Through
1851 and 1852, log entries, like the one just quoted, noted the arrival
of thousands of vessels at San Francisco. That cosmopolitan city took
the sea-voyagers to its capacious bosom, just as it had received the
men of the overland trails down from the mines, or the hopefuls who had
crossed Mexico or the Isthmus. Early arrivals by ship had landed in the
teeming tent city described in previous chapters. But the clipper ship
passengers found that the character of life in San Francisco was
changing month by month, as the more responsible among the citizens
built up a framework of law and society. San Francisco markets were no
longer so subject to periodic famines and gluts. Businessmen were able
to make proper arrangement for shipments by regular steamer mail, and
the clippers were setting a fine record for speed and regularity of
delivery. Until the railroad bridged the continent, one of the
institutions of San Francisco's commerce was "steamer day." Collections
were made; correspondence set in order; special editions of the
newspapers were run off; the manifold details of the import trade, so
vital in the economy of the city, were arranged; all subject to the
fortnightly departure of a steamship for Panama City.
As
order came in the business life of the city, it became obvious that
something would have to be done about the uproarious part of the
population, the predatory gangs, foreign adventurers and other
blacklegs who had been tolerated in the first flush times. Even before
President Fillmore signed the bill which admitted California to the
Union, San Francisco had formed a city government, weak enough in all
truth, but indicative of a desire for municipal order. After all, the
city represented California to the world; there came the ships, the
traders, the immigrants. In 1849, popular justice had caught up with
the "Hounds," a body of New York vagabonds who preyed on the Chileans
and Peruvians; but occasional forays against crime availed very little.
The city government was powerless to do more than threaten. Not until
1851 did the hoodlums, pickpockets and murderers who lurked in "Sydney
Town" (as the district along the upper part of Pacific Street had come
to be called) get a real taste of law.
Gambling
houses continued prosperous. Miners still rolled into town for a good
time. Saloons did not diminish. But churches and charitable
associations began to flourish as well; schools and "culture" societies
came into being. Sidewalks were built; the roadways were rescued from
primeval mud; the old Cove was filled in, and children carried flowers
through the streets on "May Walks." The great fires of 1851 were only
temporary setbacks to the material prosperity of the city; its spirit
they did not affect for a moment.
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