DOI: 10.25549/chs-m9715
title: Drawing of San Francisco as seen from the bay, formerly Yerba Buena, 1846

description: Photograph of a drawing of San Francisco, formerly Yerba Buena, as seen from the bay, 1846. Six large ships and a few smaller boats, including a rowboat, travel the waters of the bay. On land, houses and buildings were scattered across the few grids and streets that form mountainous Yerba Buena. Caption reads: "San Francisco in 1846, at the time of the occupation. It was then known as Yerba Buena (good herb)".; Ships in the bay include: "A - U.S.S. 'Portsmouth.' B - U.S. Transport Ships 'Leo,' 'Choo,' 'Susan Drew' and 'Thomas H. Perkins.' They brought the 1st Regiment, New York Volunteers, Col. J.D. Stevenson, Commanding. C - Ship 'Vandalia,' merchantman consigned to Howard & Mellus. D - Coasting schooner. E - Launch 'Luce,' belonging to James Lick."; Points of interest on land include: "1. Custom House. 2. Calaboose. 3. School house. 4. Alcalde office. 5. City Hotel, owned by Wm. A. Leidesdorff. 6. Portsmouth Hotel. 7. Wm. H. Davis' Store. 8. Howard & Mellus Store; the old Hudson Bay Co. Building. 9. W. A. Leidesdorff warehouse. 10. Samuel Brannan's residence. 11. W.A. Leidesdorff. 12. First residence of the Russ family. 13. John Sullivan's residence. 14. Peter T. Sherlock's residence. 15. Juan C. Davis residence. 16. G. Reynold's residence. 17. A.J. Ellis Boarding House. 18. Fitch & McKurley Building. 19. Capt. Vioget's residence. 20. Jno. Fuller's residence. 21. John Noe's residence. 22. John Pidilia's residence. 23. A.A. Andrews' residence. 21. Captain Antonio Ortega's residence. 25. Francisco Cacerez's residence. 26. Capt. Hilder's residence. 27. General G. Vallejo Building. 28. C.L. Ross Building. 29. Mill. 30. Captain John Patty adobe building. 31. Dr. E.P. Jones' residence. 32. Robert Ridley's residence. 33. Los Pechos de la Choco. 34. Lone Mountain. 35. Sill's Blacksmith Shop."; "San Francisco was originally (1835) called Yerba Buena, Spanish for 'Good Herb', a fragrant mint plant that grew along the shorline of the bay. The name was given by William Richardson, who set up the first trading post at Montgomery and Clay (that was the original shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove) and the first private home on Grant near Washington. In 1846, rumor had it that a town at the convergence of the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay would name itself San Francisco. Lt. Washington Bartlett, who had been second in command on the U.S.S. Montgomery when it landed in San Francisco to claim it for the U.S. in 1846, was mayor of Yerba Buena. He realized that sailors and merchant ships were associating Yerba Buena with the name San Francisco Bay, and that if another town claimed that name, the shipping might go there. To ensure that the ships would still come into our harbor, he quickly engineered the name change from Yerba Buena to San Francisco, which became official on January 30, 1847. That other town then decided to take the name Benicia, which was the name of the daughter of General Mariano Vallejo, the last Mexican governor of California. Benicia actually became capitol of California for a few years in the 1800's." -- Peter Moylan, July 1999.