Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-05-07

in the history Of the new city, many OF
the giant sky scrapers that have risen
upon the sites of less imposing build
ings destroyed being outlined in fire
of electric bulbs. The still crowded hills
of the city were flooded now and then
in the flash and the play Of scores of
searchlights trained from fighting tops
and flying bridges. Below them in the
anchorage grounds the illuminatiOns
of the heaviest fleet ever assembled
under any flag made brilliant the wa
tiers of the bay for thousands of yards
around.
Official dinners, band concerts ana =.
reception and ball at the Paramount
hotel with 5000 invited guests are
features of the first evening of the
fleets stay.
San Francisco, May 6.-Four months
and 70 days out from Hampton Roads,
the Atlantic fleet of battleships and
the second American torpedo fiotilla,
steamed today within the Golden Gate
and cast anchor in the harbor of San
Francisco, where a welcome character
istic of truly Western hospitality
awaited them All last night the 16
battleships lay at anchor off the outer
lightship, gently rolling in the swell
Of the Pacific with the six accompany
ing black hulled destroyers bobblng
about in their restless manner ana
making life uncomfortable for every
body aboard. The glow of the city
lights in the midnight sky could be
plainly seen from the ships and made
officers and men alike impatient for the
completion of the last leg of the orig
inally planned cruise of the heavy
squadrons.
The path to the Golden Gate lay to
the eastward, while a few miles away
in the wake of the long dimmed sun
the night lights of the tiny Farallone
Islands twinkled their domestic vigils
in entire ignorance of the immediate
presence Of the most distinguished
naval visitors ever sent to the West
coast of the United States Wireless
dispatches sent from the ships to the
shore during most of the long night
hours told of the uneventful journey
from Santa Cruz, the last stopping
place, and of the preparations for the
impressive entry into San Francisco
bay under the glare of the monday
sun.
The movements of the fleet were 80
timed by the navigators that the Con-
nectlcut passed within the headlands
of tho gateway-Point Bonita. on the
north and Point Lobos on the south
exactly at ~ o'clock. Rear Admiral
Robey D. Evans, who left the fleet
after the first 10 days of target prac-
tice at Magdalena bay and came to
PaSO Robes hot springs for treatment,
rejoned the fleet yesterday at Mon
terey and took up his quarters in the
emergency cabin of the Connecticut,
where he spent most of his time dur
ing the long trip down the Eastern
coast of South America, through the
Straits of Magellan and on up the
Western coast of the hemisphere, to
be at the head of the line of 16 bat
tleships on the day of their triumphial
entry into this historic bay of the
Western metropolis.
1t was estimated by railroad officials
today that more than 100000 strangers
have been brought into San Francisco
alone during the last 4S hours. The
feet has been the topic of every city.
town or hamlet within several hundred
miles of San Francisco during the
past two months and everp person
able to make the trip-either by rail-
road or horse-drawn vehicle-has come
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