San Francisco, Cal. [The “City of the Golden Gate”; said by some to have been named for the old Spanish mission of San Francisco de Assisi, by others to have been named for the founder of the order to which Father Junipero, the discoverer of the bay, belonged.]
It is grandly situated at the north end of a peninsula thirty miles long, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay, two thousand four hundred and thirty-four miles west of St. Louis, and three thousand four hundred and fifty-two miles from New York. The city lies mainly on the shore of the bay and on the steep hills rising from it, but is gradually extending across the peninsula (here six miles wide) to the ocean. On the north it is bounded by the famous Golden Gate, the narrow entrance (one mile across and about five miles long) to San Francisco Bay. The commercial part of the town is fairly level and lies along the bay. The chief business thoroughfare is Market Street, three and one-half miles long, with which the streets from the north and west hills intersect. This feature gives the city a striking skyline.
San Francisco Bay, a noble sheet of water, gives San Francisco one of the finest harbors in the world and affords numerous charming excursions. It gives the city much of its commercial importance, also, and extends from Fort Point past the city in a southerly direction for about fifty miles, varying in width from six to twelve miles. Northward this bay connects by a strait with San Pablo Bay, ten miles in length, having at its northerly end Mare Island and the United States Navy Yard.
Across the bay are Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley.
In 1906 a large part of the city was destroyed by earthquake and fire, the estimated loss reaching over three hundred million dollars. The business district has since been largely rebuilt, and many costly buildings of marble, granite, and terra cotta, and iron and steel-framed “skyscrapers” have been constructed. Before the earthquake of 1906 the most conspicuous public buildings were the City Hall, erected at a cost of six million dollars, and which occupied twenty-five years in building; the Post Office, completed at a total cost of five million dollars; the Hall of Justice, the Custom House, a Mint and a Sub-treasury; the building of the Society of California Pioneers, and stock and merchants’ exchanges; and the Ferry Building containing a display of the mineral resources of California.
NIGHT VIEW, SHOWING ILLUMINATION OF SOUTH GARDENS AND MAIN ENTRANCE, PANAMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION, SAN FRANCISCO, 1915
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition at San Francisco was open from February 20 to December 4, 1915. The total attendance was 18,871,957. The last day made the record, 458,558 persons having passed through the turnstiles. The Fine Arts Palace remained open until May 1, 1916.
Market Street, the chief business thoroughfare, extends to the southwest from the Union Ferry Depot, a handsome structure, with a tower two hundred and fifty feet high, to a point near the twin Mission Peaks, a distance of about three and one-half miles.