see captionTHE CITY OF DETROIT
THE CITY OF DETROIT
The older parts of most great cities are badly laid out. In very few cases do men realize that their little settlements are to grow into large cities. And so they pay littleattention to laying out streets, but in building their houses follow the farm lanes and often the paths made by the cows as they are driven to and from the pastures.
This is not always the case however. Washington was laid out long before it ever became a city, and, in consequence, it has magnificent broad streets and many parks.
see captionNORTH WOODWARD AVENUE
NORTH WOODWARD AVENUE
Detroit was one of the badly laid-out settlements, but in 1805 a fire burned every house in Detroit with one exception. Now at that time Judge Augustus B. Woodward was a prominent figure in the city government. When the fire wiped out the old town, the judge thought that a plan should be made for Detroit just as had been done for Washington. His idea was to have a great circle, called the Grand Circus, in the center of the town. Two streets, 120 feet wide, were to cross this circle, dividing it into quarters, and from the circleother broad avenues were to radiate in all directions. As the city grew, other circles were to be built with streets radiating from them.
Unfortunately the citizens of Detroit did not have the belief in the growth of their city that Judge Woodward had, and so his scheme was only carried out in part. That part, however, gave to Detroit its Grand Circus, its broad avenues, and its down-town parks, and did much to earn for it the title of the City Beautiful.
Detroit to-day has many splendid and costly residences. It has also street after street filled with comfortable medium-priced houses where the workmen live, and its people are fond of boasting that it is a city of homes.
Woodward Avenue, which is 120 feet wide, is named after Judge Woodward. This avenue runs from the river bank right through the entire city. At its lower end it is the principal retail street of the city, while further out are many fine residences.
As the town grew, a boulevard was built, which, starting at the river, runs completely around the city at a distance of some two and a half miles from the center. This boulevard is known as the Grand Boulevard and is more than 12 miles long and from 150 to 200 feet in width. In the center is a narrow strip upon which are grown flowers, trees, and grass, while upon either side run macadam roads.
see captionAT BELLE ISLE
AT BELLE ISLE
The most popular of Detroit's parks is Belle Isle. This is on an island of about 700 acres, directly opposite the city. Originally the island was for the most part a swamp infested with snakes. In order to get rid of the snakes a drove of hogs was turned loose on the island, and for along time it was known as Hog Island. Then the city bought it and turned it into a park. The swamps were drained, and lakes and canals were built, which in the summer time are covered with canoes and boats. In the winter they make excellent places for skating. Playgrounds, baseball fields, and picnic grounds were laid out and a zoo was built, as well as one of the best aquariums in the country. And here, too, is a horticultural building, where many rare plants and flowers are grown. A large part of the island was covered with woods, and this was left in its native state, with winding roads built through it. The island is connected with the mainland by a broad bridge.
The health conditions of Detroit are excellent. Its water supply is taken at a depth of 40 feet from the Detroit River, just where it leaves Lake Saint Clair. The city has an ample sewerage system. It has many fine public schools, and here also are the University of Detroit and the Detroit colleges of law and medicine. In short, from every point of view Detroit is a good place in which to live.
A short time ago prizes were offered to the public-school pupils in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades for the five best essays on “Why I am Glad I live in Detroit.” Here is what one sixth-grade boy wrote about his home city:
“What a beautiful city is Detroit,” says the world-wide traveler, as he passes along its broad avenues, in the shade of its magnificent trees. “Detroit has a fine commercial center,” says the enterprising manufacturer as he surveys its busy wharves. “What an excellent situation this city has,” says the farmer, as he comes trudging to town with his load of produce. “In Detroit life is worth living,” says the happy pleasure seeker, as he whiles away his time, either on the lake or in its many parks and boulevards. “You can have loads of fun at Belle Isle,” whispers the small boy, as he thinks of the many pastimes which so appeal to every child. “What an interesting history has Detroit,” says the historian, as he recalls its many struggles, first with the Indians, then with the French, and last of all the English.
Many strangers will come to our city during the next few months, and I know that after they have seen it and go to their homes again, they will tell their neighbors and friends of our beautiful city, and I, who live here, will be very proud of it.
DETROITFACTS TO REMEMBERPopulation (1910), more than 450,000 (465,766).Ninth city in rank, according to population.Important shipping and manufacturing center.Important center for trade with Canada.Most important center in United States for the automobile industry.Place of great historical interest.
DETROITFACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1910), more than 450,000 (465,766).
Ninth city in rank, according to population.
Important shipping and manufacturing center.
Important center for trade with Canada.
Most important center in United States for the automobile industry.
Place of great historical interest.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. How does Detroit rank among our great cities in population, manufactured products, and exports?
2. What were the ambitions of the French governors, traders, and missionaries of Canada in the early days?
3. Why did the French build forts on the narrow rivers and straits that connect the Great Lakes?
4. Describe Detroit and its surroundings in 1701.
5. How and when did the English first acquire Detroit?
6. How did the development of the farm lands about the city help the growth of Detroit?
7. Tell about its growth since 1760, and give three causes.
8. Name and describe some of the industries of the city.
9. Tell something of its vast wholesale and retail trade.
10. Show how the location of Detroit influences its commerce and contributes to its growth.
11. Name three products in the manufacture of which Detroit leads all other cities in the country.
12. What conditions have made Detroit a great center for commercial relations with Canada?
Buffalo
About 1783 Cornelius Winne, a trader, built a little log store at the mouth of Buffalo River, which empties into Lake Erie. That was the beginning of Buffalo, the queen city of the lakes, the home to-day of more than four hundred thousand people.
To understand the wonderful growth of this city we must go back to the days of the Revolution and see New York in those early times. Almost all the people of the United States then lived on the narrow strip of land lying between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Highlands. The high forest-covered mountains made a barrier that kept the colonial settlers from attempting to push out toward the west.
But in New York State nature had left an opening between the mountain ranges, along the courses of the Hudson and the Mohawk rivers. Settlers had early followed these streams and built homes in their valleys. Beyond lay the trackless hunting grounds of the Indians—the great West.
With the close of the Revolution things began to change. New York made a treaty with the Indians,whereby they agreed to sell large tracts of their lands. Pioneers pushed their way into the unknown wilderness of the western part of the state and found a beautiful fertile country. Their reports led hundreds to follow them. Soon central and northern New York were dotted with settlements. More and more immigrants kept coming, all seeking the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The great western movement of the nineteenth century had begun.
see captionA LOCKPORT LOCK
A LOCKPORT LOCK
Winne had built his trading post before this westward movement reached Lake Erie. For some time he lived in his log cabin in the midst of the forest, with no neighbors except the Indians with whom he traded. But graduallyother settlers came and built homes near him. By 1804 there were about twenty houses in the little settlement, which, for a short time, was called New Amsterdam.
see captionBarge canals shown by solid lines; Erie and other canals by dotted lines.NEW YORK'S CANALS
Barge canals shown by solid lines; Erie and other canals by dotted lines.NEW YORK'S CANALS
By 1812 the name had been changed to Buffalo, and the town had a population of 1500. That year war with England broke out, and in 1813 a body of British soldiers with their Indian allies crossed the Niagara River during the night, took the Americans by surprise, and burned Buffalo. Of its three hundred houses, just one escaped the flames. But nothing daunted, the men began to rebuild their homes, and in a few years no traces of the fire were to be seen.
In early times the Indians going from the seacoast to the Great Lakes had followed the Hudson and Mohawk rivers and then gone on directly west to Lake Erie. With the coming of the white man the Indian pathway grew into a road, and in 1811 stagecoaches began to run over this road between Buffalo and Albany.
But carrying passengers and freight by stagecoach was very expensive, and a few men, headed by Governor De Witt Clinton, began to say that the state ought tobuild a canal connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River. Many laughed at this idea. They knew very little about canals and thought it foolish to waste millions of dollars on a useless “big ditch,” as they called it.
see captionTRAVELING BY CANAL
TRAVELING BY CANAL
However, those in favor of the scheme finally won, and the work of building the Erie Canal was begun in 1817. It very nearly followed the old trail between Albany and Buffalo and was 363 miles long. Eighty-three locks raised and lowered the boats where there was a difference of level in the canal. Lockport, a city 25 miles northeast of Buffalo, was named after these locks, there being 10 of them there.
In 1825 the work was completed; the Erie Canal was opened, and at last there was a waterway between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic. All the towns along the canal held a great celebration. None had better reason for rejoicing than Buffalo. In 1825 Buffalo was a little hamlet on the frontier. Thanks to the Erie Canal, it was soon to become one of the leading cities of the country.
It was not long before the “big ditch” was known as the “path to the great West.” A rush of emigration further west followed, and all these travelers stopped atBuffalo, for here they had to change from the flat-bottomed canal boats to the lake vessels. Hotels were crowded, business flourished, and Buffalo became “a great doorway of the inland sea.”
see captionTHE BARGE CANAL NEAR BUFFALO
THE BARGE CANAL NEAR BUFFALO
During the first years after its completion little freight was carried over the Erie Canal, but settlers kept flocking into the West, and before many years these Western pioneers were raising far more grain than they could use. Lake commerce began. Hundreds of ships brought wheat, lumber, and furs to Buffalo from the West and returned laden with manufactured goods. Buffalo was the chief lake port, and for many years shipping was its leading industry.
see captionTHE SITE OF BUFFALO
THE SITE OF BUFFALO
Then came the railroads. The first railroad to Buffalo was completed in 1836. A few years later, trains ranbetween Albany and Buffalo, and in time carloads of grain were shipped by rail. Though shipments by canal continued and even increased for a time, the railroads gradually did more and more of the carrying, and finally robbed the canal of much of its former importance.
Still, shipping by canal was cheaper. Improvements have been made in the Erie Canal from time to time, and in 1903 the state voted $101,000,000 for the enlargement of the Erie, Oswego, and Champlain canals into the 1000-ton-barge canal. When this is completed it will be 12 feet deep and will float much larger barges than did the Erie Canal.
But to return to Buffalo. The city's location naturally made it one of the great centers of the country. Only the Niagara River separates the city from the most thickly settled part of Canada, and it is therefore a most convenient meeting place of the two countries. Already Buffalo's trade with Canada amounts to over $50,000,000 a year.
Besides being one of the chief commercial centers of the country, Buffalo is an important manufacturing town. Three things are necessary to success in manufacturing—raw materials, power, and a market where the finished goods can be sold. Buffalo has all of these near at hand. The country round about is singularly rich in natural resources. Forests, fertile farm lands, and rich iron and coal deposits are all within easy reach of the city and supply it with raw material at small cost for transportation.
No city in the world has greater advantages than Buffalo in the matter of power. The Niagara Falls furnish an unlimited supply of electric power, which is a substitute for coal and, for many purposes, more convenient. Buffalo's nearness to the coal fields of Pennsylvania makes the cost of both hard and soft coal low. Natural gas and oil furnish about one fifth of the power now used in the city. Both are found near Buffalo, stored in the pores and cavities of rocks. Holes are bored into the rocks, and the petroleum or rock oil is pumped into huge tanks. The gas is carried by underground pipes to the city, where it is used in heating and lighting thousands of homes and factories.
Lastly, Buffalo does not have to ship its products far to find a market. Within 450 miles of the city live almost 50,000,000 people, and lakes, canals, and railroads offer cheap and rapid transportation to all parts of the country. Thirteen steamship lines and 18 railroads enter the city. There are 2 trunk lines from New England; 5 from New York; 1 from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington; 1 from St. Louis; and 4 from Chicago.
see captionLACKAWANNA IRON AND STEEL COMPANY
LACKAWANNA IRON AND STEEL COMPANY
The richest iron mines in the world are located south of Lake Superior, but there are no coal deposits in this region, and coal is necessary for the manufacturing of iron and steel. As it was cheaper to ship the ore to the coal than to carry the coal to the ore, there were men who, as early as 1860, saw that iron and steel could be manufactured with profit in Buffalo. Though blast furnaces were built from time to time, the industry did not attract great attention until 1899. In thatyear the Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, moved to Buffalo and built an immense metal-working plant. This plant is south of the city and extends several miles along the shore of Lake Erie. The company has built a ship canal over half a mile long, which the largest lake vessels can enter. On one side of this canal are hundreds of coke ovens and the storage grounds for coal; on the other side are the ore docks, a row of huge blast furnaces, and the steel works with their numerous mills, foundries, and workshops.
In the coke ovens millions of tons of soft coal are every year turned into coke, which is really coal with certain things removed by heating. This coke is used in melting the iron in the blast furnaces—so called because during the melting strong blasts of air are forced into the furnaces. These furnaces are almost a hundred feet high, are made of iron, and lined with fire brick. Tons of coke, limestone, and iron ore are dropped in from above by machinery, and the intense heat of the burning coke melts the iron, which sinks to the bottom of the furnace while the limestone collects the impurities and forms an upper layer. At the bottom of the furnace there are openings where the fiery-hot liquid runs off into molds, or forms, in which it cools and hardens. The waste matter, called slag, is also drawn off at the bottom. More coke and ore are added from above, and the smelting goes on night and day without interruption until the furnace needs repair. After the iron has been separated from the ore, it is taken to the foundries where it is made into steel rails and many other kinds of iron and steel goods.
see captionTHE ELECTRIC BUILDING
THE ELECTRIC BUILDING
Other iron and steel companies have sprung up in Buffalo, and the city and its vicinity is now manufacturing enormous quantities of pig iron, steel rails, engines, car wheels, tools, and machinery.
see captionTHE BUFFALO HOME OF THE NEW YORKTELEPHONE COMPANY
THE BUFFALO HOME OF THE NEW YORKTELEPHONE COMPANY
Back in the first half of the nineteenth century New York was the leading wheat-raising and flour-producing state. The first flour mill in the Buffalo district was run by water power furnished by the Erie Canal. As larger mills followed and steam took the place of water power, Buffalo became an important flour-milling center. Later, wheat began to be raised further west, and the Central States soon took the lead in wheat growing and flour milling. But Buffalo had the advantage of an early start. Its mills were already built and working. Grain from the West kept pouring into the city to be stored in its great grain elevators, and the production of flour increased. Larger mills were built, some of them making use of the Niagara water power. To-day there are morethan a dozen companies in Buffalo operating flour mills which turn out over 3,000,000 barrels of flour in a year.
Buffalo's slaughter-house products for a single year are worth millions of dollars. There are two large meat-packing firms in the city, slaughtering over a million cattle and hogs each year. They both had small beginnings in the butcher business more than fifty years ago. In 1852 the first stockyards were opened, and the city's live-stock industry began. Shipments of live stock from the grazing states of the West increased until the city became the second cattle market in the world, Chicago alone handling more live stock than Buffalo.
see captionTHE CITY OF BUFFALO
THE CITY OF BUFFALO
When first settled, the lake region was covered with forests, and lumber was one of the first products sent eastward by lake steamers. Millions and millions of feet of pine were towed down the lakes on barges and transferred to canal boats at Buffalo, and the city became one of the great lumber markets of the country. Although shipments from the Northern forests have not been sogreat in the last twenty years, the lumber industry continues to be of great importance to Buffalo. In addition to pine from the lake region, the city receives hard wood from the South. You see enormous piles of lumber in the yards of the city itself, and Tonawanda, a suburb ten miles north of Buffalo, has the largest lumber yards in the world. These yards carry on a large wholesale and retail trade, and sawmills, planing mills, and many lumber industries have grown up around them. Mill work, doors, mantels, piano cases, and furniture are some of the things made in the Buffalo workshops.
see captionTHE ARMORY
THE ARMORY
While commerce and industry were thus developing, the city itself was growing in size, population, and beauty. It extends about ten miles along the shore of Lake Erie and the Niagara River. In the residence section there are thousands of beautiful homes, set well back from broad streets and surrounded by wide lawns and gardens. Delaware Avenue, with its branching boulevards and parkways, is the finest of these residence sections.
see captionWADING POOL IN HUMBOLDT PARK
WADING POOL IN HUMBOLDT PARK
see captionA PUBLIC PLAYGROUND
A PUBLIC PLAYGROUND
Several large parks and many smaller squares are scattered throughout the city, while swimming pools, wading ponds, and public playgrounds delight the hearts of the children. Lake breezes make the city cool in summer, and altogether Buffalo is one of the cleanest, most healthful, and most beautiful cities of the country.
see captionTHE ALBRIGHT ART GALLERY
THE ALBRIGHT ART GALLERY
Through the southern part of the city flows the sluggish and winding Buffalo River. In the early days the mouth of this stream was the only harbor of the port, although it was then very shallow. Millions of dollars have been spent in deepening and improving this inner harbor, while a larger outer harbor has been made by inclosing a part of the lake by breakwaters. The harbor of Buffalo is now one of the best on the Great Lakes.
About two miles north of the mouth of Buffalo River is The Front, a park overlooking the water and giving a beautiful view of Lake Erie, the Niagara River, andthe Canadian shore. It is a government reservation, and here is Fort Porter. Further north the International Railroad Bridge connects Canada with the city of Buffalo.
see captionTHE McKINLEY MONUMENT
THE McKINLEY MONUMENT
Delaware Park, in the northern part of the city, is the largest and most beautiful of Buffalo's parks. Near the northeastern entrance is the zoölogical garden, with a seal pool, bear pits, and many strange and interesting animals. In the western part is the Albright Art Gallery, a beautiful building of white marble. Here, too, is the BuffaloHistorical-Society Building, which was the New York State Building during the Pan-American Exposition which was held in Delaware Park and on the adjoining land in 1901.
see captionNIAGARA FALLS
NIAGARA FALLS
In the center of Niagara Square stands the McKinley Monument, erected by the state of New York in honor of President William McKinley, who was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, on September 6, 1901. It was in this city that President Roosevelt took the oath of office after President McKinley's death. It is also worthy of note that Buffalo was the home of two of our presidents—Fillmore and Cleveland.
The business district of Buffalo is only a short distance from the harbor. The most important business streets are Main Street and Broadway.
Twenty miles north of Buffalo the Niagara River plunges over a precipice more than one hundred and fifty feet high, forming the world-famous Niagara Falls. The width of the river, the beauty of the mighty waters as they rush thundering over the edge of the precipice, the foam and spray rising from the foot of the cataract, all combine to make Niagara Falls the greatest natural wonder on the American continent. In the middle of the stream lies Goat Island, which divides the Falls into the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side and the American Falls on the New York side.
Hardly less interesting than the Falls are the power plants on both sides of the river, which are making the force of Niagara do a mighty work. It has been reckoned that the volume of water which passes over the Falls is two hundred and sixty-five thousand cubic feet eachsecond. Think of it! This tremendous rush of water, the experts tell us, represents five million horse power. To make this gigantic power of use to man, canals have been built above the Falls to bring water from the river to the power houses where its great force turns huge water wheels and produces electric power. Cables of copper wire raised high in the air carry this power to all the surrounding country. It runs many of Buffalo's factories, lights the city streets, and moves its trolley cars as well as those in Syracuse, one hundred and fifty miles away.
Such then, with its wonderful power, its command of material, its beautiful and important location, is the Buffalo of to-day. The little settlement of one hundred years ago has become the eleventh city in size in the United States.
BUFFALOFACTS TO REMEMBERPopulation (1920), over 500,000 (506,775).Eleventh city according to population.Important lake port.One of the best harbors on the Great Lakes.Located at the western end of the Erie Canal.Great transfer point between lake boats and canal boats and railroads.Important railroad center.Center for live-stock trade.Important center for wheat, lumber, meat packing, and the iron and steel industries.Electric light and power obtained from Niagara Falls.
BUFFALOFACTS TO REMEMBER
Population (1920), over 500,000 (506,775).
Eleventh city according to population.
Important lake port.
One of the best harbors on the Great Lakes.
Located at the western end of the Erie Canal.
Great transfer point between lake boats and canal boats and railroads.
Important railroad center.
Center for live-stock trade.
Important center for wheat, lumber, meat packing, and the iron and steel industries.
Electric light and power obtained from Niagara Falls.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND STUDY
1. How did it happen that the people of New York first came to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains, and where were these first settlements?
2. Tell about the beginning of Buffalo, and give its original name.
3. What was the first route from Albany to Buffalo, and why was it used? How was the journey made between 1811 and 1825?
4. Tell the story of the Erie Canal, and give its effect on Buffalo and the West.
5. How did Buffalo's location make it one of the great centers of industry?
6. What three things are necessary to success in manufacturing?
7. How is Buffalo furnished with power for her great manufacturing interests?
8. Where does Buffalo find a market for her products? How?
9. What great steel company is located near this city? Why?
10. Describe the wonderful coke ovens and blast furnaces near Buffalo.
11. Give some idea of Buffalo's flour mills, slaughter houses, and lumber yards, and of her importance in these industries.
12. What do you know of Niagara Falls and the power plants on both sides of the Niagara River?
San_Francisco
The United States extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and just as New York is our leading seaport on the Atlantic, so San Francisco is the leading seaport on the Pacific.
San Francisco's history is inseparably connected with the development of the resources of California. In 1769 Spain sent an expedition overland from Mexico to colonize the Pacific coast, and Don Gaspar de Portolá, at the head of these colonists, was the first white man known to have looked upon San Francisco Bay.
Seven years later, in 1776, the Franciscan friars built a fortified settlement on the present site of San Francisco. The Mission Dolores, which is still standing, was begun the same year, and a little village slowly grew up around it.
At the close of the Mexican War, in 1848, California was ceded to the United States, and the Stars and Stripes were raised over the little settlement, whose name was soon changed from Yerba Buena to San Francisco.
In 1848, too, came the discovery of gold in California, and San Francisco suddenly grew from a Spanish villageto a busy American town. The population jumped from 800 to 10,000 in a single year. A city of tents and shanties quickly arose on the sand dunes. Thousands of people were leaving their homes in the East to seek a fortune in the gold fields. Many came by water, either rounding Cape Horn or else traveling by boat to the Isthmus of Panama, crossing on foot, and reëmbarking on the Pacific coast. Others came overland in large canvas-covered wagons called prairie schooners.
These newcomers were men of all classes—ministers, lawyers, farmers, laborers. Some were educated, others were ignorant. While most of them were industrious and law-abiding, a considerable number were desperate and lawless men. These last caused much trouble. Gambling, murders, and crimes of all kinds were alarmingly common, and the city government was powerless to punish the lawbreakers. Finally, the better class of citizens formed a vigilance committee, which hung four criminals and punished many in other ways until law and order were established.
San Francisco has been called the “child of the mines.” It was the discovery of gold that first made it the leading city of the Pacific coast. From that day the production of gold has been steadily maintained. Nearly $20,000,000 worth is mined in the state of California each year, with a total production of over $1,500,000,000. Later the silver mines in Nevada were discovered and developed, and their immense output brought increased wealth to San Francisco.
As time went on, however, people began to see that California's real wealth lay not so much in her mines as in her fertile farm lands. These, combined with thewonderful climate, have made California a leading agricultural state.
see captionAN ORANGE GROVE
AN ORANGE GROVE
The great central valley of California, about 400 miles long and 50 miles wide, lies between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Coast Ranges. Its farms, orchards, orange groves, and vineyards produce immense quantities of grain, and of grapes, and other fruits. Large numbers of cattle and sheep are raised. In the southern counties many tropical fruits are grown successfully. Irrigated groves of orange, lemon, and olive trees cover thousands of acres. Other important crops are English walnuts, almonds, prunes, and figs. Copper, silver, oil, quicksilver, and salt are also valuable products, while the forest-coveredmountains supply excellent lumber. Such is the wealth of California's natural resources, and San Francisco is the great port and market of this rich back country.
see captionPICKING GRAPES
PICKING GRAPES
As the Sacramento River flows into San Francisco Bay from the north and the San Joaquin from the south, the two offer cheap transportation up and down their valleys, being navigable to river steamers for over 200 miles.
The great bay of San Francisco is the largest landlocked harbor in the world. Here the navies of all the nations could ride at anchor side by side in safety. Though 65 miles long and from 4 to 10 miles wide, the bay is completely sheltered from dangerous winds and storms. It is connected with the Pacific Ocean by astrait called the Golden Gate, which is 2¾ miles long and over a mile wide.
see captionTHE GOLDEN GATE
THE GOLDEN GATE
Such advantages have made San Francisco a great commercial and financial center. Ships from San Francisco carry the products of California westward to all the countries bordering on the Pacific, while others sail to the Atlantic seaports of America and Europe.
The outgoing steamers are loaded with wheat, cotton, canned goods, oil, barley, prunes, flour, dried fruits, leather, machinery, lumber, and iron manufactures. Incoming steamers bring raw silk, coffee, tea, copra, nitrate of soda, tin ingots, sugar, rice, cigars, coal, burlap, vanilla beans, cheese, and manila hemp.
see captionTHE SITE OF SAN FRANCISCO
THE SITE OF SAN FRANCISCO
see captionA FLOWER MARKET
A FLOWER MARKET
Already the foreign commerce of San Francisco amounts to more than $150,000,000 annually, and with the increasing trade of Japan and China and the shortened route to the Atlantic through the Panama Canal, the future of its foreign trade cannot be estimated.
In addition to her foreign trade, San Francisco has many growing industries at home. Printing and publishing, slaughtering and meat packing, are among the most important. The canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables is a leading industry of the city. The California Fruit Canners Association employs many thousands of people during the fruit season and is the largest fruit-and-vegetable canning company in the world. It operates thirty branches throughout the state, and its products are sent to all parts of the globe.
see captionTHE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Though iron has to be imported,—there being little mined in California,—the city does a thriving iron business. In the early days there was need of mining machinery in the West, and San Francisco at that time began manufacturing it. She also has one of the greatest shipbuilding plants in the United States. The famous battleshipOregon, theOlympic, theWisconsin, theOhio,and other ships of the United States Navy were built in San Francisco.
see captionON SAN FRANCISCO'S WATER FRONT
ON SAN FRANCISCO'S WATER FRONT
In 1906 a severe earthquake shook San Francisco, wrecking many buildings. Fire broke out in twenty places, and as the earthquake had broken the city's water mains, the fire fighters had to pump salt water from the bay and use dynamite to stop the progress of the flames. During the three days of the fire, four square miles were laid in ruins.
see captionCHINATOWN
CHINATOWN
Because of occasional slight shocks in former years, the inhabitants had built their city of wood, thinking it safer than brick or stone. They had not thought of the greater danger of fire. This earthquake taught them a lesson.The few skyscrapers in the city had stood the shock remarkably well, and profiting by this experience thousands of modern structures—steel, brick, and reënforced concrete—were built to replace the old wooden buildings. A far more modern and beautiful city has arisen from the ashes of the ruins.
see captionTHE UNION FERRY BUILDING
THE UNION FERRY BUILDING
The city occupies 46½ square miles at the end of the southern peninsula which lies between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The site of the city is hilly, especially in the northern and western parts. Market Street, 120 feet wide and the chief business thoroughfare, extends southwest from the water front and divides the city into two parts. The southern district contains many manufacturing plants and the homes of the laboring people. The streets here are level. North of Market Street lie three high hills—Telegraph Hill, Nob Hill, and Russian Hill. In this half of the city are the finest residences, Nob Hill having been given its name in the early days when the mining millionaires built their homes upon it.
The main business section is in the northeastern part of the city, facing the harbor, and is on level ground. It contains hundreds of new office buildings, many of them from eight to twenty or more stories high. Fine modern hotels and beautiful banks add much to the beauty of this part of San Francisco. The most important public buildings are the United States mint and the post office, which escaped the flames in 1906, the customhouse, the Hall of Justice, the new Auditorium, and the city hall. These last two face the Civic Center, which is being created at a cost of nearly $17,000,000.
At the foot of Telegraph Hill is the largest Chinese quarter in the United States. It was completely destroyed during the fire, but is now rebuilt and much improved. Its temples, joss houses, and theaters, its markets, bazaars, and restaurants, with their strange life and customs and their oriental architecture, attract crowds of visitors. There are now about 10,000 Chinesein San Francisco, but their number has been steadily decreasing since the Exclusion Act was passed, prohibiting Chinese laborers from entering this country. It was thought necessary to have this law in order to protect the American workingman on the Pacific coast, as the Chinese laborers who had already been admitted were working for wages upon which no white man could live.
see captionFISHERMAN'S WHARF
FISHERMAN'S WHARF
At the foot of Market Street, on the water front, stands the Union Ferry Building, a large stone structure with a high clock tower.
Only one of the cross-continent railroads—a branch of the Southern Pacific—lands its passengers in the city of San Francisco. All the other roads, which include themain line of the Southern Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, the Union Pacific, and the Western Pacific, terminate on the eastern shore of the bay and send the travelers to San Francisco by ferry. In consequence, San Francisco has developed the best ferry service in the world, all lines meeting at the Union Ferry Building.
see captionMT. TAMALPAIS FROM NOB HILL
MT. TAMALPAIS FROM NOB HILL
North and south of the Union Ferry Building stretch eight miles of wharves and docks and many factories, lumber yards, and warehouses. At the docks, ships are being loaded and unloaded continually.
In March and April each year a fleet of forty or fifty vessels starts out for the Alaskan fisheries. San Francisco is the leading salmon port of the United States, distributingmillions of dollars' worth of salmon yearly. Fisherman's Wharf, at the northern end of the water front, is full of interest, with its brown, weather-beaten fishermen and their odd fishing boats. To the south of the Union Ferry Building is “Man-of-war Row,” where United States and foreign battleships ride at anchor.
see captionPRESIDIO TERRACE
PRESIDIO TERRACE
The cities of Alameda, Oakland, Richmond, and Berkeley are directly across the bay from San Francisco, on the east shore. Like New York, San Francisco is the center of a large metropolitan district, and the residents of these neighboring cities daily travel to their work in San Francisco on the ferries. For several years there has been talk of uniting these cities with San Francisco. If this plan werecarried out, it would add over 350,000 to San Francisco's present population, which is between 400,000 and 500,000.