IN AND AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. 



257 



were sold at merely nominal prices. The result was that, the 

 sales being valid, the city was almost bankrupted and the 

 buyers made immensely wealthy. Then there were the big fires 

 and the actions of the vigilantes. About all these a volume 

 might be written. 



Public squares, as we understand them, San Francisco had 

 none, unless two or three open places devoid of grass or 

 ornamentation could be called such. One of these was known 



The Old Mission Dolores. 



on the records as Portsmouth Square, but this the people 

 persisted in calling the " Plaza." This was a dismal place, 

 muddy or dusty according to the season, and was the starting 

 place for omnibuses. It also afforded, in past turbulent times, 

 a resort for mobs and hangings by the vigilantes. 



At the time of my arrival in California the Mission Dolores 



