The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-08-20
SAN FRANCISCO IN t949.
Hills Covered with Rank Weeds Where
Now Stands a Magnificent City.

BILLS Covered with Rank Weeds Where
Now Stands a Magnificent City.
Crossing the equator on the 5th of June,
we continued to drift lazily northward,
until we took the northeast trades about
IA dogs. north latitude and were soon has.
tening toward the end of the voyage.
1t was afternoon of the 9th of July when
we entered the Golden Gate. The hills
about the bay were dressed in the arid
garb of the dry midsummer. Until Tele
graph hill was rounded no habitatlon OF
sign of civilization was visible save the di.
lapidated earthworks at Fort Point and
the few crumbling adobe buildings that
then constituted the Preside, or old
Mexican military post. Alcatraz island.
now covered with Notifications and bar
racks and crowned with a lighthouse at its
summit, was then naked and white with
the guano of the myraids of cormorants,
gulls and pelicans that nested and Matched
their broods upon it,
The hills of Contra Costa and the plains
at their feet were rank with wild oats, and
were the pasture grounds of herds of cat
tie. Here and there across the broad and
beautiful bay the whitewashed walls of an
adobe ranch house were visible. Round
ing Telegraph hill, however, there was a
change of scene. As the harbor OF San
Francisco opened up before us whole
feet of vessels of every class and descrip-
ton were seen at anchor.
Clearly some kind of talisman was draw
ing hither the commerce of the world, al
though on shore as viewed from the ships
deck, one saw but a few adobe buildings,
relics of Mexican methods and habits, some
small wooden structures here and there,
and tents large and small dotting the hill.
sides and beach.
Landing on the rocks at Clark's point, a
spur of Telegraph hill (for no wharf then
existed), we skirted along the cove round
into the center of the town, then fairly en-
braced within the space now covered by thu
few blocks bordering upon the Plaza OF
Portsmouth square. A locality more re-
plete with hustle and excitement than this
then was never existed Tents were crowd
ed with people surrounding the tables
where the Mexican game of monte" and
other so called banking games were in full
blast. These were the first and most con-
spicuous features of the scene.
The mercantile establishments were
thronged with men fitting out for the dig
glngS." ACTIVITY prevailed everywhere,
occasioned mainly by the innumerable ex-
petitions and squads of men about to de-
part for the mining region. For, aside
from the gambling fraternity and the COM
paratively few older and wiser heads who
saw safer and more profitable field OF
operations in the opportunities which ex-
listed for trade and speculation in San
Francisco, the heart of the multitude was
set upon gold digging, the making of a
pile"-in the parlance of the day-and a
quick return to the old home again.
Indeed, it may be safely estimated that
95 per cent. of the forty miners" who
had then arrived and were still arriv-
ing in California were animated by this
sentiment. For at that time the country,
with its arid and uninvitipg aspect, pre-.
scented few or no attractions for permanent
residence. Much less did it then exhibit
any of the evidences of the resources of sol
and climate which the subsequent fort
years Of American energy and enterprise
have developed B. Farwell in
Century.