The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-23
LOST PAST 0RSANFRANCISCO
MORIALSOF Of OLD
FED THE FIRES.
Tea That the bancroft Library Is Gone
Doubt IL the Robert Louis Stevenson
House Stands-Is the Dear Flag Safe
r. That Flew over California Republic?

INOu9t SltuNo 10 NNt h1Nph Aheo SNhS
= That Flew over California Republic?
As the news of the San Francisco disaster
comes in there occur to the mind more
and more things which cannot be replaced
and which must have gone dow with the
general ruin. The Sutro library has al
ready heen described in THE sun. There
was also the Bancroft library. which had
lately been bought for the University OF
California by State funds and private sub
scription. Until lately this had been left
In its old quarters in the Mission, a dis
trict which was swept by the fire. 1t was
o wooden building. II is possible hat the
library had been taken over to the Uni
versity of California at Berkeley, and in
that case it is safe. There is no way now
Of learning whether this was done or not.
The Bancroft library was gathered by
Hubert Howe Bancroft, and bore mainly
upon the history of California and the
Far West in their early mining times and
the period of Spanish occupation. Al.
though not large, 1t was complete and
valuable, and more useful in writing the
history of California than all other original
sources put together. 1t included a great
number OF historical documents such as
llltl III az eAN HA
script "reminiscences Among the papers
were the diary of a member Of the famous
Bonner party which suffered so terribly
In the attempt to get over the mountains
in the early days, the Journals, in manu-
script, of some of the early Spanish ex-
%plorers, and many volumes Of personal
"reminiscences bearing on the times of 40,
written at his request by pioneers, Much
z "A a.. - VLa I1NH nnlInnfNF q a Unl
as 10 the scholar.
Most Of the relics of Robert Louis Steven
son NAV have gone by the board. Here again
there is uncertainty. The house OF his widow
stood or stands on the summit of Russian
Hill. Both sides of this hill were burned
over in different rims of atbe' fire, but the
fate Of the summit u not known. In this
house were Stevenson's books, the old furni-
ture Of the Balfour and Stevenson families.
which he used as a boy, a lot of his private
papers, paintings and statuary given him
by men eminent in the arts, and a great
many objects which he had gathered in his
wanderings through the South Seas.
The Stevenson house stood OF a shoulder
of Russian Hill, so that 1t had three stories
on one side and one on the other. Below it
dropped Hyde street, so steep that a team
could not use the pavement; and the Hyde
street cable cars in taking the hill made a
journey which seemed perilous to any one
not used to the ways OF a Francisco
street cars. Below this was the bay,
In a corner Of the living room OF this
house was a kind Of Stevenson shrine. Over
the fireplace appeared the Saint-Gaudens
medallion. lone in bronze; the furniture
near by was that which Stevenson had used
in his Scotch home; n just across the
room long loaded windows on two sides
gave a panorama of the bay and the Gate.
All the strange craft which go out OF the
Gate in the Pacific passed under those win
dows. The Stevenson monument stood in
the middle of Portsmouth Square. AS it
was low and with u heavy pedestal, 1t prob
ably came through all right. Stevenson's
old rooms in the Latin Quarter, which had
been kept as a kind Of memorial, were be-
You'd a doubt destroyed.
Mission Dolores, according to the re-
ports, stands. This is a freak Of the earth
quake. The mission was built OF. sun
dried adobe, had been propped and re-
paired several times and was generally
considered so frail that services we're held
in it only on anniversa ries. According to
one despatch the modern church next
door suffered more than the old mission.
Since the fire swept Telegraph Hill, it
must have taken the Church Of SITS. Peter
and Parl, the church of the Italian fisher
men. Here, as in Italy, were little boats
all about the altar-yotive offerings from
fishermen who had escaped perils on the
sea. The wharf Of the Italian fishermen
was on North Beach, where, according
to the late reports, some OF the docks suf-
fered. If that vent by the board it took
one of the most picturesque spots in the
country.
These fshe rnen were Nearolitans, with
a sprinkling Of Greeks. They brought
over with them their customs and costumes
and their own methods Of boat construc-
ton. These people refused to he Ameri-
oanized. No Aven the+Ghinese were more
conservative about their WI customs,
Their boats Hre a ~delight-the lateen
rig Of the Mediterranean fixed on gaudy
hulls. The sails they stained a rich brown.
They had an enclosed wharf on North
Beach; and when the fleet was in port these
boats rose in row on all four sides of the
wharf. singing to themselves with the creak-
ing Of their cordage, In the'early morning
the fee. would creep through the mists
OF dawn, and San Francisco people who
loved the beauties of the bay used to rise
early to watch them come into the wharf
and unload their red rock cod, their big
salmon, king of the river mouths, their
boxes of silver sardines. The Chinese fish
vendors came down to bargain with them
by signs, and the wharf was alive with
color. The fishermen wore their native
costumes-gaudy shirts, sashes, high boots
and Tam. o. Shanter caps with big POM
pons. They are big, hardy and handsome
mon, sndthey made pictures as they dragged
out the fish or cleaned their brown nets
at these early morning markets. They
lived in their boats. After the fish were
out they used to light. oil stoves in the
holds and cook their meals right there.
One or two restaurants which they fire.
quented when they took their Fridays of
in port we're pieces of Naples-until the
tourists found them and spoiled them.
These fshsrmen are hardy sailors, VEN
turing far out toward the Farallones in their
little boats. Once they served the Ameri-
cans well in a disaster. On the morning OF
Washington's- Birthday, 1901, the Pacific