Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-06-04
SAN FRANCISCO.
The City AT Large-RarthquaK
Frame BuIIdings-Rtre--H the
People LiVe-Dry Goods and Jew
ely.
THE CITY AT LARGE.

more of the city since.
To an Eastern man it is curious place.
1t Is the meeting-pl of the Orient and
Occident-the place where the strong,
selEreliant, fanciful Saxon and Celt meet
the physically feeble but intellectual
Celestial. thus displaying in one city the
two extremes of civilization. 1t is city
which has no thunder or lightning, and,
l may say, no winter or summer. To-day,
as 1 write, the thermometer stands at 90
deg. and spring overcoat is comfortable.
l sit in my room Writing, comfortably on
ly with coal fire, and from my window
l see, in full bloom, fuschias and gerani-
ums trained against the side of houses,
in all their glory, roses of all
varieties till the eyes tire of them. calla
lilies of a size that never saw before, and
all the flowers that in the East are grown
at this season only in lighthouses. and
which are never turned out of doors un-
til July or August. The hills about the
city on the bay are covered with purple
and yellow nepers, and the roads are I'm
ed with yellow marigold and other flow
ers which, owing ID my lack OF education
in botany, I cannot put name TO. 1t is
comfortably warm in the sun, not too
warm, and very cool in doors or in The
shade. And, with the exception of a
few DAYS in July, this is as warm as it
ever gets here. The winters are but a
trife colder. So the San Franciscan may
be said TO enjoy delicious spring all the
year round. But he does enjoy
EARTHQUAKES,
which comes with considerable reg
ularity, and may be considered as a
fair Offset 10 thunder and lightning. For
it must be a rather disagreeable thing to
haYe the earth under your feet heaving
up and down and sideways, and tumbling
buildings on your head, and all that
sort of thing. When you can't trust the
ground you stand on, what can you
trust a.?
The city has experienced some severe
shocks. The Spanish residents tell of
one that occurred before the Yankees
came, that made fssure in the ground
forty miles in length, but l rather guess
each generation has added ten miles to
the crack. 1t was probably a mile leag.
In 1868 a series of shocks disturbed the
equanimity of the San Franciscans, de
stroying several houses and cracking a
great many more. But it is fair to state
that the destroyed and cracked houses
were cheap structures and built on, made
ground. No well, substantially construct
ed building has ever been thrown down
in the city by shock as yet The fears
of these convulsIOns has had its effect
upon the architecture of this city. The
first settlers built one or two stories, three
at the most but the later corners have
got over that, and all over the city very
tall buildings show their heads. They
have discovered that building decently
built and braced will stand any shock
that has yet occurred or is likely to. The
new Palace Hotel, now being built, IS
seven very tall stories high.
Earthquakes are not without their uses,
however. When the San Franciscan has
look ed upon the wine all night, and
comes home in the morning, and weaves
unsteadily on the floor of the nuptial
chamber, the wife of his bosom re-
marks:
"sam'l, what is ever the matter with
you ?"
The answer always is
"Sary, my love, the earth's a quakin'
kin hardly stan up under it."
In the country the unsteadiness of the
earth is not feared, for it can do no spec
ial damage. The buildings are all low
and strong, and cannot be sh haken down
easily, and the most violent shocks can
damage nothing else. Occasionally
wells are made dry and the course of
streams are changed. but these things do
but little harm. Only in cities aud vii
lages, where something can fall on some
one, is there any especial dread and that
is fast wearing out. The old residents
laugh at it. They may, however, catch
one some day that will notebe laughing
matter.
This fear of earthquakes has led to
the erection. in the city, of many thou
sands of
FRAME BUILDINGS.
The majority of the residences are built
of wood indeed. all the really elegant
ones are of this material. There are
scores of long streets OF wooden houses,
many of them three and four stories in
height. In consequence, there will be
here, some day. and that not very far
of,
that will dwarf that of Chicago, and
make Boston ashamed of itself. The
conditions are all here. All 1t wants is a
party at Mrs. OLeaTy's which requires
milk for punch some night when there is
q high wind. There are thousands OF
oo.a. oo1yaraI ,yiti, hOvcaS ht,ilt Of raI
wood, which is as much more inaLmmable
than pine than pine is than brick And
the lots are esmall-25x80-so the houses
stand as close together as the fre-fiend
could wish. Then to make it more GER
tain, the supply of water is short The
pepole here all talk of and expect it, but
thev go on building redwood houses all
the same.
HOW THE PEOPLE LIVE.
Itis easier to live in San francisco
than in any city on the continent. The
supply of fruit and vegetables is beyond
demand and such fruit ! They have
Strawberries from March to November,
and such strawberries the undersigned
never saw. Great luscious berries, as big
as hickory nuts, and with flavor that l
never knew in the East. So far, am
not prepared TO take up the cry that Cal
ifornia fruits have no flavor, which is so
common In the East. All that have
eaten were even richer than the best
ever tasted east ofthe mountains. But
have not tried them all yet. Green peas,
asparagus, new potatoes, turnips, and all
that kind of truck, are always in season,
The markets present be Iutiful appear
ance, for there you shall see everything
the appetite Graves for, and all tue best.
We are eating cherries now of all kinds,
and oranges are selling in the orchards
south of San Francisco at fifty cents Il
bushel. Think of that And they have
q variety. The vegetables of China, ia
pan, and the Islands of the sea grow
| here better even than they do on their
native soil. So these favored people
| crafty their tastes with the delic lcies of
two continents. San Francisco feeds
well.
Rents are very high, however, which
in part balances the oheapness Of provi-
sions. A house ul decent street, %
x4O, costing $4,000 on the ground wortl
$4,000, rents readily for $1,000 a year, ol
twenty per cent. And on the better
streets, rents are still higher.
| DRY GOODS
are about the same as in the East, al re
tail, mean But heavens, how the wo-
men dress here Kearney and Mont.
| -0poarxy otraaio utll ohnm oCro I,arleor,,