256 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



shipping, and a few houses on the hillside, built for the neces- 

 sities of the few trading vessels which had got to coming to 

 this harbor, formed a town named after the Cove. After the 

 gold excitement many of the vessels it brought there were 

 deserted by their crews. The shallow water necessitated the 

 extension of long wharves, and at times the stranded vessels were 

 within their limits. The lack of room on the hillside caused 

 frame buildings to be erected along these wharves and over the 

 water; bisecting causeways enclosed some of the dismantled 

 vessels, which were sometimes used for dwellings or prisons, 

 and the town was becoming a second Rangoon, with houses on 

 stilts. These " water lots " were sold by the State. The space 

 between these wooden streets made a place to dump the sand 

 from the adjacent hills to make building sites there, so that two 

 birds were killed with one stone, or rather the removal of one 

 lot of sand made two building lots. Eventually the water 

 front was filled up to the wharf line and built over. Granite 

 blocks were even erected on this sandy foundation, which set- 

 tled, leaving yawning crevices in the walls. The wharves, 

 eleven in number, extended from the shore from 300 to 2,000 

 feet, so that the extent of the water-covered city can be imag- 

 ined, each wharf representing a street. The stranded vessels, 

 used as dwellings amid this network of wooden streets, with 

 houses building around them, was a singular sight. 



The account of the frauds practiced in the sale of these water 

 lots, and the efforts brought to bear on the Legislature to sell 

 more to the detriment of those owning front lots, and to the 

 safety of the harbor on account of forcing the outlying vessels 

 further to the mercy of the swift tides, would furnish interest- 

 ing reading. Also in regard to one Dr. Peter Smith, who, 

 holding " scrip " which could not be realized on, sued the city 

 and exposed public property for sale. The authorities made 

 proclamation that the purchasers would not get possession of 

 what they bought; but the sale went on, and the properties 



