Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1894-05-25

A PICTURESQUE ROMANCE.
Early History of the Settlement and city
of San Francisco.

of San Francisco.
The story of the little settlements
among the hills of the peninsula of San
Francisco reads like some picturesque
romance, and has always been very in
teresting to me because it is so differ
ent from the stories of other american
cities. Spanish priests founded a mis-
sion here, and Spanish soldiers built a
fort, or Preside, in the autumn of 1776,
while Gen. Howe was capturing New
York and driving Washington across
into New Jersey. Many of the Spanish
governors lived here.
San Francisco bay, the beautiful in
land sea, with its surroundings Of fer
tile valleys and high mountains, was
sailed past by early Spanish voyagers
and by Sir Francis Drake himself, who,
in 1879, cast anchor, as all critics agree,
in "Old San Francisco harbor" BRAKES
bay, under Point Reyes. The sea fog
must have lain across Golden Gate
when the famous sea king sailed past
For ninety years longer the great bay
was undiscovered. Then, in 1859,
Spanish priests, soldiers, and colonists
came to California; and, November in
that year, the expedition led by
Gov Portola and Father Juan
Crespi, of the Franciscan order,
discovered the bay Of San Francisco.
Six years passed before the new harbor
was entered by water. Then, in 1915,
lH1 ;,Nt lo l.
ley at the base of the twin peaks, and
Spanish fort overlooked the Golden
Gate, and the Spanish folk began to
settle the long peninsula and the val
leys south, east and north of the bay of
San Francisco. Missions and settle
ments were founded at Santa Clara
San Jose and Sonoma; and the Indians
were subdued, till, in 1918, Mission
Dolores had twelve hundred converts,
and thousands more were at the other
missions.
About sixty years after Mission
Dolores was founded, an English
trader named Richardson pitched a
tent on the shore of the bay at the
head of Yerba Buena cove; Jacob Leese
built the first wooden house, and a few
Americans settled at the place. One
was old Galbraith, the blacksmith,
who used to take his homemade Ken.
lucky rifle at daybreak and shoot deer
among the sand-hills where the city
hall now stands. The cove had been
called Yerba Buena because fragrant,
white fowered little California vine
much liked by the Spanish people was
very abundant along the shore. The
large island in the bay, now Goat
island, was also called Yerba Buena in
those days.
So there were really three settle.
ments within the present limits of the
city of San Francisco; the soldiers
camp at the Preside, the Indian and
Spanish village at the mission, which
was called San Francisco, and the trad
ing-post of Yerba Buena. Communi.
cation was slow and difficult among
these settlements; for boys, rocks,
noun .ains and sand-hills covered with
scruh-oaks and dense underground
filled the space between. In January,
1876 eleven years after its foundation,
Yerba Buena contained only thirty
houses, but, July s, the stars and
stripes were hoisted over the little
frontier village that lay on the eastern
ope of the peninsula, facing the con-
tinent; and in January 1S47, the Amer
lean magistrate issued decree adopt
ing the name San Francisco In a few
months more there were one hundred
and fifty-seven houses and -four hun
dred and fifty-nine people in the town.
Then followed the discovery of gold in
the Sierra foothills, and the Golden
Age of 40" In three years more the
population of the young metropolis OF
California increased to thirty-six thou.
sand. Charles II. Shinn, in st. Mich