San Francisco, CA

San Francisco, Ca..... From its local situation in reference to the gold region, San Francisco must always remain the great seat of the ocean trade of California. Already it has extensive mercantile communications with all parts of the world. It is connected with New York by two lines of steam packets, one by the way of Panama, making the distance in about four weeks, a packet leaving either city every fortnight, and carrying the mail; the other, also a semi-monthly line, by the Lake Nicaragua, which accomplishes the distance in about four days' less time. The shortest passage from San Francisco to New York has been 21 days. (Gazetteer of the United States of America, 1854)
Place Unit Type
City or Town
Containing Unit
Date Type
A few days after arriving from New York, the transport ship "Aquila" sinks at its wharf in San Francisco Crime/Disasters
- A total eclipse of the Moon late in the evening is visible across much of the United States Science/Technology
Agoston Haraszthy brings 100,000 vine cuttings from Europe to the vineyards of northern California Business/Industry
American filibuster William Walker departs San Francisco for Central America Military/Violent
An American clipper-ship burns in the Pacific leaving her crew in boats thousands of miles from land. Crime/Disasters
- Around midnight, a total eclipse of the Moon is visible across much of the United States Science/Technology
Bret Harte publishes his first short story in San Francisco, California Education/Culture
California Breckinridge Democrats organize in San Francisco Campaigns/Elections
California Senator David Broderick dies of a wound received in a duel three days earlier over slavery in the state Crime/Disasters
Clipper ship sails from New York to San Francisco in record time Business/Industry
First Japanese Ambassador leaves Japan for the United States US/the World
First Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States arrives in California US/the World
First Japanese Diplomatic Mission to the United States arrives in Hawaii US/the World
First Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States arrives in Panama enroute to Washington, D.C. US/the World
First Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States arrives in Washington D.C. US/the World
First Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States departs Hawaii for San Francisco US/the World
First Japanese warship arrives in San Francisco Bay US/the World
First ship in regular service from New York to California via Cape Horn arrives in San Francisco Commercial
Former California Supreme Court Judge Terry shoots California Senator Broderick in a duel over slavery in the state Crime/Disasters
French filibuster Gaston Raoul Raousset arrives in the northern Mexican state of Sonora Battles/Soldiers
Future newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst is born in San Francisco, California Personal
Gaston Raousset departs Mexico for San Francisco Battles/Soldiers
Horace Greeley arrives home in New York City after his tour of the West Education/Culture
Horace Greeley arrives in Denver on his tour of the West Cultural
Horace Greeley arrives in Kansas on his tour of the West Cultural
Horace Greeley arrives in Sacramento on his tour of the West Education/Culture
In California, Nevai Shalom, the second Jewish cemetery in San Francisco, is dedicated Religion/Philosophy
In California, San Francisco's first street railway begins operation Business/Industry
In California, the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad Company is incorporated Business/Industry
In northern California, a river steamer sinks in the Sacramento River but all aboard are rescued Crime/Disasters
In San Francisco Harbor, the U.S.S. Camanche is finally launched into the waters of the Pacific Battles/Soldiers
In San Francisco, Democratic Party talks aimed at uniting Electoral College votes against the Republicans fail Campaigns/Elections
In San Francisco, Emperor Norton I dissolves the United States republic and declares an absolute monarchy Education/Culture
In San Francisco, William Ralston founds the Bank of California, initial capital two million dollars in gold Business/Industry
In Washington, a major military reorganization divides the nation into five large military districts Battles/Soldiers
Joshua Norton of San Francisco proclaims himself Emperor Norton I of the United States Education/Culture
Mary Brown dies in San Francisco, California Personal
Off the Oregon coast, a loaded passenger ship sinks in a massive storm with heavy loss of life Crime/Disasters
On the Farralon Islands, the deadly twenty-minute exchange of shots of the "Egg War" kills two Crime/Disasters
Pony Express plans to deliver mail from New York to San Francisco in nine days Business/Industry
San Francisco lumber vessel sunk off the Oregon coast with all hands Crime/Disasters
Several Native American leaders of Far West tribes leave San Francisco for a trip to the East Lawmaking/Litigating
Small earthquake strikes San Francisco Bay but with no damage or injuries Crime/Disasters
Steamship from San Francisco to Oregon wrecked and thirty passengers and crew drown Crime/Disasters
The first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States departs San Francisco for Panama US/the World
- The first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States hosted in San Francisco US/the World
The first official baseball game in California is played in San Francisco Education/Culture
The first overland mail for California leaves St. Louis for San Francisco Business/Industry
The first overland mail from California arrives in St. Louis, twenty-five days out from San Francisco Business/Industry
The oldest surviving athletic club in the United States is founded in San Francisco Cultural
Two heavy early afternoon tremors strike San Francisco, California but start no fires and cause no fatalities Crime/Disasters
Warriors of the Southern Ute tribe ambush mail coach in Utah, kill two Crime/Disasters
- Weeks of dangerously high temperatures prevail in central California Crime/Disasters
Date Title
New York Times, “Great Floods in the Potomac and Shenandoah,” April 20, 1852
New York Times, “Mormonism in the East,” September 19, 1857
New York Times, “A Warning ,” June 4, 1858
New York Times, “The New Orleans Committee,” June 5, 1858
Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Revolution in New Orleans,” June 6, 1858
New York Times, "The Tribune on Manifest Destiny," July 10, 1858
New York Herald, "The Mormons Brought to Terms," July 15, 1858
(St. Louis) Missouri Republican, “The Great Overland Mail,” October 3, 1858
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Time Table by the Butterfield Overland Mail Route,” October 11, 1858
New York Times, “Health of New Orleans,” November 2, 1858
New York Herald, “The Gila Gold Mines,” January 16, 1859
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Filibusterism and Disunion,” April 1, 1859
Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “Gold Hunters,” May 23, 1859
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Pleasant Reunion of Pioneers,” September 30, 1859
New York Herald, “Emigration to California,” November 13, 1859
San Francisco (CA) Bulletin, “The Farce of San Quentin,” January 18, 1860
San Francisco (CA) Bulletin, “Five Runaway Boys Captured,” February 24, 1860
Boston (MA) Advertiser, “The Coming Men,” April 17, 1860
Boston (MA) Advertiser, “Relations with Japan in Jeopardy,” June 30, 1860
New York Herald, “The California Mails,” July 1, 1860
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, "The Pony Express," September 26, 1860
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, "Complaints Against the Oregon Overland Mail," November 30, 1860
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, "Change of the Schedule Time of the Pony Express," December 4, 1860
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Prospects of the Speedy Completion of the Pacific Telegraph,” March 27, 1861
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Doing at Virginia,” June 12, 1861
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “From the Oil Region of Pennsylvania,” June 19, 1861
San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “Disreputable Weapons of Political Warfare,” June 27, 1861
New York Herald, “The Pacific Telegraph Line,” October 21, 1861
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