Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, a city of the United States, the largest commercial city of California and of the Pacific coast, is situated in 37° 47' 22".55 N. lat. and 122° 25' 40".76 W. long., on the end of a peninsula which has the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Bay of San Francisco on the other. The width of this tongue of land within the city limits is about 6 miles, and its whole length about 26. The original site of San Francisco was so uninviting that many of the pioneers doubted if a place of much importance could ever spring up there. The hills (Russian Hill, 360 feet; Telegraph Hill, 294 feet; and a number of others, ranging from 75 to 120 feet) were barren and precipitous, and the interspaces, especially on the westerly side, were made up largely of shifting sand-dunes; on the east side, however, the land sloped gently towards the bay, and there was the further advantage of a small cove extending inland nearly to the present line of Montgomery Street. This cove has since been filled up and built over. After an attempt to found the commercial metropolis at Benicia, 30 miles north on the Straits of Carquinez, it was evident that no other place within easy distance from the ocean possessed so many advantages for the site of a city as this barren

peninsula. The Bay of San Francisco is reached from the ocean through the Golden Gate, a strait about 5 miles long and averaging 1 mile in width, with a depth of 30 feet on the bar at the entrance and from 60 to 100 feet within. The bay, which extends past the city in a south-south-east direction for about 40 miles, is about seven miles wide in front of the city, while its greatest width is 12. Connected with the Bay of San Francisco on the north by a strait 3 miles wide is San Pablo Bay, about 10 miles in length and the same in breadth, having at its extreme northerly end Mare Island, the site of the navy yard. This bay, again, is connected by the Straits of Carquinez with Suisun Bay, 8 miles long and 4 wide. The total length of these bays and connecting straits is 65 miles. This great inland water, sheltered and for the most part navigable by the largest craft, receives the two great rivers of California, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin. In the Bay of San Francisco are Alcatraz Island (30 acres), strongly fortified; Angel Island (800 acres), fortified; and Yerba Buena, or Goat Island (about 300 acres).



Environs of San Francisco.

The presidio or fortified settlement of San Francisco was founded on 17th September 1776, and the mission (San Francisco de los Dolores) in the following October. In 1830 the population of the presidio consisted of about fifty Spanish soldiers and officers; these added to the number at the mission made an aggregate population of about 200. Beechy, who visited the harbour and presidio in 1826, has left the following description:—

The presidio enclosure was about 300 yards square. In 1834, when it was secularized and began to be known by the secular name of Yerba Buena, the mission Dolores had a population of 500. In the summer of 1846 an American man-of-war took possession of the place. In the early part of 1849 the inhabitants numbered about 2000, and the embryo city had already come to be known by its future name of San Francisco. In consequence of the discovery of gold in California a strong drift of population set in towards the placer mines, and at the end of 1849 there were 20,000 people in the city. The first legislature of California granted a charter to San Francisco on 1st May 1850. Prior to that date the government of the pueblo had been administered by an alcalde. The pueblo grant originally made by the king of Spain contained four square (Spanish) leagues of land; this grant was subsequently confirmed to San Francisco by an Act of Congress. The jurisdiction of the municipality extends over the islands in the bay. The area included in the limits of the city exceeds the original four square leagues considerably, including what were originally denominated “swamp and overflowed lands” (see Dwinelle's Colonial History).

In the first stages of its history the buildings of the city were chiefly of wood,—in many cases the frames and coverings having been brought from the Atlantic States round Cape Horn in sailing vessels. Within a few months of the establishment of municipal government the city suffered severely on more than one occasion from fire. The fire of 4th May 1850 destroyed property to the value of about 3,000,000; another in the following month was still more destructive ($4,000,000); and the damage resulting from a third in September was estimated at $500,000. These occurrences naturally led to the employment of more substantial building material in some cases, granite being imported from China for some buildings, and iron and brick being used to a considerable extent on others; but to this day nearly all the private dwellings of the city are of wood. Since 1850, however, the damage from fire in the portion of the city occupied by private houses has been remarkably small,—partly because of the use of redwood instead of pine. In the business houses erected recently the increase of solidity and costliness has been very marked.



San Francisco (north-eastern part).

Throughout a considerable part of the city the streets are laid out in rectangular form, and nowhere with any reference to the natural elevations. The most important business thoroughfare is Market Street, extending from the water front at the ferry landings to the hills on the

west, a distance of 3 miles or more. The more important streets are paved for the most part with cobble stones and basalt blocks; but asphalt on a stone or concrete foundation has begun to be used. Among the public buildings and institutions of San Francisco are the mint, appraisers' stores, subtreasury, custom-house, merchants' exchange, stock exchange, city-hall, industrial school, house of correction, almshouse, Masonic Temple, new Oddfellows' building, safe deposit, and seven theatres and opera-houses. The Palace Hotel cost $3,250,000, and can accommodate 1200 guests. The city has eleven public squares. Its greatest attraction is the Golden Gate Park of 1050 acres, 3 miles long and half a mile wide, having the ocean for its extreme westerly boundary. The greater part of this area was formerly a shifting sand-dune. An extensive glass-house in a central position is filled with the rarest tropical and tropical plants and shrubs; a large part of the area is planted with forest trees, or is laid down in grass; the walks and drives are well planned and well kept.

San Francisco is traversed in various directions by horse railroads, which extend from the water front to the suburbs. There are also 50 miles of wire cable roads, which are yearly increasing. These cable tramways extend 2 miles on Clay Street, overcoming an elevation of 120 feet. The cost of their construction and equipment has ranged from $100,000 to $125,000 per mile. The speed is usually about 5 miles an hour. San Francisco is the terminus of two continental railways, viz., the Union and Central Pacific and the Southern Pacific; while a third, the Atlantic and Pacific, enters the city over a leased line from Mohave. Two narrow-gauge lines and one broad-gauge, each less than a hundred miles long, to

important points in the State, are connected with the city by means of ferries.

The population of San Francisco, as shown by the census returns, was 34,000 in 1850; in 1860, 56,802; in 1870, 149,473; and in 1880, 233,959 (132,608 males, 101,351 females); in 1885 it was estimated, on the basis of the school census, at 275,000 (Chinese, 30,000). At the last presidential election (1884) the total vote cast in the city was 50,167, the total foreign vote being 25,254; of these 12,837 were British (10,206 of them Irish) and 7052 Germans. Of the 90,468 children in the city under seventeen reported for the fiscal year 1884-85, 50,973 had foreign-born parents, and 15,460 more had one parent of foreign origin. In social customs, trade usages, amusements, and religious observances, the large foreign population of San Francisco contributes materially to the formation of its liberal and cosmopolitan character.