The Coolidge examiner., 1932-12-02

captain, Juan Bautista de ANA,
who laid it out and set the pattern
for later realtors"
How the City Grew.
Sprawling idly by the bay, and
first named Yerba Buena, Anza's
town site saw things come to pass
that nodded, through the years, the
character of the city; the growth of
the vast haciendas, huge herds, bull
fights, fiestas, burning Judas in
efligy, church professions, rodeos
and staggering vaqueros in such
feats of horsemanship as looping"
full speed with tray of filled wine
glasses, spilling none. More priests
and colonists from Mexico, with new
fruits, food plants, and grains.
BY 1906, Russian trappers, hunt
ing sea otters in the kelp beds,
drift down from Sitka. Agents
of the tsar build a fort at Bodega,
up the coast, colonizing there, with
smooth intrigue, to make Alta Cali
fornia part of the Russian empire
Shrewd New England traders, on
! three-year cruises to Canton via
California, call here to barter. Their
trade goods, wrote Dana in his 1.-TWO
Years Before the Mast" included
spirits, teas, coffees, sugars, spices,
hardware, crockery, clothing, boots
and shoes from Lynn, calicoes from
Lowell, cart wheels from England,
capes, shawls, jewelry and combs.
Bearded and buck-skinned Mis-
souri, and Kentucky men begin trick
J ling in. Then the Hudson's Bay
company, coming to build a fur post
here; English navy merchant ships,
and more moves on the checker
board of destiny, with plan now
to make this a British colony.
With the 1S20s comes the end of
Spanish rule. A new flag, the Mex
lean, waving now over San Francis
co. Intrigues increase as years pass;
disputes arise between foreigners
and natives, and justice grows blind
er. But it's a long walk to Mex
leo, seat of power. And one-legged
Santa Anna has graver problems
nearer home-and in Tens.
Annexation asd Gold.
War with Mexico. Back in Wash
ington sits President Polk, the reso-
lutte. Scott, Doniphan, and Zach
airy Taylor are in Mexico; Free
mont, Kearney, and Kit Carson in
California. Into the little Plaza Of
San Francisco come the United
States sailors to run up. the Ameri-
can flag. California Is annexed in
1848.
Barely 900 people in the village
then; a newspaper, school, and
two ramshackle wooden wharves.
But soon Marshall found gold near
Suffers mill. It was the richest
strike in history. With their jack
knives men gouged chunks Of pure
gold from hillside seams. Seven
Americans, with the help Of Indians,
'took out 275 pounds of gold in
littleAmOre than six weeks.
Two men in seven days obtained
/S17.OOO from a trench a few feet
wide"
The news spread East. Polk COM
mented on the find in a message to
congress. No such excitement had
ever swept the nation. By 1849 the
whole world seemed to be gold mad.
On every continent men talked of
California, and in eve--increasing
thousands they moved on San Fran
cisco. In that year go American
vessels reached California. During
three weeks in the spring of 40,
nearly $4,000 people crossed the Mis-
souri, river, westward bound.
Rough, Boisterous Times.
Steerage tickets via Panama sold
for $1,000. Thousands went this
way; another army around the
Horn; others across Nicaragua or
Mexico. Death took frightful toll,
especially among those crossing the
western deserts.
Imagine San Francisco then. Gold
crazy. Off on the treasure hunt
months ahead of the eastern hordes.
It's homes, cows, chickens, gardens,
goods in stores-all were deserted.
At excitement's height even the sail
ors quit arriving ships to race for
the gold fields, till a vast ghost
fleet of silent vessels lay idly and
abandoned in the bay.
Then, suddenly the tide turned.
Significantly, this period, and not
tn Spanish. marked the city's real
beginning. Newcomers, pouring in
now by sea, made frantic demands,
at any price. for food, clothing, and
mining outfits. In a few weeks pop
ulatiOn multiplied by a hundred
times. Thousands slept In open
fields. Two streams, new arrivals
on their way to the mines and men
Fastening back to spend their dust
and nuggets. brought the young
town amazing wealth.