Title:

[San Francisco, east from Kearny and Clay Streets, with masts of sailing ships in the harbor.]

Description:

Bird's-eye view from the roof of the Union Hotel in Portsmouth Square, with the harbor and docked ships in the background. This image is sometimes referred to as the "Sea of masts" view, and once thought to be the earliest surviving photograph of the city of San Francisco. It has been noted that the store ship Niantic is visible toward the right, which would indicate a date prior to the fire of May, 1851; possible from late 1850. This plate is the right half of a two-plate panorama, the other half of which is lost and not thought to have survived the earthquake and fire of 1906. The full view does exist in copy photographs. (For example, see copies in the Roy. D. Graves Collection at the Bancroft Library (BANC PIC 1905.17500 v.1:18-:19), with digital reproductions available online. For another copy of both halves, see BANC PIC 1905.16242:194a-b-- PIC)

Date:

[between 1850 and May 1851]

Contributing Institution:

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library