10 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES [Proc. 4th ^k«. 



living, versatility as a public speaker, remarkable wit and ex- 

 cessive generosity are among the traditions of this city and 

 State. But with all this he was not a man of extraordinary 

 industry in detail ; therefore to be associated with a man of 

 the dogged diligence and legal resource and exactness of Mr. 

 Hittell was the opportunity of a lifetime. In turn, to have 

 such a legal associate as Mr. Felton was the opportunity of 

 a lifetime for Mr. Hittell. Each supplemented and was in- 

 valuable to the other. Mr. Hittell wrote the briefs and 

 mainly conducted the office business. He was a model of 

 careful industry, and of powerful and logical statement. 

 While he personally was not largely in the public eye during 

 this period, he gained a reputation as a lawyer of great reli- 

 ability and singular skill. 



Mr. Hittell was associated with a number of cases famous 

 in the legal history of California. Conspicuous among these 

 were the Lick Trust case, the Montgomery avenue case, the 

 Dupont street case, the case involving the title to the lands 

 near the ocean beach of San Francisco, and the famous San 

 Pablo land case. In the ocean beach case he settled the title 

 to the lands out among the sand dunes, and by a compromise 

 between the claimants and the city of San Francisco, secured 

 a deed for one thousand acres of land to the city which is 

 now comprised in Golden Gate Park. The great San Pablo 

 land case was technically known as Emeric against Alvarado. 

 It began in 1868, and after twenty-seven years of dogged, 

 persistent fighting, he won his case in 1895. The land titles 

 involved were in Contra Costa county, especially in and about 

 Richmond, and this noted case forever settled the earlier titles 

 to every piece of property in the city of Richmond. This case 

 gave him a position as a distinguished authority in the inex- 

 tricably complicated question of land titles in California. Due 

 to the earlier ambiguous Spanish land grants, followed by the 

 equally ambiguous Mexican land grants in California, the 

 titles were universally tangled, almost beyond settlement ; 

 and Mr. Hittell's work went greatly beyond the adjustment 

 of his particular litigation. The winning of this suit brought 

 him much legal fame, for it alone was enough to establish his 

 position as an eminent lawyer. His other noted lawsuits evi- 

 denced the same shrewdness and ingenuity and unflagging 

 pertinacity. 



