Biennial report of the Board of State Harbor Commissioners for .. . then viceroy of Spain. It also mightily rejoiced his majesty, the King ofSpain. While de Ayala is believed to have been a man of broader vision than Portola, it is a near certainty that he hadno dream of a day when the land surrounding his little packet boat would be the site of great populous cities that wouldhave need of tremendous bridges of steel to span the harbor entrance and the bay proper in order to meet the demandsof twentieth century commerce. For a quarter of a century after de Ayala viewed the wooded hills about t
Biennial report of the Board of State Harbor Commissioners for .. . then viceroy of Spain. It also mightily rejoiced his majesty, the King ofSpain. While de Ayala is believed to have been a man of broader vision than Portola, it is a near certainty that he hadno dream of a day when the land surrounding his little packet boat would be the site of great populous cities that wouldhave need of tremendous bridges of steel to span the harbor entrance and the bay proper in order to meet the demandsof twentieth century commerce. For a quarter of a century after de Ayala viewed the wooded hills about the bay from the San Carlos decks,but few vessels found their way in through the Golden Gate. Then one day in April, 1806, the Russian tradingschooner Juno, down from the northern settlements of Alaska for supplies of meat and grain, dropped anchor offthe shores of Yerba Buena, and San Franciscos first waterborne commerce had its beginning. It was at this anchor-age that the English sloop Raccoon lay when she entered the port in 1816, to hear the news of TRANSPACIFIC LINERS, AT PIERS SOUTH OF THE FERRY BUILDING, WORKING CARGOIN PREPARATION FOR DEPARTURE The first suggestion of possible development of the port occurred under the Mexican regime in 1835. Beforethat date San Francisco was not a port of entry, and would-be traders were expected to go to Monterey for officialpratique. In 1837 Captain W. A. Richardson, erstwhile mate of a British merchant ship, was appointed Captain ofthe Port by Governor Mariano Goudeloupe Vallejo. In 1849 the harbor was filled with ships—idle because their crews deserted to become miners in the great goldrush. The ships grounded at the wharfs, became shops, hotels, warehouses, sunk in the mud and were built over;the growing city was born in the sea. In that year the first steamer, California, began to ply between Panama andSan Francisco. Men of middle age today who are still active in the shipping and commerce of the port can remember wh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectharbors, bookyear1865
