was given, both began 
 instantly to raise their pistols, but before Broderick 
 had brought his near to a level his finger pressed the 
 trigger, and his bullet struck the ground near the feet 
 of his enemy who fired a second later, the ball striking 
 the right breast and passing into the left lung, where 
 it lodged. Terry was so cool that he saw the dust 
 fly and the cloth bend under the bullet. He immedi- 
 ately said, " The shot is not mortal; I have struck two 
 inches to the right." Broderick lingered for five days, 
 much of the time under the influence of narcotics, 
 given to protect him against the acute pain of his 
 wound. It was reported that while upon his death- 
 bed he said, " They have killed me because I was op- 
 posed to the extension of slavery and a corrupt admin- 
 istration;" but he said nothing: of the kind. 
 
 Sec. 153. Conversion into a Hero. After his death 
 Broderick was converted into a hero. The general 
 sentiment in San Francisco, especially among the most 
 intelligent men, was strongly adverse to Buchanan's 
 administration, and a political purpose w T as to be 
 gained by treating him as a martyr to the cause of 
 liberty. To praise the dead senator was an excellent 
 bait for his followers. Thus in the city where Brod- 
 erick while alive was generally regarded as an un- 
 scrupulous politician, after his death he was praised 
 as the greatest of her citizens. In Lone Mountain 
 cemetery his tomb has the best place, and his monu- 
 ment is the most prominent and is the only one there 
 
310 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 to which the state contributed funds, and in laying the 
 corner-stone of which a governor participated. The 
 funeral of Broderick was one of the most imposing 
 public demonstrations ever seen in San Francisco, and 
 E. D. Baker delivered an eloquent oration on the 
 occasion. 
 
 Sec. 154. Trading Capital. Mr. Broderick's res- 
 idence in San Francisco was a source of great political 
 strength to him. The majority of the ward politi- 
 cians of the city were from New York, and they 
 recognized him as their leader. Through them he 
 controled the democratic conventions from 1851 to 
 1856 inclusive. He did not dictate all the nomina- 
 tions, but they were generally submitted to him and 
 accepted by him before they were formally announced. 
 He allowed considerable liberty of action to his fol- 
 lowers, so long as they did nothing to obstruct his 
 plans. As he had control of the city and state 
 offices in the city so long as the democrats had power, 
 all the ruffians who wanted to make money out of 
 politics on the Tammany side, sought his favor, and 
 were ready to do what they suj^posed would please 
 him. They were the friends of his friends and the 
 enemies of his enemies. Whoever in that class had 
 taken his money and betrayed him was treated by his 
 former associates as an outcast. 
 
 San Francisco was the chief center of political 
 power. It was the point where all the inland lines 
 of travel converged, where the politicians of the in- 
 terior met to arrange their plans. There was not so 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 311 
 
 much communication between Mokelumne Hill and 
 Placerville, though only thirty miles apart, as there 
 was between either town and San Francisco, which 
 was two hundred miles from each. In this metro- 
 politan situation, Broderick and Gwin were the lead- 
 ers of the two rival factions, but the latter was in the 
 city, the weaker of the two. He had not the same 
 talent for partisan discipline, not so much experience 
 in it, nor, on account of his duties as senator at Wash- 
 ington, could he devote so much time to it; and what 
 was more important than all, the southern people, 
 who were his reliance, were in a decided minority in 
 the city, where the northern men, who sympathized 
 with Broderick's policy, even when they disliked him 
 personally, were numerous, especially among the 
 classes who had most influence in the partisan organ- 
 ization. Having control of the San Francisco nomi- 
 nations, and of the delegations sent by San Francisco 
 to the democratic state conventions, Broderick pos- 
 sessed in them a large capital for partisan traffic, 
 while Gwin had no such strength to trade with. 
 
 Broderick was determined to do everything that 
 was necessary to secure his election to the federal sen- 
 ate with the help of the democratic party. It appeared 
 indispensable that he should use many very disreputa- 
 ble men, like Mulligan, Sullivan and Casey, but ho 
 refused to associate with them. Some of them he 
 paid with money and some with minor offices. With 
 other men, against Avhom much was said in the com- 
 munity, in some cases perhaps more on account of the 
 
312 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 company in which they were seen than for any other 
 reason, he was on terms of familiar friendship, and he 
 considered them his lieutenants, to be called into ser- 
 vice whenever their several capacities were adapted 
 to the work to be done. Among them were J. M. 
 Estell, A. J. Butler, Leonidas Haskell, Reuben Ma- 
 loney, and Judge McGowan. Another class, com- 
 posed of men of excellent repute, was employed in 
 work suited to their tastes, and under circumstances 
 when their respectability would reflect credit on him. 
 He had friends also among his political enemies; but 
 most of the men with whom he associated familiarly 
 were political tricksters of low character. 
 
 Sec. 155. Reward for Service. These people did 
 not serve him for nothing. Many of them received 
 high pay, usually out of the public treasury. It was 
 not his policy to let those who had been his friends go 
 without reward, some with office, some otherwise. 
 When the county supervisors and city council, in 1852 
 (the city had then one government, and the county 
 another), united to buy the Jenny Lind theater from 
 his friend, Thomas Maguire, for twice as much as the 
 property was worth, he favored the transaction. It 
 was consummated in defiance of a strong outburst of 
 popular indignation, but not long afterwards the value 
 of land advanced so much that the property was 
 worth more than had been paid for it. 
 
 When Broderick sought to secure the senatorship 
 in 1854, he felt the want of support by some respect- 
 able newspaper in San Francisco, and he secured that 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 313 
 
 of the " Alta California," which had previously been 
 his enemy. As it depended for its support mainly on 
 the merchants, with whom as a class he was very un- 
 popular, the paper incurred serious risks by advocating 
 his cause, but a cash consideration was paid, and sub- 
 sequently the county supervisors purchased the Alta 
 building on the south-west corner of Washington 
 street and Brenham place for a hall of records, pay- 
 ing about fifty thousand dollars in warrants, or the 
 equivalent of forty thousand dollars in gold for it — 
 considerably more than it was worth. 
 
 The extension bill of 1853 was one of the great 
 political frauds of California. It provided that the 
 water front of San Francisco should be moved six 
 hundred feet into the bay beyond the line fixed as a 
 permanent water front by law in 1851, and the inter- 
 vening strip should be conveyed to individuals; at 
 least one third of the value to go into the state treas- 
 ury, and the remainder to those persons who had 
 bought the land at the Peter Smith sale several years 
 before. That sale purported to grant the interest of 
 the city in the land, but as the city had not the least 
 interest there, the deed was void. It served, how- 
 ever, as a basis for a vast scheme of plunder, which 
 was to be carried out with the help of the legislature. 
 The property was valued at six million dollars. It 
 was expected that the state would get two million, 
 and the holders of deeds for the extension land 
 four million, which latter sum was to be stolen 
 indirectly from the state treasury. Of course the 
 
314 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 advocates of the measure did not confess that it 
 was theft; they pretended that purchasers at the 
 Peter Smith sale had equities which the state should 
 recognize; and they argued, though the argument de- 
 served no respect, that the extension would benefit 
 the city and commerce. Some of the younger, or 
 more ignorant, members of the legislature doubtless 
 believed that the measure was right; others voted to 
 please friends and without demanding any valuable 
 consideration, but many sold their votes. It was a 
 matter of common notoriety that deeds had been dis- 
 tributed freely among legislators while the bill was 
 pending. 
 
 In San Francisco, the leading journals denounced 
 the measure in the most emphatic terms; the mer- 
 chants held meetings to condemn it; its fraudulent 
 features were fully explained and proved; it was a 
 violation of the contract made in the statute fixing 
 the water front line in 1851; it would require the 
 raising of the grade on Montgomery street from Jack- 
 son to Sutter street eight or ten feet, and a corre- 
 sponding increase of elevation further east, thus im- 
 posing upon the citizens an expense far beyond the 
 amount that would be paid into the state treasury. 
 Those San Francisco assemblymen opposed to the bill 
 resigned for the purpose of getting an expression of 
 opinion from their constituents, and they were tri- 
 umphantly re-elected by five sixths of all the votes 
 cast. There was no doubt about the feeling in San 
 Francisco. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 315 
 
 The majority of the holders of the extension deeds 
 were Broderick's intimate friends. The measure was 
 recommended by Governor Bigler, who was under his 
 influence. Brush, one of his devoted followers, in- 
 troduced the bill. Estell, one of his chief aids, was 
 its manager in the lobby. Nearly all his friends in 
 the legislature voted for it; he was in attendance 
 during the session, though his home was in San 
 Francisco, and he was not a member. It passed the 
 assembly, where his faction had a large majority; it 
 was defeated in the senate by the casting vote of 
 Lieutenant-Governor Samuel Purdy, who afterwards 
 received the congratulations of Mr. Broderick for 
 having done right, with the explanation that as his 
 friends were largely interested in the bill, he had not 
 made any effort against it. By Broderick's influence 
 Bigler was subsequently renominated, Estell obtained 
 a lucrative state prison contract, and Brush was 
 placed in a fat office in San Francisco. 
 
 Purdy 's vote secured great popularity to him, and 
 there was a general demand that he should be the 
 democratic candidate for governor. There was no 
 doubt that the extension bill was generally considered 
 a serious fraud, and that Bigler, if renominated, would 
 lose many democratic votes. But Broderick had his 
 personal purposes to gain, and for their sake lie Avas 
 willing to endanger the party, and to impose upon the 
 good nature of his friends. The election of Purdy 
 for governor would have thrown two obstacles in the 
 way of his advancement to the senate. Purdy and 
 
316 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 he were both from the same state, and objection would 
 surely be made to giving a senatorship to a New 
 Yorker immediately after another had obtained the 
 governorship. If Bigler, who was a Pennsylvanian, 
 were not nominated for governor, he would become a 
 candidate for senator, and his popularity with the 
 Missourians, who were a strong element in the legis- 
 lature, might give him the preference. The leader of 
 the Tammany faction explained these points to Purdy, 
 and begged him not to be a candidate, and the selfish 
 request was acceded to with an excess of generosity. 
 Bigler and Purdy were renominated for governor and 
 lieutenant-governor; the platform avoided all mention 
 of the extension fraud; Purdy received twelve thou- 
 sand votes more than Bigler; and the latter had a 
 majority of fifteen hundred, though it was generally 
 believed that he owed not less than three thousand 
 votes to frauds on the ballot-box. 
 
 Though Broderick did not plunder the public treas- 
 ury for his own profit, nor directly assist his friends 
 to do so for theirs, yet he was, for several years, the 
 " boss" of the city administration of San Francisco, as 
 much as Tweed ever was in New York, and the gen- 
 eral character of the city officials was equally base in 
 the two cities under the " boss" control. 
 
 Sec. 156. Veracity. Mr. Broderick employed 
 falsehood often and boldly, for the purpose of deceiv- 
 ing the people and injuring his enemies. He not only 
 denied facts known to many persons, but he contra- 
 dicted himself, and thus furnished proof of his mis- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 317 
 
 representations. In a public letter, he said: " Be- 
 tween Mr. Gwin and myself there was no condition 
 whatever in regard to the distribution of the patron- 
 age." In a speech at Quincy, he told the people that 
 " Gwin sought me * * * and begged me, in the 
 most humiliating maimer to take him with me to 
 the United States senate." At Stockton, he repre- 
 sented that there was a bargain, but it was made by 
 Gwin with Ferguson; and at Yreka, he declared that 
 Gwin " absolutely sold his followers for the position 
 he now holds. * ** * I gave him the position." 
 On one occasion he said he knew nothing of G win's 
 promise to give up the patronage, and afterwards he 
 published Gwin's letter to himself dated three days 
 before the election, renouncing all claim to the pat- 
 ronage. At Nevada, he asserted that he intended 
 to support Latham, but discovered that the latter had 
 employed an agent to steal a letter from Tilford, and 
 for that reason Gwin was preferred. We have, how- 
 ever, the concurrent testimony of Estell, Tilford and 
 Latham to prove that Latham was defeated solely 
 because he would not give a written bill of sale trans- 
 fering all the federal patronage in California. Besides, 
 when Broderick replied to Latham's long speech at 
 Nevada, giving a history of the, senatorial election, he 
 did not contradict the latter's statements. 
 
 Those -who knew Mr. Broderick intimately claimed 
 for him remarkable administrative ability, high con- 
 versational power, a strong attachment for his friends, 
 a strict regard for his promises, and a wonderful 
 
318 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 capacity to charm all upon whom he exerted his pow- 
 ers. Their opinion may be accepted upon those points. 
 He must have been a remarkable man to have tri- 
 umphed over circumstances so strongly adverse as he 
 repeatedly did, and to hold his influence over his 
 followers after he had made so many serious blunders. 
 Sec. 157. ' Chase for Senator ship. He spent seven 
 years in his struggle for the prize of the federal sena- 
 torship. Three times — in 1851, in 1855, and in 1856 
 — he prevented an election rather than permit any- 
 body else to get the place; once — in 1852 — he was 
 defeated; once — in 1854 — he attempted to bring on 
 the election fraudulently before the proper time; only 
 one legislative session — that of 1853 — between 1850 
 and 1857 inclusive, was free from the worry of a 
 senatorial contest, and in six out of the seven 
 struggles Mr. Broderick was a prominent actor. In 
 1854 his congressional ticket got only ten thousand 
 out of seventy thousand votes; in 1855 his party was 
 defeated because he controlled its nominations; in 
 July, 1856, rumor said he was in danger of banish- 
 ment by the vigilance committee, and when he left 
 the city for several days his absence was popularly 
 attributed to fear of the committee. Thus for three 
 successive years after his attempt to grab the sena- 
 torial toga before it was ready, the people had ex- 
 pressed their dislike of him in a most emphatic man- 
 ner; yet in January, 1857, he turned up as master of 
 the legislature, and not only secured his own election 
 to the highest political office which California could 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 319 
 
 confer, but designated his bitterest political enemy 
 as his colleague, obtaining from him, however, a writ- 
 ten assurance that Mr. Broderick was to be dictator 
 of the democratic party in California. Supposing that 
 this transfer of the federal patronage to him would be 
 approved by the people and his party, he confidently 
 anticipated the distribution of the leading federal offi- 
 ces in the state among his friends, and when his 
 demand was refused, he denounced President Buchan- 
 an as a dotard, and his policy as an outrage upon 
 freedom. He appealed to the people of California to 
 sustain him and they condemned him. Challenged by 
 Perley, he declined, under the pretense that an alien 
 was not entitled to the satisfaction of a gentleman, 
 but he declared that he would not object to shoot 
 at some official as hi^li in office as himself. This 
 bait, designed for Gwin, was seized by Terry, who, as 
 a preparation for it, resigned his office of chief justice 
 of the state. Broderick was so nervous that his pistol 
 went off before he was ready, and his cool antagonist 
 planted a mortal bullet within two inches of the spot 
 which would have been instantly fatal. Thus this 
 ambitious man was finally at rest; his fortunes ceased 
 to vary, and his character belongs to history, where it 
 must be judged, not by the extravagant praise of his 
 personal friends, or the hate of his enemies, but by 
 his public actions, which furnish sufficient material for 
 measuring him morally and intellectually. 
 
 Sec. 158. I860. Among the important events of 
 1860 were the rejection by the federal supreme court 
 
320 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 of the Santillan claim under a p ret ended Mexican 
 grant for fifteen thousand acres south of California 
 street; the defeat by the state supreme court of the 
 Peter Smith title to two thousand acres of land west 
 of Larkin street, and the publication of evidence 
 showing conclusively that the Sherreback claim for a 
 tract of eight hundred acres south of Market and 
 east of Tenth street was worthless. These claims and 
 the Limantour, defeated two years before^ had all 
 been held by a few speculators; the Limantour and 
 Santillan by persons not residents of the city; and as 
 they were not in possession, and the occupants were 
 not disposed to buy them off, the grading of lots, the 
 opening of streets and the construction of houses on 
 the large areas covered by the claims had been pre- 
 vented or seriously obstructed. The overthrow of 
 the claims added much to the wealth of thousands of 
 citizens, gave security to the titles of large districts, 
 and stimulated improvement and business south of 
 Market and west of Larkin street. The construction 
 of the steam railroad on Market and Valencia streets 
 gave cheap and convenient access to the Mission and 
 to Hayes valley, and added much to the value of 
 their land. The Washoe mines had attracted much 
 attention in 1859, but it was not until 1860 that the 
 conviction was established that the Comstock lode 
 had large and rich ore deposits, not to be exhausted 
 for many years, and that the business men of San 
 Francisco began to comprehend the importance of 
 owning the mines and controling the management by 
 companies incorporated in their city. 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 321 
 
 The federal census reported that California had 
 379,994 inhabitants. Of these three sevenths were 
 men between the ages of twenty and fifty, and one 
 eighth were women of the same age: and more than 
 one third of all, or one half the adults were of foreign 
 birth. Of the 146,528 foreigners, China supplied 
 34,935; Ireland, 33,147; Germany, 21,046; England, 
 12,227; Mexico, 9,150; France, 8,462; British Amer- 
 ica, 5,438; Scotland, 3,670; Italy, 2,805; and South 
 America, 2,250. The American states which had the 
 largest number of natives in California, were California, 
 77,707; New York, 28,654; Missouri, 14,002; Ohio, 
 12,592; Massachusetts, 12,165; Pennsylvania, 11,143; 
 Maine, 9,864; Illinois, 8,251; Kentucky, 7,029; Ten- 
 nessee, 5,197; and Virginia, 5,157. All the Amer- 
 ican states and all civilized nations were represented 
 in this motley population; San Francisco was credited 
 with 56,802 inhabitants. 
 
 Sec. 159. Prosperity. The defeat of the Mexican 
 and Peter Smith claims to large areas in the south- 
 ern part of the city, not only enriched thousands 
 of citizens occupying the land in dispute, who now 
 became the owners in full, and gave them inducements 
 for opening streets, grading lots, and building sub- 
 stantial houses, but it offered opportunities for the 
 investment of money, just at the time when the out- 
 break of the civil war checked the habit of paying 
 visits to the east, and stimulated many Califomiana 
 who had previously considered the state as a place for a 
 brief sojourn to look upon it as their permanent home. 
 
 21 
 
322 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 The ownership of the land south of Pine street 
 having been doubtful, those citizens who wanted per- 
 manent homes had been compelled to purchase them 
 in the northern wards, where the space was limited, 
 the streets narrow and in many places steep, the build- 
 ings old and shabby, the grading, on account of the 
 tough clay of the soil or underlying rock, costly, and 
 the. prices high. It was because of the uncertainty 
 of titles in the south that most of the fashionable res- 
 idences before 1860 were on Stockton, Powell, Mason 
 and Taylor streets, north of Clay, and that nearly all 
 the houses of worship were north of Pine street. St. 
 Mary's cathedral and the First Congregational church 
 were on the corner of California and Dupont streets; 
 the First Unitarian and First Presbyterian on Stock- 
 ton, near Clay; the First Baptist on Washington, near 
 Stockton; the First Methodist and Grace (Episcopal) 
 on Powell, near Washington, and Trinity (Episcopal) 
 on Pine, below Kearny. The sites of these churches 
 were selected then with reference to their proximity 
 to the residences of the members of their conoTe^a- 
 tions. The leading hotels, save the Oriental, were 
 also north of Pine street. 
 
 The south end of the city, released from the heavy 
 drag which had checked enterprise and prevented im- 
 provement for ten years, started suddenly irpon a 
 wonderful career of prosperity. The north end, de- 
 prived of the protection previously given to it by the 
 inability to obtain secure titles and by the prohibition 
 of grading and building in the south, remained nearly 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 323 
 
 stationary, while the growth, the fashion, and the 
 w T ealth gravitated rapidly to the southward, and to 
 the western addition, which was reached through the 
 southern streets. The work of the steam paddy, the 
 construction of street railroads, the rise of the new 
 hotels, completely eclipsing those of older date in the 
 convenience of arrangement and elegance of construe- 
 tion and furniture as well as in size, and the transfer 
 of the majority of the wealthy families, of the most 
 fashionable promenades, and of the leading theaters 
 and churches to the region south of Pine street, were 
 among the important changes that followed the judi- 
 cial decisions defeating the great land frauds. It is a 
 singular fact, however, that the decision confirming 
 the Sherreback claim has never been reversed, though 
 it is said that the claimants have abandoned it. The 
 rapid progress of the agriculture of the state, and the 
 large revenue derived from the Comstock lode stimu- 
 lated the growth of the city, and in the course of the 
 year ending with August, 1861, one thousand four 
 hundred and fifty-three new buildings were completed 
 or commenced, including the Russ house, Lick house, 
 Occidental hotel, Masonic temple, Grace church, and 
 St. Mary's hospital. 
 
 Sec. 160. Bulkhead. As the time for the expira- 
 tion of the contracts under which the wharves had 
 been built was approaching, the owners of those 
 structures having enjoyed large profits from the heavy 
 taxes levied upon ships, formed a consolidated corpo- 
 ration, which proposed to build a stone bulkhead, and 
 
324 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 requested the legislature to give them, as compensa- 
 tion, possession of the water front, with the privilege 
 of collecting tolls there for fifty years. The mercan- 
 tile community protested against such a sacrifice of 
 public interests to lobby influence, but the legislature 
 passed the bill in defiance of sound policy and the 
 popular will; but as the city had been saved seven 
 years before from the great fraud of the extension 
 bill, by the casting vote of Lieutenant-Governor 
 Purdy, so now it was saved from the bulkhead bill 
 by the veto of Governor Downey. 
 
 Sec. 161. Pony Express. A notable event in its 
 time was the establishment of the pony express, 
 which began its service carrying letters between St. 
 Joseph, Missouri, the western end of the railway sys- 
 tem on the Atlantic slope and Sacramento on the 
 Pacific side. The distance was about nineteen hun- 
 dred miles, and the time ten and a half days, or two 
 hundred and fifty hours, with an average speed of 
 nearly eight miles an hour, each horse going about 
 twenty-four miles. 
 
 The horse mail started twice a week each way and 
 seldom carried more than two hundred letters on a 
 trip, sometimes not twenty, the high postage of five 
 dollars for a half ounce driving the ordinary business 
 to the slower mail. The first pony mail rider from 
 the east arrived at one a. m. on the fourteenth of April 
 at San Francisco, by the regular steamboat from 
 Sacramento, bringing his horse with him for the pur- 
 pose of making a display on his arrival. Announce- 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 325 
 
 ment had been made that there was to be a public 
 demonstration, and a multitude of people went in 
 grand procession, with music and torches to the wharf, 
 whence they escorted the mounted mail-carrier with 
 continuous cheers to the post-office. The time for let- 
 ters between New York and San Francisco was by the 
 help of the pony reduced to thirteen days; but for 
 news it was brought down to nine days, that being 
 the time between the telegraphic stations at Carson and 
 St. Joseph. The pony mail, though sometimes inter- 
 rupted by Indian troubles, deprived the mail stage on 
 the southern route of much of its interest for the gen- 
 eral public, and was the main reliance of California 
 for important news until the telegraph was completed 
 across the continent. Before the pony mail had been 
 started, a telegraph company, aided largely by news- 
 paper enterprise, had begun to construct a line through 
 the San Joaquin valley, on the mail route, the object 
 being to catch the news in advance of the arrival of 
 the sta^e at San Francisco. The wire reached Visalia 
 in June, and was then continued on to Los Angeles, 
 but its value for the purposes of its construction was 
 of brief duration. 
 
 Sec. 1G2. Election of 1SG0. Though about two thou- 
 sand miles away from any of the territory upon which 
 the rebellion raged, California was profoundly agitated 
 by the war. At nearly all the elections, from 1852 
 to 1859, the people of California had given decided 
 majorities to the party in favor of the extension of 
 slaverv. In 1859 the southern democrats had G2,000 
 
326 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 out of 103,000 votes; in 1858, 44,500 out of 81,000, 
 and in 1857, 53,000 out of 93,000; but in 1860, when 
 the death of Mr. Broderick had removed an objec- 
 tion that kept many votes from the northern democ- 
 racy while under his political management, and when 
 the line between the north and south was drawn with 
 greater distinctness, the state gave its electoral vote 
 to Lincoln, and out of 71,000 democratic votes, Doug- 
 las, the northern candidate, had 38,000. Breckin- 
 ridge, who represented the moral right of secession, 
 though the intention to secede was not avowed, and 
 was not generally believed, had little more than one 
 fourth of the votes cast in California, and only one 
 sixth in San Francisco. Thus a large majority of the 
 people had indicated at the polls that their sympa- 
 thies were with the north, as might be inferred from 
 the fact that more than two thirds of the Californians 
 born on the Atlantic slope were natives of the free 
 states. Under these circumstances it is not strange 
 that when the flag of the rebellion was hoisted, Cali- 
 fornia, under the leadership of San Francisco, ad- 
 hered to the Union, and continued faithful to it to 
 the end. 
 
 One result of the war was the abandonment of the 
 overland mail on the southern route, and the estab- 
 lishment of a daily overland stage on the central 
 route. At the same time the telegraph made rapid 
 strides from both sides towards Salt Lake, where the 
 connection was made on the twenty-third of October, 
 and then San Francisco was put in instantaneous 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 327 
 
 communication with New York. A new apportion- 
 ment was made this year, giving the city one seventh 
 of the members of the legislature, whereas it had 
 previously only one tenth. 
 
 Sec. 163. Baker s Oration. On the twenty-ninth 
 of October, a few days before the presidential election 
 that was to give the federal government to the repub- 
 lican party, and put a stop to the advances of slavery 
 on our continent, there was a great gathering of peo- 
 ple at the American theater to welcome Edward D. 
 Baker, who, long a resident of San Francisco, had in 
 the previous spring gone to Oregon for the purpose of 
 being elected federal senator, and while on his way to 
 Washington with his commission in his pocket had 
 stopped to spend a few days in the city which he con- 
 sidered his home, though he declared that his legal 
 residence was in Oregon. He was a great orator, and 
 on this occasion had great topics to discuss — the rights 
 of freedom, the duty of sincere republicans to elect 
 their candidates in defiance of the threats of the 
 slavery extensionists, and the course which he should 
 pursue as senator. The following passage in his ora- 
 tion deserves quotation here : 
 
 We are a city set on a hill. Our light cannot be hid. As for 
 me, I dare not, I will not be false to freedom. Where the feet 
 of my youth were planted, there, by freedom, my feet shall 
 stand. I will walk beneath her banner. I will glory in her 
 strength. I have watched her, in history, struck down on an 
 hundred chosen fields of battle. I have seen her friends fly 
 from her; her foes gather round her. I have seen her bound to 
 the stake; I have seen them give her ashes to the winds. But 
 
328 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 when they turned to exult, I have seen her again meet them 
 face to face, resplendent in complete steel, brandishing in her 
 right hand a flaming sword, red with insufferable light. I take 
 courage. The people gather round her. The Genius of Amer- 
 ica will at last lead her sons to freedom. 
 
 The orator was not a native of our city, nor even 
 of our continent, having been brought to the United 
 States when an infant by his English parents, but it 
 was here that he found inspiration and appreciation 
 for a passage which is one of the glories of San Fran- 
 cisco. It will survive the English language, if that 
 can ever die; it will be repeated, cherished and ap- 
 pealed to until freedom in every form, the most pre- 
 cious of all the triumphs of humanity, and the struggle 
 for it, the most sacred of all duties, shall have lost their 
 interest. It surpasses any paragraph in Demosthenes, 
 Cicero, Burke, Mirabeau, Brougham, Webster, Sum- 
 ner, or Gladstone; it more than complies with Ma- 
 caulay's definition of eloquence. It is the soundest 
 reason (deduced from numerous famous experiences, 
 going back as far as history over a field as wide as civil- 
 ization) on a subject appealing to the strongest sym- 
 pathies of our common nature, white hot with the 
 justest and most generous enthusiasm, and expressed 
 in the highest polish of rhetoric. The large auditory, 
 enthusiastic on account of their numbers, their zealous 
 devotion to their party and its principles, confident of 
 their victory, as assured by every premonitory sign, 
 and about to take part in the ballot battle that was 
 to decide the policy and fate of a great nation, received 
 
THE GOLDEN ERA IN DECLINE. 329 
 
 Baker's outburst with keen appreciation, thrilling ex- 
 citement, and thundering applause. 
 
 Sec. 164. Seven Years. The period of seven 
 years, from 1854 to 1860 inclusive, was marked by 
 the decline in the yield of gold, then the chief product 
 of the area tributary to San Francisco, which ceased 
 to gain population and wealth so rapidly as in the 
 previous era, and in some of her leading branches of 
 business suffered severely, though she continued to 
 prosper, building many houses every year, opening 
 new streets, paving old ones, building sowers, and 
 grading streets to the newly adopted official levels. 
 Many families arrived from the east, society improved 
 notably, and communication with the Atlantic slope 
 was greatly facilitated by the Panama railroad, the 
 overland stage, and the pony express. 
 
 "While the gold yield and the number of mines de- 
 creased, the state was making far more progress than 
 it had done in the preceding five years. It changed 
 the bulk of its population from a migratory to a fixed 
 condition. The titles of many of the Mexican grants 
 were settled; considerable areas of federal land were 
 surveyed and occupied ; numerous farm buildings, 
 fences, roads and bridges were constructed; orchards 
 and vineyards were set out with the best varieties of 
 fruit; horses, neat cattle and sheep of the best blood 
 were imported; and a still greater addition was made 
 to the wealth of the state by the arrival of the wives, 
 children, sisters and mothers of men who had lived 
 for years without their families. The regions about 
 
330 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 San Francisco, San Pablo, Suisun and Monterey bays 
 were especially prosperous; the towns of Sacramento, 
 Stockton and Marysville improved ; and in the mining- 
 regions, while the shallow placers were giving out, 
 many hydraulic camps, including Yankee Jim, Todd's 
 Valley, Michigan Bluff, North San Juan, Campton- 
 ville, Brandy City, La Porte, Port Wine, the drift 
 mining towns of Iowa Hill, Forest Hill, Forest City, 
 Alleghany, and the quartz mining towns, rose in im- 
 portance. The growth of the state secured the continu- 
 ance of the prosperity of the metropolis. 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 331 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SILVER ERA. 
 
 Section 165. 1861. Soon after the inauguration of 
 Lincoln, California was called upon to decide whether 
 she would adhere to the cause of the Union, or set up a 
 Pacific republic, the latter course being the one recom- 
 mended by the majority of her representatives in con- 
 gress. On the eleventh of May, San Francisco held an 
 immense public meeting, or rather collection of meetings, 
 for the day was converted into a holiday. The streets 
 were filled with flags, and a multitude of speeches were 
 made and resolutions adopted, in favor of sustaining the 
 federal government in its policy of preserving the na- 
 tional unity by force. The demonstration was so 
 emphatic, and showed such an immense preponderance 
 of feeling in favor of the Union in the metropolis, that 
 the policy of California and Oregon was decided. Six 
 days later, the legislature adopted resolutions in favor of 
 the Union ; but it had previously shown its feeling on 
 the same side by electing James McDougal a Union dem- 
 ocrat to succeed Dr. Gwin as federal senator. The 
 last political duel in which a northerner was shot by a 
 southerner in California soon followed and resulted in 
 the death of C. W. Piercy, a Union man, shot by Daniel 
 Showaiter, a secessionist. At the election in September, 
 San Francisco gave more than twice as many votes for 
 the republican ticket as for the two democratic tickets 
 
332 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 together. The republican party carried the state for the 
 first time, electing Leland Stanford governor. As a 
 consequence of the war, the southern overland mail was 
 abandoned, and a daily overland mail was established 
 by way of Salt Lake. By the completion of the tele- 
 graph across the continent, important changes were made 
 in mercantile business, banking, journalism and social 
 life. 
 
 Sec. 166. 1862. For eight years from 1853 there 
 had been a steady decline in the yield of the precious 
 metals on the Pacific slope, until in 1861 the exporta- 
 tion had fallen to forty million dollars, a decrease of two 
 million dollars a }~ear on an average ; but now it began 
 to rise again. The Comstock lode in 1862 turned out 
 six million dollars, and gave promise of doing far better 
 in the future. A number of mills were at work on its 
 ores, and experience in extracting silver had made 
 enough progress to enable the trustees of the mining 
 companies to form a definite idea of the business. The 
 general opinion among them was one of high satisfaction 
 with the profits of working the better quality of ores. 
 The method of reduction by amalgamation in iron pans 
 holding a ton or two of pulverized ore was new; and 
 though there was a large waste, varying from one third 
 to one half of the precious metal, yet as the working was 
 expeditious, while the other processes were slow and 
 more costly, it was maintained, while all attempts to 
 reduce in wooden barrels like those of Freiberg, or in 
 Mexican heaps like mortar beds, were abandoned. The 
 production of silver having been three times as large as 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 333 
 
 in the previous year, with confidence of a still larger 
 yield in the near future, there was an active demand for 
 the stocks of the silver companies, and their sale now 
 became a prominent feature in the city's business, to 
 which it gave a highly speculative tendency. The San 
 Francisco stock and exchange board was organized to 
 accommodate the dealers in the shares of silver mining 
 companies. Although the gold mines of California pro- 
 duced four times as much as the Comstock lode, they 
 had a very inferior place as spheres of investment in 
 the general opinion, partly because most of the gold 
 
 mines were worked on a relativelv small scale, and re- 
 
 j 
 
 quired the daily attendance of the owners, so that there 
 would have been little profit for companies organized in 
 the metropolis. The largest gold mine ever worked in 
 California is a small affair financially as compared with 
 the leading mines of the Comstock lode. Gold stocks 
 were in 1862, as they still are, of little importance as 
 compared with silver stocks in the San Francisco 
 market. 
 
 The civil war which oppressed the Atlantic slope stim- 
 ulated business on the Pacific side. The increased risks 
 of the voyage round Cape Horn caused a rise in Freights, 
 and aided the establishment or enlargement of many 
 manufacturing houses. Agricultural produce commanded 
 good prices. Congress, to reward and confirm the loy- 
 alty of California, and to provide a quicker and more 
 secure communication between the eastern and western 
 coasts of the country, passed a bill to aid the construc- 
 tion of a railroad from the Missouri to the Sacramento 
 
334 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 river. While certain classes of people were prevented 
 from coming to California, others fled to the Pacific to 
 avoid the tumult of hostilities or the draft. The check 
 upon travel had a strong influence in favor of economy 
 and stability of population. A flood which exceeded 
 any other before or since within the observation of 
 American residents, drove thousands of people from the 
 lower portions of the Sacramento and San Joaquin val- 
 leys, many taking refuge in San Francisco, and contri- 
 buting to its wealth. For several days the state house 
 in Sacramento was not accessible without the aid of 
 boats, and the legislature moved to the metropolis for 
 the remainder of the session. More than one thousand 
 houses were built. The rapid growth of the city gave 
 rise to an active speculation in town lots, and numerous 
 homestead associations were organized to help poor people 
 in exchanging their money for little patches of land in 
 remote places. The Russ, the Lick and the Occidental, 
 finer and more spacious hotels than any of their prede- 
 cessors, were built and opened. The waters of Pilarcitos 
 creek were brought in with a larger supply than the city 
 had had before, and at a better elevation. The cars of 
 the Omnibus street railroad began to run, and the work 
 on the North Beach and Mission road was commenced. 
 The republican party, which had carried the state in 
 the previous year, withdrew from the field, so as to per- 
 mit a fusion of its members with the Union democrats in 
 the Union party — the Californian political organization 
 which sustained the administration of President Lin- 
 coln till the close of the war, against the democrats, its 
 enemies. 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 335 
 
 Sec. 167. Sanitary Fund. While the rebels were 
 seeking to divide the country into two nations, which 
 would probably have been hostile to each other for ages, 
 and would necessarily have maintained standing armies 
 objectionable on account of their danger to liberty, as 
 well as of their cost, many patriotic citizens of San Fran- 
 cisco, unable to leave their families and business and 
 make the long voyage to the Atlantic side, at an expense 
 greater than that of hiring a substitute there, felt some 
 twinges of conscience that they had not borne arms in 
 defense of the stany flag. Others, who could conveni- 
 ently go, went. Among those who reached high com- 
 mands in the Union army were not less than a dozen 
 who had been residents of California. Sherman, Hal- 
 leck and Hooker, stationed as officers of the army at 
 San Francisco, had long before resigned to engage in 
 civil business. McPherson had been one of the army 
 engineers at San Francisco for years before he was ordered 
 east at the outbreak of the rebellion. Grant and Sher- 
 idan had been stationed in the state. Others of less 
 note were numerous; and many of the military leaders 
 on the southern side had also been in California. 
 
 The time came, however, when patriotic citizens could 
 render valuable service to the Union without taking up 
 arms. In the disastrous campaign of 18G2, large num- 
 bers of soldiers were stricken down by wounds or dis- 
 ease, and the government was unable to take the best 
 care of them. Some philanthropic and patriotic Xew 
 Yorkers organized the Sanitary Commission, under the 
 leadership and presidency of Dr. Bellows, the distin- 
 
33G HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 guished Unitarian clergyman and pulpit orator. He 
 wrote to bis friend Starr King, who started the move- 
 ment for a subscription in San Francisco, and gave bis 
 zeal and eloquence to the cause. Here was a chance for 
 the people to show their attachment to the Union, and 
 their response was magnificent. San Francisco sent three 
 hundred thousand dollars in gold in the last half of 
 1862, and other portions of the Pacific Slope supplied 
 one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. The secre- 
 tary of the committee which collected the money y in a 
 report of its work, said : 
 
 All private business was ignored, for the time, by the gen- 
 tlemen composing the committee, and the chief hours of the day 
 given to this new and noble work. The whole city seemed to be 
 thrilled as with an electric shock, and the talk of the groups on 
 the streets, the merchants on 'change, boys in the gutter, of 
 men, women and children, was the movement for the relief of 
 our sick and wounded soldiers; and every lo3 T al man's heartbeat 
 in active sympathy with the work. The soldiers' needs took such 
 an energetic hold on the people that the committee, on their 
 rounds, were not treated as unwelcome beggars, but greeted as 
 men who were doing a work which it was each man's pride to see 
 well accomplished; and they gave — all citizens gave — with such 
 enthusiasm as one might expect from recipients of good gifts, 
 instead of givers of the wealth they had toiled for; and there 
 was such singular unanimity as men see in no other great public 
 undertaking. There was alive, to interrupt their action, no bias 
 of political feeling, no conflict of religious opinion, no difference 
 on grounds of nationality. Men gave their gold as the overflow 
 of great patriotic love. It was the blood of their giant pro- 
 tector, their country, native or adopted, that was flowing, and 
 they came forth readily to stay its stream. Men of every politi- 
 cal party gave, whether Democrats, Republicans, or even seces- 
 sionists; and there was no sect or religion that was not repre- 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 337 
 
 sented in this noble anny of givers. The Christians gave with 
 loyal self-denial; the Jews, as earnest sympathizers with the 
 suffering; heretics, as citizens of a republic to be saved; and 
 men of no religion, with an ardor worthy the humblest religious 
 devotee. The representatives of every nation living in our 
 midst, English, German, French, Irish, Chinese, Italian, Hun- 
 garian, Kussian, Spanish, gave with the fervor of native citi- 
 zens. 
 
 The large sum thus supplied by California gave im- 
 portance to the Sanitary Commission, which had pre- 
 viously done little, and had been almost unheard of in 
 most of the Atlantic states ; but with this help, it became 
 a prominent feature of the war. The money subscrip- 
 tions from the other parts of the Union were compara- 
 tively small, and in October, 18G3, Dr. Bellows sent the 
 following telegram to San Francisco: 
 
 The sanitary funds are low. Our expenses are fifty thousand 
 dollars a month. We can live three months, and that only, 
 without large support from the Pacific. Twenty-five thousand 
 dollars a month, paid regularly while the war lasts, from Cali- 
 fornia, would make our continuance on our present magnificent 
 scale of beneficence a certainty. We would make up the other 
 twenty-five thousand dollars a month here. We have already 
 distributed sanitary stores, of the value of seven million dollars, 
 to all parts of the army, at a cost of three per cent. To aban- 
 don our work, or to allow it to dwindle, would be a horrible 
 calamity to the army and the cause. We never stood so well 
 with the nation; but California has been our main support in 
 money, and if she fails us we are lost. So organize, if possible, 
 a monthly subscription, and let us feel that California trusts and 
 will sustain us in her past spirit to the end. 
 
 A response sent that San Francisco would supply 
 two hundred thousand dollars in 18G4, and that there 
 
338 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 was reason to hope that other parts of the state would 
 give one hundred thousand dollars more, called out the 
 following acknowledgment, which, read with high local 
 pride and tears of emotion on the morning of its recep- 
 tion at the tables of many of the contributors, was a re- 
 ward for past and a stimulus for future contributions: 
 
 Brothers: I wonder that your life-giving telegram, charged 
 with two hundred thousand dollars, did not find me in my 
 travels, and shock me into immediate consciousness of the splen- 
 did news. But just returned to New York, I see my table illu- 
 minated with this resplendent message, and in my haste to 
 acknowledge such a glorious and patriotic continuance in well- 
 doing, I can only stutter: Noble, Tender, Faithful San Francisco, 
 city of the heart, commercial and moral capital of the most 
 humane and generous state in the world! If God gives to you, 
 so you give to others. Your boundaries will not hold the riches 
 and the blessings in store for you; they must needs overflow 
 into the hands of the needy and suffering, and make your name 
 the balm and cordial of want and sorrow. "I was sick, and ye 
 visited me." This is the nation's thought, as she sees herself 
 wounded in every hero that languishes in her hospitals, and 
 then gazes at the Pacific, at California, with San Francisco at 
 the head — the good Samaritan for the first time appearing in 
 the proportions of a great city, of a whole state, of a vast area. 
 
 A monthly subscription was organized, and the sum 
 of twenty-five thousand dollars a month — nearly one 
 thousand dollars for every business day — was sent by 
 San Francisco, which then had not more than one hun- 
 dred and ten thousand inhabitants. The final report of 
 the commission, published after the close of the war, 
 showed that out of four million eight hundred thousand 
 dollars cash received, California had supplied more than 
 one million two hundred thousand in currency. The 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 330 
 
 gold value of the latter amount was about nine hundred 
 and forty thousand dollars, and of this sum San Fran- 
 cisco supplied about half. The Christian Commission of 
 California organized for purposes similar to those of the 
 Sanitary Commission , sent thirty-four thousand dollars 
 in gold to the central organization in Philadelphia. 
 
 Sec. 168. 1863. The flood season of 1862, which 
 brought forty-nine inches of rain, was succeeded by the 
 drought of 1863, when there were only fourteen, or less 
 than two thirds of the average; but as agricultural pro- 
 duce commanded high prices, and the Comstock lode 
 yielded twelve million dollars, or twice as much as in 
 the previous year, San Francisco was prosperous. The 
 opening of the railroad to San Jose extended the sub- 
 urbs of the city for a distance of thirty miles, and helped 
 to enrich San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The 
 North Beach and Mission, and the Central street-rail- 
 road to Lone Mountain, were completed, and also the 
 Oakland railroad wharf, twelve hundred yards long, so 
 that access was given to that town at regular hours, in- 
 stead of being dependent on the tides as before. The 
 Cliff House road was finished, and the legislature passed 
 acts to authorize the widening of Kearny street, and to 
 transfer the control of the water front of San Francisco 
 from private corporations to state officials. The new 
 houses of the year numbered twelve hundred. 
 
 Sec. 169. Silver Panic. The production of silver at 
 Washoe, and the distribution of large dividends, made 
 an intense excitement in the metropolis. Mining for 
 silver, and the management of silver mining companies, 
 
340 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 were as yet comparatively new, and people did not know 
 what to expect or believe. The books on Mexico, Peru, 
 and Bolivia, were ransacked for information about the 
 Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Cerro Pasco, and Potosi argent- 
 iferous lodes which were similar in many of their min- 
 eralogical features to the Comstock ; and the continued 
 productiveness of these mines for centuries had a strong 
 influence to encourage speculation in the silver stocks of 
 San Francisco. The shares, or feet, as they were gen- 
 erally called, for at that time it was customary to have 
 one share for each lineal foot, had in some leading mines 
 been rising in price at the rate of about one hundred 
 dollars every month for a year, until in June, Gould & 
 Curry sold for six thousand three hundred dollars ; Sav- 
 age, four thousand dollars; Ophir, two thousand seven 
 hundred dollars; Hale k Norcross, two thousand one 
 hundred dollars, and Chollar, one thousand dollars. 
 These figures indicate that the aggregate value of the 
 lode was about twenty-five million dollars, of which a 
 large part had been gained or added by speculation with- 
 in the year. The market was then sustained chiefly by 
 the Gould & Curry, which was working a highly profit- 
 able bonanza. Some of the richest stockholders, learn- 
 ing that the limits of the rich deposit had been reached, 
 and that the dividends to be expected would not justify 
 the price, sold out. A panic followed, with a swift dis- 
 appearance of much of the imaginary wealth, and great 
 losses to thousands of poor people, for by this time all 
 classes of the population had become holders of feet, and 
 the stock board was one of the chief centers of business 
 in San Francisco. 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 341 
 
 So long as the bodies of silver ore in the Comstock 
 lode had appeared to grow larger as greater depth was 
 reached, and inexperience and hope knew not where 
 they should limit their calculations of profit from the 
 dividends of the mining companies, so long there was 
 increase of excitement upon a basis that had no per- 
 manence. After the panic, unscrupulous speculators 
 began to make changes in their mode of doing business, 
 so that they would be sure of gains whether their mines 
 should pay dividends or not. The laws had been loosely 
 drawn, and all the permissible privileges that could be 
 turned to their pecuniary advantage were taken. The 
 increase in the number of shares was a great conveni- 
 ence, and almost a necessity, for companies whose shares 
 had sold for as much as six thousand dollars each ; but 
 as there was no proper restriction upon the increase or 
 the disposal of the new shares, it sometimes happened 
 that they were^ issued to pay for adjacent proper ty, of 
 which the managers directly or indirectly owned a large 
 part. So the mining companies contracted at good prices 
 with mills to crush ore in large quantities, and though 
 the ore did not pay the expense of extraction and reduc- 
 tion, the mill yielded a large dividend to its owners, 
 who were at the same time directors of the mine. The 
 mining directors, as a class, looked not to the dividends 
 from the mine, but to their mills and the purchase and 
 sale of the stock for the bulk of their profits. For the 
 purpose of hiding their transactions, they held perhaps 
 a score of shares in their own names and thousands in 
 the name of a trustee — the name of the principal not 
 
342 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 being given — so that there was nothing on the record of 
 the company to show the ownership, and no one save 
 the trustee could tell on whose account the sale or pur- 
 chase was made. The shares were not numbered, and 
 could not be traced ; the certificates were evidences that 
 so many shares had been sold, but did not indicate 
 which special ones. The superintendents were selected 
 by the directors, and were expected to consult their 
 wishes and interests. In a rich mine the quantity and 
 quality of the ore produced and the appearance of the 
 stopes must be regulated by the desire of the directors 
 to buy or sell. The rich deposits were concealed when 
 the stock was to be bought up, or worked with every 
 energy when it was to be thrown on the market. The 
 superintendent of every prominent mine conducted on 
 such principles had his book of ciphers, so that he could 
 send secret messages to his masters and let them know 
 whether the ore was growing richer or poorer, enlarging 
 or diminishing in quantity. Mines were systematically 
 treated as combinations, in which the managers were to 
 be enriched at the expense of the mass of the stockhold- 
 ers. Secret drifts, winzes and crosscuts, and at a little 
 later date, the boring of the diamond drill, gave them 
 important information weeks and even months before it 
 was accessible to others. A decent regard for the rights 
 of the company required that mining engineers of high 
 reputation for ability, learning and integrity, should be 
 employed in the richer mines to make a comprehensive 
 report to be submitted at every annual meeting, showing 
 the quantity and quality of the ore in sight, the condi- 
 
THE SIL YER Eli A. 343 
 
 tion of the shafts, drifts and stopes, and the prospect for 
 further working, but such reports would have prevented 
 the trustees from swindling the public. Some of the 
 most important checks upon dishonesty were never 
 adopted ; while every trick that cunning could devise 
 to make the many pay the expenses, securing to the few 
 the bulk of the profit, was practiced on an extensive 
 scale, in the most active of all the stock markets. On 
 such a basis not less than a dozen of the millionaire for- 
 tunes of San Francisco have been built. 
 
 Sec. 170. Conness. The election of John Conness 
 to the federal senatorship was a singular turn in events. 
 A year and a half before, as the candidate of the Doug- 
 las democrats for governor, he had used his influence to 
 prevent a fusion of the Union men, and had thus ex- 
 posed the cause to defeat. But he was so badly beaten 
 at the polls that his faction were demoralized, and they 
 were glad to accept the invitation of the republicans to 
 form the Union party, which then became dominant and 
 held control of the state government for several years. 
 The course of Mr. Conness in 1861, in trying to prevent 
 a combination of the Union men, his ardent advocacy of 
 the bulkhead bill and his position as the favorite of the 
 lowest class of professional politicians in the state, were 
 serious drawbacks to his advancement, but he had his 
 zealous supporters, and he appeared as an aspirant for 
 the senatorship in 18G3. His principal rivals were T. 
 G. Phelps and A. A. Sargent, both old republicans and 
 then members of congress. The caucus of union mem- 
 bers of the legislature balloted many times before any 
 
344 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 candidate could obtain a majority. While matters were 
 in this situation, a friend of Mr. Phelps tried to buy 
 one of Sargent's men. The proof of the attempted 
 bribery was conclusive, and it destroyed Mr. Phelps' 
 chances for that occasion, and as his adherents generally 
 were bitter against Sargent for the exposure, enough 
 went over to Conness to give him the prize, and he thus 
 obtained the chief control of the federal patronage for 
 the next six years. His senatorial colleague during 
 most of that time was- James A. McDougal, who, on ac- 
 count of his adherence to the democratic party and his 
 dissipated habits, had little influence in political affairs 
 at Washington. 
 
 For the purpose of strengthening his own influence at 
 home, Mr. Conness undertook to manage the distribu- 
 tion of the state as well as the federal offices. The first 
 election of a state administration for a term of four years 
 under the amendments to the constitution adopted by 
 the people in 1862, was now to be held. Mr. Phelps 
 was not a candidate, and Mr. Sargent wanted to be gov- 
 ernor, and was fairly entitled to the place, but Mr. 
 Conness, by the help of his senatorial position, obtained 
 control of the state convention and made up a ticket so 
 as to leave as little influence as possible for Mr. Sargent. 
 Among the republican friends of Mr. Sargent claiming 
 seats in the convention was Frank Pixie}', an old repub- 
 lican and a brilliant orator. He held a proxy from San 
 Francisco: but Mr. Conness, for the purpose of excluding 
 him, secured the adoption of a rule that no person should 
 hold a proxy without the consent of the majority of the 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 345 
 
 delegation from the county. The majority were against 
 Pixley, and he was excluded. A considerable part of 
 the business of the convention had been transacted when 
 Pixley presented himself with a proxy from San Ber- 
 nardino. 
 
 The Conness faction then tried to adopt a rule that no 
 person should hold a proxy, except from a count}- of 
 which he was a resident. This trick in convention man- 
 agement was new and base, but did not succeed. Pixley 
 took the platform to speak upon the question, as his 
 rights were involved. The large delegations from San 
 Francisco and Sacramento, consisting in considerable 
 proportion of low ruffians, stamped and yelled so that 
 the speaker's voice could not be heard. After saying a 
 few words he ceased to make a noise, but continued to 
 work his mouth and gesticulate as if he were delivering 
 an oration. Exhaustion and curiosity got the better of 
 the rowdies, and as their noise declined Pixley began to 
 speak about the civil war, and that topic had such an 
 overwhelming interest, that even those, who hated him 
 most, wanted to hear his remarks. The national cause 
 then, two months before the victories of Yicksburg and 
 Gettysburg, looked very dark, and whoever could say an 
 encouraging word to the Union men was welcome. Pix- 
 ley's eloquence soon restored order and commanded ap- 
 plause. Having secured a hearing, he spoke wittily of 
 the situation of himself and other original republicans, 
 who were excluded from a Union convention represent- 
 ing a party of which two thirds were republicans, organ- 
 ized to sustain a republican national administration, and 
 
346 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 he soon had the convention in a roar of laughter. Then 
 he turned his attention to business. Pointing to the 
 ruffians who had drowned his voice, he said he knew 
 them ; he recognized among them men who had thrown 
 rotten eggs at him when he delivered republican speeches 
 before his party obtained control of the state govern- 
 ment ; they were professional ruffians, and not too good 
 to murder for money; their admission to a state con- 
 vention was a disgrace to the cause; and they were 
 fit tools to be used against him as they had been. 
 This invective was notoriously true, and was answered 
 with howls of rage, and even threats of violence, by the 
 subjects of it; but they were soon subdued by the over- 
 whelming applause of the majority. Pixley's triumph 
 was one of the greatest that orator}* could achieve ; but 
 the oration itself had much reference to circumstances 
 that could not be appreciated by readers generally with- 
 out long explanations, and even if it had been reported 
 in full, as it was not, would not have much interest now, 
 though to those present at the convention and familiar 
 with the previous political history of the state, it showed 
 wonderful mastery of many varied and strong passions. 
 Sec. 171. 1864. The winter of 1863-4 brought only 
 ten inches of rain, or less than half the average, and as 
 the previous season had not brought two thirds of the 
 average, the crops of grass and grain in 18G4 were very 
 scant. More than one fourth of the farm animals in the 
 state died of starvation, and several southern coast counties 
 saved only one in three of all their neat cattle. This 
 was a great disaster to the farmers; but San Francisco 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 347 
 
 had her compensation from other sources. The silver 
 yield of Nevada was $10,000,000, an increase of nearly 
 one third over the previous year. Besides, the placers 
 of Idaho and eastern Oregon attained high activity, 
 producing together $6,000,000; and with these helps, 
 the exportation of treasure reached $55,000,000, a gain 
 of $9,000,000 over 1863, and of $15,000,000 since 1860, 
 when nearly the whole supply of the precious metals 
 passing through San Francisco came from California. 
 The population of the state increased 9500 by immigra- 
 tion, and 1050 new houses were erected in the city. 
 Among the prominent buildings of the year were Dono- 
 hue, Kelly k, Co.'s bank, on the south-east corner of 
 Sacramento and Montgomery streets ; Maguire's Academy 
 of Music, on the north side of Pine street, below Mont- 
 gomery; and the Toland Medical College, on Stockton 
 street, near Chestnut. The long bridge, extending a 
 mile across Mission Cove, on the line of Fourth and Ken- 
 tucky streets, was completed ; the grading of Broadway, 
 between Kearny and Montgomery, with a cut in one 
 place sixty feet deep through the rock, was finished at a 
 cost of $30,000 for that one block ; an ordinance was 
 passed to widen Kearny street; a wharf, a thousand 
 yards long, extending out from the shore at Alameda 
 Point to deep water was built to connect the town of 
 Alameda by cars and ferry-boat with the city ; and the 
 Bay View turnpike gave convenient access to South San 
 Francisco. 
 
 The legislature of 1863 had authorized San Francisco 
 to give $600,000 of her bonds for an equal amount of 
 
348 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 stock in the Central Pacific Railroad and $400,000 for 
 so much stock in the Western Pacific ; and the proposed 
 gifts, when submitted to popular vote, were approved; 
 but the companies were not under the control of San 
 Francisco capitalists ; the Central Pacific threatened com- 
 petition to the road from Sacramento to Folsom, owned in 
 San Francisco, and there was a general belief that the 
 Central Pacific would never be built, and that conse- 
 quently the stock would never be worth anything, and 
 might even bring heavy pecuniary liabilities on the city. 
 The supervisors, under the influence of such opinions, 
 stubbornly refused to issue the bonds in compliance with 
 the act of the legislature, and as the city had the means 
 to carry on a protracted litigation, and might even suc- 
 ceed in getting the next legislature to repeal or modify 
 the previous action, a compromise was agreed upon by 
 which the supervisors should give $450,000 to the Cen- 
 tral Pacific, and $250,000 to the Western Pacific and 
 get no stock or other compensation. Subsequent events 
 proved that this compromise was a great mistake, for the 
 stock in the Central Pacific would have been worth four 
 times its cost. 
 
 Sec. 172. Gold Currency. This year saw also the 
 end of the struggle in the legislature to force a currency 
 of legal tender notes upon the state. In 1863 the spe- 
 cific contract act had been passed, providing that a writ- 
 ten agreement made for the payment of money in any 
 particular kind of currency recognized as legal tender 
 by the government of the United States might be en- 
 forced specifically by judicial decree. The object of this 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 349 
 
 was to enable business men to conduct their transactions 
 in gold coin, and it succeeded. There was much hosti- 
 lity to this statute, under the supposition that it was 
 inconsistent with patriotism, and many speculators com- 
 plained that the state was seriously injured by excluding 
 cheap money; but the general judgment of San Francisco 
 rejected these ideas as unsound, and by the influence of 
 the city the specific contract act and the gold currency 
 were maintained. Some attempts for repeal were made 
 in later years, until the federal supreme court, in one 
 of its decisions, laid down the broad principle that a con- 
 tract for payment of any kind of legal tender money 
 must be enforced in all parts of the United States, 
 whether in writing or not, thus superseding the specific 
 contract act of California. 
 
 Sec. 173. Lincoln Ile-ehcted. The presidential elec- 
 tion of 18G4 awakened a strong feeling in San Francisco. 
 The democrats demanded peace, which it was generally 
 believed could not be obtained by diplomacy without a 
 division of the country into two nations, and all the 
 great evils that must necessarily follow such a result; 
 and when, on the eighth of November, the republicans 
 learned that they had carried every loyal state, the city 
 was filled with enthusiasm, which was increased by the 
 news of the capture of the rebel cruiser " Florida." 
 When evening came, there was a grand celebration. 
 Numerous bonfires, illuminated windows, torches, roman 
 candles and rockets, filled the streets with a blaze of 
 light, and a brilliant moon beamed in an unclouded sky, 
 while a procession of four thousand men, with flags, 
 
350 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 transparencies and numerous bands of music, marched 
 twenty abreast through the principal streets, singing 
 patriotic songs, cheering the newspaper offices, the dwell- 
 ings of prominent republicans, and the ladies who, upon 
 the sidewalks or in the windows, waved their handker- 
 chiefs in congratulation. A cannon at the head of the 
 procession halted at brief intervals to add the roaring qf 
 its thunder to the general rejoicing. It was a scene 
 never to be forgotten by those who witnessed it. Its 
 participants believed the victory won at the polls was 
 not less important to the future welfare of the country 
 than any yet won in the field of arms; and when they 
 were sure it had been won, their exultation was intense. 
 They now counted confidently on the near approach of 
 the ultimate triumph over the rebellion that had been 
 prepared for years in advance ; that had been on the 
 verge of success, and that had required for its defeat, 
 exertions the like of which had never been made before. 
 But the presence of one man was especially missed — one 
 w T hose voice had encouraged them in the beginning of 
 the contest, had cheered them in the dark days of disas- 
 ter and defeat, had opened their hearts and their purses 
 for the sanitary fund, and had always been read}' with 
 inspiriting eloquence when liberty or union demanded 
 his service. Starr King had died in March, and was 
 buried in the 3'ard of his church on Geary street, the 
 city ordinance forbidding burials in the midst of the 
 city being set aside in that special case, so that the 
 sight of his tomb might serve as a daily reminder of him 
 and of his words and works to the people. 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 351 
 
 Sec 174. 1805. The capture of Richmond, the 
 overthrow of the rebellion, the restoration of the federal 
 authority over all the southern states, and the final ex- 
 tinction of slaveiy in our continent, were received with 
 great rejoicing in San Francisco, and when, a month 
 later, the great-souled president, who had saved the 
 Union, was assassinated by a southern fanatic, a mob 
 collected hastily in the streets and, before the police 
 could prepare for them, entered several democratic news- 
 paper offices, scattered the type and broke the cases. 
 This was the first mob to injure property in San Fran- 
 cisco, and the city treasury had to pay for the damage 
 afterwards. Xo person was attacked. 
 
 The influx of people from the Atlantic states to avoid 
 the dangers, the excitements, and the disagreeable sights 
 common near the seat of war, ceased, and in its stead, so 
 many Californians went east to look after their relatives 
 or property, that for the first time since the American 
 conquest the number of passengers departing by sea ex- 
 ceeded that of the arrivals. The confidence in the future 
 of the Comstock mines declined. The silver yield of 
 Nevada was about as much as in the previous year, but 
 no new bodies of ore were discovered, and those pre- 
 viously opened were certainly approaching exhaustion. 
 At the end of the year the aggregate market price of the 
 mines on the Comstock lode was little more than $5,- 
 000,000, or about one fifth of what it had been two years 
 and a half before. Besides, though the yield was large, 
 the dividends were scanty, and the assessments exceeded 
 them in amount. 
 
852 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 In many respects, however, the business of the city 
 was highly profitable. The placers of Idaho and eastern 
 Oregon had nearly reached their highest productiveness. 
 The rainfall of the winter of 1864-5 was twenty- four 
 inches, and the grain crop was so abundant that Cali- 
 fornia gained recognition as an important source of sup- 
 ply for the bread of Europe. The exportation of mer- 
 chandise amounted to $15,000,000, more than three 
 times as much as it had been ten years before. There 
 was a large increase in the clip of wool and in the plant- 
 ing of new vineyards. Many new houses were built, 
 including important additions to the Lick, Occidental, 
 and Cosmopolitan hotels, which, in their size, as well as 
 in the convenience of their plans, the elegance of their 
 furniture, the management of their servants, and the ex- 
 cellence of their tables, were superior to a like number of 
 hotels in any other city save New York, and equal to that. 
 The bridge across Mission Cove, on the line of Fourth 
 and Kentucky streets, nearly twelve hundred yards-long, 
 was built, at an expense of sixty thousand dollars, thus 
 furnishing access by a short, level, clean and solid road 
 to Potrero Point, which had previously been reached by 
 a detour of several miles, passing near the Mission, on a 
 hilly road, dusty in summer and muddy in winter, along 
 the southern shore of Mission Cove. The construction 
 of this bridge was an important advance towards filling 
 in mud flats covering five hundred acres. 
 
 Sec. 175. Fire Tdegra/ph. The electric fire-alarm 
 telegraph was established, to give notice of fires more 
 precisely as to place and more promptly as to time than 
 
THE S1L VER ERA. 353 
 
 could be done by the watchmen who had been main- 
 tained, and who could not see the flames inside of houses, 
 nor when they broke out beyond the hills, nor even, on 
 the low land near the City Hall, when the city was cov- 
 ered with dense fog, as it is a hundred evenings or more 
 in the year. This was an important step towards the 
 overthrow of the volunteer fire department, and was re- 
 sisted by strong political influences, and by numerous 
 crimes such as incendiary fires, false alarms, breaking 
 the fire-alarm boxes, and cutting the wires; but they 
 failed in their purpose. 
 
 Sec. 17G. Railroad Purchase. The Central Pacific 
 railroad company commenced work in 1863, at Sacra- 
 mento, finished its road to near Dutch Flat, and found 
 that the Sacramento valley road, from Freeport, fifteen 
 miles below Sacramento, to Folsom, where it connected 
 with the road to Shingle Springs, was a troublesome 
 competitor, taking much of the Washoe freight and nearly 
 all the passengers to or from Virginia City, and exer- 
 cising a dangerous political influence. A bill introduced 
 in the Nevada legislature to give one million dollars to 
 the railroad which should first reach from the Sacramento 
 river to the state line, was welcome to the capitalists in- 
 terested in the Folsom road, who were confident that 
 they would gain the prize; and was opposed by the 
 friends of the other route. If the first railroad to Vir- 
 ginia City had come from Folsom, the Central Pacific 
 would have lost much of its profitable traffic, and to 
 secure protection against the numerous dangers of this 
 rivalry, the directors of the Central Pacific bought up 
 
 23 
 
354 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 the majority of the stock of the Sacramento valley road. 
 The transaction was considered a great triumph for 
 them. 
 
 Sec. 177. Earthquake of ISO 5. An earthquake, more 
 severe than any felt in thirty years before, visited the 
 city on the eighth of October, cracked the walls and 
 plastering of some weak buildings, frightened many per- 
 sons, some of them so much that a hundred or more re- 
 turned to their former homes in the eastern states, for 
 fear of something worse next time, and caused an uneasy 
 feeling in the real estate market for several months. 
 
 Sec. 178". City Slip Debt. In this year the city was 
 burdened with a debt of a million dollars, imposed be- 
 cause of official blunders committed in the management 
 of the city slip sale in 1853, and in the litigation about 
 it two years later. Very soon after the sale, a serious 
 panic struck the real estate market ; the winter was not 
 favorable either for mining or farming; the receipts of 
 gold and the arrivals of passengers fell oft ; shipping de- 
 creased; rents fell; business was dull as compared with 
 previous briskness ; and the purchasers were soon sick of 
 their bargains. But they had made their first payment 
 of nearly three hundred thousand dollars, and when the 
 second payment of about six hundred thousand dollars 
 fell due two months after the sale, they still hoped for a 
 revival of business, and besides they did not see how 
 they could avoid payment without sacrificing all that 
 they had paid. After the lapse of another period of two 
 months, when the last payment of three hundred thou- 
 sand dollars was to be made, they generally refused, 
 
THE STL VER ERA. 355 
 
 though nearly all had taken possession of their lots. 
 Their lawyers told them there was a flaw in the title; 
 that the ordinance ordering the sale was never legally 
 passed ; that when the full board of assistant aldermen 
 consisted of eight members, four affirmative votes could 
 not pass an ordinance, even when one of the seats was 
 vacant by resignation. The city tried to cure this de- 
 fect, by confirming the ordinance, and as possession had 
 been taken and most of the price paid, a valid confirma- 
 tion was all that the purchasers had a right to demand ; 
 but they preferred to get their money back. Their 
 policy was to wait to be sued for the last payment 
 claimed under their notes given to the city for the lots; 
 and their plea in defense was that they had received no 
 consideration, the title being void, and that a void title 
 could not be confirmed. The legislature could have 
 remedied the defect, but the money was wanted. This 
 litigation rendered it certain that these lots would not 
 be filled in and built upon as expected, and injured the 
 value of lots on Commercial street — which ran through 
 the middle of the city slip — between Davis and San- 
 some. The construction of wharves elsewhere had ac- 
 commodated shipping; other streets, wider than Com- 
 mercial, had been built up later, and were provided 
 with better houses ; the buildings on the lower part of 
 this street put on a look of ruin and decay; many of 
 them were vacant; and instead of being, as it had been 
 a few years before, the liveliest and the most cheerful, 
 it became the most disconsolate part of San Francisco. 
 The purchasers having gained the decision that no 
 
356 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 title passed, brought suit, for the money paid; and though 
 they were not entitled in justice to recover, yet the 
 supreme court, after five or six years of litigation, gave 
 decrees in their favor. But before the matter was closed 
 up, a new era of prosperity had commenced, and the 
 purchasers agreed to compromise, taking the lots and 
 something more than they had paid — allowance being 
 made for interest money. Bonds for one million dollars 
 were issued to thirty-five of the purchasers who recov- 
 ered judgment. Six others commenced suit subse- 
 quently; but the city lawyers made a plea not tried 
 before — they averred that the city had never legally 
 received the money, though the supreme court had 
 assumed in the previous judgment that the city council 
 had appropriated the money. But proof was furnished 
 that the ordinance appropriating the money received 
 from these sales had been passed by both boards of alder- 
 men on the same day, and in the second board had not 
 obtained unanimous consent, whereas such consent was 
 necessary if passed on the same day; and the supreme 
 court held that as the money had not been appropriated 
 in compliance with the technicalities, therefore it had 
 never legally come into the possession of the city treas- 
 urer, and that when paid out it was not the money of 
 the city but of the city slip purchasers, and they might 
 follow it if they could. This decision saved one hun- 
 dred and ninety thousand dollars to the city, and when 
 considered from the standpoint of justice and reason, 
 was as absurd as the other. In one case the purchasers 
 who had paid three fourths of the price and had taken 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 357 
 
 possession of the lots were permitted to refuse the offer 
 of the city to make a perfect title to the property; and 
 in the other, citizens were told that the payment to the 
 city treasurer was void, because the ordinance appro- 
 priating the money to various purposes was defective. 
 The city creditors paid with money thus illegally appro- 
 priated ought to have sued the city for second payment, 
 on the ground that they had never been paid legally; 
 and a judgment in their favor against the city would 
 have completed the circle of absurdity and injustice. 
 Sec. 179. 1866. The year 1866 was marked by 
 the tearing down of the buildings on the west side of 
 Kearny street, for the purpose of widening it; by the 
 success of the state harbor commissioners in getting 
 possession of the entire water front from the wharf 
 corporations, which had held control there for fifteen 
 years; by the construction of the extensive wharves 
 and other improvements of the Pacific Mail company, 
 at the foot of Brannan street, to accommodate their 
 steamers, running to China and Panama; by the cut- 
 ting down of a hill containing 300,000 cubic yards on 
 Rincon Point, to obtain material for filling in water 
 lots near the Pacific Mail wharves; by the opening of 
 Woodward's garden as a pleasure resort for the gen- 
 eral public; by the completion of the Sutter street 
 railroad, giving convenient access to a considerable 
 area in the western addition; and by the establish- 
 ment of the paid fire department and the abandon- 
 ment of hand fire-engines, those drawn by horses and 
 driven by steam being substituted. The Bay View 
 
358 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 railroad and the stone dry- dock on Hunter's Point 
 were commenced. Building in the southern part of 
 the city, and land speculation, were very active. The 
 sum of the sales of land within the city limits Avas 
 $13,000,000. The rainfall, though not above the 
 average, was so distributed as to time that the crops 
 were large. The exports of merchandise were $17,- 
 000,000, nearly $3,000,000 more than in any previous 
 year. The yield of the Comstock lode was $15,000,- 
 000, but only one tenth was dividend; and as no new 
 bodies of ore were opened, speculation in silver shares 
 was dull, and the sales in the San Francisco board 
 amounted to only $32,000,000, or about two thirds as 
 much as in 1865. The state gained 4,800 inhabitants 
 by the excess of arrivals over departures. 
 
 Sec. 180. Subsidies. The numerous subsidies given 
 at previous sessions of the legislature to railroads, and 
 the division of the profits among relatively few indi- 
 viduals, stimulated schemes for getting more money 
 from the public treasury in the same way. One of 
 these created a lively excitement throughout the state, 
 and led to the overthrow of the republican domination 
 in the state government. A bill was passed by the 
 legislature to pay $52,000 annually as interest on 
 bonds of the Sacramento and Placerville railroad, and 
 $90,000 on the "Western Pacific. The former road, 
 only thirty-six miles long as projected, and twenty-six 
 were already completed, had already obtained $300,- 
 000 in El Dorado and Placerville bonds, and to give 
 $1,000,000 from the state treasury for building only 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 359 
 
 ten miles additional road of no service save to a small 
 district, inhabited by not one twentieth of the inhab- 
 itants of California, was outrageous. The proposed 
 gift to the Western Pacific was scarcely less objection- 
 able. That company had already obtained a loan of 
 §2,000,000 in federal bonds for thirty years, a gift of 
 800,000 acres of federal land, §250,000 from San 
 Francisco as a gift, and §400,000 in Santa Clara and 
 San Joaquin county bonds in payment for an equal 
 amount of the company's stock. These subsidies 
 might be put down as worth certainly §2,500,000 in 
 cash, and as the route was only one hundred and 
 twenty-six miles long, nearly level, through a well 
 settled part of the state, and was the western termi- 
 nal section of the transcontinental railroad, the aid 
 already supplied by the government was abundant. 
 The daily press protested against requiring the people 
 to pay §2,850,000 for the benefit of a few individuals, 
 under the pretense of securing the construction of 
 roads that would be built without further subsidy, or 
 that if built would render no benefit to the state gen- 
 erally; but the legislature was under the control of a 
 corrupt lobby, and the bill was adopted by both 
 houses. Now, as on other occasions, the public inter- 
 ests were saved by the veto power. Governor Low 
 protected the state treasury against this excessive lib- 
 erality of the legislature. 
 
 Sec. 181. Paid Fire Department. The volun- 
 teer fire department had rendered great service to the 
 city, and had even been indispensable for its preserva- 
 
360 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 tion, but the time had coine when something better 
 was needed. In early years, when families w T ere few, 
 when the rich men were young and active, when 
 nearly all the merchants had their homes in or near 
 their stores, and when all their property was exposed 
 to the flames, the fire companies had included many 
 of the best citizens, but when those men advanced in 
 age, moved out to the suburbs, and put their money 
 in lands, mines, canals, railroads, steamboats, insur- 
 ance companies and banks, they retired from active 
 service with the fire companies, and other less scrupu- 
 lous men took their places. The engine houses be- 
 came the homes of a disreputable class, always ready 
 to run with the machine in payment for free lodgings. 
 As the city grew, and fires became more numerous, 
 the conduct of these men became more troublesome, 
 and the danger from the insubordination greater, so 
 the people's party purchased steam fire-engines and 
 discharged the volunteers, not without bitter opposi- 
 tion from those, who liked the old system for the 
 plunder or political influence Avhich it gave them. 
 
 Sec. 182. Kearny Street Widened. The most not- 
 able change in San Francisco in the course of 1866 was 
 the work done in widening Kearny street, which had 
 been previously forty-five and a half feet wide, and 
 now thirty feet more taken from the western side 
 were added, from Market to .Broadway, a distance of 
 nearly a mile. At that time the district west of 
 Dupont and north of Washington was much more 
 important in the business of the city relatively than 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 361 
 
 it is now, and people going from that district to any 
 place south of Bush street went by way of Mont- 
 gomery street, which, because of its wide sidewalks 
 and level grade, was the preferred route for persons 
 passing between the two leading residence districts of 
 "North Beach" and " South Park," as the northern 
 and southern parts of the city were sometimes desig- 
 nated, and for that reason Montgomery street had in 
 1853 become the fashionable promenade, and after- 
 wards acquired the most elegant shops, and leading 
 hotels, and its lots became the most valuable in the 
 city. 
 
 It did not offer room enough, however, for the busi- 
 ness that thronged it, and the rapid growth of the city 
 demanded more space for the future. The legislature 
 passed a general act to authorize the widening of 
 streets in San Francisco, with special reference to 
 Kearny street, though without mention of it; in 1865, 
 commissioners were appointed to assess benefits and 
 damages, and a suit to restrain them from acting was 
 defeated, and there was a lively demand for Kearny 
 street lots at improved prices. The next year their 
 report was adopted, and the demolition of the houses 
 along the western side of the street and the construc- 
 tion of others in their places were commenced. When 
 the assessments were made lots near Washington 
 street were worth twice as much a front foot as near 
 Market, but before a year had gone by it was evident 
 that the southern part of the street would get much 
 more than an equal share of the benefit, though this 
 
3G2 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 result could not have been foreseen with sufficient con- 
 fidence to serve as a basis of the official estimates. 
 The new street had some important advantages over 
 Montgomery. It had a greater length of level ground; 
 it was six feet wider; it was nearer the residence dis- 
 tricts; its buildings on the west side were more ele- 
 gant, as a class, and better adapted for the sale of 
 elegant merchandise; it was certain that the eastern 
 side of the street would be rebuilt in equal, if not 
 superior style; it was exempt from the throng of 
 stockbrokers who filled the sidewalks on Montgomery 
 street, and it connected directly with Third street, 
 which might thus be considered as an extension of it. 
 Under these influences, Kearny superseded Mont- 
 gomery as the preferred street for promenaders and 
 fashionable shops. The accounts for widening the 
 street were closed in 1868, and the total expense was 
 five hundred and seventy-nine thousand dollars, while 
 the aggregate pecuniary benefit to the lot owners 
 directly interested was not less than three million 
 dollars. 
 
 ' Sec. 183. Outside Lands. The title of the city to 
 about four thousand acres of land west of Larkin 
 street having been perfected, ordinances were passed 
 to convey it to the parties in possession and to give 
 them deeds for it. In 1853, the city as successor of 
 the pueblo of Yerba Buena, presented its claims to 
 the federal land commission for four square leagues, 
 about seventeen thousand acres, under the Mexican 
 law, giving so much for common or other public pur- 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 363 
 
 poses to every pueblo or town. The claim was con- 
 firmed in 1854 by the land commission for about ten 
 thousand acres, including all that part of the penin- 
 sula north of the Vallejo line, which started near the 
 intersection of Fifth and Brannan streets and ran 
 through the summit of Lone Mountain to the ocean. 
 Both parties, the city on one side and the land agent 
 of the federal government on the other, appealed from 
 this decision, and in course of time the case reached 
 the federal circuit court, which on the eighteenth of 
 May, 1865, filed a decree confirming the claim to the 
 city to four square leagues above high water mark, 
 "for the benefit of the lot-holders under grants from the 
 pueblo, town or city of San Francisco, or other com- 
 petent authority, and as to any residue, in trust for 
 the use and benefit of the inhabitants of the city." An 
 appeal was taken from this decision on behalf of the 
 federal government to the United States supreme 
 court; but on the eighth of March, 18GG, congress 
 passed an act confirming the decree, and granting to 
 the city all the title of the United States to the tract 
 described in the decision of the circuit court, with the 
 exception of lands needed for federal reservations, 
 subject to the conditions that all of this land not 
 needed for public purposes, or not previously disposed 
 of, should be conveyed to the persons in possession. 
 The only opposition to the city claim recognized by 
 the law was that by the United States, and when 
 congress granted the federal title to San Francisco, 
 there was no basis for litigation, so the United States 
 
364 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 supreme court dismissed the appeal, and the decree of 
 the circuit court stood as the tru e basis of the title. That 
 decision gave the land not already disposed of "in 
 trust for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of the 
 city;" the act of congress gave it for the benefit of 
 "the parties in the bonajide actual possession thereof." 
 The inhabitants were many; the people in possession 
 were few, but they had money, political influence, or- 
 ganization, and the legislature passed an act providing 
 that everybody in possession of not more than one 
 hundred and sixty acres, should keep it all. The 
 supervisors passed the Clement ordinance recognizing 
 the ownership of the people in possession, and the 
 McCoppin ordinance, giving deeds to them. Thus a 
 domain which might have been sold for millions of 
 dollars, or given in small lots to ten thousand poor 
 citizens, anxious to secure homes, was bestowed upon 
 a few. The giving of such large areas was not in har- 
 mony with the town system of Mexico, and the posses- 
 sory titles within the limits of the pueblo claim were 
 void under the American law; nor was their recogni- 
 tion consistent with sound public policy, but it re- 
 ceived the sanction of the legislatures, councils and 
 courts. The city out of all this vast domain reserved 
 a park of one thousand acres, mostly drifting sand, 
 and some lots for public squares and buildings. 
 
 Sec. 184. 1867. The winter of 1866-67 had 
 brought nearly one half more than the average supply 
 of rain, and among its consequences were a very abun- 
 dant crop of wheat and the exportation of merchan- 
 
THE SIL VER ERA . 365 
 
 dise to the value of §22,000,000 — an increase of §5,- 
 000,000 over 1866, and §8,000,000 over 1865. The 
 merchandise exports of San Francisco had now reached 
 a level with the gold production of the state. The 
 gold yield of Idaho had commenced to decline, but 
 it was still about §5,000,000 annually, and the 
 loss was more than compensated by the rise of the 
 silver yield of Nevada to §18,000,000, and the distri- 
 butions of §3,800,000 silver dividends in San Fran- 
 cisco, the last figure being twice as great as in 1866. 
 The large bonanza at Gold Hill came into view, and 
 gave birth to the hopes, which were realized a few 
 years later, that the profits obtained by the Gould k 
 Curry and the adjacent mines from 1863 to 1866 
 would be surpassed. The sales of mining stocks were 
 tw 7 ice as large in the aggregate as in the previous 
 year, and the San Francisco board found it necessary 
 for the accommodation of its customers to move to 
 new rooms in the Merchants' Exchange on California 
 street. The completion of that building and of the 
 Bank of California, and the transfer of the business 
 connected Avith the two stock boards, fixed the finan- 
 cial center on California street, between Battery and 
 Montgomery, where land soon rose to be worth §3000 
 per front foot, a price considerably greater than that 
 demanded previously. The work of rebuilding the 
 west side of Kearny and relaying the pavement and 
 sidewalk had now advanced so far, the street had at- 
 tracted so much traffic, and its lots advanced so much 
 in value, that the improvement of widening it had 
 become an assured and high success. 
 
366 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 The fever of land speculation was so active that 
 the old steam excavator could not keep pace with the 
 demand for grading, so a new one was imported and 
 set to work. The bridge a mile long across Islais 
 Cove, and the Bay View railroad, were completed, 
 thus furnishing cheap access to an extensive district 
 on the southern water front. The stone dry-dock at 
 Hunter's Point was finished at the same time. The 
 growth of" the city was most active south of Market 
 street, and the steam cars which had been running on 
 that street to the Mission for seven years, were now 
 stopped in accordance with the general demand, and 
 horses were substituted. The sale of the Beideman 
 tract of one hundred and sixty acres, north of Turk 
 street and west of Larkin, at auction in small lots, 
 enabled hundreds to buy homesteads at prices much 
 less than the land commanded a few years later. 
 The claim of the De Haro family to the Potrero was 
 defeated in the United States supreme court, and the 
 people in possession were protected in their titles. A 
 contract was made for a sea wall of stone along part 
 of the water front, at the rate of $278 per lineal foot, 
 implying that the entire cost of the projected wall 
 would be about $1,500,000 a mile. In this year the 
 Almshouse, Trinity church, and the Howard Presby- 
 terian church on Mission street near Third, were fin- 
 ished. 
 
 Sec. 185. Railroad Progress. The progress of the 
 Central Pacific railroad became a matter of great in- 
 terest in 1867 to San Franciscans, who had previously 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 367 
 
 believed that it would not in many years surmount the 
 Sierra Nevada. Now they saw a strong probability 
 that the iron track would be finished across the conti- 
 nent within a few years, thus reducing the time 
 between San Francisco and New York from twenty- 
 four to seven or eight days for ordinary travel, and 
 relieving passengers from the discomforts of a long 
 sea voyage, including two weeks in the tropics. This 
 was the great work to which they had long looked for- 
 ward as necessary to the proper development of the 
 industry and commerce of California, and as the time 
 for its completion drew near they were filled with 
 confidence that the city and state were about to enter 
 a new era of prosperity more brilliant than any 
 known in the past. Their confidence stimulated all 
 kinds of business, and the general feeling, especially 
 in the real estate market, was one of high exhilara- 
 tion. 
 
 Sec. 186. Democratic Victory. The republican 
 party which had held control of the state government 
 for six years, and had a majority of 18,000 at the 
 presidential election in 1864, lost its power by nomi- 
 nating George C. Gorham for governor. At the .pre- 
 ceding session of the legislature he had urged the 
 adoption of the bill to give $2,850,000 to the Western 
 Pacific and Placerville railroad companies, and thus 
 had given serious offense to influential republican 
 journals and to many of the voters; but, on account 
 of his talent for public speaking and partisan man- 
 agement, he was the favorite of the professional poli- 
 
368 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ticians in the party, and they thought they could defy 
 all opposition. They over-estimated their power. 
 An independent republican ticket hostile to railroad 
 subsidies was nominated; the democrats adopted a 
 platform denouncing subsidies as a great danger; a 
 campaign pamphlet was published with a colored 
 map, showing the immense areas of land in Cali- 
 fornia granted by congress to aid the Central Pacific, 
 the Southern Pacific, and the California and Oregon 
 railroads; and though these lands were for the most 
 part of little value, and the grants of them were 
 moderate aids to enterprises of much service to the 
 development of the industry and commerce of the 
 state, still the maps were well fitted to increase the 
 popular discontent provoked by the unreasonable 
 plans for money subsidies. The republicans allowed 
 themselves to be put in the position of advocates of 
 subsidies, and they were defeated. H. H. Haight, 
 democratic candidate for governor, and a legislature 
 of the same party, were elected on the platform of 
 "economy, purity and reform." 
 
 For the first time in ten years the democrats suc- 
 ceeded in defeating the candidate of the taxpayers 
 or people's party for mayor. At the preceding ses- 
 sion of the legislature the municipal election had 
 been transferred by the republicans from the spring 
 to the fall, so that it was held on the day fixed for 
 choosing state and federal officers. The pretext for 
 making the change was that there were too many 
 elections; but a strong, if not the predominant, motive 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 3G9 
 
 was the desire to increase the influence of the na- 
 tional party organization in the choice of the city 
 officials, and thus break down the local people's party 
 in San Francisco. The republicans altered the law, 
 expecting to be the gainers by it, as for years their 
 ticket had been the chief rival of the taxpayers'; 
 but the blundering of the state republican convention 
 in its platform and nominations, and the skillful use 
 by the democrats of the opportunity offered to them, 
 gave to the latter party the lead in San Francisco (as 
 well as in the interior of the state), and Frank Mc- 
 Coppin, their candidate for mayor, became the head 
 of the city government, the only person elected to 
 that place between 1857 and 1874 inclusive, under 
 nomination by a convention wearing the name of a 
 national political party. 
 
 Sec. 187. 1868. The exhilaration which had rilled 
 the San Francisco real estate market in 1867 became 
 an intoxication towards its end, and so continued 
 through the next year. Land speculation, especially 
 in the southern part of the city, was extremely active. 
 The real estate sales ran up to twenty-seven million 
 dollars, an increase of ten million dollars over the pre- 
 vious year. Several scores of homestead associations 
 bought up large tracts, going, in some cases, six miles 
 out on the peninsula, or nearly as far beyond Oakland, 
 and sold the lots at double or treble the cost to igno- 
 rant and deluded purchasers, who made their payments 
 in small monthly installments, while two or three spec- 
 ulators usually divided the bulk of the profits. It 
 
 24 
 
370 HIS TOM Y OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 was now certain that the railroad across the continent 
 would be finished before 1870. Two great corpora- 
 tions, endowed by congress with immense grants of 
 land and loans of bonds, means that were not availa- 
 ble until considerable distances had been built, work- 
 ing from the opposite ends, and entitled to all they 
 could build respectively, were running an unexampled 
 race in laying track at the rate of a mile a day or 
 more. The attention of the nation was fixed upon the 
 race, the road, and California. The gain of the state 
 by immigration in the twelve- month was thirty -five 
 thousand, surpassing anything since the first few years 
 after the gold discovery. 
 
 The railroad from Vallejo to Sacramento was fin- 
 ished, and the journey between the metropolis and the 
 political capital of the state was reduced from eight 
 hours to four and a half. This road was also connected 
 by a track four miles long from Adelante to Suscol 
 with the Napa valley road, thus giving continuous 
 steam communication from San Francisco to Calistoga, 
 which thus became a prominent pleasure resort — for a 
 time the most prominent on the coast. The comple- 
 tion of the railroad from Sacramento to Marysville, and 
 the subsidy of three hundred thousand dollars in the stock 
 of the San Jose railroad, given by the city of San Fran- 
 cisco to the southern Pacific railroad company to aid the 
 construction of thirty miles of road from San Jose to 
 Gilroy, and the completion of the stone dry-dock at 
 Hunter's Point, all contributed to the land excitement. 
 
 Sec. 188. Earthquake of 1868. The year 1868 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 371 
 
 is memorable for the severest earthquake felt in the 
 city since the American conquest. It came on the 
 twenty-first of October, about eight A. m.; killed five 
 persons by throwing- loose bricks from the tops of 
 buildings upon them as they were walking in the 
 street, and led as many more to break bones by jump- 
 ing out of second and third-story windows. No 
 person was severely injured in a house, nor was the 
 better class of structures damaged , but a dozen brick 
 buildings which had weak foundations, on the made 
 ground were cracked so as to be untenantable; and 
 many people affected by the news of the great Peru- 
 vian earthquake on the thirteenth of the previous Au- 
 gust, with its tidal wave that swept a city to destruc- 
 tion, were seriously frightened, so that hundreds slept 
 in the public squares for several nights. Fears were 
 entertained that there would be a serious decline of 
 real estate and a decrease of population, but the scare 
 passed off in a few weeks ; and since that time earth- 
 quakes have been less frequent and severe than before. 
 Sec. 189. San Joaquin Valley. The winter of 
 1867-68 brought a rainfall of thirty-eight inches, or 
 half ns much more than the quantity necessary for a 
 good crop, and the consequence was an exceptionally 
 good harvest. The state had now had abundant rains 
 for four successive seasons, giving great profit to the 
 farmers, and leading to a doubling of the area under 
 cultivation. The spread of tillage was especially notice- 
 able on the eastern side of the San Joaquin valley, be- 
 tween the Stanislaus and Merced rivers, a region pre\ U 
 
372 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ously considered almost valueless for any purpose save 
 pasturage. The soil is a sandy loam, and the rainfall is 
 one third less than in San Francisco; so that in dry 
 years the grain crops if not irrigated are poor, but for 
 four seasons the rains had been so abundant that the 
 clay soils near the coast had been almost unmanage- 
 able on the account of the excess of water, and the 
 farmers were driven to try the sandy plains. Lands, 
 which for years had found no purchasers at the federal 
 price of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, were 
 now in demand at twenty dollars. Half a million 
 acres were bought up in two years. Instead of being 
 worthless, as was supposed, it was found to be in some 
 respects the best wheat land in the state ; for, though 
 not so rich as some other, it would produce more in 
 proportion to the labor devoted to it. A single plow- 
 man, with a gang plow, with six shares, and six spans 
 of horses, could work eight or ten acres a day; whereas, 
 on heavy, hilly land, one plow is as much as a man 
 can manage. The cultivation of this land made it 
 necessary to build a railroad to get access to it, and 
 the increase in the value of the farms exceeded the 
 cost of the road. In 1866, Stanislaus county was the 
 seventeenth wheat county in the state, producing only 
 one hundred and fiftv thousand bushels; and in 1868 
 the first, producing two million three hundred thou- 
 sand bushels. 
 
 Sec. 190. 1869. Among the notable events of 
 1869 were the completion, in May, of the connection 
 by rail between Sacramento and New York; the com- 
 
THE SIL VER EH A. 373 
 
 pletion four months later of the Western Pacific road 
 from Sacramento to Oakland; the culmination of the 
 real estate excitement in the spring, and a consequent 
 grand panic in real estate; an intense excitement 
 about the newly discovered silver mines at White 
 Pine, and the disappointment of nearly all the ad- 
 venturers who went thither to make their fortunes; 
 the failure of a scheme to extend Montgomery street 
 in a direct line from Market to the Potrero; the open- 
 ing of New Montgomery street parallel with Third; 
 the cutting of Second street through Pincon Hill; 
 the sale by the state of the tide and submerged lands 
 on both sides of Hunter's Point; the introduction of 
 free postal delivery ; the building of the Grand 
 Hotel, the Pacific bank, the Savings and Loan bank, 
 Friedlander's block, the rolling mill and the Cali- 
 fornia theater; and the transfer of the slaughter 
 houses from Bran nan street beyond Mission creek to 
 the present Butchertown, built on piles near the south 
 shore of Islais Cove. 
 
 Sec. 191. Pacific Railroad. The driving of the 
 last spike of the Central- Union Pacific railroad near 
 Salt Lake, on the ninth of May, giving a continuous 
 iron track from Sacramento to New York, was recog- 
 nized and celebrated as one of the great events of the 
 age, but to San Francisco it did not bring the antici- 
 pated benefits. Her citizens had calculated upon too 
 much, and had invested their money on the basis not 
 of realized results, but of extravagant expectations; 
 and when the completion of the road compelled a 
 
374 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 comparison between results and expectations, it was 
 found that the prices of land generally, and especially 
 in the suburban districts, were far beyond any perma- 
 nent demand. Everybody had wanted to sell, and 
 nobody to buy; and a general and severe panic en- 
 sued. Many of the losers gave vent to their vexa- 
 tion by complaints that the Pacific railroad was a 
 damage to San Francisco; that the peninsular posi- 
 tion of the city did not permit her to profit by rail- 
 roads; that she had been built up by steamboat traffic 
 and could not prosper after it was destroyed; that the 
 cars from the Atlantic states could not be expected to 
 come round the southern arm of San Francisco bay, 
 that therefore some town on the eastern or northern 
 shore of the bay — either Vallejo, Benicia, Oakland 
 or Saucelito — must be the main terminus of the rail- 
 ways of the Pacific slope; and that as the network of 
 tracks would extend every year, so would the relative 
 importance of San Francisco decline. For thirteen 
 years the prices of real estate and the amount of sales 
 had risen steadily and rapidly; and now so soon as 
 the great road for which California had prayed as 
 necessary for the proper development of her natural 
 wealth, and for the foundation of a new era of pros- 
 perity to surpass that of the gold discovery, was 
 completed, there was a panic more severe than that 
 which accompanied the decline of the placers after 
 1853. The opening of the railroad between Sacra- 
 mento and Oakland by way of Stockton, in Septem- 
 ber, made no perceptible improvement in the situa- 
 tion. 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 375 
 
 The Central Pacific company was considered hostile 
 to San Francisco, whose capitalists had refused to 
 subscribe to its stock when it was about to commence 
 work, whose representatives had opposed county 
 subsidies to it in the legislature, whose council had 
 refused to issue the bonds ordered to be given to it by 
 the legislature, and whose public journals had been 
 cool or unfriendly to it. The company had its chief 
 office at Sacramento, and had acquired a large tract of 
 land, supposed to be valuable for terminal purposes, at 
 Oakland. 
 
 While business was in confusion on account of the 
 extravagant over-speculation in lots — a mistake that 
 deprived a large majority of the industrious, well-to- 
 do people of a considerable part of their imaginary 
 wealth, and reduced to poverty many of those who 
 had gone into debt, there were serious disturbances in 
 various branches of business, in consequence of the 
 transition of transportation from steamer to rail. 
 Much of the travel and freight between New York 
 and the interior of the state ceased to pass through 
 San Francisco, which thus lost a considerable part of 
 her revenue. 
 
 Sec. 192. Vallejo Railroad. There was an oppo- 
 sition to the Central Pacific railroad between San 
 Francisco and Sacrameuto, but it came from Vallejo. 
 The California Pacific railroad from that place to the 
 state capital had been opened in February, and a fast 
 boat had been purchased to run between Vallejo and 
 the metropolis. In time, cost and comfort, this route 
 
376 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Was preferable to any other; but the influence of this 
 opposition to the Sacramento railroad company was 
 not less dangerous to San Francisco, in the opinion of 
 many business men. Distinguished engineers in the 
 army, navy, coast survey and civil life, had publicly 
 expressed the opinion that tnere was a much better 
 place for a city at Vallejo or Benicia than at San 
 Francisco. The soil in the neighborhood is richer; 
 the anchorage more secure; the natural site and water 
 front better; access to the heart of the Sacramento 
 valley more convenient, and the water deep enough 
 for large vessels. That place grew rapidly; there 
 was a lively demand for its lots; the construction of 
 the railroad wharves and warehouses gave facilities 
 for shipping wheat, and in the crop year of 1869-70 
 thirty-three vessels were loaded there for Europe. 
 The bold and active men controlling the California 
 Pacific company, supported by the European capital- 
 ists who had advanced the money to build the road, 
 spoke loudly and confidently of the other roads they 
 would construct to make Vallejo the great railroad 
 center of the state, of the factories to be built, of the 
 combinations to be made with steamship companies 
 whose ocean steamships should have the terminus of 
 their route at Vallejo. Fears that these assertions 
 might be verified helped the panic. 
 
 Sec. 193. Silver Mines. The production of silver 
 by the state of Nevada was .only fifteen million 
 dollars in 1869, the same as in 1868, and four millions 
 less than in 1867; but there was some compensation 
 
THE STL VER ERA. 377 
 
 for this in the discovery of the mines at White Pine 
 in the previous year, of a large deposit of argentifer- 
 ous chloride, some of it yielding ten thousand dollars 
 a ton, surpassing in richness and facility of reduction 
 the croppings of the Ophir mine when the wealth of 
 the Comstock was opened. Before much exploration 
 could be done on Treasure Hill, the intense cold of 
 winter at an elevation of nine thousand feet above the 
 sea checked the work while the miners were still 
 drifting in an immense mass of silver ore as rich as 
 any mentioned in the records of Mexico or Peru; and 
 California and Nevada waited impatiently for spring 
 to permit an active resumption of labor and the re- 
 moval of the doubt whether the Comstock lode was to 
 be reduced to relative insignificance — a result pre- 
 dicted confidently by some of those who had visited 
 the new place. So soon as the roads were open for 
 travel there was a rush of adventurers to White Pine, 
 where they found promises of a wonderful silver yield. 
 This district had made more progress in three months 
 than Washoe had in three years, and the ore was 
 more than three times as rich. The production of the 
 year was four million dollars. Those who were too 
 late to get hold of rich mines looked to city lots for 
 their profits. Treasure City, Hamilton and Sherman 
 became important towns, and leading speculators in 
 real estate were millionaires in the general estimation 
 for a brief period; but they and the mine owners were 
 soon doomed to disappointment. The chloride depos- 
 its did not last long. Mining engineers said there was 
 
378 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 no fissure vein; there was no lode running far and 
 deep like the Comstock. The miners cut through the 
 few large ore bodies into the barren rock; the smaller 
 deposits promised little profit; the towns collapsed; 
 the throng of adventurers ceased, and White Pine 
 suddenly sank from the second place among the silver 
 districts of Nevada to the fourth. 
 
 Sec. 194. Street Changes. The success in widen- 
 ing Kearny street having, at an expense of less than 
 six hundred thousand dollars, added more than four 
 million dollars to the value of lots on Kearny and 
 Third streets, led to various schemes to bring up 
 Montgomery street. The first of these was to extend 
 it in a straight line to the Potrero, a distance of a 
 mile, cutting diagonally through the blocks on the 
 line. This scheme was carried through the supervis- 
 ors and passed over the mayor's veto; commissioners 
 were appointed, and they made an elaborate report, 
 with estimate of the expense, but the engineer, in 
 laying off the map of the work, assumed incorrectly 
 that the blocks intersected were exactly of the size 
 proposed in the original survey. The consequence was 
 that the line of the new street was not straight, but 
 showed a little offset like a saw-tooth at every street 
 crossing. This defeated the enterprise, causing serious 
 loss to those who had bought property on the line, in 
 the expectation of the completion of the work. 
 
 So soon as the project of extending Montgomery 
 in a straight line was abandoned, another scheme came 
 to the surface. This was to open New Montgomery 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 379 
 
 street, between Second and Third, and parallel to 
 them from Market street to the bay. A company of 
 capitalists bought up the land on the line from Mar- 
 ket to Howard, opened the street so far, and built the 
 Grand Hotel to give value to the adjacent property 
 and attract business men to the street ; but the enter- 
 prise was unprofitable. They had expected that the 
 land w r ould be worth fifteen hundred dollars a foot, 
 and it did not bring as much as its cost to them, which 
 was four hundred dollars, besides lying idle for a long 
 time. One result of the opening of this new street, 
 and of the Second street cut was that the value of 
 Second street, between Howard and Market, previ- 
 ously a good street for fashionable shops and a favorite 
 promenade, was injured seriously — almost destroyed. 
 The idea of extending New Montgomery street south- 
 ward from Howard was abandoned when the first sec- 
 tion of it proved unprofitable. 
 
 Another street scheme was the Second street cut. 
 John Middleton, a prominent dealer in real estate, and 
 owner of a large lot on the corner of Second and 
 Bryant, believed that if Second street were cut down 
 through Tvincon Hill to such a grade that heavy 
 teams could pass over its line to the vicinity of the 
 Pacific Mail wharf, the southern end of the street 
 would become the site of an active business, and real 
 estate there would greatly advance in price. To carry 
 his enterprise through, he secured an election to the 
 assembly, and there, by his influence as a member of 
 the legislature, notwithstanding the protests of the 
 
380 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 lot-owners on Bincon Hill against being assessed for 
 the cost of work which would do them, serious dam- 
 age, the bill was passed for reducing the grade be- 
 tween Folsom and Bryant — that is, cutting a deep 
 ravine through Bincon Hill. The work was done, 
 but the predicted benefits failed to make their appear- 
 ance. The cut or ditch, at one place sixty feet deep, 
 has ugly steep banks, which have slid down in wet 
 weather ; the falling dirt has destroyed the sidewalks; 
 the despoiled lot owners have refused to keep the 
 pavement in repair; heavy teams have found it more 
 convenient to pass through other streets in going to 
 and coming from the Pacific Mail wharf; Bincon Hill 
 has lost much of its beauty and all its pre-eminence 
 as a district for fashionable dwellings ; the most active 
 advocates of the scheme made nothing by it ; and the 
 direct expense of the improvement was three hundred 
 and eighty-five thousand dollars, while the loss to 
 citizens beyond all benefits was not less than one mill- 
 ion dollars. Many had to pay for the errors of judg- 
 ment committed by a few. 
 
 A scheme still wilder in its character was brought 
 forward and urged by meetings of lot-owners upon the 
 legislature as a highly meritorious measure. This 
 was to make a nearly uniform grade on Stockton 
 street, from Geary to Clay, for the purpose of giving 
 convenient access for promenaders on that street, be- 
 tween the northern and southern parts of the city. 
 This scheme implied the cutting of a ditch the width 
 of the street for a distance of half a mile, with a depth 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 381 
 
 in one place of eighty feet, in the heart of the city, 
 leaving the houses along the line, not only without 
 access from the street, but on the edge of a cliff which 
 would probably tumble down after the first good soak- 
 ing in the rainy season. The scheme was defeated 
 and then abandoned. 
 
 Sec. 195. 1870. San Francisco built 1200 new 
 houses, gained 10,000 inhabitants, and prospered in 
 many ways in 1870, but there was general complaint 
 of hard times, because the real estate market had not 
 recovered from its panic of the previous year, and 
 serious fears were felt of the powers and purposes of 
 the two great railroad companies. The average 
 monthly sales of real estate, which had been $3,500,- 
 000 in the first half of 1869, fell to §1,300,000 in 
 1870. There was a lack of confidence in the ability 
 of the capital invested in San Francisco to overcome 
 the combinations and influences that might be brought 
 to the aid of Vallejo and Oakland, the advocates of 
 which towns claimed that, as they had at the begin- 
 ning of their career taken a large share of the loading 
 of wheat for exportation, so they would in a few years 
 receive cargoes from abroad, and would continue to 
 gain business indefinitely. The California Pacific 
 road was run with such speed that it took nearly all 
 the local traffic; and the company owning it, sup- 
 ported by prominent European capitalists, was recog- 
 nized as a formidable rival of the Central Pacific. 
 These were now the two great inland transportation 
 companies of California. One was confessedly work- 
 
 \ 
 
382 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ing to build up Vallejo; the other composed of 
 citizens of Sacramento, was suspected of an in- 
 tention to make its chief terminus at Oakland. A 
 metropolis without control over, or even an interest 
 in any of the great transportation companies bringing 
 trade to it — a trade for which ambitious rivals, not 
 without power, were making greedy bids — was in an 
 awkward situation. 
 
 Among the new buildings of the year were St. 
 Patrick's church (to which Peter Donahue gave a 
 chime of bells, the first in the city), Bancroft's build- 
 ing, and the "White House. The grading of Yerba 
 Buena square was commenced as a preparation for 
 the erection of a new city hall; and a beginning was 
 made in the improvement of the Golden Gate Park. 
 A lottery for the benefit of the Mercantile Library 
 was authorized by the legislature in defiance of the 
 constitution, and conducted to a successful termina- 
 tion with a net profit of half a million. 
 
 The city took a holiday to witness the blowing up 
 of Blossom rock, a submarine reef, the top of which 
 was five feet below high tide, on the line of Davis 
 street, and three quarters of a mile from North Point. 
 A coffer-dam or hollow cylinder was built on the reef; 
 the water having been pumped out, a shaft was sunk 
 down into the rock and galleries were dug for a length 
 of one hundred and forty feet and a width of forty 
 feet, at a depth of thirty-seven feet below low tide. 
 The miners having completed their part of the work, 
 and twenty-one tons of powder having been distrib- 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 383 
 
 uted in the drifts, on the twenty-third of May, in 
 accordance with public notice, and within sight of 
 myriads of people in boats and on the hills, the charge 
 was exploded, a column of water one hundred feet in 
 diameter was blown several hundred feet up into the 
 air, and that was the end of the most dangerous ob- 
 struction to commerce in the bay of San Francisco. 
 The method of submarine excavation used on Blossom 
 rock, invented by A. W. Von Schmidt, a San Fran- 
 ciscan, was first applied in making the entrance of 
 the Hunter's Point dry-dock, and is an interesting 
 addition to the science of engineering. 
 
 The rainfall of 1869-70 had been nineteen inches, 
 less than the amount needed to make a good crop; so 
 the harvest was scanty and the farmers generally did 
 not prosper. Railroads were built from Pctaluma to 
 Santa Rosa, from Marys ville to a point twenty -five 
 miles beyond, on the California and Oregon route, 
 and from Los Angeles to Wilmington. The silver 
 mines of Eureka (Nevada), and the borax deposits 
 found at various places in the same state, attracted 
 much attention in this year, and offered opportunities 
 for the profitable investment of several millions of 
 capital. 
 
 Sec. 196. Census of 1870. The federal census 
 taken in this year reported a total population of 149,- 
 473 in the city, though a year before the estimates in 
 the directory had made out a population of 170,000. 
 There was a common opinion that the census agent 
 had omitted many persons, but his work was official, 
 
384 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and in various respects more carefully done than the 
 other. It showed that of the entire number of in- 
 habitants, 75,754 were natives of the United States, 
 73,719 foreigners; 136,059 whites, 12,022 Chinese, 
 1330 of negro blood, 54 Indian, and 8 Japanese. 
 About ninety people in a hundred were white, nine 
 Asiatic, and one African. The number of whites 
 born in California was 36,565, or more than a fourth 
 of all the whites; but most of them were minors, for 
 only two years before, among 25,000 registered voters 
 there were not half a dozen natives of the state. 
 The two sexes were about equally divided among the 
 children under sixteen; but over that age there were 
 52,102 males and 38,316 females, or three to two, and 
 if a count had been made of those over twenty-one 
 the disproportion would have been found considerably 
 greater. 
 
 Sec. 197. French-German War. The war between 
 Germany and France, for the military and political 
 leadership of continental Europe, excited an intense 
 interest in San Francisco, where the former country 
 had thirteen thousand six hundred and the latter three 
 thousand five hundred of her natives. The Irish, 
 generally, and some Americans, sympathized with the 
 French; while the Italians, and many of the Ameri- 
 cans of the Anglo-Saxon stock favored the Germans, 
 so there were large parties on each side. When it 
 became evident that France was badly beaten, the 
 French residents poured out their money with great 
 devotion to aid their country, and gave about three 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 385 
 
 hundred thousand dollars — far more in proportion to 
 their number than the Californians had given to the 
 sanitary fund in the American civil war. These con- 
 tributions astonished France by. their liberality, and 
 were acknowledged by the government repeatedly. 
 Madame Mezzara, a French lady long resident of San 
 Francisco, who, having gone east to serve as a nurse 
 of the sanitary commission in the American civil war, 
 and upon the invasion of her native land had gone to 
 its assistance in the same capacity, was made the 
 direct recipient of some of the Californian contribu- 
 tions; and her representative character, as well as her 
 experience and efficient labor, gained for her a recog- 
 nition from the government, which gave her a special 
 gold medal and other honorable decorations; and the 
 San Francisco Art Association, in which her husband 
 was a director, received from the French government 
 a present of a large and valuable collection of plaster 
 casts, taken from the original marbles in the Louvre. 
 The Germans did not feel the necessity of making 
 sacrifices so great, the losses being less on their side, 
 and their government better able to provide for its 
 sufferers, but they collected one hundred and thirty- 
 eight thousand dollars. A number of young men of 
 both nationalities gave up lucrative positions to join 
 their relatives in arms. 
 
 Sec. 198. 1871. The California Pacific railroad 
 company, having completed its branch road to Marys- 
 ville, annexed the Napa Valley road, and announced 
 its purpose of building roads through Sonoma Valley to 
 
 25 
 
386 HISTOR Y OF SAN FRA N CISCO. 
 
 Russian River, and from Woodland northward on the 
 west side of the Sacramento river to Red Bluff, now 
 acquired the boats of the California Steam Navigation 
 company that controlled nearly all the traffic of the 
 inland navigation of the state, and also bought the 
 Petaluma Valley railroad. About the same time the 
 capitalists of the California Pacific road formed a com- 
 pany to build a road to run from the northern part of 
 the Sacramento Valley to Ogden, and thus compete 
 with the Central Pacific. It is impossible to find out 
 how -much of this plan was seriously meant, but be- 
 fore anything further could be done, the directors of 
 the Central Pacific, to rid themselves of a bothersome, 
 if not a dangerous rival, bought the majority of the 
 shares in the California Pacific company, which then 
 ceased to give trouble as a competing road. In the 
 winter of 1871-72 portions of the railroad w^est of 
 Sacramento and south of Marysville were washed 
 away by a flood, and the interruption of the traffic 
 was a serious damage to the road and its terminus. 
 The Marysville branch has never been restored, and 
 Vallejo, which had grown with great rapidity for the 
 preceding four years, came to a standstill, and has not 
 yet regained its former prosperity. 
 
 "When the time approached for electing a governor 
 and other state officers, the republican leaders, taking 
 a lesson from their defeat in 1867, nominated Newton 
 Booth, an enemy of railroad subsidies, for the head of 
 their ticket, and under his lead they recovered power; 
 but, on account of a difference of opinion in reference 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 387 
 
 to the policy to be pursued by the state towards the 
 railroad companies and other corporations, before the 
 close of his term he became the leader of the Inde- 
 pendent or Dolly Yarden party, which elected him to 
 the federal senate. 
 
 On account of the uneasy feeling among the citizens 
 in reference to the terminal business of the railroad, 
 inquiries were addressed to the directors frequently 
 whether they intended to bring their cars into the city, 
 and they replied that they could not afford to run 
 seventy miles round the southern arm of the bay with 
 their regular trains from the east ; but if the means to 
 build a bridge at Pavenswood were suppliedj so that 
 the distance would not be greater than by way of Oak- 
 land, the cars would come into the city. Thereupon 
 a proposition was introduced into the board of super- 
 visors to take a popular vote upon the question 
 whether three million dollars should be given as a 
 subsidy to aid the construction of a bridge, but the 
 ordinance was voted down. 
 
 The Pavenswood scheme having been abandoned, 
 for a time at least, a plan was brought forward for 
 the construction of a bridge from Potrero Point or 
 Hunter's Point to Alameda, a distance of five miles. 
 The ba}^ is there in mid-channel fifty feet deep, and 
 the current strong ; and it was estimated that a perma- 
 nent bridge would cost fifteen million dollars; and as 
 neither the company, the city, the state, nor congress, 
 wished to spend any such sum, that idea came to 
 nothing, although it was urged persistently by sev- 
 eral public journals. 
 
HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Sec. 199. Heaves. Horace Hawes, a millionaire, 
 died in March. Some months before his death, he 
 had made a deed, giving nearly all his property, val- 
 ued at several millions, for the endowment of a uni- 
 versity at Redwood, and a school of the mechanic arts 
 in San Francisco. The gifts were accompanied by 
 complex and burdensome conditions and, being sub- 
 ject to modification by the grantor at any time dur- 
 ing his life, were in the nature of bequests, and sub- 
 ject to the same need of cod firm ation by a probate 
 court as a will. He was a stingy, quarrelsome, sus- 
 picious, unpopular man ; and in his will allowed out of 
 his large fortune not more than enough to his wife 
 for a merely comfortable maintenance of herself and 
 son, though the latter was to receive about thirty 
 thousand dollars after he should reach the acje of 
 thirty years. More than ninety-five per cent, of the 
 estate w T as to be given for public purposes. Mrs. 
 Hawes was esteemed as much as he was disliked, and 
 when she contested the will, the jury promptly ren- 
 dered a verdict that he was not of sound mind, though 
 he was in no respect insane. His deed was in keeping 
 with its conduct for the previous twenty -five years, 
 during all of which time he had been a successful 
 business man, an acute lawyer, a prominent citizen of 
 San Francisco, considered worthy to be intrusted with 
 difficult and important public affairs. He was ap- 
 pointed prefect in 1849, and elected state senator in 
 1856 and 1864 ; and as senator he was author of the 
 consolidation bill or city charter of 1856, and of the 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 389 
 
 act for the registration of voters — two of the most 
 original and beneficent statutes ever enacted in Cali- 
 fornia, His superior capacity was recognized and his 
 influence accepted in the legislature by his associates, 
 notwithstanding their indifference or dislike to him. 
 
 Sec. 200. 1872. The continuation of the real 
 estate panic, the popular agitation against the grant 
 of Goat Island to the Central Pacific railroad com- 
 pany for a terminus, and a greater excitement in the 
 mining stock market than any before observed, were 
 among the events of 1872. The legislative appor- 
 tionment required by the constitution to give repre- 
 sentation in the legislature proportioned to the num- 
 ber of inhabitants in the various counties, as shown 
 by the census of 1870, w r as defeated by the mining 
 counties with help and encouragement from Sacra- 
 mento and Stockton; and San Francisco, which was 
 entitled to one fourth of the members of the senate 
 and assembly, had to wait two years before the bill 
 could be passed, and she could obtain justice. 
 
 Sec. 201. Goat Island. The relation of the city 
 to the Central Pacific company continued to be a 
 matter of absorbing interest. The supervisors having 
 refused to give a subsidy for a bridge at Pavenswood, 
 the company urged its application previously made to 
 congress for a permission to occupy Goat Island. 
 Little attention had been given to the idea of making 
 a terminus at the island; but now the opinion pre- 
 vailed that the establishment of the terminal busi- 
 ness there, with a bridge to the Oakland shore, 
 
390 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and numerous warehouses and wharves on the island 
 would result in serious, if not immense damage to 
 San Francisco. The press and public meetings de- 
 nounced the scheme, and a committee of one hundred 
 prominent citizens was organized to take proper meas- 
 ures for protecting the public interests supposed to be 
 endangered by the bill. 
 
 Goat Island had been reserved by the government 
 of the United States for military purposes, and the 
 federal army engineers in response to an inquiry 
 whether there was any objection to the occupation of 
 the island as a railroad terminus, replied that such 
 occupation would seriously diminish the military value 
 of the position which might become very important 
 if some hostile vessel should succeed in passing 
 through the Golden Gate. The coast survey engi- 
 neers, when requested to give their opinion, said that 
 any bridge or solid causeway from the Oakland shore 
 to Goat Island would check the currents along the east- 
 ern shore of the bay, cause the deposition of a large 
 amount of sand and mud, diminish the tidal area, 
 reduce the amount of tide water flowing out of the 
 Golden Gate with the ebb, and lead to a shallowing 
 of water on the bar, thus injuring the value of the 
 harbor. 
 
 While matters were in this condition, a delegation 
 of citizens from St. Louis, interested in the Atlantic 
 and Pacific railroad, which had a franchise and land 
 grant from congress to cross the continent about the 
 thirty-fifth parallel of latitude, came to San Fran- 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 391 
 
 cisco to solicit a subsidy for their road, which they 
 promised should enter the city by the peninsula. 
 This party was warmly welcomed, and the committee 
 of one hundred received their propositions with much 
 favor; but after a few weeks the idea began to prevail 
 that the Atlantic and Pacific company had no sub- 
 stantial foundation, and that the subsidy of $10,000,- 
 000 demanded by them would be thrown away. A 
 division of opinion in the committee followed; the 
 minority adhered to the plan of aiding the Atlantic 
 and Pacific company indirectly if not directly; the 
 majority advised a compromise with the Central Pa- 
 cific. It was agreed that the latter company should 
 abandon the application for Goat Island, build a 
 bridge at Bavenswood, and construct a road along: 
 the bay shore east of San Bruno mountain to Mission 
 cove within eighteen months, make the main termi- 
 nus of the Trans-Continental, San Joaquin Valley and 
 Southern Pacific roads in the city, and when author- 
 ized by law extend a track from South Beach to 
 North Beach, and deliver merchandise along the ex- 
 tension without extra charge. The city, on the other 
 hand, was to give a subsidy of $2,500,000 in her 
 bonds to the company. This compromise, failing to 
 command the favor of the people or of the supervisors, 
 was abandoned, and in its place a scheme was brought 
 forward to give $10,000,000 for the construction of a 
 railroad to the Colorado, where it should connect with 
 whichever company should first reach that river from 
 the other side. After an acrimonious campaign both 
 
392 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 parties were defeated, a result with which the citizens 
 generally have since been well pleased; for the cars 
 now run to the Colorado without help from the city, 
 and the eastern companies which made loud promises 
 in 1873, that they would build hundreds of miles of 
 road every year on the southern routes across the 
 continent, have for years done nothing. 
 
 Sec. 202. Belcher Bonanza. The greatest excite- 
 ment known up to that time in the San Francisco 
 mining stock market was caused in the beginning of 
 1872 by the discovery of the large size of the rich 
 ore deposit opened in the Crown Point and Belcher 
 mines in the previous year, and by the simultaneous 
 finding of a rich body of ore in the Raymond & Ely 
 mine at Pioche. The consequence of these develop- 
 ments was an advance that far exceeded anything pre- 
 viously observed even among the speculative Califor- 
 nians. The ao-are^ate value of the silver stocks on 
 the San Francisco market was seventeen millions in 
 January, twenty-four in February, twenty-six in 
 March, thirty-four in April, and eighty-one in May, 
 a gain of sixty-four millions in five months — no slight 
 addition to the wealth of a city of two hundred and 
 twenty thousand inhabitants in so brief a period. 
 Unfortunately, this wealth did not stick. Suddenly 
 the fever was followed by a chill; in ten days there 
 was a decline of sixty millions, and hundreds that had 
 considered themselves rich found themselves bankrupt. 
 There was, however, no mistake about the new ore 
 bodies. The Gold Hill bonanza yielded altogether 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 393 
 
 over eighty millions, and the Pioche district turned 
 out eight millions in 1872. The stock sales of 
 the year ran up to two hundred millions, or about 
 twice as much as in 1871, and four times as much as 
 in 1870. 
 
 Sec. 203. Diamond Fraud. The latter half of 
 1872 was marked by another excitement which threat- 
 ened for a time to throw even the wonderful silver 
 mining stocks into insignificance. A report was cir- 
 culated that an extensive and wonderfully rich dia- 
 mond field had been discovered in the interior of the 
 continent, though the precise situation was kept secret. 
 One rumor said it was in Arizona, another in Utah. 
 The recent opening of the diamond fields of South 
 Africa, and the reports of the great wealth amassed 
 there by many individuals after a few months of labor, 
 prepared the public to be swindled by one of the most 
 adroit schemes ever devised to gull an ignorant or 
 excitable community. The schemers showed no haste 
 or lack of confidence. They went to leading capital- 
 ists of San Francisco, brought the alleged discoveries 
 before them, showed specimens of the rough diamonds 
 — they were stones from Brazil and South Africa, 
 bought for the purpose — and proposed the formation 
 of a company, with the understanding that the matter 
 was to be carefully withheld from tlie public until the 
 federal mining law could be amended so as to recoe- 
 nize the validity of mining claims for diamonds, and 
 to authorize the issue of patents for them. This 
 proposition demanded a very trifling advance of 
 
394 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 money from the capitalists, left its expenditure in 
 their own hands, gave abundant time and opportunity 
 for investigation, and was so business-like that no 
 doubt was entertained of the good faith of the pro- 
 moters. The law in reference to patents for mines as 
 adopted in 1866 was amended on the tenth of May, 
 1872, so that in addition to "gold, silver, cinnabar or 
 copper," previously mentioned, it should also include 
 "lead, tin, or other valuable deposits." Thus the 
 trap was ready, but some of the bait was still lacking; 
 so a couple of men went to London, bought a consid- 
 erable supply of rough diamonds, including large and 
 small, and even some of the diamond dust obtained 
 from South Africa, and salted the stuff in the place 
 selected in Colorado — for it was in that territory, and 
 not in Arizona or Utah that the scene was laid— and 
 came on to San Francisco, where their friends had 
 got up a party, including several gentlemen who 
 pretended to be mining experts, and Henry Janin, a 
 mining engineer of good repute for honesty, capacity, 
 and knowledge. 
 
 The party having arrived upon the field found the 
 diamonds where they had been salted, and found them 
 with an ease that should have provoked distrust. 
 Janin had no experience in diamond mining; his sus- 
 picions had not been aroused ; he assumed that he had 
 a diamond field before him, and wrote his report on 
 that basis. He did not explain the formation or the 
 precautions to prevent deception by salting, but de- 
 voted much of his attention to the discussion of the 
 
THE S1L VER ERA. 395 
 
 question whether with a field so extensive as that over 
 which the diamonds had been found, and their abun- 
 dance, as shown by the fact that for the time employed, 
 without any facilities for washing, the value of the dia- 
 monds obtained was one hundred dollars for every hour 
 of each person, the price would not fall to a trifle when 
 working: should be commenced on a lanje scale with 
 every needful preparation. The capitalists interested 
 believed the report, and the stock of the diamond com- 
 pany, which was not to be put upon the market until 
 all doubt of any mistake had been removed, was nearly 
 ready to be offered to a highly excited public, when the 
 exposure came. Information of the situation and char- 
 acter of the diamond diggings had been sent to Clarence 
 King, who, under order of the federal government, had 
 made a hasty geological survey of the country along 
 the fortieth parallel of latitude, including the diamond 
 region, and as he had seen none of the diamond-bear- 
 ing rock formation there, he suspected a fraud, visited 
 the place without delay, and after a brief examination 
 satisfied himself that the ground had been salted. He 
 found diamonds where the ground had been dug, es- 
 pecially about large stones that served as marks, but 
 none elsewhere. Some of the Colorado diamonds hav- 
 ing been previously shipped to London, were there 
 recognized as African stones. The story of the pur- 
 chases of African and Brazilian diamonds months be- 
 fore was published. The exposure coming almost sim- 
 ultaneously from two sources threw a chill Upon the 
 excitement, and the fraud came to an end before the 
 
396 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 general public could be victimized. Those who suf- 
 fered were nearly all rich men. It was so managed 
 that there was no judicial investigation of the affair; 
 but three or four prominent mining speculators had 
 the credit with the general public of being parties to 
 the plot, though they protested that they had been 
 deceived. 
 
 Sec. 204. 1873. The transfer of the residence of 
 the Californian directors of the Central Pacific rail- 
 road from Sacramento to San Francisco, the expendi- 
 ture of a large sum for filling in the railroad terminal 
 lands in Mission cove, and the construction of a large 
 boat to transport laden freight cars across the bay, 
 were accepted as conclusive evidences that the appre- 
 hensions previously entertained for years, of hostility 
 on the part of the directors to the metropolis, were 
 greatly exaggerated, if not baseless. The men who 
 owned a controlling interest in the twelve hundred 
 miles of railroad having become citizens of San Fran- 
 cisco, their interests were considered as identified with 
 those of the city. A large part of the opposition 
 shown by the officials and press of the city towards 
 them had been the result of distrust; a natural effect 
 of ignorance of the men, perhaps not unmixed with 
 chagrin that such an immense enterprise had fallen 
 into the hands of residents of a provincial town, while 
 the capitalists of the metropolis had refused to take 
 any part in it, and had predicted ruin for those en- 
 Ofaofed in it. 
 
 Five years had now elapsed since the completion of 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 397 
 
 the road, and the fears of the friends of San Fran- 
 cisco, and the predictions of ruin by its enemies, had 
 made no progress towards fulfillment. The city never 
 grew more rapidly. According to Langley's estimates, 
 there was an average gain of about eight per cent, a 
 year in the population; bnt no reference to statistics 
 was necessary to get conclusive evidence of the gen- 
 eral prosperity. New buildings, larger and more costly 
 than any before erected were numerous. Though some 
 of the outside land could not be sold for the prices 
 paid in 1868, yet lots in the leading business streets 
 and in the preferred residence districts commanded 
 higher figures than ever before. While San Francis- 
 co thus flourished, the towns for which rivalry had 
 been claimed gained no metropolitan character. Val- 
 lejo, Benicia, and Saucelito, lost the importance gained 
 in public estimation by a brief excitement among a 
 portion of the community. Oakland grew rapidly, 
 but its business was suburban, though many of its 
 property holders did not give up the hope of an inde- 
 pendent traffic, to come with the completion of their 
 artificial harbor. 
 
 Sec. 205. Oakland Harbor. The protest of San 
 Francisco against the grant of Goat Island to the rail- 
 road company was so emphatic that the bill, after 
 adoption in the lower house of congress, was aban- 
 doned in the senate. For the purpose of providing ;i 
 terminus without sending the cars across the bay in a 
 boat, congress ordered a survey of San Antonio creek 
 at Oakland, to ascertain whether a deep harbor could 
 
398 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 be constructed there. The army engineers made a 
 favorable report, and submitted a plan for an artificial 
 harbor three miles long, three hundred yards wide, 
 and about twenty-five feet deep, and this project then 
 adopted has since then advanced far towards comple- 
 tion, appropriations having been made for it nearly 
 every year out of the federal treasury. 
 
 Sec. 206. Dolly Varden. The approaching elec- 
 tion of another federal senator to succeed Cornelius 
 Cole, whose term was to expire in March, 1875, gave 
 an additional interest to the political canvass of 1873, 
 when all the assemblymen and half the senators were 
 to be chosen. The republican leaders committed 
 blunders similar to those of 18G7, when the state 
 went over to the democrats; but the result now w r as 
 the triumph of a third party, self-styled Independent, 
 and nicknamed the Dolly Yarden, which promised to 
 protect the state against monopolies, to regulate the 
 fares and freights on railroads, to establish a state 
 system of irrigation, and to manage the government 
 for the benefit of the people. The new organization 
 received much aid from the secret order of grangers 
 or patrons of husbandry which, though almost un- 
 known before suddenly spread through the agricul- 
 tural districts; and notwithstanding its denial of parti- 
 san purposes and its exclusion of partisan subjects 
 from the proceedings of its lodges, became indirectly 
 the source of a strong political influence. The inde- 
 pendent party proved to be stronger than either of 
 the others in San Francisco, and the state generally; 
 
THE STL VER ERA. 399 
 
 but failing to get complete control of the state govern- 
 ment, could not carry out its favorite reforms, and two 
 years later it finally dissolved, leaving its members to 
 return to the national parties with which they had 
 previously associated. It succeeded in electing Newton 
 Booth, its most eloquent speaker, to the federal sen- 
 atorship. 
 
 Sec. 207. 1874- The year 1874 was marked by 
 a large immigration from the East ; by the opening up 
 of the consolidated Virginia bonanza in the Com stock 
 lode; by a stock excitement that surpassed those of 
 1863 and 1872; by the publication of James Lick's 
 deed giving nearly all his property for public pur- 
 poses; by the removal to San Francisco of the chief 
 offices of the Central Pacific railroad company from 
 Sacramento; and by the commencement of work on 
 the Palace Hotel. Amomr the minor events of the 
 twelvemonth were the discovery of serious and dis- 
 graceful frauds in the offices of the license collector, 
 coronor, public administrator, and assessor, and the 
 increase of the police force from one hundred to one 
 hundred and fifty men. 
 
 Sec. 208. Large Immigration. The gain of the 
 Pacific states and territories by immigration was 
 forty-six thousand — eleven thousand more than in 
 1873 or 18G8, when the number of passengers had 
 been greater than in any year since 1852. The main 
 causes of this throng were the depression of busim 
 on the Atlantic slope, the stimulus given to industry 
 in California by the large production of silver in 
 
400 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Nevada, and the favorable condition of agriculture. 
 Such prostration of business in the eastern states had 
 never before been suffered. Thousands of manufac- 
 turing establishments had closed or discharged some 
 of their workmen ; the construction of railroads had 
 almost ceased; wages had fallen; the supply of labor 
 far exceeded the demand at the current rates ; the 
 market price of land had declined greatly; and there 
 had been a decrease of one third in the immigration 
 from Europe. On the other hand, California was 
 in the midst of exceptional prosperity. Within 
 three years there had been an increase of nearly one 
 half in the area under cultivation. The extension of 
 the railroad to the southern end of the San Joaquin 
 valley had given facilities for transporting to market 
 the products of a large region practically inaccessible 
 before; and farmers were now convinced that good 
 crops of grain could be grown on large areas previ- 
 ously supposed to be almost worthless. The winter 
 of 1873-74 brought a good supply of rain, and was 
 followed by an abundant wheat harvest. With the 
 help of this stimulus, one hundred and forty miles of 
 railroad were built in this year. 
 
 Sec. 209. Consolidated Virginia Bonanza. The 
 Gold Hill bonanza had now reached the height of its 
 splendor, and the Crown Point and Belcher were pay- 
 ing immense dividends. In three years and a half the 
 two mines had taken out more than forty million dol- 
 lars, a result previously unapproached in the experi- 
 ence of Washoe. While they were still at the flood 
 
THE SIL VER ERA 401 
 
 tide of their prosperity, the still greater bonanza of the 
 Consolidated Virginia was found near the northern 
 end of the lode, and in May it began monthly div- 
 idends of three hundred thousand dollars. Every 
 week brought news from the advancing drifts, cross- 
 cuts and winzes, and proved the ore body to be larger 
 and richer. Experienced miners, who were repre- 
 sented as trustworthy experts, expressed the belief 
 that the ore in sight would yield fifteen hundred 
 million dollars. The excitement was intense: the aof- 
 gregate value of the Comstock shares, as indicated by 
 the quotations of the market, rose at the rate of a 
 million dollars a day for nearly two months, and the 
 year closed when this fever or frenzy of speculation 
 was near its culmination. 
 
 Sec. 210. Flood and O'Brien. The sudden rise 
 of the firm of Flood & O'Brien to great wealth, was 
 one of those events which could scarcely occur out of 
 San Francisco. J. C. Flood and W. S. O'Brien, had 
 for many years kept a saloon, patronized by mer- 
 chants and brokers. A good lunch was spread with- 
 out charge in the middle of the day for customers; 
 and the partners, men of respectable intelligence, 
 character and manners, attended in person behind the 
 bar. Thus they had lived for ten or fifteen years, 
 when they obtained a small interest in a mine at Vir- 
 ginia city. Having been introduced to the market, 
 customers familiar with the management of the min- 
 ing companies gave them good advice, they began to 
 make a profit on stock operations and formed a part- 
 
402 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 nership with J. W. Mackey and J. G. Fair, who re- 
 sided at Virginia city, and were miners by occupa- 
 tion. Mackey had worked as a blaster for four dollars 
 a day. The firm, the name of which continued to be 
 Flood & O'Brien after the admission of the two new 
 partners, obtained possession of most of the stock of 
 the Consolidated Virginia mine, at a time when the 
 shares were worth only nine dollars — for some they 
 paid only four dollars; and as there were only 10,700 
 shares, the whole mine was then worth less than 
 $100,000. Its length was 1310 feet, so the cost to 
 them was less than $100 a lineal foot; and that ap- 
 peared enough to people who considered that, though 
 more than a quarter of a million dollars had been 
 spent on the property in the previous ten years, it 
 had never returned a cent of dividend; that no ore 
 worthy of notice had ever been found within its 
 limits; and that if it had any ore, the fact could not 
 be ascertained without an additional expenditure that 
 miofht run into the hundreds of thousands. The 
 future proved that $212,000 were required in assess- 
 ments before there was airy return. 
 
 Instead of continuing the sinking of the old shaft 
 that had reached a depth of only 400 feet in the Con- 
 solidated Virginia ground, Flood and O'Brien took 
 the cheaper and more expeditious course of running a 
 drift from the Gould and Curry shaft, only 800 feet 
 from their line and 1800 feet deep. This drift, 1200 
 feet below the surface, led to the discovery of the 
 bonanza extending the whole length of their mine. 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 403 
 
 The property, after having 10,700 shares in 1871, 
 was divided into two mines, the Consolidated Virginia 
 and California, each of which has now 540,000 shares. 
 The two mines, at the prices paid in January, 1874, 
 were together worth $150,000,000, equivalent to a 
 profit of more than 3000 fold upon the shares for 
 which four dollars a share had been paid in 1871. 
 The limits of this bonanza, or ore deposit, have not yet 
 been found, and it is impossible to predict how much 
 longer this wonderful stream of treasure shall pour 
 into the pockets of San Francisco, though it has 
 already yielded more than $100,000,000, 
 
 Sec. 211. James Lick. The publication of the 
 deed in which James Lick conveyed nearly all his 
 property, estimated to be worth several millions, to 
 trustees, for the benefit of the people of San Francisco 
 and California, was received with general satisfaction. 
 The gifts were distributed, with much knowledge and 
 judgment, for the advancement of astronomy, the es- 
 tablishment of a mechanical arts school, a free bath- 
 house, an old ladies' home, other institutions for the 
 relief of suffering indigence, and the erection of various 
 works of art; and after the payment of the specific 
 appropriation, including some to his relatives, the res- 
 idue of the estate was to be equally divided between 
 the San Francisco Academv of Sciences, and the soci- 
 ety of California Pioneers. Regret was felt that the 
 sum allowed to the relatives was not greater, only 
 twenty-six thousand dollars being given in all to his 
 son, his sister, his two half-brothers, his two nieces and 
 
404 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 a nephew, all of whom needed his bounty and had 
 good claims upon it. Though the deed was absolute 
 in form, it was changed in the following year. 
 
 Sec. 212. 1875. The year 1875 was eventful for 
 San Francisco. It brought the culmination of the 
 stock excitement that began in the previous summer; 
 a new deed from James Lick, giving his estate to the 
 people in a new form; the defeat of the Calaveras 
 water scheme; the failure of the bank of California; 
 the death of Mr, Ralston; the destruction of Virginia 
 City by fire; the completion of the Palace hotel; the 
 establishment of the bank of Nevada; the opening of 
 Montgomery avenue; the advancement of Market 
 street near Third to a rivalry with Kearny as a fash- 
 ionable promenade; and an immigration larger than 
 any since 1850. 
 
 Many circumstances concurred to stimulate immi- 
 gration to the Pacific states, and among these the con- 
 tinued prostration of nearly all kinds of business on 
 the Atlantic side was prominent. Myriads of families 
 who had never known want before were now pinched 
 for the ordinary comforts of life. The young men, seeing 
 no satisfactory future before them in their old homes, 
 when looking for new ones were dazzled by the account of 
 the marvelous production of the Comstock lode, the 
 rapid growth and accumulation of wealth at San 
 Francisco, the recent extension of railroads into large 
 districts of fertile soil previously inaccessible, and the 
 successful establishment in California of various 
 branches of industry not practicable in other parts of 
 
THE SIL VER ERA . 405 
 
 the United States, on account of adverse climatic 
 conditions. Under such influences, one hundred and 
 seven thousand people came to California in 1875, 
 leaving a net gain of sixty-four thousand. 
 
 Sec. 213. Calaveras Water Scheme, On account 
 of general, or at least very loud complaint, in several 
 influential newspapers, that the prices of the Spring 
 Valley company, which furnished all the water dis- 
 tributed through the city by pipes, were oppressive 
 and extortionate, the legislature had passed an act 
 authorizing the municipal administration to provide a 
 supply of water, and an elaborate report was made 
 upon the sources from which it could be obtained. 
 Calaveras valley, situated between two ridges of the 
 Coast mountains, in Santa Clara and Alameda coun- 
 ties, had been bought up by speculators, and was offered 
 to the city for ten million dollars, of which nearly 
 half would have been profit to them. The schen'ie 
 was defeated by the board of supervisors, and that 
 was the end of it. 
 
 While the Calaveras scheme was under considera- 
 tion, and when it was supposed that a majority of the 
 officials who were to decide upon it were disposed to 
 favor it, the daily " Call " and " Bulletin," in the 
 course of their opposition, asserted that W. C. Ral- 
 ston, president of the bank of California, was the 
 head of the scheme to force the bad purchase on the 
 city treasury. This charge, not supported at the time 
 by any evidence that could be verified by the public, 
 gave much offense, provoked angry recrimination, and 
 
406 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 was followed by other attacks upon Ralston, who was 
 accused of having abused his position at the head of 
 the leading bank of the state to exercise a corrupt in- 
 fluence in political affairs. In many respects Mr. 
 Ralston was personally popular, especially with the 
 merchants and capitalists generally, and nothing but 
 strong confidence of other classes in the good motives 
 of the editorial management of the offending journals 
 could have saved them from ruin, so fierce was the ani- 
 mosity provoked against them. 
 
 Sec. 214. Bank of California. On the twenty-sixth 
 of August, the city was about noon astonished by the 
 news that the Bank of California had closed its doors. 
 So strong was the confidence in its wealth, that peo- 
 ple said its only trouble was a temporary scarcity of cash 
 which would end so soon as the mint could coin the 
 bars of bullion in its vaults. Even when Mr. Ralston 
 said the bank had failed completely, and could never 
 re-open its doors, credence was denied to him. Ac- 
 cording to the reports made not long before, it had a 
 capital of five million dollars, and deposits amounting 
 to as much more, besides almost unlimited credit. It 
 had regularly paid its dividends of about one per cent, 
 a month. The public, even the capitalists, who were 
 its customers and directors, had not heard of any seri- 
 ous losses; failure under such circumstances appeared 
 impossible. 
 
 When the directors met after the closing to examine 
 the situation, they were dissatisfied with Ralston, and 
 requested him to resign his position as president. They 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 407 
 
 found that the financial condition of the bank was not 
 what they had supposed it to be, nor what he repre- 
 sented it to be. They had the fullest confidence in 
 his capacity and honesty; they knew that he had 
 made large sums by speculations and investments with 
 different friends before he became president of the 
 bank in 1872 (these were the only great financial suc- 
 cesses of his life); they did not know that in company 
 with less reputable men, he had afterwards lost all his 
 individual fortune, and much more; and they supposed 
 that his great wealth placed him above the reach of 
 any temptation to defraud the bank. He had been 
 president three years; the business, the records, and 
 the clerks were under his control; and at the meetings 
 he submitted false statements, and exhibited money 
 borrowed for the occasions, as property of the bank. 
 The executive committee being large stockholders, 
 had much to lose and nothing to gain by a failure to 
 discover his systematic frauds; but suspecting noth- 
 ing, they did not employ detectives, and without 
 such help they could not have discovered anything. 
 "When they found that the bank was insolvent, that 
 the president had used millions of its money in his 
 personal speculations, and had made an over-issue of 
 stock, thus committing a number of felonious offenses, 
 they could not do less than immediately request him to 
 resign. By any other course, they would have made 
 themselves morally, perhaps legally, responsible for 
 his misdeeds. Nor did he dare to refuse. 
 
 In the afternoon of the same day, in accordance 
 
408 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 with his usual custom, he took a bath in the bay at 
 North Beach, and while swimming out into the chan- 
 nel, seemed to be taken with a fit, and commenced to 
 flounder about in the water. A boatman not far off 
 rescued him and took him to the shore, while still w r arm 
 and breathing, but he was unconscious, and soon died. 
 It was generally supposed that he committed suicide, 
 but a chemical analysis of the contents of his stomach 
 discovered no poison, and the post mortem examination 
 of his body indicated congestion of the lungs and 
 brain; so it was officially declared that deatii was the 
 result of his entrance while very warm into the cold 
 water. The coroner's jury rendered a verdict in ac- 
 cordance with that supposition; and the life insurance 
 companies, which might have saved a considerable 
 sum to themselves if they could have proved that he 
 committed suicide, made no contest. Death w T as most 
 opportune. His frauds were numerous, and the proof, 
 though then known to only a few individuals, conclu- 
 sive; the punishment would inevitably be severe, as 
 the failure of the bank and the consequent panic had 
 caused serious loss to the community, and had des- 
 troyed many fortunes in and out of San Francisco ; he 
 was so extensively known, that under the circum- 
 stances it would be almost impossible for him to escape 
 alive ; and his great pride would not permit him to 
 submit to the degradation from the highest social 
 honor to the state prison. There was no other se- 
 cure refuge, save death. It came to his relief at the 
 right moment, and common opinion assumed that it 
 
THE S1L VER ERA. 409 
 
 did not come by mere accident, though there has been 
 no satisfactory explanation how it did come. 
 
 Sec. 215. Ralston. Mr. Ralston, a native of Ohio, 
 born in 1825, received a good common school educa- 
 tion, worked for several years at the trade of ship- 
 carpenter in building river steamboats, and left that 
 occupation when nineteen years of age to become 
 clerk in a Mississippi steamer. In 1850 he started 
 for California, but stopped at Panama, having found 
 profitable business there. He became the agent of 
 Garrison k Morgan, owners of a line of steamships 
 connecting New York with San Francisco; filled that 
 place for several years, and was in 1853 promoted to 
 San Francisco, where he was agent for the same firm, 
 which then had the steamers " Winfield Scott," "Yan- 
 kee Blade " and " Uncle Sam," on the Pacific side. 
 His employers were so well satisfied with him that, 
 when they opened a bank with Mr. Fretz, they took 
 him also as a partner, and all the names appeared in 
 the firm of Garrison, Morgan, Fretz and Palston. 
 After a lapse of a year the first two drew out, leaving 
 the firm of Fretz & Palston. This house had been 
 in existence a very brief time, when a panic came and 
 brought embarrassment upon a bank in which many 
 leading merchants made their deposits, and to which 
 they looked for advances. This business was beset 
 by serious risks, and the house which had held it re- 
 fused to continue in that line. Most of the bankers 
 would not face the danger, and others could not com- 
 mand the confidence. The position was a difficult 
 
410 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 one in a city in which there was so much speculation 
 and excitement; rare courage, tact, decision and 
 knowledge of men and business were needed. Rals- 
 ton had them; and the merchants discovered that he 
 had. Soon he had the bulk of the mercantile busi- 
 ness, and. the more they observed him the stronger 
 was their trust in him. 
 
 The firm changed to Donohoe, Ralston & Co. in 
 1858, and in 1864 Ralston, with others, planned and 
 organized the Bank of California, which immediately 
 took rank as the chief bank of San Francisco, and 
 one of the loading financial institutions of the United 
 States and of the world, for its fame and credit ex- 
 tended to Europe and to the commercial cities of 
 Asia. It was supposed that he was fairly entitled to 
 the office of president, and could have obtained it 
 without difficulty, but he gave his influence to elect 
 D. 0. Mills, whose reputation, experience, capital and 
 influence were not unworthy of the place. Mr. Mills 
 being a very reserved man, Ralston had the credit of 
 being the leading man in the institution. It was a 
 magnificent success from the start, possessing the un- 
 limited confidence of the community, and doing an 
 immense business. It paid dividends of one per cent, 
 per month or more, and its stock was in great de- 
 mand among capitalists. Among its stockholders 
 were a number of millionaires. Their wealth ,and 
 enterprise, the efforts which they made to protect 
 their property, and the competition into which they 
 were often brought with others by their undertakings 
 
THE SIL VER ERA . 411 
 
 led to much denunciation by rivals and defeated op- 
 ponents, who complained, usually without a particle 
 of reason, that the bank ring controled the finance 
 and legislation of California and Nevada. 
 
 On account of the large capital controlled by Mr. 
 Ralston, and the encouragement given to them, espec- 
 ially after the withdrawal of Mr. Mills from the presi- 
 dency and business of the bank in 1872, it was the 
 custom of men who wished to undertake industrial 
 enterprises to go to him. Every day, competent men 
 and schemers coming from abroad, brought letters of 
 introduction, recommending them to his favor. All 
 these he received and heard; some he assisted. He 
 was largely interested in the Mission woolen mills, 
 the Kimball carriage factory, the Cornell watch fac- 
 tory, and many other manufacturing establishments. 
 He contributed much to the San Joaquin irrigation 
 canal, and to reclamation dykes. He furnished cap- 
 ital for opening New Montgomery street, and for 
 building the California theatre. He projected the 
 Palace hotel, devised its general plan, and with the 
 help of his friend Mr. Sharon, built it. It is the 
 remarkable monument of a very remarkable man, but 
 like most of his other investments, more showy than 
 profitable. 
 
 When transacting business, his speech was short 
 and sharp. He asked a brief question, insisted upon an 
 explicit answer, gave his decision in a word or two, 
 and turned to somebody else. The first impression 
 was not favorable upon those who had an abundance 
 
412 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 of leisure; but if a man impressed him' favorably, he 
 was most kind. He was habitually considerate ; and 
 for those whom he liked, and they were numerous, he 
 was obliging. No banker in San Francisco had so 
 many warm friends and admirers. He regarded it as 
 one of the duties of his position to entertain much 
 company, and he did this in a princely country man- 
 sion, where he had accommodations for a hundred 
 guests at a time. He had a dozen carriages, with 
 fast horses — fast, but not of the fastest, for he would 
 buy no racers or very dear horses — to carry them to 
 and from his house, and to serve them when they 
 wanted to drive for pleasure. Shortly before his death 
 he erected a mansion on Pine street, near Leavenworth, 
 for the purpose of keeping up similar style in the city. 
 It is doubtful whether the like of such hospitality was 
 ever seen before. A rumor, unfounded of course, was 
 started in the east that the bank allowed him one 
 hundred and fifty thousand a year for the entertain- 
 ment of strangers — a report that could never have got 
 such a start upon the hospitality of any country save 
 California. He gave largely and secretly to many 
 charities. The general estimate of him was that he 
 had in an eminent degree many of the virtues most 
 desirable in a citizen, a neighbor and a friend. 
 
 Sec. 216. Eulogy. It was not until six months 
 after his death that certain material facts about his 
 management were proved in a judicial investigation, 
 in which it appeared that he owed the bank about 
 four million five hundred thousand dollars; and that 
 
the Silver era. 413 
 
 the failure of the institution was caused by his use of 
 its moneys for his private purposes, without the 
 knowledge of the directors. These private purposes 
 were nearly all large enterprises, designed to enrich 
 the state, furnish employment to labor, or beautify 
 the city, but they failed to yield a prompt return, and 
 carried him down to bankruptcy, though they re- 
 mained important and beneficent public improve- 
 ments. 
 
 As Mr. Ralston had been the financial Caesar of 
 San Francisco, his death was followed by bitter indig- 
 nation anions his friends against those who had 
 attacked him, and his assailants were now accused of 
 having driven him to suicide by their vile sland 
 The "Bulletin" and "Call" undertook to justify them- 
 selves and were in the awkward position of making 
 war on a popular favorite just after his death ; and w 
 at the disadvantage of being unable to prove facts, of 
 which, as it afterwards appeared, they had confi- 
 dential and trustworthy information. A great public 
 meeting was held to vindicate the memory of Ralston, 
 and brilliant orators paid eloquent tributes to his 
 genius and generosity. Thomas Fitch, one of the 
 speakers of the occasion, said: 
 
 Eulogy! AYhat part of human speech can fitly eulogize the 
 man we have lost. AVhat brush of artist or pen of drain 
 can depict the benefactions of his generous life and the brav< 
 of his heroic death? His deeds speak for him in tones that 
 sound like the blare of trumpets; his monuments rise from 
 every rood of ground in your city; his eulogy is written in ten 
 thousand hearts; commerce commemorates his deeds with her 
 
414 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 whitening- sails and her laden wharves; philanthropy chimes 
 the bells of all public charities in attestation of his liberality; 
 patriotism sings pseans for him who, in the hour of the nation's 
 struggle, sent the ringing gold of mercy to chime with the flash- 
 ing steel of valor. Unnumbered deeds of private generosity 
 attest his secret charities. Sorrow has found solace in his 
 deeds. Despair has been lifted into hope by his bounty. 
 There are charities whose heaven-kissing spires chronicle his 
 donations to the cause of religion. Schools claim him as their 
 patron. Hospitals own him as their benefactor. Art has found 
 in him a supporter. Science has leaned on him while her 
 vision swept the infinite. The feet of progress have been san- 
 dalled with his silver. He has upheld invention while she 
 wrestled with the dead forces of nature. He was the life of all 
 enterprise, the vigor of all progress, the epitome and the repre- 
 sentative of all that is broadening and expansive and uplifting 
 in the life of California. Would you show honor and hospi- 
 tality to travelers, renowned in letters, arts or arms? Ealston 
 was the princely host. Did you wish to forward a public or a 
 private charity? Ralston headed the subscription list. Would 
 you develop a new industry to enlarge the resources of the city, 
 start a new manufacture, add wealth to the state, and furnish 
 hundreds of husbands and fathers with contented and well paid 
 toil ? You went to Ralston for advice and assistance. He im- 
 pressed you with his power; he infused you with his energy; 
 he touched you with his princely generosity; he conquered 
 you with his magnetism; his vitality was like the flash of 
 steel; his enduring energy was like the steady and swift flow 
 of a cataract; his beneficence was like the copious and search- 
 ing philanthropy of the summer rain. Of all her jmblic pos- 
 sessions the commonwealth of California never owned any more 
 valuable than this man's life; of all her public disasters she has 
 had none greater than his death. 
 
 Sec. 217. Bank Reorganized. Mr. Ralston sup- 
 posed that, as the capital of the bank had been lost, 
 the institution had reached its end; but he did not 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 415 
 
 fully appreciate the situation. Among its directors 
 and stockholders were many leading capitalists, includ- 
 ing perhaps a dozen millionaires, who were personally 
 responsible for their share of the debts, from which 
 they could not escape if it went into bankruptcy; be- 
 sides in that event its large assets would be greatly 
 reduced by expensive litigation, and the surplus would 
 be tied up in the courts for years. The desire to main- 
 tain the bank as a protection to the business of the 
 city, and a belief that its good will was valuable, and 
 that no other bank in the city would accommodate 
 them and many friends among the merchants so well, 
 contributed to induce them to form a syndicate, which 
 opened the bank five weeks after it closed, supplied by 
 assessment the lost capital, provided for paying all its 
 debts with no abatement of interest, and restored it 
 to its former credit and favor. Such a re-establish- 
 ment of a bank that was undoubtedly bankrupt for a 
 laro-e sum is said to be without its like elsewhere. 
 
 Sec. 218. Virginia Fire. The destruction of Vir- 
 ginia City by fire was felt very keenly in San Fran- 
 cisco, where much of the burned property was owned, 
 where the money to rebuild had to be raised, and where 
 one result was an immense and immediate decline in 
 the prices of stocks. The aggregate depreciation v. 
 835,000,000. This disaster, with its direct loss of 
 $5,000,000, coming within six weeks after the failure 
 of the great bank, gave a rude shock to many fur- 
 tunes; but backed by the bonanza which within the 
 year paid nearly $11,000,000 in dividends, the city 
 
416 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 soon showed no signs of its trials, and its business 
 went on as steadily as though it had never been dis- 
 turbed. 
 
 Sec. 219. Lick's Trustees Changed. Mr. Lick had 
 selected as his trustees to administer his benevolent 
 gifts seven of the richest and most respectable citizens 
 of San Francisco; and in his deed, made when he was 
 feeble and expecting the approach of death within a 
 few months, or perhaps even weeks, he had given them 
 absolute control. He soon gained in strength, and 
 though not able to walk about much, his mind was 
 active, and he undertook to give directions to the 
 trustees, sending for them frequently when they were 
 enofao:ed in other business, and issuing instructions to 
 them without inquiring about their views. This 
 method of procedure did not suit them. They had 
 assumed a large responsibility without compensa- 
 tion, and now looked with apprehension to being 
 placed in an awkward position before the public, 
 w r hether they yielded or not. While such thoughts 
 were under consideration among them, Mr. Lick took 
 offense at something said by Mr. Selby, one of the 
 number, and requested him to resign. He expressed 
 his willingness, but the others objected on the ground 
 that they had accepted partly because Mr. Selby was 
 to be with them, and they prevailed upon him to 
 withdraw his consent. The result was the institu- 
 tion of a suit in which, without opposition from them, 
 judgment was rendered removing the first board of 
 trustees, and appointing a new set, including his son, 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 417 
 
 John H. Lick, who was thus made a participant in 
 the trust. James Lick executed a new deed to the 
 new set of trustees, giving one hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand dollars to his son, in addition to the pitiful three 
 thousand dollars before, and making reductions in the 
 amounts for art purposes. 
 
 Sec. 220. 1876. San Francisco enjoyed more 
 than her usual amount of prosperity through 187G. 
 The rains of the winter were abundant, the crops good, 
 and towards the close of the year grain commanded 
 high prices on account of the expectation of a great 
 war in eastern Europe. The Southern Pacific company 
 built several hundred miles of road, completed the 
 connection with the net work centering at Los An- 
 geles, and ran out into the Colorado desert; thus giv- 
 ing facilities and inducements for the settlement of a 
 large region of new country, bringing the city into 
 more intimate association with the southern part of 
 the state, and making it certain that no railroad 
 should cross the continent on a southern route in 
 American territory without finding a terminal con- 
 nection with San Francisco ready for immediate 
 use. This was a check upon the supposed inten- 
 tion, attributed probably without good cause to 
 leading men in the Texas and Pacific Railroad, pi 
 using their influence in trying to build up a rival 
 to San Francisco on the southern coast. The mining 
 production, as well as the agricultural yield was unu- 
 sually large. The dividends paid in the metropolis 
 in the course of the year were §39,000,000, including 
 
 27 
 
418 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 $24,000,000 from mines. The mining stock market 
 was considered dull, but the sales in one board 
 amounted to $226,000,000. Numerous new buildings 
 were erected; and among these were Baldwin's build- 
 ing, comprising a hotel and theater, a large and splen- 
 did structure. 
 
 Sec. 221. Lick's Death, James Lick appointed a 
 third set of trustees, and soon afterwards died; leav- 
 ing a benefaction that promises to be among the 
 greatest on record for the advancement of knowledge 
 and the alleviation of poverty. A native of Penn- 
 sylvania, bred with scanty education to the trade of 
 cabinet-maker, he emigrated when a young man to 
 South America, where he had in 1847 accumulated 
 thirty thousand dollars. Coming with that sum to 
 San Francisco, he invested it in town lots, paying 
 three hundred dollars for the land occupied by the 
 Lick House, now worth three quarters of a million. 
 He was industrious, sharp-witted, simple in his tastes, 
 stingy, and almost miserly in his mode of life, though 
 capable of much liberality for certain purposes that 
 suited his fancy. The value of his property rapidly 
 increased, and he was soon reckoned one of the rich- 
 est men of the Californian metropolis. His profits 
 came almost exclusively from the increase in the value 
 of land. He never speculated in anything else. It 
 had long been his intention to leave the bulk of his 
 estate for the benefit of the people of his favorite 
 city. For their sake he refused to give to his rela- 
 tives, drove hard bargains with his servants and 
 
THE SIL VER ERA . 410 
 
 neighbors, stinted himself, and lived in a hovel not 
 worth two hundred dollars. When, by the defeat of 
 the adverse claims to the site of the Lick House, he 
 acquired a clear title there, he, with the help of an 
 able architect adopted an original and highly meri- 
 torious plan for a hotel, designed to accommodate 
 wealthy families in permanent boarding as well as 
 travelers. 
 
 Sec. 222. Centennial Celebration. The centennial 
 anniversary of the declaration of national indepen- 
 dence occurred on Tuesday, and was celebrated with 
 festivities that be^an on Mondav morning and ended 
 on Wednesday evening. The people of San Francisco 
 believed that the fourth of July, 1876, should be ob- 
 served with great rejoicing. In the hundred years of 
 existence, the nation had grown beyond all previous 
 example or even conception. It had increased its area 
 and population more than ten fold, and its wealth a 
 hundred fold. Its people had been happier than those 
 of any other country. It had been the leader of the 
 world in general education and social and political lib- 
 erty. It had exerted a mighty influence in diffusing 
 higher ideas of the capacity of the multitude for ex- 
 ercising rights never before conferred on them in 
 Europe. It had done much to aid men to believe in 
 themselves. It had made wonderful contributions to 
 progress by inventions that gave greater control over 
 the forces of nature. It planted the highest civiliza- 
 tion securely over half a continent. Even in its weak- 
 ness and mistakes it became the teacher of other 
 
420 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 nations. It had done enough to furnish material for 
 one of the most attractive and impressive divisions of 
 universal history. 
 
 While the whole people had so much reason for cele- 
 brating the centennial anniversary, San Francisco had 
 additional motives, on account of the local circumstances 
 of the city, which for nearly three quarters of a cen- 
 tury had remained stationary, insignificant and un- 
 known under Spanish dominion and then imme- 
 diately after its transfer to the United States started 
 upwards w T ith a speed that soon led to a high place 
 in the metropolitan list. The citizens who had shared 
 the excitements and had been enriched by the profits 
 of San Francisco's growth could sincerely celebrate 
 the hundredth birthday of the nation. 
 
 A large committee of citizens, under the presidency 
 of General James Coey, had made arrangements for a 
 demonstration worthy of the occasion and of the city ; 
 and all classes of her inhabitants showed their desire 
 to do their part. Across the main streets, especially 
 Kearny and Montgomery, were stretched banners 
 with patriotic inscriptions, and ropes upon which were 
 strung the stars and stripes; and the houses generally 
 were not only decorated, but were almost hidden by 
 the flags. Kearny street at Sutter was spanned by a 
 large arch, built by French residents in commemora- 
 tion of the participation of France in the establish- 
 ment of the government of the United States. 
 
 On Saturday, the solemnities commenced with pa- 
 triotic sermons in the synagogues ; and the Protestant 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 421 
 
 clergymen followed in the same strain the next day. 
 On Monday forenoon there was a sham battle by the 
 federal troops, and a review by Governor Irwin of the 
 second brigade of the national guard of California, 
 under command of Brigadier General McComb, at 
 the Presidio; in the afternoon there was firing at a 
 target-boat in the bay by several war-ships and forts, 
 and a regatta of the master mariners' association, with 
 forty-three boats; and in the evening a torch-light 
 procession. 
 
 Tuesday was ushered in with salutes from heavy 
 guns, and with national airs chimed by the bells of 
 St. Patrick's church. Mass and Te Deum in special 
 honor of the day were celebrated in all the Catholic 
 churches. A procession in which ten thousand men 
 took part, marched under direction of the Hon. D. A. 
 Macdonald, grand marshal, through the principal 
 streets to the Mechanic's Pavilion, where an oration 
 was delivered by the Rev. H. Stebbins, and a poem 
 by J. F. Bowman. In the evening many houses 
 were illuminated, and there was a large masquerade 
 ball; and on Wednesday there was a regatta on the 
 bay under the management of the San Francisco 
 yacht club, twenty-nine boats participating. 
 
 The centennial anniversary of the consecration of 
 the mission of San Francisco was celebrated on the 
 eighth of October, by a large procession, and oration 
 by Archbishop A.leraany, John W. Dwindle, and M. 
 G. Vallejo. 
 
 Sec. 223. 1877. A great depression of business, 
 
422 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 resulting from a severe drought, and a fear that the 
 rich deposit of ore in the Consolidated Virginia and 
 California mines would soon be exhausted, the organ- 
 ization of the workingmen's political party, the com- 
 mencement and rapid prosecution of the work in 
 widening Dupont street from Market to Bush, the 
 opening of the Hall of Records in the new City Hall, 
 and the construction of a large part of the main build- 
 ing; the adoption of a new line of water-front by the 
 harbor commissioners, the completion and occupation 
 of the building of the San Francisco stock and ex- 
 change board on Pine street, the failure of Duncan's 
 savings bank, and the discovery of the great frauds 
 committed by its manager, were among the most 
 notable events of 1877c 
 
 Sec. 224. Hard Times. The scantiness of the 
 rainfall of 1876-77, the amount being less than ten 
 inches at San Francisco, and less than that of any 
 other season within a quarter of a century, caused a 
 general failure of the grain crop, a large mortality in 
 the herds of cattle, and a serious decline in the yield 
 of the placer mines. The direct pecuniary loss to the 
 state by the drought was estimated at twenty million 
 dollars. The southern part of the state was especially 
 depressed, notwithstanding the completion of the rail- 
 road connection between San Francisco and Los An- 
 geles in September, 1876, and the extension of the 
 road to the Colorado river in the April following. 
 Business generally, and especially land speculation, 
 had reached a highly inflated condition on the south- 
 
THE S1L VER ERA. 423 
 
 evn coast in 1874, and four years elapsed before the 
 debtors generally could get out of their embarrass- 
 ments. The failure of the Texas and Pacific railroad 
 company to do any work west of the Pocky mountains, 
 its confession of inability to cross the continent with- 
 out further aid from congress, and the refusal of that 
 body to guarantee the payment of interest as solicited, 
 were felt as disasters at San Diego. In 187G the 
 number of pleasure seekers in California from the 
 eastern states was reduced by the rush to see the 
 centennial fair at Philadelphia, and it was still more 
 unfavorably affected the next year by the report that 
 a great drought had for the season diminished the at- 
 tractions and prosperity of our state. At the same 
 time, there was a decline of confidence in the bonanza 
 mines. The Consolidated Virginia, in January, sus- 
 pended its monthly dividend of a million dollars, which 
 it had been paying for nearly two years. The market 
 value of the mine, calculated from the number of 
 shares and the price at which they sold in the stock 
 boards early in January, 1875, was$80, 000, 000; that was 
 at the climax of the excitement, when the credulous 
 public were assured by men represented to be compe- 
 tent mining engineers that the mine had ore enough 
 in sight to yield §700,000,000; while a prominent 
 government official thought he would be entirely S; 
 in fixing the sum at $150,000,000 as the lowest possi- 
 ble figure. If this estimate had been correct, the 
 price of §80,000,000 would not have been too high, 
 for two thirds of the yield was profit, and the limits 
 
424 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 of the ore body had not been found, and since that 
 time it has been traced two hundred feet deeper. Nev- 
 ertheless the opinion spread that the lowest of these 
 figures was far too high, and so the prices continued 
 to fall, till at the close of 1877 the mine represented 
 a market value of about $10,000,000. The California 
 mine declined at the same ratio; and as these were the 
 two great dividend-paying mines, the stock market, 
 which had played a large part in the business of Cal- 
 ifornia, and especially of San Francisco, was greatly 
 depressed. It had been estimated that at the begin- 
 ning of 1875 there were one hundred millionaires in 
 California, many of them worth more than $5,000,000 
 each, but in 1877 half of the number ceased to be 
 millionaires, in the common estimation, and a score or 
 more of them were reduced to bankruptcy or its verge, 
 while among the laboring classes times were harder 
 than ever before. Within three years there had been 
 a shrinkage of $140,000,000 in the market value 
 of the two leading mines, nearly all of whose shares 
 were owned in San Francisco, or $1,000 on an average 
 for every white adult in the city ; and though a large 
 majority had never owned any of these shares, all were 
 affected indirectly, if not directly, by the decline. 
 
 Sec. 225. Workinqmen. Such was the condition 
 of affairs when the railroad riots began on the Atlantic 
 slope in July. They met a prompt response in San 
 Francisco. The hostility among the white laborers, 
 who believed that, if it were not for the Mongolian com- 
 petition, they could generally get employment at bet- 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 425 
 
 ter wages, broke out in a riot on the twenty-third of 
 July, when one Chinese laundry was burned, and 
 several were sacked. The police with difficulty dis- 
 persed the mob, but the rioters were defiant, and 
 threatened to drive out the Asiatics with fire and 
 pistol at no distant day. As among the twenty-seven 
 thousand houses more than four fifths were wooden, 
 and three hundred Chinese laundries were scattered 
 through all the wards, this threat caused much uneasi- 
 ness. If an anti- Chinese mob should get control for 
 a few hours, the destruction of San Francisco might 
 be the result. To counteract this danger, a committee 
 of safety, organized under the presidency of W. T. 
 Coleman, who had been president of the vigilance com- 
 mittee of 1856, with six thousand members, prevented 
 the enemies of the Chinese from resorting to force. 
 Then the workingmen's political party arose, adopted 
 the motto " The Chinese must go," held public meet- 
 ings nearly every Sunday, and applauded speakers 
 who clamored for hemp to be used in hanging monop- 
 olists; who exhibited pieces of rope as part of their 
 platform; who declared that the Mongolians must be 
 driven out, even if all the manufacturing industry of 
 the city should cease; who talked of the burning of 
 Moscow as a lesson for the oppressors of white labor; 
 and who advised their followers to arm themselves and 
 organize in military companies for the purpose of re- 
 sisting the police and state and federal troops. 
 
 This party suddenly rose to formidable proportions. 
 It promised to protect the rights of laboring men, and 
 
426 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 denounced the democratic and republican parties as 
 corrupt, and accomplices of the monopolists in oppress- 
 ing the poor. Dennis Kearney, the leader of the new 
 organization, became an effective popular orator, draw- 
 ing large crowds of hearers, and commanding loud 
 bursts of applause when he spoke; but his success was 
 evidently due mainly to the high passions of his hear- 
 ers, and his understanding of them, and not to superior 
 judgment, learning, or rhetorical skill. His influence, 
 however, was sufficient to attract the support of a 
 majority of the voters in the city; and to cause much 
 uneasiness among rich men and the leaders of the old 
 parties. 
 
 Sec. 226. 1878. The year 1878, which has not 
 reached its end when this paragraph is written, has 
 so far been prosperous. The rainfall was abundant, 
 the grain-crops large; and though the Consolidated 
 Virginia and California mines reduced their monthly 
 dividends from $1,000,000 to $500,000 each, and 
 then suspended them, still hopes were entertained 
 that they would soon resume, and also that equally 
 large dividends would at no distant time be obtained 
 from the Sierra Nevada, and Union Consolidated 
 mines, in which a body of very rich ore was found. 
 In this year six men classed among the millionaires 
 residing in San Francisco or its suburbs, died. Mark 
 Hopkins, one of the directors of the Central Pacific 
 railroad company, left an estate of $10,000,000; 
 Michael Reese about $8,000,000; W. S. O'Brien, 
 $6,000,000; and Isaac Friedlander (who had been 
 
THE SIL VER ERA. 407 
 
 greatly embarrassed by the drought of 1877), §400,000. 
 The value of the estates of D. D. Colton and Wm. Watt 
 has not been published. All these men were poor 
 when they arrived in California; all were men of rare 
 business capacity and industry, save O'Brien, and he 
 was a general favorite among his acquaintance; all 
 had the reputation of keeping their contracts; and all 
 were public spirited save Reese, though he was liberal 
 enough to purchase Francis Lieber's library at a cost 
 of §3,000 for the State University. The loss of so 
 many millionaires by a city of three hundred thousand 
 inhabitants, within a year, is an evidence that the 
 claim of exceptional abundance of that class of popu- 
 lation has much foundation. 
 
 Sec. 227. Eighteen Years. The distinguishing 
 feature of The Silver Era, the period from the begin- 
 ning of 1861 till the p resent time, has been the in- 
 fluence of the mines of Nevada, which, by their divi- 
 dends and the selling of their shares in the stock 
 boards, have done much to enrich San "Francisco, and 
 give character to her business. No other product of 
 her tributary area is equal in value, or belongs to her 
 so much as the silver. The wheat, gold, wool, wine 
 and fruit must yield precedence to the metal of the 
 Comstock. By the boldness with which she invested 
 her capital, and her power in attracting those who 
 had made fortunes elsewhere without her help, she 
 became the owner of nearly everything worth owning 
 in the silver mines, which were then worked mainly 
 for her benefit. Three great "pay chutes," as they 
 
428 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 are styled by the miners, each containing several 
 large and distinct but related masses of rich ore, were 
 found and worked out with an energy, skill and ex- 
 cellence of mechanical appliances, to which the great 
 mining industry of Potosi, Cerro Pasco, Guanajuato 
 and Zacatecas had made no approach. The first of 
 these pay chutes to be exhausted so far, commencing 
 at the surface in the Gould and Curry mine, and run- 
 ning downwards and southwards, through the Savage 
 and Hale and Norcross, yielded $40,000,000 gross 
 before 1869. The second in the order of date of ex- 
 haustion, beginning at the surface in what is now the 
 Consolidated Imperial, and running southwards and 
 downwards through the Yellow Jacket, Kentuck, 
 Crown Point and Belcher, yielded $90,000,000 before 
 1874. The third and greatest pay chute so far 
 worked made its appearance in the Ophir at the 
 surface, and after having been lost for more than ten 
 years was again struck three hundred yards distant 
 in the Consolidated Virginia, and has yielded $110,- 
 000,000. The bottom of the ore body in this pay 
 chute has not been reached, and the miners are search- 
 ing for new ore bodies in each of the others. In the 
 summer of 1878 a body of rich ore was found in the 
 Sierra Nevada, and is supposed to be the beginning 
 of a new bonanza, and of a still larger production of 
 bullion. The average annual yield of the silver 
 mines for the five years preceding July, 1878, was 
 $35,000,000; the dividends more than half as much, 
 the assessments half as much as the dividends, the 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 429 
 
 average daily fluctuations several millions, and the 
 average annual sales in the mining stock boards, 
 §200,000,000. Most of the San Franciscans are in- 
 tensely interested in the rise and fall of the silver 
 stocks, while relatively few read the market reports 
 of the sales of wheat. 
 
 The speculation in mining shares became the most 
 prominent business in San Francisco, and as a field 
 for the investment of money had more frequent and 
 greater fluctuations than those of any other stock 
 market, making and marring many fortunes in a day. 
 The excitement is more attractive than that of the 
 gambling table, because it is accompanied by the pro- 
 duction of immense quantities of bullion, and there 
 are times when the opening of new ore bodies add to 
 the national wealth, and enable buver and seller alike 
 to make good profits on their transactions. 
 
 The district south of the line of Bush street gained 
 fifteen or twenty fold; Kearny and Market streets 
 rose from relative insignificance to leading positions 
 in retail business; and California near Montgomery 
 became the chief center of the money market. The 
 construction of eight street railroads gave cheap and 
 speedy access to the suburbs, and added five perhaps 
 ten times as much as their cost to the value of the 
 land in the city, giving to extensive districts, previ- 
 ously suburban, an urban character. The concentra- 
 tion of street railroad terminations at the end of 
 Market street, the slips there enabling ferry-boats to 
 make quick landings, the half-hourly trips across the 
 
430 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 bay, the redaction of the single fares to fifteen cents, 
 the sale of commutation tickets, and the construc- 
 tion of the wharf, the steam railroads, the street rail- 
 roads, and the artificial harbor at Oakland, contributed 
 to raise that town to a city of forty thousand inhabit- 
 ants, in very intimate suburban relations with the 
 metropolis. 
 
 The population of the state had increased to 850,000 
 in 1878, and the annual gain since 1860 was not less 
 than ten per cent., or more than three times as much 
 as the average gain in the United States. After a 
 large part of the damage done by refusing to sell the 
 federal land in the mineral regions had become irrep- 
 arable, the policy was modified, without, however, 
 enabling settlers to acquire titles under the same lib- 
 eral conditions as in the agricultural districts. As the 
 gold yield declined, many of the miners became farm- 
 ers, and others discouraged by the high expense of 
 transporting their grain and fruit to market, moved 
 from the Sierra Nevada to the valleys and coast mount- 
 ains. The counties near San Francisco and those on 
 the southern coast, attracted most of the new settlers. 
 California ceased to be mainly a money-making resort, 
 and became a health and pleasure resort. As the 
 "Westminister Review" said, after having been the 
 treasury, she became the garden of the world. The 
 enterprise of her inhabitants, the activity of her busi- 
 ness, the fertility of her soil, and the genial warmth 
 of her climate, enabled her to make her valleys bloom 
 suddenly with most beautiful and luxuriant perennial 
 
THE SILVER ERA. 431 
 
 verdure. Her markets had the most abundant and 
 varied supply of home-grown fruit to be found any- 
 where. The resources of the state were carefully 
 studied; the geology, botany, zoology, meteorology and 
 scenery, were diligently compared with those of other 
 countries, explained in comprehensive books, and made 
 the subject of frequent comment in the public journals. 
 The construction of two thousand miles of railroad 
 within her borders, the completion of the iron track 
 across the continent, the establishment of lines of 
 steamers to China and Australia, contributed vastly 
 to her trade, prosperity and population. 
 
432 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GENERALITIES. 
 
 Section 228. Natural Site. The site of San Fran- 
 cisco has been changed wonderfully within thirty years. 
 In 1846 the only place apparently suitable for town 
 purposes was an area of perhaps forty acres surrounding 
 Portsmouth square. Elsewhere no considerable expanse 
 of land level or nearly level was to be found without 
 going to the presidio in one direction, or the Mission in 
 the other. Hill and ravine, chaparral and sand, high 
 rocky bluff, mud flat and swamp, covered thousands of 
 acres now densely populated, and seeming by their flat 
 or gently sloping surface to have been admirably fitted 
 by nature to be the heart of a great city. But the hand 
 of art is hidden in this vast plain. Eastward from the 
 line of First street, between Folsom and Broadway, are 
 three hundred and twenty acres now covered by houses 
 occupied for purposes of commerce and manufactures, 
 but in 1848 occupied by the anchorage of Yerba Buena 
 cove. North of Broadway, including North Beach, 
 there are forty acres, and south of Folsom street, includ- 
 ing part of Mission cove, there are one hundred and 
 fifty acres of ground made in the bay. A swamp head- 
 ing near the corner of Mission and Seventh streets ran 
 for a mile eastward to the bay, with an average width 
 of three hundred yards, and a parallel marsh, not so 
 wide, had its head near the crossing of Mission and 
 Eighth streets. These were called swamps; but they 
 
GENERALITIES. 433 
 
 seem to have been for part of their area at least, subter- 
 ranean lakes, from forty to eighty feet deep, covered by 
 a crust of peat eight or ten feet thick. These marshes, 
 with another along the border of Mission creek, had an 
 area of three hundred acres and are now filled in. 
 About eight hundred acres that were swamp and bay in 
 18G8 are now solid land, and are occupied for business 
 purposes. 
 
 The peat in the marshes that had their heads near the 
 site of the new city hall was strong enough to sustain a 
 small house or a loaded wagon, though a man, by swing- 
 ing himself from side to side, or by jumping upon it, 
 could give it a perceptible shiver. There were weak 
 places in it, however, and a cow which in searching for 
 sweet pasture undertook to jump from one hard spot to 
 what appeared to be another, made a mistake, for it gave 
 way under her, and a gentleman hunting near by was 
 surprised to see her go down, and still more to observe 
 that she did not come up again. A puddle of muddy 
 water was all that remained to indicate her burial place. 
 After that the hunter did not jump about in the swamp 
 so boldly as before. Many ludicrous scenes occurred in 
 filling up the swamps. When streets were first made 
 the weight of the sand pressed the peat down, so that 
 the water stood where the surface was dry before. Some- 
 times the sand broke through, carrying down the peat 
 under it, leaving nothing but water or thin mud near 
 the surface. More than once a contractor bad put on 
 enough- sand to raise the street to the official grade, and 
 gave notice to the city engineer to inspect the work, but 
 
 28 
 
434 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 in the lapse of a day between the notice and inspection, 
 the sand had sunk down six or eight feet; and, when at 
 last a permanent bottom had been reached, the heavy 
 sand had crowded under the light peat at the sides of 
 the street and lifted it up eight or ten feet above its 
 original level, in muddy ridges full of hideous cracks. 
 Not only was the peat crowded up by the sand in this 
 way, but it was also pushed sidewise, so that houses and 
 fences built upon it were carried away from their orig- 
 inal position and tilted up at singular angles by the up- 
 heaval. 
 
 While San Francisco was unfortunate in having such 
 wide areas of marsh and mud flat along her water front, 
 she had some compensation in the possession of numer- 
 ous and high sand hills. It having become evident that it 
 would pay to fill in water lots, even when a man with a 
 horse and cart was paid fifteen dollars per day, James 
 Cunningham saw that here was the place for a steam 
 shovel, or steam paddy, as it was commonly termed. 
 This was a scoop which at one move would dig up a 
 cubic yard of sand or gravel (equivalent to a ton and a 
 half in weight, and nearly twice as much as could be 
 hauled by a single horse in a cart), then swing it round 
 by a crane over a railway car into which the load was 
 discharged. The steam paddy was at work from 1852 
 till 1854, and from 1859 till 1873 almost constantly, 
 sometimes moving two thousand five hundred tons in a 
 day, and for a while two were employed. 
 
 The steam shovel could not work anywhere save in 
 sand, but there were five thousand acres of it that 
 
GENERALITIES. 4*35 
 
 needed leveling, though over a considerable part of this 
 area the work could be done more cheaply with horse 
 and cart. The steam paddy could not be used with ad- 
 vantage unless the sand was to be carried a considerable 
 distance. Market street, for half a mile from the water, 
 was a wide ridge of sand, part of the way sixty feet 
 above the present level, and nothing but the steam paddy 
 and railroad could have moved it without ruinous ex- 
 pense. 
 
 Sec. 229. Grades. In 1850, under urgent pressure 
 from citizens who wanted to build and needed some offi- 
 cial guidance for fixing the level of their houses, the city 
 council, without ordering any careful study of the city's 
 topography or future interests, adopted grades for the 
 most busy streets, and under this order, Montgomery, 
 from Pine to Pacific; Kearny, from Sutter to Pacific; 
 Dupont, from Clay to Broadway; Stockton, from Clay to 
 North Beach, and Powell, from Broadway to North 
 Beach, were graded at various times from 1850 to 1853. 
 Most of these streets, as well as the cross streets from 
 Commercial to Broadway inclusive, were planked soon 
 after the grading was finished. Oregon fir planks, three 
 or four inches thick, furnished a cheap material for a 
 smooth and strong road-bed that could be put down 
 quickly at little expense, and taken up readily whenever, 
 as frequently happened, any digging in the street was 
 necessary; and though not permanent, still it could be 
 replaced at the end of five years for less than the inter- 
 est on the extra cost of any stone pavement. 
 
 If the shore line had remained where it was in 1850, 
 
43G HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 the grade then adopted would have been sufficient; but 
 the filling in of Yerba Buena cove, and the pushing of 
 the water front from near its natural position between 
 Montgomery and Sansome on Clay to a place a thou- 
 sand feet farther east, made it necessary, for purposes 
 of drainage, to raise the levels of many of the streets 
 as first established. In 1853, the city council under- 
 took to provide for the future by a comprehensive sys- 
 tem, and employed Milo Hoadley and W. P. Hum- 
 phreys to prepare a system of grades. The table pre- 
 sented by them was adopted by the council on the 
 twenty-sixth of August ; and though changed afterwards 
 in many minor points, it was well devised, for the 
 greater part of the area which it covered, and especially 
 in what was then the business part of the city, where 
 there was general discontent because the levels were 
 raised above the former official grades, in many places 
 as much as five feet. This new grade of 1853 imposed 
 a heavy expense upon those who had already built of 
 brick, and so many citizens were dissatified that another 
 board of engineers was organized to revise the table. 
 The new board refused to alter "the Hoadley grades," 
 as they were called, in those places where they most 
 seriously affected the value of buildings. On the hills 
 great changes were made by the new board. Hoadley 
 had proposed more cutting of rock than the lot-owners 
 could afford. He required the removal of one hundred 
 and thirty-nine vertical feet at the intersection of Mont- 
 gomery and Union streets, and one hundred and thirty- 
 three feet at the crossing of Kearny and Greenwich. 
 
GENERALITIES. 437 
 
 The summit of Telegraph hill, in the middle of the 
 block bounded by Filbert, Greenwich, Kearny and Mont- 
 gomery streets, would have to be cut down two hundred 
 feet to bring it to the level of the surrounding streets. 
 The lots there were then worth about ten cents a square 
 foot, and the grading, as proposed by Hoadley, would 
 cost from three to six dollars per square foot. It was 
 his idea that this work would be done in the course of 
 years, and that the rock taken from the hill would be in 
 demand for filling water lots and for ballast. It was 
 then considered especially important to provide ballast, 
 for ships came full and went away empty, and the time 
 when they would come empty and go away full, as they 
 now do, was considered too remote for any business cal- 
 culation. The new board of engineers was however 
 not entirely adverse to deep cutting, for it required an 
 excavation on Sansome street of forty feet at Vallejo, 
 one hundred and twenty at Green, thirty-four at Union, 
 and fifty-six at Filbert. The grades thus recommended 
 were accepted by the council, and have with slight 
 changes been adhered to since, though after a lapse of 
 more than twenty years Sansome street has not yet been 
 cut through the base of Telegraph hill on the modified 
 grade. 
 
 Sec. 230. Amount of Grading. No official table 
 shows the amount of grading actually done. The depth 
 of the cutting was calculated from the center of the 
 street crossing, which was in many places on a steep 
 hill-side. The council determined the grades of the 
 streets, and the lot-owners, for their own convenience, 
 
438 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 were compelled to put their lots on the same level with 
 the street in front of them. About one fourth of the 
 area was in streets. We may assume that the present 
 level of three thousand acres is on the average nine feet 
 above or below the natural surface of the ground, and 
 these figures imply the transfer of twenty-one million 
 cubic yards from hill to hollow. 
 
 A necessary result of the change of grade after houses 
 had been erected, was that they had to be adapted to the 
 new level. In some cases, new stories were put under 
 or upon old houses, which, though only one or two 
 stories high when first built, are three or four stories 
 high now. In the business part of the city, a large pro- 
 portion of the houses were raised to conform to the 
 Hoadley grade, and as many of them were large struct- 
 ures of brick, this raising was no small undertaking. 
 A machine based on the principle of the hydraulic press, 
 for lifting up houses, was invented and used for raising 
 about nine hundred brick houses in San Francisco, one 
 of them covering an area of one hundred and thirty- 
 seven and one half feet square. 
 
 Sec. 231. Sources of Buildings. Common rumor 
 tells us of the sources of the money invested in many of 
 the prominent buildings of San Francisco. The Crown 
 Point and Belcher bonanza furnished Mr. Sharon with 
 the means for becoming the owner of the Palace hotel. 
 Baldwin's hotel was the result of lucky speculations 
 in Ophir and Mexican stock. The Nevada block was 
 built with bullion from the Consolidated Virginia. The 
 two buildings on the eastern corners of Pine and Mont- 
 
GENERALITIES. 439 
 
 gomery grew out of the Gould and Curry and Savage 
 bonanza. Three brothers, who had worked the Sierra 
 Buttesgold quartz mine with success, became proprietors 
 of the Cosmopolitan hotel. Hay ward's building at No. 
 419 California street, was built with the profits of the 
 Hay ward gold quartz mine at Sutter creek. Pierce's 
 building at Xo. 317 California street was washed out of 
 the blue gravel hydraulic claim at Smartsville. Watts' s 
 building on the south-east corner of Clay and Kearny 
 was stamped out of the auriferous quartz of the Eureka 
 mine at Grass Valley. The large wooden building on 
 the north-west corner of Stockton and O'Farrell, was 
 built with money saved from the Plato mine, now part of 
 the Consolidated Imperial. The foundation for the Occi- 
 dental hotel was laid in the first foundry established in 
 San Francisco. The Nucleus building, on the east cor- 
 ner of Market and Third, was, if not made out of the 
 profits of the first steam-shovel, at least built by its im- 
 porter, who did a large part of the grading of the city. 
 The law firm of Halleck, Peachy k Billings obtained 
 much of the money to pay for Montgomery Block out of 
 their business as counsel in cases before the United 
 States land commission. The rents from a couple of lots 
 bought in 1847 by a private soldier in Stevenson's regi- 
 ment for about thirty dollars, furnished the means for 
 putting up the Russ House. The Lick House was in 
 like manner the outgrowth of a small but fortunate in- 
 vestment in town lots before the gold discovery. Fried- 
 lander erected the building on the north-eastern corner 
 of California and Sansome streets, out of the profits of 
 
440 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 wheat speculation. The Odd Fellows' Hall, on the north- 
 west corner of Montgomery and Summer streets was 
 built by J. W. Tucker, who had made his money out of 
 a fashionable jewelry store, when great profits were 
 charged in his business. Bancroft's building owes its 
 existence to .a large business in books and stationery. 
 The house on the north-east corner of California and 
 Leidesdorfif streets was built by the Pacific insurance com- 
 pany, which was bankrupted by the Chicago fire in 1871. 
 Certain people had so much confidence in Stephen A. 
 Wright, who had opened a shop as a banker, that they 
 deposited one hundred and fifty thousand dollars with him 
 in 1854, and he made a permanent investment for them 
 by putting up the brick and granite building on the 
 north-west corner of Montgomery and Jackson streets. 
 So long as they did not demand their principal, all went 
 well, but when the financial panic came in February, 
 1855, nothing was left for them — save the privilege of 
 looking at the architectural pile which belonged to 
 somebody else. The house of the Real Estate Associates, 
 at 228 Montgomery, was made out of the profits of buy- 
 ing land in large lots, dividing it up into small ones, 
 putting houses on them, and selling them at a credit. 
 The buildings of the San Francisco Stock Exchange and 
 the Pacific Exchange are monuments of the passion of 
 San Franciscans for taking the chances in wild specula- 
 tion. The houses at 400 and 420 Montgomery street 
 were erected by Samuel Brannan in 1853 out of profits 
 of real estate investments, and were then considered 
 ornaments of the city and signal evidences of confidence 
 
GENERA L I TIES. 441 
 
 in her future prosperity and importance. W. T. Sher- 
 man brought the capital from St. Louis to build the 
 house on the north-east corner of Montgomery and Jack- 
 son for the bank of Lucas, Turner & Co.. of which he 
 was the manager. The Mercantile Library building 
 was paid for by a grand lottery, authorized by statute 
 in violation of the constitution, but no worse in prin- 
 ciple, though larger in scale, than the raffles frequently 
 held at church fairs. The Central Pacific railroad com- 
 pany built the house on the north corner of Fourth and 
 Townsend streets ; and four of the residence palaces on 
 California street, not fir from Mason, were built by di- 
 rectors of the same company, in which three of them 
 accumulated nearly all their wealth. On Taylor street, 
 between Washington and Clay are a couple of magnifi- 
 cent dwellings built out of profits on money managed 
 with capacity. The buildings erected by associated cap- 
 ital, such as those of banking and charitable institutions 
 are numerous. 
 
 Sec. 232. The Press. After the return of its editor 
 from the mines, whither they went in the first excite- 
 ment, the " Oalifornian " resumed publication on the fif- 
 teenth of August, 1848, and having been consolidated 
 with the k ' Star," appeared on the eighteenth of Novem- 
 ber as the "Star and Californian." On the fourth of 
 January, 1849, it changed its name to the '" Alta I Jali- 
 fomia." It was published as a weekly till December 10, 
 then appeared three times a week, and on the twenty- 
 second of January became a daily, anticipating a rival 
 which appeared as a daily on the twenty- third. In 
 
442 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 1851 the "Herald," and in 1854 the "Chronicle," took 
 considerable shares of business from the "Alta," but 
 both lost much of their favor with the public in May, 
 1856, because they did not sustain the movement for a 
 vigilance committee, and both of them died in conse- 
 quence of the losses then sustained, while the " Alta," 
 by advocating the popular side, became very profitable. 
 The "Bulletin" began on the eighth of October, 1855, 
 speedily gained a large circulation, and has enjoyed a 
 steady prosperity ever since. The "Morning Call" 
 was founded on the first of December, 1856, as the 
 first permanent cheap daily journal. The present 
 " Chronicle," not related in any manner to the old " Chron- 
 icle" which died in 1858, appeared as an advertising 
 sheet for the theaters in 1865, and having been success- 
 ful for three years was developed into a general news- 
 paper. The "Examiner" dates from 1862, and the 
 "Evening Post" from 1871. These are the daily 
 English journals devoted to general news that have sur- 
 vived ; and there are besides more than a score of others, 
 weekly, or devoted to special branches of business, or 
 foreign — German, French, Italian, Scandinavian, Span- 
 ish, Chinese; and not less than two hundred have started 
 and expired. In ability, learning, careful editing, and 
 enterprise in collecting news, the San Francisco press 
 compares not unfavorably with that of other American 
 cities. 
 
 Sec. 233. Amusements. San Francisco has devoted 
 a considerable share of her attention to the pursuit of 
 pleasure. The greater part of the territory of which 
 
GENERALITIES. \\?> 
 
 she is the metropolis is poor in resources for enjoyment. 
 Large areas in Nevada, Arizona, Southern California, 
 
 Oregon and Idaho are occupied by deserts; western Ore- 
 gon and Washington are enveloped for much of the year 
 in rain or mist; the mining counties of California are 
 declining as their placers are exhausted ; the Sacramento 
 and San Joaquin valleys suffer with intense heat in the 
 summer, and have not been satisfactorily protected 
 against ilood and drought. Partly for these reasons, 
 most of the luxury of the slope has collected in and 
 about San Francisco. The people from the wide region 
 between the British and Mexican lines west of the 
 Rocky mountains have come hither for twenty years to 
 seek compensation for the toils and privations of frontier 
 life, and have contributed much to refine and enrich the 
 city. From early times the theaters have been large, 
 good, and relatively numerous. Celebrated actors and 
 singers came half around the world to share the golden 
 harvest of California. The chill temperature of the 
 evenings throughout the year stimulated dancing, which 
 is more common in San Francisco than in any other 
 city. The German, French, and Italian population each 
 contributed features of its own to the general character. 
 Concerts, masquerades, picnics, processions, and excur- 
 sions were frequent. 
 
 For three years after the gold discovery, the people 
 had few opportunities to make pleasure excursions to the 
 country; and those who wanted to enjoy the open air 
 away from the throng of business usually contented 
 themselves by walking to the tops of Russian or Tele- 
 
444 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 graph Hill, which latter was visited bj thousands, who 
 sat on its sides for hours every pleasant Sunday and 
 looked down over the busy bay. Russ garden, on the 
 south corner of Sixth and Harrison streets, was opened 
 as a popular resort in 1853, and was liberally patron- 
 ized, especially on Sunday, until 1860, when the Mar- 
 ket street railroad gave facilities to reach the " Willows," 
 a public garden between Seventeenth, Nineteenth, Va- 
 lencia and Mission streets. The surface of the ground 
 was then about twenty feet below its present level, and 
 the name was derived from the trees, which gave an 
 abundance of shade. A year later Hayes park, which 
 had a large pavilion on Laguna, near Hayes street, be- 
 came a favorite place for picnics and Sunday gatherings; 
 and in 1866 it was superseded by Woodward's garden, 
 which has since maintained its place in popular favor. 
 
 The large population of the city supplied a liberal 
 patronage to excursions. Picnic parties went in great 
 numbers to the various grounds at Belmont, Oakland, 
 Alameda, Saucelito, San Rafael and Berkeley, when 
 they were successively made accessible conveniently by 
 improved steam communication. The street railroads of 
 San Francisco and Oakland, the ferry boats crossing the 
 bay in various directions, the roads to the cemeteries, the 
 park, the beach, the Mission peaks, and Mount San 
 Bruno offer so many facilities for getting out into the 
 country, that though three times as many go into the 
 country on Sunda}^ as went fifteen years ago, yet the 
 throng is not anywhere now so great. 
 
 Sec. 234. Churches. No house of worship had been 
 
GENERALITIES. 445 
 
 maintained at Yerba Buena under the Mexican domin- 
 ion, and soon after the American flag was hoisted Pruden- 
 cio Santillan, Mexican Catholic priest at the Mission, left 
 the place, which had had no regular religious services for 
 several years, though occasionally a priest would come 
 from San Jose. The Mormons who arrived in the 
 "Brooklyn'' met for worship every Sunday in some pri- 
 vate house, the congregation being called together by a 
 hand bell, which, though not very large, when rung on 
 Portsmouth square could be heard by all the residents 
 of the village. Elder Samuel Brannan usually con- 
 ducted the services. Protestant worship was held oc- 
 casionally by different clergymen from April, 1847, till 
 November 1, 1849, when the first Protestant church was 
 opened by the Congregationalists, with the Rev. T. D. 
 Hunt as their pastor. In the course of the next year, 
 Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches were or- 
 ganized on permanent bases. J. S. Alemany was conse- 
 crated Catholic bishop of California at Rome in 1850, 
 and TT. I. Kip. of the Episcopal church, missionary 
 bishop of California at Xew York three years later, and 
 both have continued to labor in the same field ever since, 
 the former having been promoted to the rank of arch- 
 bishop. San Francisco abounds with churches, with at 
 least one for nearly every phase of Christian faith, be- 
 sides Jewish synagogues and Boodhist joss-houses. The 
 cosmopolitan character of the population has a liberaliz- 
 ing tendency, and California will never be noted for 
 high regard of sectarian lines, or strict observance of 
 ceremonial or disciplinary rules. The church property 
 
446 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 is valuable, some of the buildings are large and costly, 
 and there is no lack of pulpit eloquence or of sincere 
 devotion. 
 
 Sec. 235. Charities. Charitable associations are 
 numerous in San Francisco, and large sums are con- 
 tributed every year to alleviate poverty and suffering. 
 The secret associations which undertake to aid members 
 in sickness, and their widows and orphans, have proba- 
 bly 20,000 members. There are two dozen benevolent 
 societies organized on the basis of nationality, and as 
 many more on the basis of creed or church associations. 
 The expenditure of the Catholic churches of San Fran- 
 cisco in 1877 for charity was $42,000, and that of other 
 churches not less. The total annual expenditure of the 
 city and its citizens for charitable purposes is not less 
 than $1,000,000, and probably considerably more. No 
 city has contributed so much relatively to be spent at a 
 distance. No great disaster can befall any European or 
 American state largely represented by its native resid- 
 ents in California without an expression of sympathy 
 from San Francisco. Liberal subscriptions have been 
 given to British, French, German, Italian, Hungarian, 
 Swedish, Swiss, Slavonian, Peruvian, and Mexican char- 
 ities ; and the sums collected for the relief of distant suf- 
 ering have probably amounted to more than §2,000,000. 
 The gifts to the sanitary fund and Christian commission 
 in the civil war were $974,000; to the sanitary and 
 ransom fund of France in 1870-71, $299,678; to the 
 sufferers by the Chicago fire in 1871, $144,761; to the 
 German sanitary fund, $138,383; to the yellow fever 
 
GENERALITIES. 447 
 
 sufferers in 1878, §100,000 ; for the Virginia City fire in 
 1875. $60,000; for the Kansas grasshopper scourge in 
 1875, $37,000; for the Marysville flood in 1875, §22,- 
 000; for the Sacramento flood in 18G2, §20,000, and 
 large supplies of clothes and provisions ; for the Sacra- 
 mento fire in 1852, §30,000; for the Peruvian earth- 
 quake in 1868, §15,500; for the yellow fever in 1853, 
 §10,000; and smaller sums for the Italian patriotic 
 fund, for destitute immigrants by land in 18l7 and 
 1851, and suffering by famine among jews in Morocco 
 in 1860; by a Swiss flood in 1868, by a French flood 
 in 1867, by a Hungarian flood in 1876, by the Inyo 
 earthquake in 1876, and the Washoe Indian war in 1860, 
 San Francisco contributed about one half of the sums 
 exceeding §60,000, and nearly all of the smaller sums. 
 
 Sec. 236. Home Life. Ever since the gold discovery 
 the home life of San Francisco has been different from 
 that of any other city. The composite character of its 
 population, the long journeys taken by ninety-five out 
 of one hundred of its adult inhabitants before they 
 could make their homes here, the remarkably specula- 
 tive and fluctuating features of its business, and the 
 peculiarities of its climate, imply peculiarities of custom. 
 The climate has a great effect upon domestic life every- 
 where; in San Francisco it is unlike that of any other 
 great city. The coolness of the summers demanding ac- 
 tive exercise for comfort in July, the warmth of the 
 winter, which has neither ice nor snow, the multitude 
 of clear days — nearly three hundred in a year — and the 
 rarity of rain from April to October inclusive, render 
 
448 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 the shelter of a house less needful than in other climes, 
 and drive people into the open air. Home is less and 
 the street more for the San Franciscans than for the 
 citizens of New York or Charleston. 
 
 In a temperature always cool, there must be much 
 physical activity and intellectual energy; and it is not 
 improbable that a peculiar race will grow up near the 
 ocean shore on the middle coast of California; a race 
 bred to a great extent in the open air, where the 
 sunshine is not uncomfortably warm more than a dozen 
 days in the year; a race marked by large size, healthy 
 bodies, industrious habits, and clear complexion. Cer- 
 tainly nature and art never combined elsewhere so many 
 circumstances favorable for the physical and mental 
 training of children than will at no distant time be found 
 in or near San Francisco. Families generally are small ; 
 the American women — that is, those born in the United 
 States — dislike to have many children, and those who 
 have been married fifteen or twenty years have not on 
 the average more than two living. Among the women 
 of foreign birth, especially those of Irish blood or Jew- 
 ish faith, it is common to have six or eight children ; 
 but their daughters are not so prolific. 
 
 According to a table prepared by the county clerk, 
 22,G36 natives and 25,042 foreign citizens were regis- 
 tered as entitled to vote in San Francisco in 1876, the 
 natives being forty-seven out of a hundred in the entire 
 number. The school census of the same year reported 
 15,288 children between {\yq and seventeen years of age 
 were the offspring of native parents, while 45,922 were 
 
GENERALITIES. 449 
 
 born of foreign parents. The children of native parents 
 are twenty-four per cent, of all the children, or only one 
 third so numerous relatively as those of foreign parents. 
 
 Sec. 237. Hotels. Many circumstances have con- 
 tributed to give hotels and boarding houses a prominent 
 place in San Francisco life. The large proportion of 
 unmarried men, the numerous married women without 
 children, the unsettled character of the population in 
 early years, the multitude of men engaged in risk}- spec- 
 ulations, and the high wages of domestic servants, drove 
 people to hotels, boarding-houses and restaurants in 
 early times, and stimulated the development of high 
 excellence in their management. This excellence is still 
 maintained, and many of the influences potent against 
 housekeeping twenty years ago still continue nearly as 
 powerful as ever. 
 
 The City hotel, a building of adobe a story and a half 
 high, on the south-west corner of Clay and Kearny, 
 erected in 1847, was the first house of the kind in San 
 Francisco. It was superseded in 1849 by the St. Fran- 
 cis, a three-story wooden structure, on the south-west 
 corner of Clay and Bupont. This was for nearly two 
 years the most fashionable hotel, and after it came ;i 
 multitude of houses, among which the Oriental, a four- 
 story wooden building on the south-west coiner of Bush 
 and Battery, in 1851 gained the favor of wealthy fami- 
 lies, and managed to maintain it for ten years. The 
 Tehama house, a two-story frame on the site of the pres- 
 ent bank of California, had the patronage of the ann\ 
 officers; and the International, a brick house on the 
 
 20 
 
450 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 north side of Jackson street, where Montgomery avenue 
 now runs, had the favor of travelers. The Rassette 
 house, of wood, burned down in 1853, was rebuilt, then 
 changed to the Metropolitan hotel, torn down, rebuilt, 
 and called the Cosmopolitan, not a hotel now. 
 
 The rapid growth of the city after 1860, in conse- 
 quence of the settlement of the land titles south of Cal- 
 ifornia street about that time, was accompanied by the 
 construction of larger and finer hotels than any before 
 seen in California. The Russ, the Lick, the Cosmopol- 
 itan, and the Occidental, were finished and opened within 
 three years. The Grand was completed in 1869, the 
 Palace in 1875, and the Baldwin in 1877. The Palace 
 is reputed to be the largest, most costly, and most com- 
 modious hotel in the world, and if it does not deserve 
 the repute, has at least few equals. Together, the six 
 hotels last mentioned can accommodate about four thou- 
 sand guests. 
 
 Many of the patrons of these houses are families who 
 remain as permanent boarders from year to year. All 
 save the Russ are now considered first-class hotels, en- 
 titled to rank with the best in New York. These and 
 seven second-class hotels had 2614 new guests arriving 
 in a week in March, 1875, equivalent to 136,000 in a 
 year. The boarding-houses are numerous, and many of 
 them large and commodious. 
 
 Sec. 238. Millionaires. San Francisco has prob- 
 ably more millionaires in proportion to the number of 
 inhabitants than any other city, and at the same time 
 has fewer paupers, more land-owners, and more comfort 
 
GENERA L I TIES. .] r, 1 
 
 in the homes of the multitude. The remarkable accu- 
 mulation of wealth in the hands of a few has not impov- 
 erished their immediate neighbors. Leland Stanford, 
 C. P. Huntington, Charles Crocker, and the late Mark 
 Hopkins, were merchants in Sacramento in very mod- 
 erate circumstances when congress gave its vast sub- 
 sidies to the Central Pacific railroad company, and laid 
 the foundations of their fortunes. The late D. D. Col- 
 ton, associated with them, began life in California as 
 deputy-sheriff of Siskiyou county, then became a lawyer, 
 but made much of his wealth by the increase in the 
 value of land bought at the sale of the Broderick estate. 
 Peter Donahue, owner of the Petaluma Valley railroad 
 was an engineer on an ocean steamship, established the 
 first foundry of San Francisco, and after the great fires 
 of 1850 and 1851 obtained at very low prices large quan- 
 tities of old iron that was afterwards sold at a great ad- 
 vance. J. C. Flood and the late W. S. O'Brien kept a 
 bar until accident led them into the stock market, and in 
 less than five years after they sold out their bar they 
 were among the richest of men. J. W. Mackey and J. 
 (x. Fair, their partners, had been miners. Win. Sharon 
 had lived in San Francisco fifteen years before he became 
 wealthy, and within a few years after he became agent 
 of the Bank of California at Virginia City, he was re- 
 ported to be worth $25,000,000. At that time the bank 
 loaned large sums on mining stocks, and Ralston, the 
 manager, being engaged in stock speculations, wanted an 
 acute man at the mines to send him confidential inform- 
 ation. Sharon had all the qualities needed for the posi- 
 
452 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 tion, and was lucky in having obtained a local reputation 
 for capacity, as well as control of a large capital belong- 
 ing to the bank before the opening of the Crown Point 
 and Belcher bonanza, of the discovery of which he was 
 one of the first to hear and of the progress of which he 
 had the earliest information. The finding of a large 
 deposit of rich ore makes a demand for money among 
 the miners and others acquainted with the facts, and 
 when these men solicit loans the capitalist to whom they 
 apply is usually made their confidant. 
 
 John P. Jones had been a miner, and was superin- 
 tendent of the Crown Point mine when its bonanza was 
 discovered. He bought thousands of shares at three 
 dollars, and held them till they sold for a hundred times 
 as much. By his advice his brother-in-law, Alvinza 
 Hay ward, made some millions out of the same stock. 
 Hayward had previously become a millionaire out of a 
 gold quartz mine at Sutter Creek, where he had strug- 
 gled for years in poverty before he succeeded in getting 
 at the buried wealth. E. J. Baldwin kept a livery sta- 
 ble before he tried speculating in mining stocks, and for 
 a long time fortune did not smile on him ; but he was 
 lucky enough to get hold of a large number of shares in 
 the Ophir and Mexican mines just before the opening of 
 the Consolidated Virginia bonanza in 1873, and he 
 made millions by selling at the right time. James R. 
 Keene, now in New York, sold milk as a boy in Shasta, 
 and afterwards had a hard time as a curbstone broker in 
 San Francisco for years, but managed to catch the tide 
 of fortune at its flood, and is credited with possessing 
 half a dozen millions. 
 
GENERALITIES. 453 
 
 D. 0. Mills, now president of the bank of California, 
 is one of the oldest and most prudent bankers in the 
 state, and owes eight or ten millions to strict observance 
 of sound business rules. John Parrott, American con- 
 sul at Mazatlan when gold was discovered at Coloma, is 
 one of the few millionaires of California who brought 
 much money with him, though he has increased his cap- 
 ital probably fifty fold in the meantime. M. S. Latham, 
 ex-manager of the London and San Francisco bank, was a 
 lawyer, has been collector, governor, and federal sena- 
 tor, and is the most scholarly of those who have been 
 San Francisco millionaires, for he holds that position no 
 longer. Lloyd Tevis, J. B. Haggin, and the late 
 Michael Reese have made much of their fortunes out of 
 loans. Charles Lux and Henry Miller commenced life 
 as butcher-boys, and now have landed estates that 
 princes might envy. W. S. Chapman bought large areas 
 of the plain in Stanislaus and Merced counties, east of 
 the San Joaquin river, from the federal government 
 about 18G7, just before the general public discovered that 
 that, region was destined to be one of the chief centers 
 of agricultural wealth in the state, and much of the 
 land then bought with scrip at a cost to him of less than 
 a dollar in coin an acre, has since been in demand at 
 twenty dollars, and has in the meantime paid a large 
 interest for pasturage or tillage. .1. M. Shatter obtained 
 large tracts of land as payment for legal services, and 
 his ranch at Point Reyes is the finest dairy estate in 
 America. John Sullivan was a bricklayer, and was en- 
 riched by the rise in city land. The millionaire estates 
 
454 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 of J. L. Folsom and Thomas 0. Larkin have disap- 
 peared. 
 
 The law and custom of California do not favor the 
 perpetuation of large estates. There is no law of 
 primogeniture or practice of entail, nor is any favor 
 shown by public opinion to either. Without them, es- 
 pecially in a country where there is so much speculation 
 as here, the maintenance of great wealth in any family 
 for many generations is not probable, and the people 
 accept the situation. Nearly all the rich men are proud 
 of the fact that they have made their own fortunes, and 
 they are willing that their remote descendants should 
 commence life as they did. They do not worry them- 
 selves about their inability to transmit their wealth in a 
 lump to distant times as the support of a family to wear 
 their own names in honor. 
 
 Sec. 239. Extravagance. Of all people, the most 
 extravagant are the Californians. They not only spend 
 more absolutely because they earn more, but they spend 
 more relatively. The great motive of economy, fear of 
 the future, is much weaker here than elsewhere. A 
 large part of the population are solitary men, who think 
 that no matter what pecuniary loss may overtake them, 
 they can alw r ays earn a living and soon accumulate a 
 little money again. Poverty is not accompanied by the 
 same privations or the same social discredit here as in 
 older communities. The Californian who has conducted 
 himself as a gentleman, knows that many of his old ac- 
 quaintances, even if they were not his friends when he 
 was prosperous, will give him aid in his need. It is not 
 
GENERALITIES. 455 
 
 in them to turn their backs; sentiment and custom re- 
 quire them to be generous. The frequency of the great 
 and sudden changes from poverty to wealth, and from 
 wealth to poverty, breeds a feeling of obligation to one 
 another. Many unfortunates do not get the benefits of 
 this mutual helpfulness, but others do, and it influences 
 the general mode of life. 
 
 The high wages, the high rates of interest, the high 
 profits of many kinds of business, the great concen- 
 tration of wealth, the high average of intelligence and 
 the frequency of visits to the great cities on both 
 sides of the Atlantic, bred a fondness for luxury, in 
 which San Francisco far surpasses any city of equal size 
 anywhere. A San Franciscan lady who had an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the private apartments of the Empress 
 Eugenie when abandoned by her after the battle of Se- 
 dan, said that in convenience and elegance of furniture 
 they were inferior to many bedchambers of our city ; 
 and yet they were reputed to be more costly than any 
 other in Europe. Each class here has better houses, 
 better furniture, better tables, better clothes than the 
 same class in American cities on the Atlantic slope. It 
 also spends more in amusements. This implies the 
 prevalence of extravagance, the custom of making sac- 
 rifices for appearances, and a notably inferior degree <»i 
 economy. Something of this is due to the habits estab- 
 lished during the early times when money was more 
 abundant among the multitude than now; and some- 
 thing also to the prominence of speculation, which stim- 
 ulates to immediate enjoyment, with little regard to 
 
456 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 remote contingencies. San Francisco, while confi- 
 dently claiming a great future, is pre-eminently, in its 
 spirit, a city of the present. In business, as in pleas- 
 ure, prompt returns are demanded. 
 
 The tendency of the business of California toward 
 speculation has the effect of stimulating people to im- 
 mediate enjoyment. Before the completion of the 
 telegraph across the continent, merchandising was full 
 of large risks and sudden turns. A few weeks might 
 see a change from a scarcity to a glut, or from a glut 
 to a scarcity. There was no regularity in prices or 
 supplies. After the opening of the Comstock Lode, 
 the shares were thrown into the San Francisco mar- 
 ket, and by their remarkable fluctuations, became its 
 most remarkable feature. The rapid rise in city lots 
 and agricultural lands, under the impulse of great ad- 
 ditions to the population, added to the fondness for 
 bold pecuniary ventures. Never did any country offer 
 baits so numerous or so seductive to the gambling ap- 
 petite, which is strong in human nature, and usually 
 breaks out fiercely wherever it has a chance. 
 
 The spirit of '49 has not died out. Many of those 
 who were here in the flush era of the early placer 
 mining have not freed themselves from its influence. 
 Our local experience has proved that nothing does so 
 much to ruin men, generally, as a sudden change to 
 high wages. There never was a more extravagant, 
 wasteful and dissipated set of men than the old placer 
 miners. They who had been sober and industrious, 
 and had saved money when they earned sixteen dollars 
 
GENERALITIES. 457 
 
 a month, before corning to California, became idle and 
 drunken, and saved nothing when they earned two 
 hundred dollars. They spent as fast as they made 
 their money. This was not the universal rule, but the 
 custom was more common than elsewh -r \ Poverty 
 is the mother of economy. The barren soil of Scot- 
 land and New England, and the pitiful little farms of 
 France, are the best breeding places for thrift. Wel- 
 lington said that a French army could subsist in com- 
 fort, and a Spanish army in luxury, witli supplies on 
 which an English army would starve. 
 
 The evidences of Californian extravagance are to be 
 seen on every side. The dwellings, furniture, tables, 
 and dress of the people, indicate very liberal expendi- 
 ture. San Francisco has the reputation of buying 
 the most costly wines, cigars and silks. A saying, 
 not deserving to be dignified as a proverb, declares 
 that "New York dresses better than Paris, and San 
 Francisco better than New York." The magnificent 
 hotels and the palaces of a dozen millionaires are un- 
 surpassed, if equaled by anything' short of royalty in 
 the luxury of their appointments. There is a large 
 demand for the best that can be had. California con- 
 sumes twenty thousand dozen of genuine sparkling 
 wine annually, and the Atlantic slope, with fifty times 
 as many people, does not consume seven times as 
 much champagne. California uses sixty pounds of 
 sugar to the person in a year, the Atlantic slope 
 twenty-five, Great Britain forty, Franco and Holland 
 each twenty, and Italy seven. Coffee is sold to the 
 
458 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 extent of one pound each for the inhabitants in Great 
 Britain and Italy, three pounds in France, seven in 
 Holland and the Atlantic states, and ten in this state. 
 Of tea, the average Californian drinks six pounds in 
 a twelvemonth, the other American two; the Briton 
 four; the Frenchman and Italian less than a quarter 
 of a pound. The figures for the consumption of many- 
 other articles of comfort and luxury are incomplete, a 
 large proportion of our imports coming through New 
 York, and paying duty there, and being forwarded to 
 California under circumstances that leave no oppor- 
 tunity to ascertain their value or amount. Though we 
 consume largely of foreign goods imported at New 
 York, with one fiftieth of the population, we pay one 
 thirtieth of the customs at San Francisco; and the 
 average consumption of foreign -products is at least 
 twice as great here as on the Atlantic slope. The 
 extravagance is not confined to a few ; it is character- 
 istic of the community generally ; and it is worse, rela- 
 tively, among the poor than the rich. Many of the 
 wealthy families owe their wealth to simplicity of 
 life more than to large gains. 
 
 Sec. 240. Social Spirit. As we have little hered- 
 itary wealth, and most of our great fortunes have 
 been made for their present possessors within a brief 
 time, by bold investments or lucky speculations, and 
 not by occupations requiring much erudition or re- 
 finement, so the millionaires and their families are in 
 some cases ignorant of many fashionable usages. 
 Nowhere else will such bad manners be found in 
 
GENERALITIES. 439 
 
 families possessing so much wealth, Pcefinement is 
 the growth of time. People bred in poverty are gen- 
 erally ignorant of many habits familiar to the rich, 
 and when they acquire wealth, the rudeness of their 
 early life often sticks to them. Several generations 
 of inherited wealth, or at least comfortable ease, arc 
 necessary to confer a high social polish on some 
 families. This inheritance is lacking among our mill- 
 ionaires, as a class, and so far California is at a dis- 
 advantage. 
 
 High education is not prized so much here as it is 
 in many Eastern cities. In Boston a circle of nabobs 
 feels uncomfortable unless it has some literary celeb- 
 rities. Fashion demands a few authors at a social 
 gathering as a needful spice. The man who can write 
 a taking book or magazine article, or deliver a scien- 
 tific lecture is regarded as one of the attractions of the 
 city, and of any circle which he may favor with his 
 presence. High education there is usually the prop- 
 erty of those who have good social positions; and it is 
 often the means of obtaining a large income. Literary 
 and scientific eminence have less pecuniary and social 
 value here than in the East. 
 
 Nevertheless, money is less worshipped, and the 
 man is more respected for his moral and intellectual 
 worth here than anywhere else. The charge against 
 California, as compared with the Atlantic states, is a 
 repetition of the one made against those status by 
 European writers. They complained of the almighty 
 dollar; they accused the Americans of being a sordid, 
 
460 
 
 grovelling, money -getting, grossly material nation, 
 but they have become tired of the accusation. They 
 see that the Americans are the most extravagant of 
 all people, the most remote from miserly feeling. The 
 charge of money worship is based on misconceptions. 
 The natural wealth of the country, the relative sparse- 
 ness of population, the extensive use of machinery, 
 the large tide of immigration, the general education 
 of the people, and the respectability of labor and busi- 
 ness, have given facilities for making fortunes much 
 more easily and rapidly than were to be found in the 
 old world; and, therefore, there was more inducement 
 for men to devote themselves to business. The 
 wealthiest people were occupied with money-making 
 in occupations which the wealthy people in Europe 
 had decided to be discreditable. That was the main 
 proof of the pretended sordidness of American society. 
 It was no proof; it was not even evidence; it did 
 not bear on the main point at issue. The rich Eng- 
 lishman assumed that commerce and mechanical trades 
 are sordid occupations, and that a country where they 
 are held in honor must be sordid. These assumptions 
 were narrow prejudices; and wherever they are ac- 
 cepted, there intellect and morals are relatively less 
 esteemed than where rejected. They are accepted in 
 Europe ; they are rejected to a great extent in the 
 Atlantic states ; they are rejected to a still greater 
 degree in California. European society is divided 
 into half a dozen different strata, based mainly on 
 occupation; and the members of each strata refuse to 
 
GENERALITIES. 4G1 
 
 associate with those below them. The position of 
 these strata is regulated to a large extent by the esti- 
 mate of their general pecuniary conditions. The in- 
 dividual counts for little; the class counts for much. 
 
 In Europe, and to a considerable extent in the 
 Atlantic states, manual labor excludes a man from 
 fashionable society, and he who once supported him- 
 self by hard work can never get rid of its stigma in 
 the opinion of fashionable people, no matter how 
 rich he may become. Wherever such prejudices pre- 
 vail, there the man is measured by a false standard. 
 They have less influence here than anywhere else. 
 The sand-shoveler and the millionaire may change 
 places to-morrow, and they know it; so the former 
 does not usually cringe nor the other strut when they 
 meet. They measure each other fairly; each has had 
 his ups and downs; each pays the respect due to the 
 character rather than to the money of the other. 
 
 Nearly all the rich men and their wives commenced 
 their adult lives with little save a common school edu- 
 cation, some without even that; and they had t<> learn 
 of late years what luxury is, and how it is enjoyed else- 
 where by those accustomed to it from childhood. They 
 have traveled; their money lias secured admission to 
 the homes of the fashionable in the Atlantic states 
 and Europe; they have observed closely and imitated 
 well; and while here and their one has shown a weak 
 vanity and made a vulgar display of riches, a- a gen- 
 eral rule the Californian millionaires have worn their 
 wealth modestlv, and have not been ashamed of their 
 
462 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 early poverty, or forgetful of their early friends. So 
 many are now poor who a few years since were rich, 
 and so many rich who a few years since were poor, so 
 many rich people have near relatives among the poor, 
 and there are so many possibilities, if not probabilities, 
 of great change in the future pecuniary positions, that 
 social lines are not drawn according to wealth and 
 occupation, or are drawn less strictly here than else- 
 where. The man counts more, and the occupation, 
 family and wealth less socially here than elsewhere. 
 
 Sec. 241. Swarming Out. San Francisco early 
 became a central hive from which men swarmed out 
 to other places in the basin of the Pacific, and carried 
 progress and powerful influence with them. Har- 
 greaves who had sailed back through the Golden Gate 
 to his former home discovered the placers of Australia. 
 From San Francisco went bands of adventurers to ex- 
 plore the placers of Peru, New Granada, Honduras, 
 various parts of Mexico, British Columbia, Idaho and 
 Arizona. Meiggs, who became the leading railroad 
 builder of South America, was a graduate of the 
 Californian metropolis. The same city furnished E. 
 D. Baker, a federal senator to Oregon, and J. P. 
 Jones and Wm. Sharon to Nevada in the same capa- 
 city, and many of their leading men to Arizona, 
 Washington, Utah, British Columbia and the 
 Hawaiian Islands. In the civil war, the former 
 residents of the golden city held some of the highest 
 positions on both sides. Virginia city is half colony 
 and half suburb of the sunset metropolis. 
 
GENERALITIES. 4G3 
 
 Sec. 242. Governmental Defects. Although the 
 municipal administration while under control of the 
 people's or taxpayer's party for nearly twenty years 
 after the reform introduced by the influence of the 
 vigilance committee of 1856, had its admirable feat- 
 ures, and both democrats and republicans elected 
 many able and honest men to federal, state and city 
 office, still when we look back, the general impres- 
 sion remains that the American government, as ob- 
 served in its workings in San Francisco for the last 
 quarter of a century, abounds with most serious de- 
 fects. The management of the conventions of both 
 the national parties has been to a great extent con- 
 fided to men, many of whom were considered suspi- 
 cious, if not notoriously dishonest. Most of the 
 federal senators who reached a dictatorship, more or 
 less qualified in their respective parties, and controlled 
 or tried to control the federal patronage of the state, 
 regarded the maintenance of their power and the gain- 
 ing of influence to aid them in re-election or in other 
 political advancement as the first consideration, in the 
 distribution of the federal honors and profits, and were 
 ready to turn out the official who refused to pay his 
 personal court, or to render his personal service at 
 needful occasions. The positions that could not be 
 properly filled without experience and without the 
 permanence that is one of the first demands of 
 prudent business, have been treated as public plunder, 
 the enjoyment of which by any one individual for 
 more than four years was a wrong to others who had 
 
 
464: HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 done as much work for the party, often dirty work, 
 and could not be deprived of their equal share of the 
 spoils without danger of a revolt. Wherever the 
 national political organizations have had control, no 
 matter what their name or who their leader, we see 
 the same management of the primary elections or 
 ward meetings by a few professional politicians; a 
 similar large proportion of absolutely disreputable 
 men in the conventions; the same submission to such 
 associations as if they were inevitable, by men of su- 
 perior capacity; the same distribution of the offices as 
 rewards for partisan service; the same brief tenure; 
 the same disposition to shield from exposure any 
 fraud committed by an official of their own party; the 
 same silence among the leaders about the corrupting 
 influence of rotation, and the other features of the 
 spoils system; and the same tendency to distribute 
 the profitable offices among those who would be use- 
 ful lackeys, or at least submissive followers of the 
 leader, or a small ring of leaders. 
 
 The average legislator and member of congress in 
 California have favored every abuse that would 
 strengthen their influence in the conventions of their 
 party, or pay a large revenue to their intimate friends. 
 They fawned upon the powerful, assisted fraud in 
 plundering the treasury, and oppressed the helpless 
 victims of popular prejudice at every opportunity. 
 Whenever two classes of the population had conflicting 
 interests which could be affected by legislation, and 
 which were introduced as issues into the political cam- 
 
GENERALITIES. 465 
 
 paign, and one of the classes had no votes, or rela- 
 tively few, the politicians sided with the other. N<> 
 senator, no governor, no congressman ever raised his 
 voice in protest against the wrong to individuals, or 
 the injury to the state, unless there was a fair prosp< 
 that he would gain more votes at the near elections by 
 his speech than by his silence. In the course of years 
 the hostility to the French miners, to the Spanish 
 grant holders, to the equal taxation of mining prop- 
 erty, to the sale of the mines, and to negro testimony 
 in cases affecting white men, were exhausted by the 
 the change of circumstances, and then leading politi- 
 cians denounced the wrongs, when they could indulge 
 their sympathies without losing votes, or pretend to 
 have sympathies that would add to their popularity. 
 There has always been great zeal for freedom and the 
 common rights of humanity when its exhibition would 
 catch votes. 
 
 In no case has the legislature shown any magna- 
 nimity or high devotion to justice; though if has often 
 made loud pretensions when it saw a prospect of profit. 
 It devised plans df oppression which the governor, the 
 state courts, or the federal government frustrated 
 Not less than fifty times "within a quarter of a century 
 it has attempted great frauds upon the people, and has 
 been defeated by the gubernatorial veto or by judicial 
 decree. The governors of ( California have usually been 
 men without any very high moral or intellectual 
 character, but they were so far above the predominant 
 level of the legislatures, and were held to such a dii 
 
 30 
 
4:66 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 and undivided responsibility by public opinion, that 
 the veto power entrusted to them has been of inesti- 
 mable value in the protection of the community against 
 legislative fraud and recklessness. 
 
 Sec. 243. Literature and Art, The elements of 
 literary activity are numerous in San Francisco, and 
 a good foundation has been laid for successful author- 
 ship in the future. The children are well educated; 
 the habit of reading much and in good books is gen- 
 eral; the predominant tone of society is intellectual; 
 much of the original as well as of the extracted matter 
 in the daily journals is well written, so that a good 
 standard of taste has been established in the popular 
 mind; and the public libraries are large, well selected 
 and well patronized. An academy of sciences, a 
 microscopical society, and various other scientific as- 
 sociations have for years been accumulating knowl- 
 edge, and much study has been given to the geology, 
 botany, zoology and meteorology of the state. The 
 wealth of the city has made a market for pictures, and 
 half a dozen painters of much merit have established 
 their permanent homes here; most of them giving 
 their attention to landscape, for which abundant 
 material is offered by the grand and varied scenery of 
 the state. A few good figure pieces have been pro- 
 duced here, and many have been obtained from Eu- 
 rope. Few American cities are relatively better pro- 
 vided with distinguished modern paintings. The art 
 association gives two exhibitions annually. 
 
 Although San Francisco has no native authors, the 
 
GENERALITIES. 4G7 
 
 city has produced meritorious works in the depart- 
 ments of history, science, jurisprudence, prose romance, 
 poetry, travels, and humorous essay; but they are not 
 high enough in general merit to deserve special men- 
 tion in a brief historical record like this. As a class 
 the humorous writers have made the most fame, and 
 among these are F. B. Harte, Samuel Clemens (Mark 
 Twain), and G. H. Derby (Phoenix). Harte gained 
 his reputation beyond the limits of California by "The 
 Heathen Chinee," some verses which owed their suc- 
 cess not to their poetical merit, for they had none, but 
 to their satire of the popular prejudice against the 
 celestial immigrants. They called attention to better 
 things that had been allowed to pass without notice, 
 and in a few months he became one of the celebrities 
 of the time and the founder of a new school of slangy 
 fiction. 
 
 One of the most meritorious literary works done in 
 California, though not the likely to be appreciated at 
 a distance immediately, or ever by general readers. Is 
 the codification of the civil, penal and political law <»f 
 the state. Most of the sections arc copied from the 
 codes framed, though not adopted, in New York, but 
 there is enough new matter based on careful researches 
 and original thought to give a genuine Californian 
 character to the legal syst< m, which will probably be 
 copied in many of the other stat 
 
 California, and especially San Francisco, where 
 nearly all the authors reside, has made valuable con- 
 tributions to many branches of literature. Among the 
 
468 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 names of the law writers are H. W. Hal leek, Gregory 
 Yale, John Proffatt, A. C. Freeman; among the med- 
 ical writers, L. C. Lane and H. H. Toland; among the 
 historical writers, John W. Dwindle, Franklin Tut- 
 hill, and H. H. Bancroft; among the writers of books 
 of travels and adventure, John F. Swift, C. W. Stod- 
 dard, Dr. Stillman, Theodore H. Hittell, and Josephine 
 Clifford; and among the humorists, Bret Harte, Sam- 
 uel Clemens (Mark Twain), and George H. Derby, 
 who first wrote over the signature of Squibob and 
 afterwards of Phoenix; and among the descriptive 
 writers, B. P. Avery, B. E. Lloyd, and C. B. Turrill. 
 "The Native Paces of the Pacific States," by H. H. 
 Bancroft, is an archaeological work upon which a vast 
 amount of research has been expended; and the "Amer- 
 ican Decisions/' a compilation of the reports of the 
 supreme courts of all the American states from 1775 
 to 1869, to fill seventy-five large volumes, edited by 
 John Proffatt, and published in San Francisco, is one 
 of the leading literary enterprises of our time; and 
 H. H. Bancroft is now engaged upon another of still 
 greater magnitude in the amount of literary labor re- 
 quired, an elaborate history of the western slope of our 
 continent. 
 
 Edward Pollock combined vigorous poetic fire with 
 correct taste, and several of his pieces deserve to be 
 counted among the best produced in our state, if not 
 in our continent. Though " Evening " is inferior to 
 many of his other poems, we make an extract from it 
 on account of its local character: 
 
EXE RA L I TIES. 4G0 
 
 The air is chill and the clay grows late, 
 
 And the clouds come in through the Golden Gate; 
 
 Phantom fleets they seem to me, 
 
 From a shoreless and unsounded sea; 
 
 Their shadowy spars and misty sails, 
 
 Unshattered, have weathered a thousand gales; 
 
 Slow wheeling, lo! in squadrons gray, 
 
 They part and hasten along the bay, 
 
 Each to its anchorage finding way. 
 
 Where the hills of Saucelito swell, 
 
 Many in gloom may shelter well; 
 
 And others — behold ! unchallenged pass 
 By the silent guns of Alcatraz; 
 No greetings of thunder and flame exchange 
 The armed isle and the cruisers strange. 
 Their meteor flags, so widely blown, 
 Were blazoned in a land unknown; 
 So charmed from war, or wind, or tide, 
 Along the quiet wave they glide. 
 
 Frank Soule, whose name and writings are familiar 
 to Californians, especially the early residents, has 
 written much that has been received with high favor. 
 " Watching beside Him" is one of his best piea 
 
 The leaves turn yellow on the mournful willow, 
 
 November's waves are sighing on the shore; 
 And there's a fading cheek upon the pillow, 
 
 That shall feel health no more. 
 The leaves are falling and my friend is dying, 
 
 Comes the destroyer nearer day by day, 
 And like the leaves on Autumn's breezes Hying, 
 
 His poor life flits away. 
 But now the foliage and his life were vernal, 
 
 How soon their Spring and Summer glow hath fled] 
 I would have had their beauty made eternal — 
 Ah me! but dust instead! 
 
470 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 The leaves have fallen! on the Autumn eddies, 
 
 The last pale spectres float and disappear, 
 And one poor body — there his quiet bed is — 
 
 Is all that's left me here. 
 All that is left me of his manly powers, 
 
 All that is left of life so good and brief, 
 All faded like the first frost-bitten flowers, 
 
 And Autumn's withered leaf. 
 In night's dark hours his spirit spread her pinions, 
 
 Left in our clinging arms alone his form, 
 Heaven lighted through the dark's obscure dominions, 
 The starless gloom and storm. 
 
 While by his faded form so sad and lonely, 
 
 I sit, O mighty Monarch, I implore: 
 Tell me, is life but this, this tell me only 
 
 This and no more ? 
 A few fair hopes, that never can be real, 
 
 A few joys passing like the fleeting breath ? 
 Is immortality but an ideal 
 
 That terminates with death? 
 Of all I loved so much, so dearly treasured, 
 
 His manly beauty and his comely grace, 
 By this dear faded form may life be measured, 
 And this pale, silent face ? 
 
 There comes no answer, though my heart is crying, 
 
 No message from the spirit gone before, 
 I hear, instead, the yeasty waves replying 
 
 In sobs upon the shore. 
 I hear the night-winds in the branches toning, 
 
 Or rustling with the sere and fallen leaf, 
 Their sad responses to my inward moaning, 
 
 In pity to my grief. 
 And so in loneliness, and doubt, and sorrow, 
 I listen to each night hour's lagging tread, 
 And silent wait the coming of to-morrow, 
 In watch beside the dead. 
 
GENERALITIES. 471 
 
 Charles Warren Stoddard, who of late years has 
 neglected the muses, has shown in his earlier life de- 
 cided poetical talent, though there is always a promise 
 of more than he has yet accomplished. These lines 
 are his : 
 
 When my little love at purple dusk, 
 
 Trips out upon the lawn among the flowers, 
 The blushing roses quiver in their musk, 
 
 Love-smitten through; the feathery fragrant showers 
 Of snow-white blossoms drift upon the grass, 
 Kissing her whispering footsteps as they pass. 
 
 When my little love at evening's hush, 
 
 Goes dancing down the dell with laugh and song, 
 
 The slumbering echoes waken and a gush 
 Of silvery voices greets her, and along 
 
 The dewy clusters of the trailing vines 
 
 In music mingles, murmurs and repines. 
 
 Among our poets InaD. Coolbrith has a high place, 
 and various pieces from her pen will probably be pre- 
 served to distant times. The person who ean read 
 without being touched her lines entitled " The Moth- 
 er's Grief," is not to be envied: 
 
 So fair the sun rose, y ester-morn, 
 
 The mountain cliffs adorning! 
 The golden tassels of the corn 
 
 Danced in the breath of morning; 
 The cool, clear stream that runs before, 
 
 Such happy words was saying; 
 And in the open cottage door 
 
 My pretty babe was playing. 
 Aslant the sill a sunbeam lay — 
 
 I laughed in careless pleasure, 
 To see his little hand essay 
 To grasp the shining treasure. 
 
472 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 To-day no shafts of golden flame 
 
 Across the sill are lying; 
 To-day I call my baby's name, 
 
 And hear no lisped replying; 
 To-day — ah, bab} r mine, to-day — 
 
 God holds thee in .his keeping! 
 And yet I weep, as one pale ray 
 
 Breaks in upon thy sleeping; 
 I weep to see its shining* bands 
 
 Keach, with a fond endeavor, 
 To where the little restless hands 
 
 Are crossed in rest forever ! 
 
 Many pages of the most distinguished poets are 
 filled with lines inferior in depth of feeling and merit 
 of versification to that little piece. 
 
 Josephine Walcott longed in her early youth to visit 
 California, and having now made her home in the 
 state, thus addresses it : 
 
 It haunted me amid the sunrise splendor — 
 
 A golden dream of sunset and of thee; 
 'Mid dusky woodlands or by shining rivers, 
 On granite hilltops, or by Orient sea. 
 
 ***** 
 Fair land of sunset, my young dream fulfilling — 
 
 For I have followed thy sweet thought, O youth! 
 And from thy purple hills and golden heather 
 
 Shall sing new bards, with grand prophetic truth. 
 
 Thy seas shall bear white ships to safest harbor; 
 
 Thy valleys yield sweet wealth of fruit and grain; 
 Thy regal hillsides glow with purple vintage; 
 
 Thy tender skies fall Summer sun and rain. 
 
 Thy sons shall be as gods of classic story; 
 
 Thy regal daughters noble, fair and strong. 
 From thy new world shall rise immortal heroes, 
 
 O golden land of labor , art and song! 
 
QENERALITn i7.5 
 
 Emilie Lawson is another swee< singer of whom 
 
 California may be proud. She writes with an even 
 inspiration, when she does write, but, like many oth- 
 ers, finds little leisure for the indulgence of poetic 
 fancy. The following, entitled "What Does it Mat- 
 ter ?" is from her pen: 
 
 What does it matter, dear, though I go soon, 
 
 Before the golden cups are gathered all; 
 Before the burning heat of Summer noon, 
 
 Or the cold storm of Autumn-time shall fall; 
 What does it matter ? If I sooner go, 
 
 Wearing unfaded violets on my breast — 
 With loaded wains, the reapers, tired and slow, 
 Will sighing pass the grasses o'er my rest, 
 And sighing, drop a tear — 
 What will it matter, dear? 
 
 What will it matter, sweet, if I grow old, 
 
 And Summer's pleasant fields grow bleak and bare, 
 A few brief days of sunshine or of cold, 
 
 A few short hours of pleasure or of care? 
 What will it matter if I wearier stay 
 
 To reap the fruitage of the sober Fall, 
 To put the earlier gathered flowers away; 
 
 What is the gain or loss if, after all, 
 
 A little longer stay my feet— 
 What will it matter, sweet? 
 
 What matters it, dear heart, if far or near 
 
 Waits the Death Angel — noiselessly and dumb; 
 For, if I stay, love-fetters bind me here, 
 
 And, if I go, dear voices whisper, Come! 
 Though dark and thick the shadows intervene, 
 
 The clouds are sometimes rifted, \uu\ I see 
 The beautiful dim vale that lies between 
 
 The world that is and that which is to be — 
 Only a step apart — 
 What matters it, dear heart ? 
 
474 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 Joaquin Miller shows in many passages that he has 
 strong poetical talent; but his works are uneven, and 
 most of them are published prematurely, without the 
 patient polish. We have not at hand any of the pas- 
 sages that have seemed to us to be his best, and for a 
 quotation we must be content with the following trib- 
 ute to the local pride of our state : 
 
 Dared I but say a prophecy, 
 As sung the holy men of old, 
 Of rock-built cities yet to be 
 Along those shining shores of gold, 
 Crowding athirst into the sea, 
 What wondrous marvels might be told! 
 Enough to know that empire here 
 Shall burn her loftiest brightest star; 
 Here art and eloquence shall reign, 
 As o'er the wolf-reared realm of old; 
 Here learned and famous from afar, 
 To pay their noble court shall come, 
 And shall not seek or see in vain, 
 But look on all with wonder dumb. 
 
 Bret Harte has, in a high degree, some of the qual- 
 ities required for the successful poet, but most of his 
 verses are seriously defective in some material point. 
 
 About twenty years ago, when flumes (wooden 
 aqueducts carrying the water of mining ditches over 
 ravines sometimes two hundred feet deep) were prom- 
 inent features in the scenery and contributed much to 
 the wealth of the state, Mrs. Thomas Fitch (as her 
 name is now), wrote "The Song of the Flume," the 
 
GENERALITIES. 475 
 
 best effort to throw the charm of poetry upon any 
 branch of Californian mining industry. It says . 
 I sought the shore of the sounding sea 
 
 From the far Sierra's height, 
 "With a starry breast and a snow-capped crest, 
 
 I foamed in a path of light; 
 But they bore me thence in a winding way — 
 
 They fettered me like a slave, 
 And as serfs of old were sold for gold, 
 
 So they bartered my soil-stained wave. 
 ****** 
 Lift me aloft to the mountain brow ! 
 
 Fathom the deep blue vein ! 
 And I'll sift the soil for the shining toil, 
 
 As I sink to the valley again; 
 The swell of my swarthy breast shall bear 
 
 Pebble and rock away, 
 Though they brave my strength, they shall yield at length, 
 
 And the glittering gold shall stay. 
 
 Many others have written verses in California, at 
 least as good as some here quoted, but copies of their 
 best pieces are not within convenient reach. Among 
 the poets who are dismissed with a mere mention of 
 the name, are James F. Bowman, Daniel O'Conncll, 
 F. H. Gassaway, Mrs. E. A. Simon ton Page and Ly- 
 man Goodman. 
 
 Sec. 244. Condition in 1878. The business of 
 San Francisco is very active. In 1877 the clearingi 
 house transactions amounted to $500,000,000; the 
 stock sales (for which it was a dull year) to $120,- 
 000,000; the exports (including $73,000,000 of tn 
 ure, and §41,000,000 of merchandise) to si 14,000,000; 
 
476 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO: 
 
 the coinage to §46,000,000; the real estate sales to 
 $18,000,000; and the taxes collected to §13,771,000, 
 including §6,700,000 of duties on imports, §1,900,000 
 of federal internal revenue, §3,423,000 for the support 
 of the municipal government and §1,754,000 con- 
 tributed to the state government. The street work 
 (grading, sewering, paving, etc.) cost §1,860,000, and 
 most of this sum paid by the owners of lots fronting 
 on the streets improved is not counted in the §3,423,- 
 000 of city revenue previously mentioned. One fourth 
 of the revenue of the city, and more than a fourth of 
 that of the state, is spent in maintaining free schools. 
 The city has a debt of $3,500,000, relatively one of 
 the smallest city debts in the United States. 
 
 California has a total area of 100,000,000 acres, 
 including 30,000,000 held under private ownership, 
 20,000,000 of unoccupied federal land valuable for 
 cultivation; only 4,000,000 under cultivation, 2,500,- 
 000 bearing temperate fruit trees, 300,000 bearing 
 sub-tropical fruit trees, 400,000 English walnut and 
 almond trees; 30,000,000 grape vines; 6,000,000 
 sheep; 200 gold quartz mills; 4,000 miles of 
 mining ditches ; private property worth not less 
 than §1,000,000,000, and an industry that adds §30,- 
 000,000 annually in the shape of houses, fences, 
 roads, canals, street improvements, orchards, recla- 
 mation dykes, and so forth, to the wealth of the 
 state. She lias besides, what is worth more than all 
 her pecuniary treasuries, a population of about 875,000 
 people of the best blood and highest intelligence of 
 
GENERALITIES 177 
 
 the age; and her excellent school system and able 
 press give assurance that her inhabitants in the future 
 shall not he inferior to those iu the present. There 
 is a nominal state debt of $3,300,000, but $2,700,000 
 of this is due to certain departments of the state gov- 
 ernment, leaving 1 a true debt of onlv ^000,000. The 
 counties owe $12,000,000 of funded and floating debt, 
 and have public buildings and other property worth 
 considerably more. 
 
 Sec. 245. Conclusion. The first era of San Fran- 
 cisco was that of the Indians. They lived in a low 
 stasre of savaorism, and left no arts, no literature, no 
 legend, no institutions, no durable monuments of their 
 own designing, and no names worthy of perpetuation. 
 The red men who occupied the site of the city and its 
 vicinity in 1776, have, so far as we know, not a living 
 descendant anywhere, having died out entirely from 
 the face of the earth. 
 
 The Mission Era continued for forty -nine year-, from 
 1770 to 1835, and was a period of ecclesiastical rule, 
 in which the chief purposes of life were worship, 
 humiliation, and quiet submission to the church au- 
 thorities, without anxiety or p up 
 with the fashion, learning, or political oi intellectual 
 progress of tli e age Tho Indians learned littleofthe 
 arts of civilization, never adopl 
 
 ilv decreased in numbers, so that, unle s there bad 
 been a change in the ratio of births to deaths, the race 
 must have died out at no distant time even if it had 
 never been subjected to additional demoralizing inilu- 
 
478 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 ences of the Mexican revolution, secularization, the 
 American conquest, American immigration, and the 
 reservation system. 
 
 The Village Era beofan when the control of the mis- 
 sion property, including the whole peninsula for thirty 
 miles from the Golden Gate, was taken from the 
 friars, and given to the civil authorities. The promise 
 of the government that land, agricultural implements 
 and cattle should be furnished to the Indians was not 
 kept; the personal property disappeared in an unex- 
 plained manner, and the red men made no application 
 for lots or ranchos. Large tracts of land on the 
 peninsula were granted to the Mexican residents, who 
 lived in the pastoral condition on the produce of their 
 neat cattle, with little labor, ambition or education. 
 On the shore of Yerba Buena cove rose a village 
 which was the chief shipping port of San Francisco 
 bay under the Mexican dominion, and from the time 
 when the stars and stripes were hoisted, the chief 
 center of American business and influence on the 
 western side of our continent. 
 
 Before the title of the United States to the new 
 territory on the Pacific had been fully acknowledged, 
 the Golden Era began. The yield of the mines rose 
 for five years until it reached about $60,000,000. 
 Several hundred thousand immigrants came from the 
 shores of the Atlantic, and gave to California a popu- 
 lation unsurpassed in enterprise and intelligence. A 
 government was organized; the state admitted into 
 the Union; a metropolitan city built; and commodi- 
 ous routes of travel established, connecting San Fran- 
 
GENERALITIES. 479 
 
 cisco with the mines on one side, and New York on 
 the other. The mines being on public land, were 
 thrown open to everybody, aliens as well as citizens, 
 without charge; and the government would not sell 
 homes to those who wished to buy for the purpose of 
 settlement, so that the population became migratory 
 as a matter of necessity, and the more numerous the 
 miners, the more the district was impoverished. 
 
 The period from 1854 to 1859 inclusive, called here 
 " The Golden Era in Decline," was marked by a 
 decrease in the gold yield, which was not arrested by 
 the discovery of the vast deposits of auriferous gravel 
 in the dead rivers of the Sierra Nevada, the invention 
 of the hydraulic process of washing, and its applica- 
 tion on an immense scale, and the construction of a 
 dozen great mining ditches, which in length, supply 
 of water, height of aqueducts and boldness of en- 
 gineering design mi^ht rival some of the most famous 
 water-works of old and populous empires. The in- 
 crease of agricultural production caused a falling off 
 in the shipping and imports of San Francisco, and a 
 depression in her business. The immigration to Cali- 
 fornia across the continent, after having numbered 
 twenty thousand as an annual average for four years 
 after the gold discovery, became insignificantly small, 
 and that by sea was much reduced, though the com- 
 pletion of the Panama railroad made tin- trip cheaper 
 and more comfortable than before, though a, com- 
 parison of the arrivals and departures, showed a rela- 
 tively slight excess for the former, there was a great 
 gain in the quality of the population, for many soli- 
 
480 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 tary men were replaced by women and children who 
 gave to California social attractions previously lack- 
 ing. The political abuses which had been overlooked 
 in more prosperous times provoked the indignation of 
 good citizens and the vigilance committee of 1856, 
 the wisest, justest and most prudent association ever 
 organized to violate the law, held power for three 
 months, punished a multitude of criminals and puri- 
 fied the city government, which was then for fifteen 
 years placed in charge of officials selected under rules 
 that allowed little influence to the system of partisan 
 spoils. The southern part of the county was cut off 
 to make San Mateo, while " the city and county of 
 San Francisco," as now styled in law was organized 
 under the consolidation act. In 1858 it was reported 
 and extensively believed that gold mines, as rich and 
 extensive as those of the Sierra Nevada were in 1848, 
 had been discovered in the basin of Fraser river; and 
 so large was the migration to that region, so exten- 
 sive the preparations of others to follow, and so 
 depressed many branches of occupation, that in the 
 opinion of many persons California and San Fran- 
 cisco were about to sink, for some years at least, into 
 subordinate places in the business of the western side 
 of our continent. The failure of Adams k Co., and 
 of Page, Bacon k Co., the frauds and flight of Harry 
 Meiggs, the election of D. C. Broderick to the federal 
 senate, and his death in a duel with D. S. Terry, who 
 had resigned his office as chief justice of the supreme 
 court of the state for the purpose of resenting a public 
 insult, were other events of this era. 
 
GENERALITIES. 
 
 The last period in the history of San Francisco, from 
 I860 to 1878, is here called "The Silver Era," because 
 of the great influence exerted on the city's business by 
 the yield of bullion from the argentiferous deposits <»t 
 Nevada. The increase of grain fields, orchards, vine- 
 yards, dairies, sheep, irrigation ditches, manufactures, 
 and railroads, the connection by an iron track with the 
 Atlantic slope, the acquisition and diffusion of knowl- 
 edge about the scenery, salubrity and climate of the 
 state, and the general recognition of San Francisco as 
 one of the chief centers of luxurious enjoyment con- 
 tributed to give it a prosperity higher in many respects 
 than it had during the Hush times of placer mining, 
 have thus traced the growth of San Francisco, 
 this metropolitan prodigy, this young municipal giant, 
 from its small and rude beginnings, through a brief 
 career, to its present condition of magnitude afid mag- 
 nificence, through a record without its like elsewhere' 
 in the variety, multitude and startling character of it- 
 impressive incidents. The city, as it now stands, is an 
 embodiment of the highest enlightenment of our time, 
 one of the most brilliant products and greatest tri- 
 umphs of the industrial art, commerce, wealth and 
 intelligence of the nineteenth century, and a splendid 
 illustration of the popular energy developed under the 
 free political institutions of the United States, -insti- 
 tutions which, seriously defective as they are in some 
 important respects, have yet given a stimulus to en- 
 terprise which no people under a despotic government 
 have ever approached. 
 
 31 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 AUTHORITIES. 
 
 I give my authorities in this appendix rather than in foot-notes, but in 
 many places it is implied by the nature of events and the enterprise of the 
 newspaper press that full accounts can be found in the public journals of the 
 day. Some of my information is obtained from my own recollections, notes 
 and publications, and more from conversation with citizens who participated 
 in the events described. 
 
 Among those to whom I am indebted are Mrs. Carmen Bernal, a native of 
 San Jose, who came as a bride only fifteen yeans old, in 1819, to live at the 
 Mission, and Mr. Charles Brown, who came to San Francisco in 1S2'.). These 
 are the oldest residents of San Francisco. 
 
 I must express my obligations to the chronological tables, extending from 
 1S57 to 1877, in the directories published by H. < r. Langley, and in the Sac- 
 ramento "Union" from I860 to 187S. Similar tables appeared from 1873 to 
 1877, in the "Alta Almanac." 
 
 The following is a list of books and periodicals to which I am indebted for 
 information : 
 
 " Daily Alta California," newspaper; the "Alta California Almanac," 1868 
 to 1879. 
 
 "Annals of San Francisco," by Frank Souk'-, J. H. Gihon and James 
 Xisbet. This work gives a history of the city in the form of a diary from 
 January, 1847, to June, 1854. With many defects, it contains much interest- 
 ing information, well presented. Besides its text, it has engravings of many 
 of the notable buildings, portraits and brief biographies of pioneers, and 
 special chapters on the bounds, the vigilance committee of 1851, cemeteries, 
 churches, schools, amusements, lires, lire department, hotels, and steamer 
 days. 
 
 "Native lb-ices of the Pacific States," by II. EL Bancroft, l s 7">. 5vol& 
 
 " Daily Evening Bulletin," newspaper. 
 
 "Miii and Memories of San Francisco in fch< ". " by T. A. 
 
 P>arry and B. A. Patten, San Francisco, ]s7s. Personal reminiscences of 
 men, buildings and events, with many amusing anecdotes, written in an a_ 
 
 able style. 
 
 "Narrative of n Voyage to the Pacific, under the command of 1". \Y. 
 Beechey. London, 1831. Chapter XIII treats of the condition of the Mis- 
 sions in 1S2(5. 
 
 •• Utily Morning Call," newspaper. 
 
484 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 1 ' Our Centennial Memoir Founding of the Missions, San Francisco de Asia 
 in its hundredth year. The celebration of its foundation," compiled by P. J. 
 Thomas, San Francisco, 1877. 
 
 "Daily San Francisco Chronicle," newspaper. 
 
 Two journals of this name have flourished in San Francisco; the first es- 
 tablished in 1855, by Frank Soulc, existed till the spring of 1858; the Chroni- 
 cle now in existence was founded in 18G5, by C. & M. H. De Young. 
 
 " Directory of San Francisco, 1857," by Samuel Colville. The introduc- 
 tion is a good historical sketch of the city from 1835 to 1856. The book con- 
 tains the names of the officers of tho vigilance committee of 185C, and though 
 this list is declared on a subsequent page to be incorrect, there are few errors 
 in it. 
 
 " The Commercial Herald and Market Review." This is a weekly com- 
 mercial paper, established in 18G7, and still nourishing. The number issued 
 about the middle of January contains a comprehensive review of the com- 
 merce and general industry of the state for the preceding year. Most of the > 
 figures published in the statistical tables on a subsequent page are taken from 
 the "Herald." 
 
 "The Conquest of California," by J. M. Cutts, 1847. Mr. Cutts derives a 
 large part of the material of his work from the government records at Wash- 
 ington, and gives copies of documents not easily obtained elsewhere. 
 
 "Colonial History of San Francisco," by John W. Dwindle. Mr. Dwi- 
 ndle was counsel for the city in her suit for four square leagues of land in 
 the United States courts, and in that capacity gathered much of the informa- 
 tion hero presented, lie devotes most of his space to cvent3 that happened 
 between 1835 and 1846; and gives copies of many legal documents. 
 
 "Daily Examiner," newspaper. 
 
 "First Steamship Pioneers," edited by a committee of the association, 
 1874. A record of the voyage of the steamship " California " from Panama 
 to San Francisco in February, 1849, and of the adventures of her passengers, 
 between New' York and San Francisco, and after their arrivals. 
 
 "Life Adventures and Travels in California," by T. J. Farnham. 
 
 " A History of Upper and Lower California," by Alexander Forbes, 1839. 
 
 " A History of the Catholic Church in California," by lie v. Mr. Gleeson, 
 1S74. 
 
 "Centennial Year Book of Alameda County," by William Halley, 1876, 
 pp. 590. This volume contains a history cf Oakland. 
 
 "Resources of California," by John S. Hittell. 6th edition, 1S74. pp. 
 450. This book has comprehensive chapters on tho topography, climate, 
 salubrity, geology, botany, zoology, agriculture, mining, manufactures, com- 
 merce and society of the state. 
 
 "Hutchings' Monthly Magazine, 1857 to 1860." This publication contains 
 chronological lists of the notable events of San Francisco i:i 1S59 and 1860. 
 
 "Voyage Autour du Monde," par J. F. G. La Pcrousc, 1797. He speaks 
 of tho condition of the Indians at tho Missions without praise. 
 
 "Directory of San Francisco," by II. G. Langley, 1S5S to 187S. Mr. 
 Langley issued his first directory in 185S, and followed it with new volumes 
 at intervals of about a year. Each volume contains a chronological table of 
 events for the previous year, and gives an estimate cf tho population, and 
 new buildings, and descriptions of the most notable improvements. 
 
 " Lights and shades in San Francisco," by B. E. Lloyd, 1876. Pp. 500. 
 A description of prominent features of San Francisco life as seen in 1876. 
 Stock speculation, tho Palace Hotel, restaurants, the disreputable quarters, 
 W. C. ltalston, James Lick, street railroads, tho newspapers, the hotels, the 
 
APPEXDIX. iv, 
 
 schools, the churches, the theatre;?, the clubs, the fortifications, the chftj 
 the markets, and the cemeteries, have- each their special chapter, 
 
 "Mis \ Berieaof eleven volumes of Spanish archives in tl, 
 
 of the United States surveyor-general for California. The volnmi 
 nearly all the statistics preserved of the Mission of San Franci 
 
 "Missions and Colonization." Another series of volumes in the 
 archi 
 
 ''Hotels and Hotel Life at San Francisco," by W. L. 1870 
 
 Pp. 4 •>. 
 
 •'Municipal Reports of the City and County of San Francisco." A seri< a 
 of annual reports, commencing in 1861, giving the information for i 
 year since. The volumes are designated in the references by mention of the 
 year in which published. If for 1865-66, for instance, it was published in 
 the latter year, and is styled the report of 1800. The following referent 
 these volumes may he of service: Gas supply, 1ST"), appendix. Tab 
 grades, 1874, 683; 1S77, 033. Pueblo title, 1868. A list of rail- 
 chises, 1S74, G59; 1877, 004. Accepted street.-, i -77. 967, 101 '. M : ■• 
 eryavenu 0. Widening Dupont Btreet, 1-77. 1025. Li 
 
 lerty, 1873,618; 1877,929. Water rates, projects and litigation, II 
 000. Outside lands, 1868,549; L869, 553; LS71, -i-".». City officials I 
 1850 to 1867; 1800, 183; 1863, 285; 1867, 521. 
 
 "Exploration du Territoiro dc [/Oregon, des Californies, etc," par ; 
 do Mof ras, 1844. This work 1 I account of California as it v.. 
 
 1842, l)iit exaggerates the value of the missionary labor. 
 
 "Noticias de la Nueva California." A collection < f Spanish records of the 
 movements of the friars in Upper California, between 1700 and 17 j 
 much relating to the foundation of the Mission of San Francisc 
 Palou wrote most of their book. 
 
 "The Overland Monthly, 1 ' from July, 1SG8, to December. 1875. 
 magazine contains a number of carefully written articles upon San . 
 and California. 
 
 "The Tioneer Magazine," from January, 1854, to December, 
 sides several good articles on local topics, this magazine published a chl 
 logical list of events for the two years of it existence. 
 
 "Daily San Francisco Evening Post." In December, 1876, I 
 contained a valuable series of articles on the harbor of San 1Y. 
 work of the harbor commission, and in the fall of 1S78 a scries of remi 
 cences by Judge McGowan. 
 
 "Provincial State Papers in Spanish Archil 
 
 "Oration at the Annual Celebration of tl. 9 of Californ 
 
 in I860," by Edmund Randolph. Along and a 
 ation about the early history of ( 'alifornia. 
 
 " The Appendix " to the journ lof the 1 journal 
 
 contains tho reports of executive officers of the state administration. 
 "Adjutanl 
 
 ten regiments of California 
 of them west of the Rocky Mounta 
 
 I the California battalion which v. • 
 
 "Vida de Junii i Palou. The I 
 
 Junipero Serra, lent of rau California from 
 
 written by i Palou, his companion and friend, include 
 
 the foundation of the i 
 
 "A Voyage Round tho World," by 8 i Simpson. Simpson' 
 
 San Francisco in 1841, and gives an account of it as it was then. 
 
486 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 " Seeking the Golden Fleece," by J. D. B. Stillman, 1877. Pp. 340. This 
 volume gives an excellent account of the gold excitement in the Atlantic 
 states, the adventures of a shipload of adventurers coming round Cape Horn 
 in 1849, and life in San Francisco and the mines in 1849-50. 
 
 "History of the Public School System of California," by John Swett, 187G. 
 Pp. 250. 
 
 "The History of California," by Franklin Tuthill, I860. Pp. 640. A 
 good history, and especially full in the chapter on the vigilance committee of 
 1856. 
 
 "The Daily Sacramento Union," newspaper. 
 
 "Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific," by George Vancouver. Van- 
 couver visited San Francisco in 1792, and described the condition of the 
 Presidio. Chapter XI treats of the missions, and conveys the impression 
 that the Indians were still in a semi-savage condition. 
 
 " The United States Exploring Expedition," by George Wilkes. 
 
 REFERENCES. 
 
 Such a reference as this, " Alta, 1856, VI, 5," means "Daily Alta," 1856, 
 sixth month, fifth day; that is, June 5, 1856. The roman numerals after the 
 year indicate the number of the month, the Arabic the day. In the refer- 
 ences to books, unless otherwise marked, the roman numerals indicate the 
 volume and the Arabic the page. 
 
 For evidence that force was used in catching Indians for conversion, see 
 ' ' Beechey, " chapter XIII; ' ' Forbes, " chapter V; " Gleeson;" ' ' Vancouver, " 
 chapter XI; and "Belcher," Vol. I, Ch. V. 
 
 Dwindle in his address at the Centennial Anniversary of the foundation of 
 the Mission over-estimated the income. 
 
 Mofras (I, 320) and Dwinelle (44) in my opinion exaggerate the merits of 
 the missionary labor, and the evils of secularization. 
 
 Dwinelle (26), in his "Colonial History," says there were at the Mission of 
 San Francisco, in 1794, 724 men and women, and 189 boys and girls; in 1800, 
 575 men and women, and 69 boys and girls respectively; in 1815, 913 adults 
 and 182 minors; and in 1830, 193 adults and 26 minors. These figures imply 
 that there were never fewer than four adults for one minor, and sometimes 
 eight. In civilized nations generally there are at least five minors for four 
 adults. Mr. Dwinelle understands the Spanish word adult os, as given in the 
 mission records to mean adults. But this is a mistake. Adidtos there sig- 
 nifies persons over eight years. If the proportion between adults and minors 
 were correctly represented, the figures would prove that the influence of the 
 missions upon the life of the Indians was much more destructive than it 
 really was. 
 
 Full information about nearly all the land grants is given in Dwinelle's 
 "Colonial History." 
 
 Dwinelle, on page 78 of his "Appendix" gives a list of the people living 
 at the Mission in 1842. 
 
 The best authorities upon the conquest are "Cutts" and the "Annals." 
 The "Call " of March 11, 1877, gives a list of the residents of Yorba Buena 
 at the time of the conquest. 
 
 Governmental affairs of the city from 1849 to 1854, are treated at consid- 
 erable length, and with general accuracy in the "Annals." 
 
 Hoffman's Report contains a list of the land cases before the commission, 
 with the areas of the claims and disposition made of them. The squatter 
 law called an act to quiet titles was passed March 26, 1S56. A copy of 
 G win's supplemental land bill may be found in the "Alta," 1856, XII, 12. 
 
APPENDIX. 487 
 
 For an account of Broderick's early career see the "Chronicle" of June 
 10, 187G. 
 
 The campaign speeches of 1859, published by the "Sacramento Union," 
 contain most of the material required for a history of the senatorial election 
 of 1S57. See speeches by Broderick, reported on the eleventh, nineteenth 
 and twentieth of July; and on the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, tenth, eighteenth 
 and twenty-sixth of August; by Gwin on the fifteenth, eighteenth and twen- 
 ty-ninth of July, and on the first, second and fifteenth of August; by Latham 
 on the twenty-third of July, and on the third and twelfth of August, and by 
 Tilford on the fourth of August. A letter by Tilford that appeared on the 
 twenty-second of July, and one by Gwin on the fifteenth of August, and a 
 pamphlet by Pixley on the twenty-sixth of August, were also part of the 
 campaign. 
 
 For the early history of the Comstock lode see a series of papers published 
 in the "Mining and Scientific Press" for 187G and 1S77. The precise dates 
 can be ascertained from the index published at the end of each year. 
 
 For the early history of the Consolidated Virginia bonanza, see "Post" 
 1S7G, I, 13. 
 
 The deeds of James Lick to his trustees arc given in the " Alta Almanac " 
 of 1875, 187G and 1S77. 
 
 A history of the press of the state and a list of nearly all the papers up t) 
 that date is given in the "Sacramento Union," 1858, XII, 25. 
 
 For testimony in reference to Jtalston's use of the money of the Bank of 
 California, over-issue of stock, etc., see the "Bulletin " of July 27, 1876. 
 
 The following arc references to comprehensive articles in various publica- 
 tions: 
 
 History of the California Steam Navigation Co., "Bulletin," 1876, X, 11. 
 
 Names of Residents of Ycrba Buena in July, 184G, "Call," 1S77, III, 11. 
 
 Dividends of Gas and Water Companies, 1807-1876, "Bulletin," 1S77, IV. 
 
 List of Stars at the California Theatre, 1SG9-77, "Spirit of the Times," 
 1877, V, 5. 
 
 Blunders in the management of the public lands in California, "Alta," 
 1877, XII, 5. 
 
 Number of votes cast by the leading towns of California at the Presidential 
 election, Nov. 7, IS7G, " Alta Almanac," 1S77. 37. 
 
 History of San Francisco Cemeteries, "Call," 1877, IV, 19; V, 13. 
 
 Notable wrecks on the coast, 1S49- 1S77, "Chronicle," 1S77, IX, 23. 30. 
 
 In August and September, 1877, the "Chronicle" published a number of 
 carefully prepared articles, giving the history and production of the leading 
 Comstock mines. 
 
 History of the Supreme Court of California, "Alta Almanac for 1S74." 
 
 History of "Morning Call," newspaper; "Call," 1878, III, 10. 
 
 History of Savings Banks of San Francisco, "'Call." 1877, \'U, 22. 
 
 Officials of San Francisco and their pay, "Bulletin," 1877, VI, 23. 
 
 Millionaires of San Francisco, "Bulletin," 1877, VII, 21. 
 
 History and condition of San Francisco churches, "Bulletin," 1S77, VII. 
 21. 
 
 History of banking in California. "Coast Review," 1877, V 
 1877, III, 30. 
 
 History of wholesale grocerv business in San Francisco. "Bulletin," 1878, 
 I. 11. 
 
 Flection frauds, '•Bulletin," 1S77, IX, 15. 
 
 History of Oakland water front. "Oakland Transcript," 1877. X. 20. 
 
488 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 History of elections of federal senators in California, "Bulletin," 1877, 
 XII, 10. 
 
 List of nominees at all state elections, 1849-1877, "Bulletin," 1877, XII. 
 History of Golden Gate Park, "Bulletin," 1878, I, 26. 
 
 The governors of California since its organization as a state have been the 
 following, with the dates of their installation: Peter H. Burnett, Dec. 20, 
 1849; John McDougall, Jan. 9, 1851; John Bigler, Jan. 8, 1852; John Bigler, 
 Jan. 8, 1854; J. Neely Johnson, Jan. 8, 1856; John B. Weller, Jan. 8, 1858; 
 Milton S. Latham, Jan. 8, 1860; John G. Downey, Jan. 14, 1860; Leland 
 Stanford, Jan. 8, 1862; Frederick F. Low, Dec. 2, 1S63; Henry H. Haight, 
 Dec. 5, 1867; Newton Booth, Dec. 8, 1871; Itomualdo Pacheco, Feb. 27, 
 1S75; and William Irwin, Dec. 9, 1875. 
 
 McDougall, Downey and Pacheco were elected to the office of lieutenant- 
 governor, but succeeded to the office of governor when Burnett, Latham and 
 Booth resigned. The term before 1863 was two years; afterwards four years. 
 
 The following is a list of the chief executive officers of the town and city 
 since the American conquest, with the dates of their installation : W. A. Bart- 
 lett, July 9, 1846; Edwin Bryant, Feb. 22, 1847; George Hyde, June, 1847; T. 
 M. Leavenworth,. April, 1848; J. W. Geary, Aug. 1, 1849; J. W. Geary, May 
 1, 1850; C. J. Brenham, April 28, 1851; S. R. Harris, Sept. 3, 1851; C. J. 
 Brenham, Nov. 2, 1851; C. K. Garrison, Sept. 7, 1853; S. P.Webb, Sept. 3, 
 1854; James Van Ness, May 2S, 1855; E. W. Burr, July 1, 1856; H. F. 
 Teschemacher, July 1, 1859— July 1, 1862; H. P. Coon, July 1, 1863; Frank 
 McCoppin, Dec. 2, 1867; T. H. Selby, July 1, 1869; Wm. Alvord, July 1, 
 1871; James Otis, July 1, 1873; George Hewston, Nov. 4, 1875; A. J. Bry- 
 ant, Dec. 4, 1875. 
 
 Before May 1, 1850, the title of the chief executive officer was alcalde; 
 from that day till July 1, 1856, mayor; then for six years, president of the 
 board of siipervisors; and since July 1, 1862, mayor. 
 
 I have inserted in the text, without quotation marks several short passagey 
 written by me and previously published. 
 
 Instead of " monkish, " on page 39, the word should be "monastic;" and 
 on page 55, " afternoon mass" should be "afternoon prayers." 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 The dividends paid by the mining companies incorporated in San Francisco 
 had in the sixteen years ending with 1877, amounted to $113,000,000, and the 
 assessments to $65,000,000. 
 
 The aggregate value of the shares listed in the San Francisco stock board3 
 was at the market rates $284,000,000, on one day of January, 1875, and $92,- 
 000,000, in a day of November of the same year, making a fluctuation of 
 $192,000,000 in eleven months. The largest variation in any one month was 
 $139,000,000, the smallest $21,000,000; the average for each month counting 
 only from the highest to the lowest $50,000,000. 
 
 The assessed value of the land and buildings within the city limits west of 
 Lark in and Ninth streets and south of Mission creek, was $1,200,000 in 1860, 
 and in 1S76 more than $50,000,000. 
 
 The number of street lamps increased more than tenfold from 1860 to 1S76. 
 
 The banking capital of California at the close of 1876, as shown by full 
 statistics in the "Bulletin" of February 10, 1S77, was $182,000,000 (includ- 
 ing capital and deposits), and San Francisco had four fifths of the whole. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 489 
 
 At the end of 1876 there were 27,000 buildings in San Francisco, and of 
 these 4, 390 were of brick, end nearly all the others of wood. Of loOO houses 
 erected in 1876, all save 36 were of wood. 
 
 The following condensed statistics furnish in a small space much informa- 
 tion about the growth and present condition of the industry and traffic of San 
 Francisco and California. For explanations see the remarks after each table: 
 
 
 1 
 
 Population 
 in Thou- 
 sands. 
 
 d 
 
 OX! 
 
 
 
 MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. 
 
 
 
 
 Deposit 1:1 
 Savings 
 Buiks. 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 ft 
 
 Q 
 
 H 
 
 m 
 
 .5 3 
 
 to 
 
 •S 2 
 — ui 
 
 ED 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 Central 
 
 Pacin s Rail- 
 
 road. 
 
 % 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 6 
 gl 
 
 t-c 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 
 c 
 g'S 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 
 
 "3 
 
 'n 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 v\ 
 •A 
 
 *Hft 
 
 ca 
 
 
 
 J8I8 
 
 Gl 
 
 1'6 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1839 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18G0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 :;;;: 
 
 
 
 18G1 
 
 83 
 
 92 
 
 103 
 
 113 
 
 119 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1862 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18G3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 2o 
 
 49 
 
 33 
 
 55 
 
 11G 
 
 GO 
 
 5L 
 
 128 
 
 190 
 
 14G 
 
 2 GO 
 
 220 
 
 225 
 
 120 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 18G4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 1805 
 
 ...„. 
 
 G 
 
 G 
 
 8 
 10 
 11 
 13 
 19 
 22 
 27 
 S3 
 4'J 
 
 1075 
 
 'l050 
 
 97. 3 
 85J 
 900 
 828 
 GOO 
 G71 
 1359 
 1389 
 1C00 
 1250 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 2 
 4 
 2 
 1 
 2 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 
 1GG 
 
 18GG 
 
 10 
 17 
 22 
 27 
 31 
 3/ 
 42 
 52 
 55 
 CG 
 CO 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 2 
 G 
 7 
 9 
 12 
 13 
 It 
 17 
 19 
 17 
 
 "l" 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 17 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 18G7 
 
 13G8 
 
 18G9 
 
 1870 
 
 131 
 143 
 170 
 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 5 
 7 
 9 
 11 
 11 
 
 14 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 245 
 111 
 
 17J 
 110 
 
 1871 
 
 ]872 
 
 173 
 178 
 
 18 5 
 201 
 2:0 
 270 
 308 
 
 05 
 
 195 
 
 1873 
 
 1874 
 
 18 To. .. 
 
 20 
 20 
 30 
 39 
 C9 
 
 13 
 
 12 
 15 
 
 24 
 25 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 85 
 140 
 183 
 
 ]87J 
 
 1877 
 
 357 
 300 
 
 
 
 
 
 The population of San Francisco for various years from 1S58 to 1S76, a3 
 given above in thousands, and the number of new buildings in the city are 
 tak< .1 from the estimates in Langley's directories. The similar figures for the 
 population of Oakland arc from local estimates. The amounts of money de- 
 posited in the savings banks cf San Francisco, and in those of other t< 
 California, the dividends by all companies and by mining companies, the 
 assessments levied by mining companies, and the earnings and expenses of 
 the Central Pacific railroad company, are in millions of dollars. The sta- 
 tistics on this table, save these about Oakland, the interior savings banks, 
 ami the miles of railroad built, relate to the business of San Fran 
 
 In the following table the taxable property of San Francisco, Oakland, and 
 the state, the amount of real estate sales in San Francisco and Oaklai 
 sums collected a3 federal revenue, and these paid as freights on cargoes com- 
 ing from foreign and domestic Pacine ports (those from domestic 
 are not included), arc in millions of dollars; the amounts of freight from 
 Panama and China, and by rail passing across the continent v 
 eastward, are given in thousands of tons; and the expenses of thee: 
 crnment of San Francisco are in thousands of dollars. The westward rail- 
 
490 
 
 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 road freight includes all received at Ogden from California; the eastward 
 freight includes only that from San Francisco, San Josa, Stockton, Sacra- 
 mento and Marysvillo for Ogden or points beyond. The yeara are calendar 
 years. 
 
 
 
 MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. 
 
 
 Fbeight is 
 Thousands op Tons. 
 
 W 
 
 
 Taxable Property. 
 
 Real Estate 
 Sales. 
 
 s 
 
 > 
 
 O 
 
 <a 
 
 a 
 3 
 
 & 
 
 to 
 
 s 
 
 g 
 
 Is 
 
 02 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 6 
 
 i \ i 
 
 £ ! "8 
 
 ° i 
 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 EC 
 
 5*3 
 
 £ g 
 
 u 
 
 3 
 
 O 
 
 « 
 
 B B 
 
 O e3 
 
 §1 
 
 £3 
 
 to • 
 
 2 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 2 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6"0 
 
 
 22 
 14 
 
 18 
 
 29 
 
 33 
 
 32 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 31 
 
 30 
 
 36 
 
 42 
 
 67 
 
 77 
 
 81 
 
 88 
 
 «J7 
 
 100 
 
 106 
 
 115 
 
 1(6 
 
 105 
 
 209 
 
 212 
 
 261 
 
 209 
 
 254 
 
 
 58 
 
 40 
 
 Co 
 
 95 
 
 111 
 
 104 
 
 95 
 
 123 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1813 
 45G 
 
 1009 
 
 1852 
 
 1853 
 
 J 834 
 
 1853 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 5 
 4 
 5 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1832 
 
 
 
 2646 
 85G 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1837 
 
 1858 
 
 1859 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 353 
 36G 
 
 4 
 7 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ! 121 
 
 . . 131 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 18 
 28 
 31 
 25 
 33 
 32 
 68 
 3S 
 11 
 18 
 27 
 22 
 29 
 27 
 
 
 
 
 481 
 745 
 
 1861. 
 
 1862 
 
 1863 
 
 1864 
 
 1835 
 
 ...... 
 
 ""l" 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 10 
 20 
 £2 
 25 
 
 143 
 118 
 160 
 174 
 130 
 134 
 201 
 212 
 237 
 261 
 278 
 268 
 6S7 
 529 
 Gil 
 517 
 505 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 579 
 
 9 
 11 
 11 
 12 
 11 
 ]8 
 27 
 30 
 10 
 13 
 13 
 12 
 24 
 33 
 24 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 592 
 
 
 
 
 700 
 
 
 
 8 
 7 
 7 
 7 
 
 6 
 3 
 3 
 5 
 
 4 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 783 
 
 o 
 3 
 3 
 2 
 
 o 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 9 
 
 7 
 12 
 12 
 13 
 12 
 11 
 10 
 11 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 915 
 
 1866 
 
 18C7 
 
 1S63 
 
 1869 
 
 1870 
 
 1871 
 
 1872 
 
 
 
 
 1086 
 
 
 
 
 1315 
 
 
 
 
 1462 
 
 13 
 19 
 
 20 
 '.9 
 30 
 20 
 33 
 
 18* 
 42 
 
 64 
 81 
 117 
 120 
 
 li' 
 32 
 41 
 43 
 71 
 57 
 67 
 54 
 
 2295 
 2461 
 
 2538 
 2726 
 
 1873 
 
 2960. 
 
 1874 
 
 1>V75... 
 
 187G 
 
 1877 
 
 3.98 
 359G 
 3034 
 
 
 
 3471 
 
 
 
 
 
 In the table following, the rain- fall is given from the figures of Thomas 
 Tennent, for the crop year extending from July 1st to June 30th, and the 
 number of the year is taken from the one in which the crop year terminates. 
 Thus the crop year of 1852 is the year ending June 30th, of 1852. The ex- 
 port of wheat is for a crop year, not a calendar year. The other figures are 
 for calendar years. Tho numbers of acres cultivated in all crops and in wheat 
 of vines, of tons of shipping that arrive from coast ports, from American ports 
 on tho Atlantic, and from all ports, of tons of wheat and of wool and of flasks 
 of quicksilver exported are given by tho thousand. Tho number of vines was 
 reported by tho assessors in 1874, and since the number of acres in vines. In 
 1S7G there were 82,601 acres in vines. 
 
 Vallejo loaded 37 ships with wheat and flour for Europe in the crop year of 
 1873; SI in the crop year of 1874; 79 in the crop year of 1875, and 90 in the 
 crop year of 1870. Oakland loaded 17 ships with wheat in the crop year of 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 491 
 
 1871; 13 in 1872; 110 in 1873; 83 in 1874; SG in 1S75, and 44 in 1S76. Yah 
 
 lejo and Oakland together, now load about two-fifths of 
 flour exported; before 18G8 San Francisco loaded all. 
 
 the wheat and 
 
 
 
 
 
 IN 
 
 THOUSANDS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 2 
 
 O 
 $ 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 Acres Cul- 
 tivated . 
 
 CO 
 
 1 
 
 r* 
 Pi 
 
 & 
 
 <M 
 
 O 
 U 
 
 5 
 'A 
 
 Tons. 
 
 
 
 8HIPPING ARRIVED. 
 
 EXPORTS. 
 
 3 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 o 
 
 ■~> 
 u 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 .a 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 x ,^ j SI 3 
 
 = - a a 
 
 IpSJJs ■ 
 
 ^""Pi CO 
 
 I51I08 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 fa 
 
 
 
 O 
 CO 
 
 CO 
 
 s 
 
 1830 
 
 r.o 
 
 7 
 
 18 
 35 
 24 
 24 
 22 
 20 
 22 
 22 
 22 
 20 
 49 
 14 
 10 
 25 
 23 
 35 
 39 
 21 
 19 
 14 
 34 
 18 
 24 
 18 
 31 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1851 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1852 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1853 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 414 
 
 314 
 
 518 
 
 444 
 
 428 
 
 468 
 
 493 
 
 5.>8 
 
 599 
 
 635 
 
 634 
 
 739 
 
 708 
 
 748 
 
 90G 
 
 1085 
 
 11B6 
 
 1062 
 
 1008 
 
 1240 
 
 1293 
 
 1554 
 
 1590 
 
 1786 
 
 1631 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 1854 
 
 "257' 
 383 
 508 
 
 "763 
 937 
 
 1071 
 
 1198 
 
 135 
 132 
 138 
 104 
 18G 
 27. > 
 271 
 3G1 
 
 "203' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 1855 
 
 i',666 
 
 190 
 138 
 
 148 
 
 149 
 
 110 
 
 114 
 
 157 
 
 130 
 
 121 
 
 120 
 
 115 
 
 1.0 
 
 91 
 
 90 
 
 143 
 
 136 
 
 lf.l 
 
 83 
 
 C8 
 
 97 
 
 88 
 
 89 
 
 110 
 
 123 
 
 150 
 
 
 
 27 
 24 
 
 1836 
 
 1857 
 
 2 000 ISi 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 100 
 
 52 
 
 63 
 
 70 
 
 14 
 
 90 
 
 250 
 
 2-0 
 
 260 
 
 250 
 
 180 
 
 100 
 
 500 
 
 450 
 
 49) 
 
 GOO 
 
 ] 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 4 . 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 16 
 20 
 22 
 28 
 
 27 
 
 24 
 
 3 
 
 1858 
 
 1859 
 
 ' 3,6i»6 
 6,656 
 
 158 
 2' 9 
 
 203 
 
 263 
 262 
 253 
 283 
 288 
 320 
 409 
 501 
 57 4 
 598 
 625 
 C30 
 646 
 
 1860 
 
 9 
 
 1801 
 
 26 
 
 1862 
 
 34 
 
 1863 
 
 26 
 
 1864 
 
 37 
 
 1865 
 
 1504 
 1774 
 1758 
 2132 
 2597 
 2992 
 2 158 
 2477 
 336G 
 3541 
 3838 
 3370 
 
 
 
 42 
 
 I860 
 
 691 
 883 
 1119 
 1263 
 1479 
 1425 
 1739 
 2128 
 2156 
 2321 
 2352 
 
 20.001 
 20 000 
 
 22,000 
 23,000 
 2G.C00 
 31 ,000 
 28 ' 00 
 30,000 
 
 30 
 
 1867 
 
 29 
 
 1868 
 
 45 
 
 1869 
 
 24 
 
 1870 
 
 14 
 
 1871 
 
 15 
 
 1872 
 
 13 
 
 1873 
 
 G 
 
 1874 
 
 35,(100 770 
 
 G 
 
 1875 
 
 
 853 
 941 
 869 
 
 29 
 
 1876 
 
 41 
 
 1877... 
 
 46 
 
 
 
 In the following table the immigrants are given in thousands. Thus in 
 1854, G7,000 immigrants arrived, 23,000 departed, and there was a gain of 
 44,000. These arc round numbers, and a thousand being the unit of measure- 
 ment, any fraction less than half a thousand is not counted: while a fraction 
 exceeding a half is counted a:; a whole one. Thus 43,(500 is counted as 44,000; 
 while 43,400 is counted as 43,000. The exports, coinage and treasure yield 
 arc given in millions of dollars. All the immigrants mentioned in the table 
 before 18G9, came or went by sea. After April of that year, the li ;urc3 in- 
 clude the statistics of the Central-Union Pacific Railroads. The arrivals 
 and departures in 1S70, by rail, were 32,000 and 23,000 respectively; in 1871, 
 30,000 and 22,000; in 1372, 34,000 and 22,000; in 1S73, 44,000 and 33,000; in 
 
492 
 
 HISTORY OF SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 1874, 56,000 and 25,000; in 1875, 75,000 and 30,000; in 1S76, 61,000 and 
 38,000, and in 1877, 47,000 and 31,000. 
 
 
 IMMIGRANTS, IN THOU- 
 SANDS. 
 
 MILLIONS OF DOLLARS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 < 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 _g 
 
 % 
 p. 
 
 ft 
 
 '3 
 
 Chinamen. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Teeasttbe Yield. 
 
 YEAR. 
 
 d 
 u 
 
 ca 
 ej 
 
 co 
 
 a 
 
 O CO 
 co ^3 
 
 ■■J 
 
 EH 
 
 ca 
 
 '3 
 
 u 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 > 
 
 H 
 
 < 
 
 CO 
 S-i 
 S3 
 
 co 
 ft 
 
 > 
 
 1849 
 
 91 
 36 
 
 27 1 
 G7. 
 33 
 48 
 29 
 28 
 23 
 41 
 38 
 31 
 31 
 28 
 34 
 S2 
 2G 
 27 
 33 
 CO 
 S8 
 52 
 42 
 f2 
 70 
 83 
 107 
 83 
 C5 
 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 46 
 4S 
 f5 
 52 
 45 
 51 
 49 
 48 
 48 
 42 
 41 
 43 
 40 
 57 
 45 
 44 
 42 
 35 
 S7 
 33 
 17 
 29 
 25 
 £0 
 43 
 50 
 58 
 
 
 
 
 23 
 59 
 GO 
 59 
 03 
 04 
 59 
 53 
 51 
 47 
 50 
 48 
 47 
 45 
 40 
 £3 
 35 
 26 
 25 
 22 
 23 
 25 
 SO 
 19 
 18 
 20 
 13 
 19 
 13 
 
 
 is:o 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 5 
 G 
 9 
 10 
 11 
 14 
 13 
 15 
 17 
 22 
 23 
 21 
 13 
 14 
 24 
 31 
 28 
 31 
 31 
 30 
 
 * 47" 
 47 
 57 
 54 
 49 
 Co 
 C3 
 53 
 54 
 51 
 51 
 54 
 f0 
 70 
 CO 
 CI 
 G4 
 58 
 5S 
 51 
 31 
 53 
 C6 
 53 
 74 
 PI 
 83 
 
 "lb" 
 
 21 
 29 
 13 
 19 
 14 
 12 
 13 
 
 19 
 20 
 19 
 18 
 19 
 17 
 14 
 20 
 20 
 16 
 22 
 27 
 32 
 43 
 5J 
 
 
 1851 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1832 
 
 23 
 30 
 24 
 23 
 23 
 17 
 28 
 25 
 13 
 14 
 12 
 18 
 22 
 SO 
 23 
 CO 
 25 
 14 
 37 
 32 
 33 
 35 
 39 
 43 
 51 
 47 
 
 44 
 3 
 24 
 G 
 5 
 G 
 13 
 13 
 16 
 17 
 10 
 1G 
 10 
 -4 
 4 
 10 
 33 
 24 
 15 
 10 
 19 
 35 
 45 
 04 
 35 
 IS 
 
 20 
 4 
 
 1G 
 3 
 5 
 G 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 8 
 8 
 G 
 3 
 3 
 2 
 4 
 10 
 15 
 11 
 
 ib 
 
 18 
 17 
 18 
 16 
 10 
 
 2 
 4 
 o 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 2 
 3 
 3 
 2 
 4 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 4 
 5 
 4 
 3 
 5 
 7 
 8 
 7 
 8 
 8 
 
 
 1853 
 
 
 1834 
 
 
 1835 
 
 
 1853 
 
 
 1837 
 
 
 18 "8 
 
 
 1839 
 
 
 1830 
 
 1831. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1832 
 
 18 ;3 
 
 6 
 13 
 
 1834 
 
 17 
 
 1835 
 
 17 
 
 18G(i 
 
 16 
 
 1837 
 
 20 
 
 1808. .' 
 
 13 
 
 1809 
 
 15 
 
 1870 
 
 16 
 
 1871 
 
 1872 
 
 1873 
 
 23 
 26 
 35 
 
 1874 
 
 3G 
 
 1875.. 
 
 40 
 
 187G 
 
 49 
 
 1877 
 
 52 
 
 
 
INDEX. 
 
 The following index is intended mainly to assist the reader in finding topics 
 not mentioned in the Table of Contents at the beginning of the book. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Abella, Friar 64,6(3 
 
 Aborigines 19, 25 
 
 Adams &: Co 226,233 
 
 Admission Of state 159, 162 
 
 Alameda, Fridge to 387 
 
 Alameda wharf , 347 
 
 Alcaldes 85, 488 
 
 Alt-many, Archbishop 421, 445 
 
 Almshouse 366 
 
 Alta California 411 
 
 Altimira, Friar 64 
 
 Alvarado. Governor 90 
 
 Alvord, Mayor 488 
 
 American, brig 223,224 
 
 Anita, Bark 204 
 
 Anza, Capt 45 
 
 Apportionments 327, 389 
 
 Archy Case , 270 
 
 Arrow, Brig. 202 
 
 Art Association 385 
 
 Avery, B. P 468 
 
 Ayala 45, 46, 92 
 
 Ayuntamiento 141 
 
 Baker. E. D 310,327,462 
 
 Baldwin, F. J 452 
 
 Banks 267, 365, 373. 404, 406, 487 
 
 Bancroft, George 97 
 
 Bancrolt, II. U 468,483 
 
 Barry, T. A 483 
 
 -Bartlett, W. A lo7, 110, 488 
 
 K.F 129 
 
 Bear flag 102 
 
 y, P. W 57, 93,483 
 
 mi sale 
 
 Belcher bonanza 392 
 
 Hellowa, II. W 335, 337 
 
 Benicia 111,374 
 
 B.-nuett. Judge 162 
 
 Bernal 73,83,483 
 
 Higler, G vernor 184, 280, 315, 488 
 
 Blanco, General 189-191 
 
 I •• lossom rock 382 
 
 Bluxome, 1 217 
 
 B >otb, Governor 88 
 
 Bowman. J. F 421,475 
 
 Brace, Philander. 258 
 
 Brannan, S 97, 108, lt9. 440, 445 
 
 P.^GE. 
 
 Brenham, Mayor -kbs 
 
 Bridge, Islais Cove 366 
 
 Bridge, Mission Cove 352 
 
 Broderick, B. C 281, 319, 487 
 
 Brooklyn 108 
 
 Brown, Charles 483 
 
 Bryant, Alcalde 97, 114, 188 
 
 Bryant, Mayor 488 
 
 Buchanan, President 301 
 
 Bulkhead bill 323 
 
 Bulletin 405, 413,412 
 
 Burnett, Governor 145, '/70, 488 
 
 Burdue 173, 177 
 
 Buri-Buri 73 
 
 Burr, E. \V ; 
 
 Butchertown 373 
 
 Cabrillo 23 
 
 Calaveras water 404, 4U5 
 
 California discovery 26 
 
 California steamer 136, 138 
 
 California Star 109, 120, 125, 126, 441 
 
 Californian 118, 125, 441 
 
 Calistoga 37U 
 
 Call, Morning.. 405, 413, 442 
 
 Cambon, Friar 17, 64 
 
 Carmel Mission 4 i 
 
 Caroline, Bark 203 
 
 Carrillo 81 
 
 Casey, J. P 244, 249, 250 
 
 Castro, Juan 75 
 
 Castro, Governor DO, 104, 105 
 
 Castro, Manuel 101 
 
 Cemeteries 184, 209, 2 . 
 
 Centennial celebration 419 
 
 Centennial of mission 
 
 Central America, Steainer 287 
 
 Censuses 117, 321, ! - 
 
 Challenge, Ship 193-195 
 
 Champagne consumed 457 
 
 Cli 
 
 .44G 
 
 Chico, Governor - 1 
 
 Christian Commission 
 
 Chronicle 442 
 
 Churches 198, 322, 323, 366, 382,444,487 
 
 City Hall 156, l 
 
 City slip sale 
 
 Clemens, Samuel 467 
 
494 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cornstock mines. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Clement Ordinance 364 
 
 Clifford, Josephine 468 
 
 Clippers .162 
 
 Coey, General 420 
 
 Coffee, consumed 457 
 
 Cohen, A. A 231-233 
 
 Colton, D. 1> 427, 450,451 
 
 Cole, Senator 398 
 
 Coleman, W. T 172, 246 
 
 Colville, S 484 
 
 Committee of Safety 425 
 
 Commission, Land 178 
 
 (332,339-343,351,358 
 (365,374,392,399,428 
 
 Conness, Senator 343-346 
 
 Consolidated Virginia 399, 401, 423, 428 
 
 Convention, Constitutional 140, 144 
 
 Coolbrith, Ina 471 
 
 Coon, Mayor 488 
 
 Cora, Charles 250 
 
 Cortes .., 25 
 
 Cotter-Nugent Duel , 184 
 
 Crabb, H. A 268 
 
 Crcspi, Friar 40, 41, 45, 46 
 
 Crocker, C 451 
 
 Cutts, J. M 484 
 
 Cyane, Corvette 95 
 
 Dana, It. II 95, 265 
 
 Danti, Friar 04 
 
 Davis, Jefferson 159, 202 
 
 Debt, City 354 
 
 Delia Torre 292 
 
 Del Yalle 1 93, 209 
 
 Denver, J. W 184 
 
 Derby, G. H 467 
 
 Diamond fraud 393 
 
 Diaz, Benito 74 
 
 Dillon 191,209 
 
 Dolly Varden party 387, 398 
 
 Donner tragedy Ill 
 
 Donahue, Peter 450 
 
 Downey, Governor 324, 488 
 
 Douglas, S. A 303, 326 
 
 Drake 26 
 
 D wight 346 
 
 Dry dock 366, 370, 383 
 
 Duncan, J. C 422 
 
 Dwindle, J. W 421, 468, 484, 486 
 
 Earthquakes 66, 354,370 
 
 Edward Everett 135 
 
 _, .. ( 144, 183, 262, 284, 292 
 
 Elections { 32o! 331, 3*9, 367, 386 
 
 Estenaga, Friar 64 
 
 Eatell. J. M 299,312,317 
 
 Fstudillo, J. J 78 
 
 Euphemia, Brig 114 
 
 Examiner 442 
 
 Extension bill 197, 313 
 
 Extravagance 454 
 
 Fages, P 39 
 
 Fair, J. G 407, 450 
 
 Farnkam, T. J 484 
 
 Fillmore, President 280 
 
 Figueroa, Governor 70 
 
 Fires 133, 156, 168, 404, 415 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Fire department 357, 359 
 
 Fitch, H. D 74 
 
 Fitch, Thomas 413 
 
 Fitch, Mrs. Thomas 474 
 
 Flood, J. C 401, 450 
 
 Florida, privateer 349 
 
 Flores, G 71 
 
 Folsom, J. L 111,4">4 
 
 Foote, H. S 293 
 
 Forbes, Alex 94,98, 484 
 
 Fourgeaud.V 97, 120 
 
 Francesca 110,111 
 
 Franciscan order 33 
 
 Fraser fever 273 
 
 Freeman, A. C 468 
 
 Fremont, J. C 100, 106, 157, 167 
 
 French-German war 384 
 
 French immigration 185 
 
 French subscription -> 384, 446 
 
 Friars 03, 64 
 
 Friedlander, Isaac 426 
 
 Galindo 73 
 
 Gambling, Public 143, 235 
 
 Garrison, C. K 239, 409, 4S8 
 
 Gassaway, F. H 475 
 
 Geary, J. W 143, 155,488 
 
 German Subscription 384, 446 
 
 Gihon, J. H 483 
 
 Gilbert, Edward 117, 143, 145, 167, 184 
 
 Gleesoj-, Rev. Mr 484 
 
 Goat Island ., 389 
 
 Gold Bluff. 272 
 
 Gold currency ■. 348 
 
 Gold fever 126-132 
 
 Gold hunter 151 
 
 Goodman, J. T 475 
 
 Gorham, G. C 307 
 
 Gould and Curry . 428 
 
 Governors, list of 488 
 
 Grading -.. . 432-438 
 
 Graham House 156 
 
 Greenhow, li 96 
 
 Guerrero, F 74,85 
 
 Gutierrez, Governor 82 
 
 Gwin, W. M.143, 157, 167, 181,253, 292-305, 487 
 
 Haggin, J. B 453 
 
 Haight, Governor 368,483 
 
 Halle.'k, General 335, 408 
 
 Hammond, B. P 2S6 
 
 Happy Valley 157 
 
 H-rte, F. B 467,468 
 
 Haro, F. de 73, 74, 85, 366 
 
 Harris, Mayor 488 
 
 Hawes. Horace 388 
 
 Hayes Park 444 
 
 HayesTract 278 
 
 Hay ward, A 452 
 
 Herald 184 
 
 Hetherington, Joseph 257 
 
 Hewston, Mayor 488 
 
 Hinckley, Wm 79, 87, 86 
 
 Hitchcock, General 202 
 
 Hittel, J. S 484 
 
 Hittell.T. H 4(8 
 
 Hoadley, M 209,436 
 
 Hoffman, Judge 292, 4S6 
 
 Home Life 447 
 
INDEX. 
 
 495 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Homestead lots 335, 309 
 
 Hooker, General 335 
 
 Hopkins, Mark 426, 450 
 
 Hospitals 323 
 
 Hotels. . ..322, 323, 334, 352, 373, 404, 433, 419 
 
 H.-.unds, The 148 
 
 Howard, V. E 254.291 
 
 Hudson Bay Company 85, 88 -'JO 
 
 Humphrey, I 124 
 
 Huntington, C. P 450 
 
 Hunt, T. D 443 
 
 Hutchings' Magazine 484 
 
 Hyde, Alcalde 114,488 
 
 Ide.W. B 103 
 
 Inge, I. W 291 
 
 Irwin, Governor 488 
 
 Janin, H 394 
 
 Jenkins, J 173 
 
 Jenny Lind Theatre 109, 184 
 
 Jones, Commodore 'J 5 
 
 Jones, John P 452, 4G8 
 
 Johnson, Governor 254, 481 
 
 Kearnv, Gen 123 
 
 Kearny street 339, 3C0, 305 , 378 
 
 Keene, James «... .452 
 
 Kemble, E. C 125 
 
 Kern River 273 
 
 King, Clarence... 395 
 
 King, James 243, 244 
 
 King, T. Starr 33G, 350 
 
 Kip, Bishop 145 
 
 Kotzebuc 92 
 
 Lagoon at Mission 40 
 
 Lane, Dr. L. C 438 
 
 Lands, Outside 3G2, 364, 3G9 
 
 Langley. H. G 483, 481 
 
 Larkin, T. O 99,105, 110, 454 
 
 Latham, M. S 29G, 299,305, 317, 453, 483 
 
 Lawson, Mrs. Emilia 473 
 
 Leavenworth, Alcalde ... 1-11, 149, 188 
 
 Leese. J. P 73,79-85, 103 
 
 Libraries 382, 441 
 
 Lick, James 309, 403, 404, 41G, 418, 4-7 
 
 Lick, John U 417 
 
 Limantour 75 
 
 Lincoln, President 32G, 349 
 
 Lloyd. B. E 408, 4S4 
 
 Lots, Sale of 116, l'O 
 
 Low, Governor 488 
 
 Lux, Charles 453 
 
 Macdomld, Hon. D. A 421 
 
 Macgregor.W. L 485 
 
 Mackey, J W 402, 450 
 
 Magutre, T 812 
 
 Mails. Overland 269, 82 I, 332 
 
 Marchena, P 75 
 
 Marshall, J. W 121 
 
 Martinez, Alcalde 85 
 
 Mason, Governor 128 
 
 Me A) lister. Judge 292 
 
 MeConih, General 121 
 
 M -Cnppin, Mayor 369, 4^s 
 
 McCoppin ordinance 364 
 
 McDougal, James A 331, 311 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 McDougal, Governor John 282, 488 
 
 McQowan, E 257, 312 
 
 McKenzie, Robert 17G 
 
 McKim 150 
 
 McPherson, General 335 
 
 Mechanics' Institute 267 
 
 Meiggs, II 218, 226 
 
 Merced llaneho 73 
 
 Merchants' Exchange 3<;5 
 
 Merritt, Captain 103 
 
 Mervine, Captain 104: 
 
 Mezzara, Madame 385 
 
 Michel orena, Governor 90 
 
 Miller, II 153 
 
 Miller, Joaquin 474 
 
 Millionaires 450 
 
 Mills, D. O 410, 433 
 
 Mission Buildings C4 
 
 Mis ion Indians 49-G2 
 
 Mofras 98, 9G, 485 
 
 Montgomery, Captain 104 
 
 Montgomery Avenue 404 
 
 Montgomei y stre t 378 
 
 Montgomery street straight 373, 378 
 
 Moraga 47, 48 
 
 Morrell, Capt 93 
 
 Municipal Reports 484 
 
 New Montgomery ttreet 373, 374 
 
 Niantic 165 
 
 Nisbct. James 4^3 
 
 Noe, Alcalde 74, 83, 85 
 
 Nugent, J 184 
 
 Oakland 270,339, 374, 381, 397, 487 
 
 O'Brien, \V. S 101,420, 450 
 
 O'Connell, Daniel 175 
 
 O'FarreD.J 114 
 
 Omnibuses 
 
 Oregon steamer 138 
 
 Osio.A.M 74 
 
 Overland Monthly 485 
 
 Pacheco, Dolores 100, 101 
 
 Pad. ceo. Governor 4-8 
 
 Pacific Mail Company 138, 235, 357 
 
 P..dilla, Alcalde 86 
 
 Page, Mrs. E. A. S 175 
 
 Page, Bacon & Co 220 
 
 Palace Hotel 399, 401, 438 
 
 Palmer, Cook & Co 2 
 
 PalOU, Friar. ... 34, 46, 47, 4 », 49, 55, I 
 
 Panama steamer 
 
 Panama ltailroud -'■>3 
 
 Panics 215 
 
 Park. Golden Gate 382, 487 
 
 Parrott, J 
 
 Patten, B. A 483 
 
 Peace with Mexico 121 
 
 People's Party 262 
 
 Perkins, T. II 112 
 
 Parley, 1>. W 306, 307 
 
 Phelps, T. G 313 
 
 Pico, Governor 101, b'4 
 
 Piercy, C. TV 831 
 
 Piiia.J 74 
 
 Pioche mines 892 
 
 !' Society 1 '' t 
 
 Pioneer Magaziuo 
 
496 
 
 INDEX, 
 
 TAGE. 
 
 Pixley, F. M 341, 3 16 
 
 Pollock, Edward 408 
 
 Pony express 324 
 
 Population statistics 489 
 
 Portala, Governor 09, 40, 42, 47 
 
 Portsmouth, Sloop 107 
 
 Post 442 
 
 Post-office 139, 373 
 
 Potrero , 73, 3G6 
 
 Proffitt, Johu 468 
 
 Pueblo 76, 3G3 
 
 Purdy, S 315 
 
 ( 333, 339. 348, 353,358. 306,367, 
 Railroads { 370, 372-376, 381, 386, 390-392, 
 
 ( 422. 
 
 railroads, Street 320, 334, 339, 358, 333 
 
 Ralston, W. C 404-414 
 
 Raousset 187-193 
 
 Ravenswood Bridge .387 
 
 Ray 89, 90 
 
 Reese, M 426, 427, 453 
 
 Rc-quena, M 80 
 
 Richardson, W. A 77, 73 
 
 Riley, Governor 141, 142, 145 
 
 Rincon Hill 380 
 
 Rivera, Governor 39, 43 
 
 Roads. Toll 151, 198,339,347 
 
 Rugs' Garden 198,444 
 
 Sales of lots 113 
 
 San Antonio ...39, 40, 42 
 
 San Carlos 39, 45 
 
 Sanchez, Francisco 73, 83, 85, 1:3 
 
 Sanchez, Jose 83,86 
 
 San Francisco Bay discovered 41 
 
 Sanitary Commission 335-339 
 
 San Joaqu n Valley .371 
 
 San Miguel Rancho 74 
 
 San Pedro Rancho 73 
 
 Santa Anna 192 
 
 Santillan 75, 320, 445 
 
 Sargent, Senator 343,344 
 
 Saucel to 374 
 
 Seawall 333 
 
 Second street cut 373, 379 
 
 Securalization 70 
 
 Selbv, T. H 410, 4S8 
 
 Semple, CD 110 
 
 Senator, Steamer 151 
 
 Serra, Junipero 32-39, 485 
 
 Shafter, J. M 453 
 
 Sharon, W 408, 450, 462 
 
 Sherman, W. T 253, 335, 441 
 
 Mierreback, P 74, 320 
 
 Showalter, D 331 
 
 Simpson, Sir George 90, 9G, 485 
 
 Site : 432 
 
 Sloat, Commodore 97, 103, 104 
 
 Smith, Peter, titlo 1S4, 320 
 
 Social Spirit 453 
 
 Soule, Frank 469, 4S3, 484 
 
 Spear, N 79, 87 
 
 Stanford, Governor 451, 483 
 
 Statisti 3 .489-491 
 
 Steam Navigation Company 203, 487 
 
 Steamer, Ii.st 119 
 
 Stearns Abel 80 
 
 Sttbbins, II 421 
 
 PAGR. 
 
 Stevenson's Regiment no 
 
 Stillman, Dr 40, 13l',4G8,'485 
 
 Stock Board 333,365 
 
 Stockton, Commodore 105 
 
 Stoddard, C.W 408, 471 
 
 Stockton street cut KJ 380 
 
 Stuart, J .172, 175 
 
 Sugar consumed 457 
 
 Sullivan, James 251 
 
 Sullivan, John , 453 
 
 Surveys , ."."*.". . 86 
 
 Sutter, J. A 89 
 
 Swift, J. F 468 
 
 Swett, John 486 
 
 Tea consumed '458 
 
 Telegraphs 193 
 
 Telegraph, Fire 352 
 
 Telegraph Hill. 134, 185, 198, 443 
 
 Terry, .t ;.. S 254, 3.6-309 
 
 Tesc&emacher, Mayor 488 
 
 Tevis, Lloyd 4.^3 
 
 Theatres 193, 07 J, 487 
 
 Thomas, P. J -184 
 
 Tide Find sales 113, 199, 373 
 
 Tilford.F 317 
 
 Tuthill, F 40S.483 
 
 Turrill, C. B 463 
 
 Union, Adherence to 331 
 
 Unicn Barty 334 
 
 United States Frigate 95 
 
 Vallcjo, M. G 103, 
 
 Yallejo, town 370, 074, 075, 081, 
 
 Vancouver 92, 
 
 Vanderbilt , 
 
 Van N ess, Mayor 
 
 Verdugo 79 
 
 Vig lance Committee of 1851 172- 
 
 Vigilance Committee of 1856 245- 
 
 Vioget 
 
 Virginia City 
 
 Visitacion Rancho 
 
 Vizcaino 
 
 Von Schmidt, A. W 
 
 421 
 080 
 480 
 239 
 488 
 ,80" 
 •178 
 262 
 
 415 
 . 73 
 .29 
 
 US.) 
 
 "Walker, Vv'm 192, 200-205, 237-209 
 
 Walcott, Josephine 472 
 
 Washbu rn, C. A 289 
 
 Washington, B. F 2S0 
 
 Water supply 334 
 
 Watt. Wm 42 7 
 
 Webb, Mayor ..483 
 
 Weller, JohnB 283, 291, 296,483 
 
 Wharves 1C4, 2()9 
 
 Wh te Pine 373, 377 
 
 Whittaker, S 176 
 
 Wilkes, Commodore 94, 480 
 
 Willows, Tho 444 
 
 Woods, I. C 229-233 
 
 Woodward's Garden 357, 444 
 
 Wool, General 202, 2$3 
 
 Workingmen's Party 424 
 
 Wright, Congressman 145, 167 
 
 Yaficz, General 195 
 
 Young, C. & M. H. De 484 
 
SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 The following is an incomplete list of subscriptions to The History of the 
 City of San Francisco, and Incidentally of the State of California, 
 for the benefit of the Hebrew, Catholic and Protestant Orphan Asylums in 
 San Francisco, and the yellow fever sufferers in the Gulf States, for which 
 charities Col. Wm. Harney, under resolution of the auditing committee of 
 the Centennial Celebration, is the trustee : 
 
 Andrews, Col. A. (3 copies.) 
 
 Adams, W. J. 
 
 Alvord, Wm. (2 copies.) 
 
 Anderson, Mrs. H. F. 
 
 A^be, C. L. 
 
 Abbott, L. 
 
 Bailey, R. S. 
 
 Bayley, C. A. 
 
 Bl'ke, Cbarles. 
 
 Li) lings, Harbourno & Co. 
 
 Burges, T. 
 
 Bastbeirn, J. 
 
 Beal, Samuel. 
 
 Bradford, Wallace 
 
 Boyd, Calvin M. 
 
 Cotter, E. B. 
 Courtney, A. H. 
 CLntun, George A. 
 Conner, Jobn. 
 Craig, Peter. 
 Curry, Jobn. 
 Coey, Wm. J., Jr. 
 Cobn, J. 
 
 Cooper, George E. 
 Coleman, Jobn E. W. 
 Conklin, Frank. 
 Cbase, W. W. 
 Cima, V. L. de 
 
 Davis, Jobn. 
 
 Dutcber, J. M. 
 
 Dunker, C. 
 
 Devoe, B. O. 
 
 Donoboe, Kelly & Co. (3 copies. 
 
 Day, TbomaH. 
 
 Duncan, J. K. (Vallejo.) 
 
 Derbec, Etienne. 
 
 Ellis, Gen. Jobn S. 
 
 32 
 
 Fairfax, Mrs. C. S. 
 Falconer, R. S. 
 Firtb, Joscpb B. 
 Farrell. Mrs. E. 
 Flinn, Mrs. 
 Floyd, S. W. 
 Fox, Wm. C. 
 
 Green, F. Du Brutz. 
 Good, A. J. 
 Glazier, S. W. 
 Godcbaux, Myrtil. 
 Gibbons, H. Dr. 
 Geneben, B. 
 Green, J. C. 
 
 Harney, Col. Wm. (2 copies., 
 Himby, Heney S. 
 Hatbaway, E.V. 
 Harrison, J. V. 
 Hinckley, Speers & Hayes. 
 Hollander, S. 
 Huerne, P. 
 Harris, D. 
 Hagemann, F., Jr. 
 
 Jacquot, Giraudin A. 
 Jenson, T. 
 Jewell, A.M. 
 Jury Brotbers. 
 
 King, H. L. (3 copies.) 
 Kennedy, Mrs. J. A. 
 King, Cameron H. 
 Kane, Jobn O. 
 Kennedy, James K. 
 Kenny, Jobn. 
 Kavauaufb. George. 
 Kneass, Dallas A. (2 copies.) 
 
498 
 
 SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 Lunt, W. H. 
 
 Lane, John J. 
 
 Low, Mrs. C. L. 
 
 Lazard Freres (3 copies) 
 
 Lenekin, N. M. 
 
 Le Breton, Albert J. 
 
 Livingstone, Binaldo E. 
 
 McCarthy, Mrs. J. C. 
 McDougall, Admiral. 
 McLea, Donald. 
 Mallon, John. 
 
 Macdonald, D. A. (3 copies). 
 Marselas, G. W. 
 IVIiddlemas & Boole. 
 Montanya, Mrs. J. DeLa. 
 IVIcKew. John. 
 Merle. V. V. 
 Metcalf, James B. 
 IVIcIunes, J. A. 
 McGath, John. 
 Mils, D.O. 
 Mott, Edward M. 
 Moore, Mrs. J. G. 
 Mcllwain, John. 
 Meagher, J. F. (2 copies.) 
 Newman, Carlton. 
 Neustadter, D. 
 
 Osmer, C. 
 Ortiz, Celedonio. 
 
 Page, Kobert C. 
 Piercy, John D. 
 Plank, L. 
 Plum, C. M. 
 Poultney, George W. 
 Phillips, G. M. 
 
 Eoundey, George B. 
 Eichardson, 11. W. 
 Eichardson, W. L. 
 Eoach, Philip A. 
 Bosenbaurn, M. 
 Bead, EH. 
 
 Boethe, C. 
 
 Bohn & Sherwood. 
 
 Byan, Thomas. 
 
 Skelly, M. 
 Shaw, George T. 
 Station A, Post-office. 
 Staude, John. 
 Starr, W. M. 
 Seyinour, Mrs. A. C. 
 Stroecker, H. H. W. 
 Scott, Bichard. 
 Segehon, H. 
 Schell, Mrs. G. L. 
 Stoddard, Charles Warren. 
 Smith, Joseph. 
 Scott, Mrs. E. W. 
 Sloan, W. B. 
 Soker, D. L. 
 Schnoor, C. H. 
 Swett, Daniel, 
 Schulte, J. G. W. 
 
 Thomas, Bailey & Co. 
 Taylor, P. 
 Toland, H. H. 
 Thornton, H. 
 Tichenor, H. B. 
 Thornton, L. C. 
 
 Upton, Mrs. J. P. 
 
 Van Duzen, A. P. 
 
 Wallace, W. T. 
 Weaver, P. L. 
 Wessell, John. 
 Wieland, John. 
 Weletsky, W. 
 Waddell, Mrs. H. H. 
 Wells, George B. 
 Weems, J. P. 
 Wannemachf r k Co. 
 Wheeler, Bichard. 
 White, D. W. 
 
 l; v..