One of the best parts of writing a novel, for me, is the research that goes on before I begin to create. There is nothing more pleasing to me than to have knowledge about a place before I write about it. My study of San Francisco was special in that regard. The history of The City is remarkable.
Sometimes I like to play the what-if game. What if people like Senator Thomas Hart Benton and John C. Fremont looked to other activities besides westward expansion of our nation? What if no gold was discovered near San Francisco in 1848? Those things did happen, however, and they provided the “seasoning” to produce one of the most exciting cities in the world.
The beginning was slow and easy. There is evidence of early inhabitance in the area back to 3000 BC.
In recent millennia change took place. Hernando Cortez defeated the Aztecs between 1519-1521, which allowed Spain to control what is now a large portion of the western United States. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was created In 1542. Cabrillo named the geography from San Diego to the Russian River New California.
Anglo participation was late on the scene. George Vancouver sailed his ship HMS Discovery into what we now call San Francisco Bay in 1792 anchoring in a cove the Hispanics called Yerba Buena (good herb).
In 1821, Mexico claimed Alta California after defeating Spain to gain its independence. Very little attention was paid to this area for a long time. Development began to take shape when in 1835, William A. Richardson, a naturalized Mexican citizen of English birth helped lay out the town of Yerba Buena.
James Douglas of the Hudson’s Bay Company, established a trading post at Yerba Buena in 1841. This event stimulated Anglo visitations by trappers and merchants.
On May 13, 1846 Congress declared war on Mexico. That war was not resolved until February 2, 1848, however on July 7,1846 US Navy Commodore John D. Sloat claimed Alta California for the United States. Two days later, the USS Portsmouth gave a 21 gun salute and landed at Yerba Buena. Captain John B. Montgomery and his detachment rowed ashore and hoisted the American flag in the village of Yerba Buena.
The tide turned when John C. Fremont led his troops across the Continent in 1846 to complete the victory. He took charge of the US forces in California on June 23, 1846. Consider that the Congress declared war on May 13, 1846 and Fremont showed up June 23, 1846. Senator Thomas Hart Benton and his son in law, Fremont, certainly anticipated the Declaration of War well before it occurred.
On July 31,1846, Yerba Buena doubled in population when approximately 240 Mormons, led by Sam Brennan, arrived on the ship Brooklyn. Again, consider that Sam Brennan and his wards left New York in January 1846 and sailed around the Horn in route to San Francisco well before Congress declared War on Mexico. What an ambitious undertaking.
The name of the Yerba Buena was changed to San Francisco on January 30, 1847.
The event that changed San Francisco forever was the discovery of gold near Sacramento in 1848. San Francisco became the destination for thousands of gold seekers traveling by land and sea to the gold “digs”. The objective of these pilgrims was not San Francisco, however they had to disembark there, in order to get to the gold fields farther inland. The City often became their ultimate destination when they failed to find sufficient gold to allow their livelihood.
San Francisco was the optimal terminal for all kinds of equipment and material arriving from all over the world to supply gold mining operations. The cargo was offloaded in San Francisco and traversed the center of the State to Sacramento, by steamboat and or wagon.
Folks from all over the world made a beeline to San Francisco in 1848 and thereafter. The most significant ethnicities and nationalities were American Anglos, Mexicans, Chileans, Chinese, and citizens from virtually all European nations joined the Naive Americans and Californiaros already well established in the new State of California. Consequently, The City became a melting pot of people with diverse cultures and lifestyles.
My main character in my novel Equal and Alike, which takes place in mid-19th Century, witnesses the diversity with surprise and intense interest. I encourage you to read this novel about the life and times of those who lived through these incredible events. It is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other fine book stores.