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CHAPTER II 



HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MARINE STRUCTURES 

 IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY 



By R. M. Neily 



San Francisco Bay, in common with most ocean harbors, has been subject to 

 marine borer activity at least as long as records have been kept in this respect, 

 although tradition says that the shipworm was not known there in Spanish days 

 and did not become a menace until after the large shi[)ping increase in the port which 

 followed the gold rush of 1840. 



THE PIONKER PP:RI()n, UP TO 1860 



In 1847, a year before the disco\er>' of gold in California and three years before 

 the State's admission to the Union, the municipality of San Francisco consisted of 

 a settlement of some eight hundred persons, situated near what was known at the 

 time as Yerba Buena Co\e. This particular site had been selected many years before 

 for the settlement, for the reason that the mainland elsewhere was ^■ery hilh', the 

 shores rising abruptly from the water's edge, and the cove offered a protected ship 

 harbor and possibility of future development. Few ships entered the port, no wharves 

 existed and landing places were of a small and temporary nature. 



The possibility of filling the tideland of the cove had been suggested as a means 

 of securing an additional area near sea le\'el, and the sale of property so created 

 was seen as a means of providing funds for the municipal treasury. To this end, the 

 Governor was prevailed upon to cede to the municipality the government tideland 

 rights. A paper survey was immediately made, streets were laid out and an ultimate 

 shore line was established which wnuld close out the cove. That same year the "water 

 lots" were placed on sale and the puVilic came into possession of what was soon to 

 become the waterfront wharf area. 



With the disco\-ery of gold the port suddenh- became the scene of great activity. 

 B\- 1840 the "migration" to California was well under way. The transcontinental 

 railroad was still a dream of the future; the gold fields lay westward of the great 

 barrier of the mountains and the most available means of general transportation was 

 by ship. These came from every port in the world. With the sudden demand for 

 wharves, the public, already firmly entrenched on the waterfront, hurriedly built on 

 the "water lots," while companies were organized to build wharves on the "water 

 streets," which were leased from the city. The structures on the former were of hap- 

 hazard construction, while the latter were prepared with greater care and became the 

 principal dock facilities. In this manner a great wharf area was created, upon which 

 sprang up blocks of buildings where most of the city business was transacted. The 

 first large wharf was that variously known as "Commercial Street," "Long" or 

 "Central" wharf, started in 1849. Within a year, twelve large wharves had been 

 constructed, at an estimated cost of 81,500,000, in addition to the innumerable small 

 structures on the "water lots." 



The wooden ships arriving in port were promptly deserted by their crews, who 



