Frank Soulé - Annals of San Francisco

Annals of San Francisco

FRANK SOUL

Annals of San Francisco, F. Soul

Jazzybee Verlag Jrgen Beck

86450 Altenmnster, Loschberg 9

Deutschland

ISBN: 9783849650643

www.jazzybee-verlag.de

admin@jazzybee-verlag.de

Were not the plan, scope and purpose of the present volume sufficiently explained in the text of the work itself, we should despair of adequately initiating the reader in these subjects in the limited space necessarily assigned to a Preface. It is not necessary to offer a reason for the appearance of these " Annals." To read and to know something of the history of this new Tadmor which has grown up so suddenly in the midst of what was but recently merely a desert. A the centre of that vast trade which the golden smile of California opened at once to the world, is so natural and inevitable a desire, that it may be taken for granted, and dismissed as a foregone conclusion. The plan of the work is such as its nature seemed to require, and the style and manner of treatment must rest for approval and criticism with the Public, for whom it was written and to whom it is now submitted.

To avoid the necessity of frequent references in the body of the work to authorities, and to those who have generously extended to the authors facilities for its production, the Preface has been selected as the most fitting place for expressing our obligations. For unrestricted access to the "Californian," the "California Star," and the "Alta California" newspaper files, we are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Edward Conner, one of the proprietors of the last-named journal. Much valuable statistical and other information has been derived from the "San Francisco Herald," full files of which were kindly placed at our disposal by its editor and proprietor, Mr. John Nugent. The "California Chronicle," from its commencement to the date of publication of this volume, was also placed by the proprietors at our service. We are likewise indebted to Messrs. T. J. Nevins and Wm. H. O'Grady for information respecting the public schools; to Mr. J. L. Van Bokkelin, for important facts concerning the fire department; to Mr. A. G. Randall, for particulars in regard to military organizations; to Rev's T. Dwight Hunt, Albert Williams, J. L. Ver Mehr, S. H. Willey and O. C. Wheeler, for matter relating to the early state of religion and churches in San Francisco; to Messrs. Thomas O. Larkin, William A. Richardson, Jacob P. Leese, Jacob R. Snyder, James Caldwell Low, Hiram Pierson, J. D. Stevenson, Samuel Brannan, R. H. Perry, David Jobson, Samuel J. Bayard, Nathaniel Gray and James King of William, for much useful and interesting information regarding the early and present history of the city; to Mr. J. M. Ford, Daguerreian artist, for gratuitous services in taking portraits of many of the gentlemen whose memoirs are given; and to our citizens generally who have freely responded to our call for information, whenever they have been appealed to for that purpose. Many biographical sketches designed for this work have been omitted for want of room, the volume having extended to nearly double the size originally intended and promised. These, however, with other interesting matters connected with the progress of San Francisco, and a history of all the important cities and towns of California, will be published at an early day, in another volume, a great portion of the material for which is already prepared.

The necessity of condensing within the reasonable space of a single volume, the history of a city which has occupied for the five or six years of its existence so much of the attention of the world, and the unavoidable collateral history of California, has prevented, to some extent, a natural impulse and inclination to indulge more at length in many interesting details. But it is believed that the gist of the whole matter is embraced in the history as written, and that no important event has been omitted, which would have been of interest to the general reader.

It appears expedient, before entering upon the annals of San Francisco proper, to give a short review of the first discovery, settlement, and progress of California itself, including an account of the aboriginal inhabitants, and of the first establishment, rise, and decline of the priest class, their sovereigns, whose domination forms a most peculiar and interesting phase in the general history of the country. The subject indeed comprehends, or naturally demands, some notice of these points; for, up to a recent period, San Francisco, from its being the "golden gate" to the wealth of the State, and from its many physical advantages, its population, the rapidity and grandeur of its wondrous rise and progress, the energy of its citizens, the extent of its home and foreign commerce, its universal fame, arising chiefly from its being associated in the minds of men, Americans as well as foreigners, with the first discovery and subsequent astonishing produce of goldSan Francisco, from these and other causes, has been in a great measure identified with California itself. No history, therefore, of the city, could be complete, unless it included some account of the circumstances which preceded and immediately accompanied its rise, and which have made it what it almost already is, but which it will more plainly soon become, the greatest and most magnificent, wealthy and powerful maritime city in the Pacifica city which is destined, one day, to be, in riches, grandeur and influence, like Tyre or Carthage of the olden time, or like Liverpool or New York of modern days.

We propose to embody in a succinct and continuous narrative, the subjects already particularly noticeda general account of the causes, progress, and consequences of the war of 1846, between the Mexican and American Statesthe cession of California to the latterthe first discovery of gold, and the immediate results of that discovery upon the prosperity and population of the countryits admission as a State into the American Unionand a description of its physical geography, and of its commercial, agricultural, pastoral, and mineral wealth, and capabilities to receive and satisfy millions of additional inhabitants. These matters will form Part First of the work.

We shall afterwards, at somewhat greater length, describe, in a similar continuous narrative, the progress and the various incidents which happened, year by year, and month by month, in San Francisco itself, from the period when California was ceded by the Mexicans, and State and town became American, up to the present time, and which, properly speaking, alone constitute the "Annals" of the city. This subject will constitute Part Second.

In the subsequent portion of the volume, we shall devote special chapters, in no particular order, to the more minute details of whatever things were most peculiar and interestingphysical and intellectual, social and moral, and their causes and consequenceswhich marked the progress of the city, and gave it a world-wide reputation for good or for evil. In this division of the work will be included biographical and personal sketches, and anecdotes of the more prominent and distinguished actors in the bustling scenes of the time, and whose names are closely associated either with the general history of California, or with the particular rise and progress of San Francisco itself. These topics will be comprehended in and constitute Part Third.

The remembrance of these matters is still fresh in the minds of our people; but, in the silent lapse of years, many of them must gradually fade away. It would then be well, that after the present generation disappears, our posterity should know something of the early history and triumphant progress of their glorious city, and of its worthiest or most noted sons, and the exciting, troublous scenes of the last seven or eight years, all drawn from the fullest and most accurate sources that are still to be had.