San Fr ancis co Bay 



RITFUS P. JENNINGS, Chalrmnn, The California Promotion Committee 



SAN FRANCISCO BAY is California's greatest asset. 

 Easy of access on all tides for the largest ships, it has a safe anch- 

 orage sheltered by surrounding hills and mountains. Nature has done 

 still more for San Francisco Bay, — it has placed it on the main high- 

 way of commerce; it has located it at the outlet of the Sacramento 

 and San Joaquin rivers, which drain the great valleys of California and serve 

 as a means of transportation direct to the metropolis for the products of 

 as fertile a country as can be found in the world, a country that is capable 

 of producing anything that grows, and producing in great abundance. 



It is not surprising that the cities about San Francisco Bay are pros- 

 perous when one considers the great asset in the harbor and the productive 

 interior pouring forth its golden harvest twelve months in the year. Neither 

 Is it surprising that the producer in the interior of California is prosperous, 

 with the facilities he has to reach a great metropolitan market, and beyond 

 that, through an incomparable harbor, the markets of the world. 



The opportunity it gives for the handling of coastwise trade is in itself 

 of greatest value, and when the Panama Canal shall have been completed 

 this harbor, within a few miles of the direct course between the Occident 

 and the Orient, will be the natural station where all vessels will stop for 

 coal and supplies, as well as for products of California's fields and factories. 



An erroneous idea prevais to some extent that San Francisco Bay, 

 or harbor, from a commercial standpoint, is confined to the peninsula on 

 which the city of San Francisco is situated. While the bulk of the ship- 

 ping is done there, there is also an enormous shipping business on the 

 Alameda shore, through Oakland harbor, and on other shores of the bay, 

 as at Port Costa, Point Richmond, etc. 



As the population increases about the bay, and as the traffic increases 

 with the population, much will have to be done to relieve the congestion 

 that is already manifest. A bridge at Carquinez Straits is a necessity, 

 and doubtless it will be built to take the place of the present ferry service 

 at that point. The bridge will have to be high enough to allow free pas- 

 sage of river steamers, and on that account will be an expensive improve- 

 ment, but it will greatly facilitate the operation of railroads entering the 

 bay cities by way of Carquinez Straits, and the bridge in the end will 

 prove a good investment. 



An entrance to San Francisco will soon be effected by way of Dum- 

 barton Point, allowing through overland trains to reach the city without 

 the use of the bay ferries. 



It probably will not be long before there will be direct ferry service 

 from the city of Alameda, and from the Marin County shores to San Fran- 

 cisco, with landings at points in the city so located as to save time over 

 the present service and relieve the congestion at the Market-Street ferry 

 station. The proposition of securing Verba Buena Island, situated about 

 midway between the Alameda and San Francisco shores, as a railway 

 terminal, is again being agitated, and it is hoped may be brought to a 

 successful result. With the island serving as a terminal for all railroads 

 entering San Francisco Bay, and where deep-sea vessels may come along- 

 side to receive and discharge freight and passengers, general business will 

 be greatly facilitated. 



It was most fortunate that the fire of April last did not reach the 

 docks of San Francisco. The commerce of the port has continued with 

 practically no interruption. Many improvements that were under way for 

 the extension of the sea-wall and for new docks at the time of the fire 

 are going steadily on. The permanent character of the improvements now 

 being made Is most creditable, and California, knowing the great asset 

 she has in San Francisco harbor, will continue to improve it so that Nature's 

 work will be supplemented by man's work, to the end that no port in 

 the world will be able to offer similar inducements to shipping. 



