The San Francisco call., 1895-07-14

over three decades during which l have
been absent, and she has moved, not in
one direction only, but in every direction,
as l have noted in going from one
place to another. Shall tell you OF North
Beach as we walk along? AS that is
agreeable, I'll do so.
The fact strikes me that while great
change Las taken place in this part OF the
City, while its northern limits have spread
out far beyond those of the old northern
shore line that ran in an irregular course
from Black Point to North Point at the
foot of Sansome street, and that most OF
the objects that were familiar to those who
knew them in the tiftles have disappeared,
the advancement is not that which the
early pioneers had predicted for North
Beach. It was their idea that this would
be the great commercial point of the then
growing city; that the great wharves would
be built between the two places l have
Just named; that there the old line clipper
ships, such as the Flying Cloud, the racer
that made the voyage from New York
around the Horn in SO days and hours,
the San Francisco, the Golden Fleece and
others of that class-those graceful models
of naval architecture that were then so
much admired, butWh1ch have been super
seeded by the iron ocean carriers of to-day
would load and unload their cargoes; that
the many blocks fringing the waters edge
manufactures would spring up all around, !,
and that Stockton and Powell streets
would be the great avenues leading to the
southern part of the City. At the time to
which l refer the district south of Bush
street and west of Montgomery was still a
waste of sand covered with scrub oak, lu-
pin and yerba buena, with here and there
an isolated shanty occupied by some
strange being who wanted to be away at
night from the busy din of the City; when
a high bank of sand obstructed Kearny
street Just south of Sutter, and from which
d trail led in southwesterly direction to
the Mission Dolores, and when there was
only one house west of Dupont street. 1t
was solitary structure, on the course of
Powell street, nearly on a line with Clay,
and it was generally remarked that the oc-
cupant had selected a home out in the
country.
''This large red brick building, which
was not standing when l lett San Fran
cisco, is, 1 see by the sign upon it, the Pio-
neer Woolenmills, which l read in a re-
cent issue OF THE CALL had been sold after
having been idle for long time"
"Yes, that building was put up after you
left, and for number of years after it was
opened, the company that owned IL having
started business in 1862, gave employment
to hundreds of workmen, l replied.
Right down below US, continued the
colonel, 81 recognize the engine-house of
the San Francisco Water Company
"You mean the Spring Valley Water
Company, don't you?'
mo, SIR replied the colonel, with de-
gree of positiveness that carried with it the
information that he knew what he was
talking about; II mean just what said
Those are the pumping works of the San
Francisco Water Company, of which John
Bensley was the president, and it is the
&I1A :
water on an extensive scale, but notice
that it is not in operation, and that it has
the appearance of being deserted. Has it
been discontinued"
''Tbe rains of last winter washed away
the fiume that supplied it, and as the dam
age has not been repaired the works have
been shut down."
Il suppose" resumed the colonel, "that
there are great many people of to-day
who are under the impression that the
present water system has always been
the water system, but that is not so. Be-
fore this plant was put in operation the
early San Franciscans obtained their water
for drinking and household purposes from
wells sunk on the premises occupied by
them or from artesian wells, one of which
was on Sansome street, near Pine. The
water from these wells was taken in LARGE
water-carts, that Is large barrels fastened
on two-wheel carts, from house to
house and delivered in eight-gallon pals
at so much a pail, or SO much
month to regular customers, the prices
varying according to the, amount con-
sumed. Every householder and eyery
storekeeper had his barrel not as that
word is used nowadays in political sense,
but his barrel as receptacle for the
amount of water he might require from
the time the waterman came until he re-