In 1806, Russia made a faint attempt through Count Rezanov to establish a settlement and lay claim to the territory in the name of the tsar. Rezanov eventually planted a colony at Ft.
Ross, near Santa Rosa, some miles north of San Francisco, which was intended to serve as a supply station and vegetable farm for the Russian possessions in Alaska. The outpost was established in March 1811. A stockade was built on Bodega bay. When com pleted, it became the headquarters of those Russians who had made Yerba Buena (San Francisco) their base since landing in 1806. Except for occasional visits by Rezanov and his men, the community soon forgot the Russian enterprise.
With the exception of a few quarrels between Mexicans and foreign colonists, as the Americans and other nationalities were called, all was tranquil until war was declared by the United States on Mexico on May 13, 1846. There was great excitement in San Francisco some weeks later when the news arrived. On July 9, 1848, Capt. John B. Montgomery of the U.S. navy, arrived with the sloop-of-war "Portsmouth" and raised the American flag on the plaza, known to-day as Portsmouth plaza, claiming the territory for the United States. The community continued under the name of Yerba Buena until 1847 when it was changed to San Francisco. At this time there were some 200 buildings and Boo inhabitants in the village.
The discovery of gold at Colma in Jan. 1848 was not taken seriously in San Francisco, and it was not until April of that year that the settlement became infected with the "gold bug." Then every one with an outfit stampeded for the mountains in search of gold. Then a city of tents and shanties arose ; gambling was rife and prices extraordinary.
During the early '5os San Francisco experienced her darkest days. Crime was rampant, while the city government was too inefficient or too indifferent to suppress it. Bancroft, in his History of California, states that up to 1854 there were 4,200 homicides and 1,200 suicides, while the records of the next few years follow ing show many deaths by violence, the high mark being reached in 1855 with 585. In 1851 the Vigilance Committee was formed
and freed the city of most of the lawless element, either by hanging or driving them from the town. It was necessary for the committee to come together again in 1856, when for a second time it succeeded in restoring order in the community. Altogether more than 8,000 reputable citizens served on the two committees.
With the decline of gold production between 1855 and 186o, San Francisco came into her own as the Pacific coast's main port, and through world trade the city grew substantially and conserva tively. This reign of conservatism, however, was interrupted by the unparalleled development of the Nevada silver mines and the city again experienced the days of '49. There was a long period of frenzied speculation during which huge fortunes were won and lost within a few minutes. Panic gripped the people and only the financially strong survived. Many descendants of the successful financial giants of the silver period reside in San Francisco and have so handled their heritage that they are numbered among California's wealthiest and most influential citi zens of to-day. At the outbreak of the Civil War San Francisco showed evidence of being strongly pro-Union although thousands of arms were shipped in, to Southern sympathizers, for the pur pose of winning Californians over to their cause or to encourage them to launch an independent republic. Nothing came of this venture and San Francisco remained, with California, a Union stronghold. The famed "Pony Express," established in 1860, for a short time gave San Francisco quick mail and express com munication with the interior of the country. The city's isolation, however, was not permanently removed until the first trans continental railway was opened in 1869. The railway to Los Angeles was completed in 1876, thereby giving San Francisco connections with the east and south. (B. P. C.)