San Francisco News and Tall Tales: 1800s

Upper California

Great Sale of Valuable Real Estate in the Town of San Francisco

Upper California.

BY the following decree of his Excellency, Gen. S. W. Kearney, Governor of California, all the right, title, and interest of the United States, and of the Territory of California, to the

Beach and Water Lots

on the east front of the Town of San Francisco, have been granted, conveyed, and released, to the people, or Corporate authorities of said Town.

DECREE OF GOV. KEARNEY

I Brigadier Gen. S. W. Kearney, Governor of California, by virtue of authority in me vested, by the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES of America, do hereby grant, convey, and release unto the Town of San Francisco, the people, or corporate authorities thereof, all the right, title, and interest of the Government of the United States, and the territory of California in and to the Beach and water Lots on the East front of said Town of San Francisco included between the points known as the Rincon and Fort Montgomery, excepting such Lots as may be selected for the use of the United States Government by the Senior Officers of the army and Navy now there; provided the said ground hereby ceded, shall be divided into Lots, and sold by public auction to the highest bidder, after three months notice previously given; the proceeds of said Sale to be for the benefit of the town of San Francisco.

Given at the Monterey capital of California, this 10th day of March, 1847, and the 71st year of the Independence of the United States.

S. W. KEARNEY
Brig. Gen'l. & Gov. of California.

In pursuance of and in compliance with the conditions of the foregoing decree, all the ungranted tract of ground on the East front of the Town of San Francisco, lying and situated between Fort Montgomery and the Rincon, and known as the water Lots, (the reservations by the General and the Town Governments excepted,) will be surveyed and divided into convenient building Lots for warehouses and stores, and offered at PUBLIC SALE, to the highest bidder, on the 29th day of JUNE, next, at TEN o'clock, A. M. A plan of lots in connection with a general map of the Town, will be made out and exhibited on or before the day of Sale.

Night View up Kearney Street at Market

Terms of Sale, one fourth cash; one fourth in six months; one fourth in twelve months; and one fourth in eighteen months; the purchaser giving approved security bearing the interest of 10 percent per annum, from the date of Sale.

Others conditions made known on or before the day of Sale. The Site of the Town of San Francisco is known by all navigators and Mercantile men, acquainted with the subject, to be the most COMMANDING COMMERCIAL POSITION on the entire western Coast of the Pacific Ocean, and the Town itself is no doubt, destined to become the COMMERCIAL EMPORIUM on the western side of the North American continent.

The Property offered for Sale, is the most valuable in, or belonging to, the Town, and the acquisition of it, is an object of deep interest to all mercantile Houses in California and else where, engaged in the commerce of the Pacific.

EDWIN BRYANT, Alcalda and Chief Magistrate,
Town and District of San Francisco.
San Francisco, Upper California, March 16th, 1847.

(Source: The Californian, published by Colton and Semple,
Monterey, Upper California, March 27, 1847.)

Ships at the seaport of San Francisco, California From the hills looking north to Marin County over San Francisco Bay From the Alta California: "From January 1, 1849 to April 11, 1849, there were a great many arrivals by sea, including at least 3,000 seamen who abandoned their ships upon reaching San Francisco. Americans 62,000 Californians 13,000 Foreigners 18,500 TOTAL 94,000