dis splendid bull, sartin shore ; an' de chicken fight
what's a-gwine to take place arter de bull-fight which
am a-gwine to take place 'fore de chicken fight. Bof
of 'em togeder has been obliged to be postponded till
de next day, which am to-morrow arternoon in case
it should be a fair day an' not rain."
The plank road to the Mission was the boulevard of 1852-3, the first established public drive and public promenade in San Francisco. Winding among the sand-hills from Mission or Howard streets, the road then boasted its four-horse omnibus line and its two toll gates. On every pleasant day, from morning till night, it was thronged with men of fashion and women of pleasure, idlers, loafers, gamblers, babies with their mammas or nurses, making their several displays in their vehicles of divers descriptions, each after the bent of his own wise or foolish fancy. Along the road were vegetable and flower gardens, and some little white cottages were soon seen here and there nestling among the sand-hills. Here San Francisco took the air; her 3 was the resort at that time of San Francisco s best society.
Another great promenade of the city about this time, or a little later, was Stockton street from Wash- ington street to Washington square. It was then but partially graded and planked, but on it were the handsome private residences and the principal churches. West of this the streets were for the most part in a state of nature, though many pretty cottages and some fine larger houses dotted the hillside. Dupont street, with its saloons and small shops, was a thronged and busy place. At night the gambling shops and stores were brilliantly lighted, and in the different sa- loons were women in great variety, Spanish, English, German, French, Kanaka, and Chinese. During the day it was the chief thoroughfare between the busi- ness portion of the town and the residences in the direction of North Beach. The custom house, city
