YERBA BUENA ISLAND
Yerba Buena (the good herb), is the name of a dainty little vine native to the California woods, which has an agreeable aromatic odor, and was much in use among the Spanish as a medicinal herb, and to add a pleasant aroma to their tea. Fremont, who, whatever else may be said of him, had enough poetry in his soul to feel an expansive joy over the plant life of this flowery land, describes it as follows: “A vine with a small white flower, called here la yerba buena, which, from its abundance, gives its name to an island and town in the bay, was to-day very frequent on our road, sometimes running on the ground, or climbing the trees.” It is said that the Hupa Indians were in the habit of weaving the tendrils of this vine in their hair for the sake of the perfume.
Some talk has arisen of late that this poetic and historic name is to be taken away from our island. Commuters, when you pass it on your daily journey, let your minds carry you back to the day when the delicate tendrils of the little vine waved on the island’s steep slopes, and its sweet scent was wafted on the breeze from the Golden Gate, and do not, I pray you, consent to call it Goat!