San Francisco, the new San Francisco, is not to be described in detail in this book. The story of it today with all the great progress made within the last two years would nevertheless be ancient and inadequate history within six months. The rebuilding of the entire business section of a great city in so short a time and the rehabilitation of its municipal utilities, is a marvel beyond description.
[Illustration: THE PATHS THAT LEAD DIRECTLY TO CALIFORNIA’S CAPITOL AT SACRAMENTO ARE PLEASANT ONES, SHADED BY THE SEMI-TROPIC GROWTHS OF THE CAMELLIA CITY]
The San Francisco of today is a greater San Francisco than ever before. Imports have increased, trade expanded and new industries established since the fire. The traffic of the railroads is greater than in the days of the old San Francisco. The Southern Pacific is spending millions in new terminal facilities and has completed a new water-grade route up the San Francisco peninsula into the heart of the city at an expense of millions more. By the construction of a bridge at Dumbarton Point across the southern arm of San Francisco bay in 1908 the city has to all intents and purposes, from a traffic standpoint, been placed upon the mainland.
[Illustration: THERE IS NO FINER DUCK SHOOTING THAN ON THE SUISUN MARSHES. CANVASBACK, MALLARD, TEAL, OR SPRIG, ALL UNFAILINGLY AWAIT THE BAG OF THE STRAIGHT SHOOTER]
The business section of San Francisco, practically entirely recreated in two years, is in itself a marvel; no other city in the world possesses such an area of absolutely new business blocks with their equipments consequently modern in every respect, from elevator service to methods of lighting and heating. Nothing is out of date; all is new and the work has been on so large a scale as to justify the gathering of the very best ideas in construction at the command of the best architects of the world.
Notably is the hotel service of the city superior through this reconstruction. Scores of fine hotels have been built within the two years and many more are under way. The opportunity to embody every comfort and convenience, and the rivalry among the hotels to secure the best, have resulted in a series of up-to-date homes for wayfarers probably never equaled, for never elsewhere have circumstances been such as to permit the complete modernization of a great business city within two years.