California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Drawing of San Francisco as seen from the bay, formerly Yerba Buena, 1846

(USC DC Image)

Drawing of San Francisco as seen from the bay, formerly Yerba Buena, 1846

Loading details...

You do not have the permission to view Original image

Photograph of a drawing of San Francisco, formerly Yerba Buena, as seen from the bay, 1846. Six large ships and a few smaller boats, including a rowboat, travel the waters of the bay. On land, houses and buildings were scattered across the few grids and streets that form mountainous Yerba Buena. Caption reads: "San Francisco in 1846, at the time of the occupation. It was then known as Yerba Buena (good herb)".; Ships in the bay include: "A - U.S.S. 'Portsmouth.' B - U.S. Transport Ships 'Leo,' 'Choo,' 'Susan Drew' and 'Thomas H. Perkins.' They brought the 1st Regiment, New York Volunteers, Col. J.D. Stevenson, Commanding. C - Ship 'Vandalia,' merchantman consigned to Howard & Mellus. D - Coasting schooner. E - Launch 'Luce,' belonging to James Lick."; Points of interest on land include: "1. Custom House. 2. Calaboose. 3. School house. 4. Alcalde office. 5. City Hotel, owned by Wm. A. Leidesdorff. 6. Portsmouth Hotel. 7. Wm. H. Davis' Store. 8. Howard & Mellus Store; the old Hudson Bay Co. Building. 9. W. A. Leidesdorff warehouse. 10. Samuel Brannan's residence. 11. W.A. Leidesdorff. 12. First residence of the Russ family. 13. John Sullivan's residence. 14. Peter T. Sherlock's residence. 15. Juan C. Davis residence. 16. G. Reynold's residence. 17. A.J. Ellis Boarding House. 18. Fitch & McKurley Building. 19. Capt. Vioget's residence. 20. Jno. Fuller's residence. 21. John Noe's residence. 22. John Pidilia's residence. 23. A.A. Andrews' residence. 21. Captain Antonio Ortega's residence. 25. Francisco Cacerez's residence. 26. Capt. Hilder's residence. 27. General G. Vallejo Building. 28. C.L. Ross Building. 29. Mill. 30. Captain John Patty adobe building. 31. Dr. E.P. Jones' residence. 32. Robert Ridley's residence. 33. Los Pechos de la Choco. 34. Lone Mountain. 35. Sill's Blacksmith Shop."; "San Francisco was originally (1835) called Yerba Buena, Spanish for 'Good Herb', a fragrant mint plant that grew along the shorline of the bay. The name was given by William Richardson, who set up the first trading post at Montgomery and Clay (that was the original shoreline of Yerba Buena Cove) and the first private home on Grant near Washington. In 1846, rumor had it that a town at the convergence of the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay would name itself San Francisco. Lt. Washington Bartlett, who had been second in command on the U.S.S. Montgomery when it landed in San Francisco to claim it for the U.S. in 1846, was mayor of Yerba Buena. He realized that sailors and merchant ships were associating Yerba Buena with the name San Francisco Bay, and that if another town claimed that name, the shipping might go there. To ensure that the ships would still come into our harbor, he quickly engineered the name change from Yerba Buena to San Francisco, which became official on January 30, 1847. That other town then decided to take the name Benicia, which was the name of the daughter of General Mariano Vallejo, the last Mexican governor of California. Benicia actually became capitol of California for a few years in the 1800's." -- Peter Moylan, July 1999.

Asset Metadata

Title Drawing of San Francisco as seen from the bay, formerly Yerba Buena, 1846

Creator Pierce, C.C. (Charles C.), 1861-1946 (photographer)

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Date Created 1846

Subject bays (adlf), buildings (lcsh), San Francisco County -- Waterfront (file heading), ships (lcsh), Views (lcsh)

Tags OAI-PMH Harvest

Place California (states), San Francisco (city or populated place), San Francisco (counties), USA (countries)

Temporal Subject 1846

Type images

Format 1 Photoprint : b&w ; 8 x 10 in. (aacr2), art (aat), photographic prints (aat), photographs (aat)

Source California Historical Society (contributing entity), California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960 (collection), Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960 (subcollection)

Repository Email specol@lib.usc.edu

Repository Name USC Libraries Special Collections

Repository Location Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189

Rights Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Copyright Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Access Conditions Send requests to address or e-mail given

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/chs-m9715

Identifier 6164 (accession number), CHS-6164 (call number), CHS-6164 (filename), chs-m265 (legacy collection record id), chs-c65-9964 (legacy record id), chs-m9715 (legacy record id), USC-1-1-1-9854 (legacy record id), 1-48- (microfiche number), USC (project)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

DM Record ID 9964

Unique identifier UC139767

Legacy Identifier CHS-6164.tiff

Type Image

Internet Media Type image/tiff

Resolution 19.7 in × 15.8 in at 300dpi
50.2 cm × 40.3 cm at 300dpi

Inherited Values

Title Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Description The nearly 15,000 unique photographs of this collection contain the work of C.C. Pierce which cover the Los Angeles region city, street and architectural views, California Missions, Southwestern Native Americans, and turn-of-century Nevada, Arizona, and California. Pierce, active from 1886 to 1940, was one of the leading photographers of his day and amassed a collection of 15,000 images, including his own and those bought and copied from his contemporaries, George Wharton James and Charles Puck. The James collection contains over 2,000 images of portraits, customs, ceremonies, arts, and games of various groups of Southwestern Native Americans.

Date Created 1860/1960

Linked assets

Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Conceptually similar

Detail of a drawing by Edwin A. Sherman depicting the raising of an American flag in Yerba Buena, (later known as San Francisco), 1846

Mexican Custom House at Yerba Buena, San Francisco, July 1846

Drawing of the San Francisco waterfront, 1849

Drawing by Walter Francis depicting the ship San Carlos entering the bay of San Francisco on August 5, 1775, [s.d.]

Ships in the San Francisco Bay, ca.1905

Drawing of San Francisco's Golden Gate, showing several large ships, 1837

Drawing depicting San Francisco, 1849

Drawing of San Francisco and the bay in 1852, showing water of the bay reaching back to Montgomery Street

Drawing of San Francisco by Henry Firks, ca.1849

Drawing by George Baker depicting the San Francisco bay, June 1849

View of San Francisco's Sutro Heights ca.1895

Drawing of San Diego and the bay, ca.1846

Ferryboat in San Francisco Bay, 1905

Two panoramic drawings depicting views of Telegraph Hill and the city in San Francisco, 1885

Etching of a Fourth of July celebration in Yerba Buena, 1836

Lithograph from Norton's "Story of California" showing a view of San Francisco from the bay, 1847

Two views of deserted ships in San Francisco harbor during the Gold Rush of 1850

Steamer ship Santa Rosa in San Francisco bay the day California volunteers returned from Manila during the Spanish-American War, 1898

Docked sailing ships with returned Spanish-American War volunteers in San Francisco bay, 1898

View of the bay and islands from Nob Hill, San Francisco, 1906

Similar tones

View images with similar tones