Colonial Despatches

San Francisco is a port city located roughly midway along the California State coast. Though the waters near where the large city stands today were sailed past in the late 16th century, it would be the late 18th century that would see the city take shape. The tussle for coastal domination between Spain, England and Russia fell, in this case, to the Spanish, who occupied the area with both military and religious intentions.1

San Francisco became a locus for those afflicted with gold rush fever during the mid-1800s, a time when the city's population boomed. In 1850, the year San Francisco incorporated, 60,244 men and 1,979 women arrived.2

• 1. Edward F. O'Day, The Founding of San Francisco, The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco.
• 2. San Francisco Gold Rush Chronology, The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco.