Theodore Augustus Barry (1825-1881) and Benjamin Ada Patten (1825-1877) established their credentials as California pioneers by arriving in their adopted state before January 1, 1850. Men and memories of San Francisco (1873) gives later arrivals a detailed picture of the city as it existed a few months before California statehood. They describe the streets and the residences and business that lined each thoroughfare and alley as well as the men and women who owned those homes, boarding-houses, hotels, restaurants, saloons, stores, offices, and shops. They also chronicle the fire of May 1851 which destroyed so many of the structures they describe. While they focus on the city as it was in early 1850, their sketches of its residents extend further, often forming capsule biographies of their subjects.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Zodiac, Auto Focus, and Black Fire. SO CLOSE TO SHORE, SO FAR FROM FORTUNE. WITH THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD, THEY CAME. San Francisco, 1849. Some arrived by land, but most came by sea. From packet to clipper, the first steamers, and even a stolen paddlewheeler, ships of every kind poured in through the Golden Gate. Packed to the gills with passengers and bursting to the brim with valuable cargo, they crowded Yerba Buena Cove. The perfect harbor in every way except one fatal flaw—its shallow waters offered no passage to shore. Fever overtook even the heartiest of men. Passengers and crew alike jumped ship and swam ashore. Within sight of their prize destination, a thousand majestic vessels were left adrift. Each incapacitated vessel’s fate locked in by the next. Some dedicated captains remained aboard these derelict hulks, in a short time forming a fantastic floating city, Graveyard Harbor. Families, commerce, intrigue, and crime all thrived and died within its skeletal framework. Among them were captains held hostage by their own cargo, families that could not afford nor find housing on land, criminals hiding out from the law, and their pursuers hot on their heels. A LANDLOCKED CAPTAIN. A KILLER WHO LOOKED LIKE CHRIST. HIS UNFORTUNATE DOPPELGÄNGER. THE BLOODTHIRST OF SAN FRANCISCO’S FIRST VIGILANTE SOCIETY. AND THE TEXAS RANGER TURNED SAN FRANCISCO SHERIFF. WOULD CRIME, JUSTICE OR VIGILANTISM PREVAIL? Illustrations by the author.

Theodore Augustus Barry (1825-1881) and Benjamin Ada Patten (1825-1877) established their credentials as California pioneers by arriving in their adopted state before January 1, 1850. Men and memories of San Francisco (1873) gives later arrivals a detailed picture of the city as it existed a few months before California statehood. They describe the streets and the residences and business that lined each thoroughfare and alley as well as the men and women who owned those homes, boarding-houses, hotels, restaurants, saloons, stores, offices, and shops. They also chronicle the fire of May 1851 which destroyed so many of the structures they describe. While they focus on the city as it was in early 1850, their sketches of its residents extend further, often forming capsule biographies of their subjects.

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