Connecticut western news., 1873-07-04
San ErAnciScOs

ouoll HUI oeAOAApt IO SttC yOu lnl0n which savers of statistics about this city of the West, as information in regard to it's commerce and trade, it's progress and pros poets, its past. present and future may be more accurately gathered from the annual reports of it's Board of Trade shall, in this letter, simply relate my impressions of the city, and detail that portion of my ex- perience which think will be of interest
 We are domiciled at the Grand Hotel, situ- ated on the corner of Market and Mont gomery streets, and some distance from the waters of the bay. It is large and well kept; equal to any hotel now in Chicago. The principal hostleries of the city are on Montgomery street; among them the Lick and the Occidental" both very
 fine houses. The cost of living here is nominally less than at the East, but is in re- alty greater, as all payments are made in gold or greenbacks at discount, and the charges graded in accordance with the ac- cOmmOdations receiYed-three dollars Der day being the specified price at the hotels, amounting actually to six dollars day
 Yesterday afternoon 1 climbed, lame though l am, to the top of Telegraph Hill, which oyerlooks the entire city and country surrounding. The panorama is very fine, for ''F'risco" is not flat, level plain. like our city; it is built upon more hills than Rome, while Russian and Telegraph hills are sleeper than the Capitoline or Mt. Av- entine. Away off to the left could be seen Fort Point, hiding the entrance of the har- bor-the famous Golden Gate ;. before me lay the shipping at anchor in the bay, the fortress of Alcatray and Goat island, to ob- tain the title of which the Central Pacific R. K. Co. is making such strenuous exer- tion. Across the bay tue pretty town of Oakland stood, while at my feet stretched the great city of 25O, ,OOO inhabitants, where in 1885 there was but one board shanty and in ls47 but 45O people dwelt. The town is not so we'll built as Chicago, (few towns are, most of the houses being of wood, and the public buildings not remarkably fine. The U. s. are finishing mint which is somewhat after the severe style of the pat ent office at Washington, and the city is about to erect magnificent hall, the foun
 dations of which are already laid, but tEere is nothing striking in the architecture of the place. It gives plain evidence of having been hastily constructed. The wooden houses are, almost without exception. paint ed dingy yellow, to prevent the too ap- parent accumulation of dust. Some of the 6uYol handsome as almost to resemble hotels, nearly every residence of any pretension having one or more little wind mills, whose wooden sails are constantly turning, giving an appearance on grand scale, something like the f1uttering of ladies' fans in large assembly. These mills draw water from a we'll to fill capacious tank which, raised upon tower, supplies the house and serves to irrigate the lawn and garden. In this way the grass is kept as green as it springs in New England, and the flowers beng we'll watered, flourish in most luxuriant beauty. The callably is to be found in every yard. and is planted in rows, for borders to the beds, it's white flowers being as common as the daffodils and jonquils that used to adOrn the gardens of our grandmothers Helio- tropes, geraniums and fuschias are trained out of doors on trellise, and never saw anything so magnificent as the trees, even in the Sunny South" The gardens of San Francisco are it's glory, and apropos, within mile of our hotel is Woodward's Garden, place of amusement we'll worth visit. It is great resort for the people of Frisco, and as the city has no park it serves as pleasure ground for the poorer classes, the entrance fee, which gives general admission, being only 25 cents. The gardens are prettily laid out, supplied with water from several windwills and the city works, and have museum containing a fine selection of stuffed birds, cabinet of choice minerals, green house, art gallery, very good menagerie, comprising many of the animals of California, and skating rink where parlor skates are used. Among the curiosities, and not the least of them, is a very large sea lion, whose antics, when being fed, are very amusing. He is great, tawny, yellow brute, with immense teeth, in weight, exceeding should think, LOGO pounds. Most of the tune he is laying up on the pile of rocks placed in the pool of water where he lives, but when food is of fered he becomes a new creature. He is wide awake then, and makes frantic plunges after the bits of salmon and other fish thrown him by his keeper, splashing the water about and scu6iing upon the rocks with his fippers in quite remarkable manner. To add to the excitement, little black fur seal which lives in the same pool, swiftly and gracefully swims from side to side, barking the while with short, sharp yelps, while more gentle spotted leopard seal feeds quietly and modestly from his keepers hand. If you ever come to '.Fns- co" don't fail to go and see the seals fed in Woodward's Garden. It is the cheapest thing have found in California; indeed, everything costs twice as much as east of the mountains. If you have your boots ''polshed" it is 15 cents, and shave is 25 cents. Travelling here is no cheaper than elsewhere, MT. Nordhoff to the contrary notwithstanding. rose early one morn- ing and went into the market. The display of vegetables was very fine: caulifower as large as peck measure, splendid celery stalks as thick as my arm, asparagus, tur- hips. beets, peas and artichokes, all grown in the open air, while the strawberries and oranges from Los Angeles, and the bananas and lines from Ocspulco and the Sandwich islands, lay about in tempting profusion. The fish market was remarkable neither for the excellence or variety afforded. A New Yorker would scorn the little muddy tasting things termed oysters, and the only fish that saw, giving promise to the palate, were the salmon, considered very dear at 10 cents @ pound, and small fish called here smelt, but which is rather kind of her