first, which was of consequence occurred in December 1849.  Then the loss was estimated to be a million of dollars.  On May 4th 1850 there was another fire which was a heavy blow to the business interests of the town.  A third fire broke out in June 14th, 1850, and still another on September 17th, 1850, causing great loss.  But, as the climax, came on May 3rd, 1851, what is known as “the great fire.”  At the time the chief engineer and many of the firemen were in Sacramento, and this greatly crippled the service.  The fire-fiend held carnival for twenty-four hours, and property, valued at twenty millions of dollars, was consumed, while many of the people perished in the flames.

On Sunday, June 22nd, 1851, there was still another ruinous fire which raged among the homes on the hillsides and in the residence-districts generally.  This was accompanied with a most pathetic incident.  While the flames were raging around the Plaza, a man who was very sick was carried on his bed into the midst of the open place, and there while a shower of flame was rained on him and smoke blinded his eyes his spirit passed to his eternal home in the Heavens.  But although San Francisco had met with all these losses in rapid succession, partly the result of incendiarism and partly by reason of a lack of fire equipment, yet the people, brave-hearted and unconquerable, rebuilt their city on broader and safer lines; and the San Francisco of to-day, so attractive and prosperous and beautiful, may be said to have risen Phoenix-like out of her ashes.  So it is that evils are overruled for good in God’s Providence, and the fine gold comes out of the fire of discipline, tried and precious!  Our walks now will lead us up through the city to the Mission Dolores, the Presidio, and the Golden Gate.  But as we proceed up Market Street we take note of some features of the life of San Francisco.  Behold, here is an eager group of men and boys in front of The Call office.  They are scanning the bulletin of the day’s news from all parts of the world, which will be published in to-morrow’s Call or in the Chronicle on the north side of the street.  In the early part of my sojourn in this city by the Golden Gate I was impressed with this aspect of life here.  It was on Thursday the 3rd day of October that I saw a crowd of men of various ages, and boys also, reaching out into the street, besieging the bulletin board of The Call, at the corner of Market and Third Streets.  Why are they so deeply absorbed and why so interested?  They are reading the news of the victory of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan’s Columbia over Sir Thomas Lipton’s Shamrock in the great yacht race in New York waters, in the cup contest.  Had this international race taken place outside of their own Golden Gate, on the broad Pacific, they could not have evinced greater enthusiasm and pride at the result.  The pulse of San Francisco is quickened and the heart thrilled at American success on the Atlantic seaboard