The Coolidge examiner., 1932-12-02

Prepared by National Geographic Society,
Washington, d. C.-WNU Service.
CAN FRANCISCO is to have
- new superbridge across its
broad bay, to be financed by
the Reconstruction Finance corpOr-
alton. For the first time the city
will possess a highway connection
with the rich and populous trans
bay country.
San Francisco stands on a PENN
sula. North and east of it is the
great harbor; to the west, the Pa
cific. So most travellers reach it
by water. Its voice is the hOarse
blast of ferryboats on the bay. The
sound never ceases. Counting COM
muters, nearly 55,0O0,O00 people a
year pass through the vast Ferry
| Building at the foot of Market
street. city within itself The pro-
posed bridge, for which $62,OO0,OO0
has been advanced by the govern
ment, will be used by many who
now ride the ferryboats.
Only SO years ago, when gold
mad human hordes swept across the
prairies Of San Francisco, it was an
infant Mexican village. Today it
is great metropolis of 635,000 in
habitants, bartering with Alaska,
Japan, China, the Philippines, India
and Australia.
Its vast panoramic Embarcadero,
or water front, fairly smells of
China tea, silks, straw mats, Alaska
fish, Manila hemp, coconuts, pineap-
pies, raw sugar, Singapore rubber,
and coffee from Latin America. The
crude adobe pueblo, where Boston
boats" first came to trade arms,
tools, trinkets and calico for the
hides and tallow of Mexican ranch
ers, has become today our key port
of the Pacific.
A great city had to rise here, for
the same reasons that New York
grew at the Hudson's mouth, Rio
de Janeiro and Sydney and Hong
Kong on their great harbors, Shang-
hal on the Yangtze, and Istanbul by
the Golden Horn. This vast haven
inside the Golden Gate affords such
an ideal site for a busy interna-
tional city that, as one writer says,
If San Francisco did not already ex-
ist, men would at once start build
ing it.
Not only in its eventful growth,
but in the story of its early begin
nings, you find San Francisco le-
Ultimately a child of the sea. In
early days sea paths were the easi-
est way to this coast.
Drake Near There in 1879.
BY sea. Sir Francis Drake came,
on that pioneer world cruise of 1879.
1t must have been foggy even then /;
for he missed the Golden Gate to
land a bit north, at what is now
brakes bay. Claiming the coun-
try for his queen, naming it New
Albion, and celebrating the first
Christmas service in what today is
California, Drake sailed away.
Nearly two centuries passed. Still
no white man had seen the Golden
Gate. Inland from it were Digger
Indians, living precariously on roots,
rats, bugs and snakes, often starv-
ing in region now so rich in milk
and honey that it exports food to
much of the civilized world.
But down in Mexico things were
appening-events of profound por-
tent to future California and San
Francisco. Cortez had seized the
realm of Montezuma. Slowly, for
generations afterwards, the gold
hungry Spaniards drifted to the
northwest, some by sea, many
through what is Arizona now, and
thus up this coast. With them came
the priests. carrying the Cross to
the Indians. Often it was a contest
to see whether priest could bap-
tie an Indian before the Indian
could slay the priest. Haltingly
they advanced, but stubbornly.
In time the missions, orchards,
and irrigated farms of the padres
were scattered along the meander-
ing trail from Guadalajara to San
Diego-and finally to the Golden
Gate itself. Along this same Cami-
no Real, or Royal Road" flanked
today by golf clubs and "hot-dog"
stands, came Don Gaspar de Portola,
governor of Baja California, seek
ing a bay called Monterey. "Royal
Road" they called it, euphemis-
tically; but what Don Gaspar act
ually followed then was a faint trail
fading into hills and brush. Lost,
foundering, he stumbled upon a
magnificent land-locked harbor, and
he named it San Francisco. That
was October 81, 1869.
AS if foreshadowing the liberal
spirit of the city, San Francisco it.
self was founded in 1776-the same
year that also made July Fourth the
nations birthday. 1t was Spanish