San Francisco in 1851 As Described by Eyewitnesses
By LuLA May Garrett
FROM THE many records which are extant today it is possible to open the door on the San Francisco of ninety-two years ago and visuaHze the city as it appeared to newcomers and to its earHer inhabitants who could remember the good old days of two years before. Eyewitnesses tell the story in letters, in diaries, in travelers' books, and in many an item in the Daily Alt a California and the San Francisco Herald.
The city in January 1 85 1 is said to have had a population of from 25,000 to 30,000. The census for the following year reports 36,75 1. No figures can be accurate because the population was constantly shifting. Of the 27,000 per- sons who are said to have arrived by sea in 1 85 1 ,^ it is probable that only 7,000 remained in the city.
Nearly all books written by travelers who came through the Golden Gate describe the harbor as being large enough for all the navies of the world at the same time.^ One Frenchman reveals the sources of this statement as Otto von Kotzebue, the early nineteenth century navigator, and "Van Couver."^ Mrs. Bates, a New England matron who landed in April 1851, writes that there was always a "depth of water sufficient to admit ships of the largest size; and so completely land-locked and protected from the winds is the har- bor that vessels can ride at anchor in perfect safety in all kinds of weather."^ In this almost unanimous praise of the sea approach to the city there is one indignant criticism. Saint-Amant, a French government agent, complains that his ship dared not go into port in a fog because the Americans, "always less concerned with measures of safety than with taking chances," had neg- lected to build lighthouses and mark the channel.^ Mrs. Bates says that in the harbor the island of Yerba Buena lay a "mile or so distant" from the city, and that "opposite San Francisco. . .is a place called Sausolito" to which water- boats plied, affording ample remuneration for the toil." These boats brought in drinking water, which was peddled from house to house in kegs on the backs of mules. "On the right hand side of the bay, as you are approaching the city, is situated the Presidio of San Francisco" the adobe walls of which were crumbling.^
Once he was safely within the harbor, the traveler saw before him a forest of ships in rows two or three deep. There was not room enough at the wharf for all the vessels, although many piers had been built out into the bay. Hol- inski, a Lithuanian traveler who wrote in French, was such an ardent admirer of the new country that he was prone to exaggerate. He says that there were
