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119-535: In the 1840s and 1850s road and rail networks in the Bay Area and inland California were primitive. Steamboats and the barges they towed played an important part in moving people, agricultural commodities, and other goods around the region. Numerous wharves and depots sprang up in San Francisco Bay , San Pablo Bay , and Suisan Bay . Steamers also ascended the rivers that emptied into these bays, notably

238-640: A blade on her massive propeller in November 1876. With this breakdown, she had sailed her last. After months of idleness, Ajax was sold to John Roach in March 1878. Roach owned a Chester, Pennsylvania shipyard with business ties to the Oregon Steamship Company. He does not appear to have done much with Ajax; she was "laid up" and idle in May 1878. She was towed up Oakland Creek where she

357-649: A boiler explosion and thereafter lay moored on the levee in Sacramento for several years. In 1859 her topsides were removed and she was converted into a barge . Anna Abernethy (sidewheel steamer): She ran as a competitor to the company on the Marysville - San Francisco route beginning in 1854. She was taken over by the company by 1856. She broke her drive shaft while on the Petaluma - San Francisco run in 1857. Antelope (sidewheel steamer) : The ship reached

476-749: A cannonball. Under steam power alone, Ajax could achieve a maximum speed of 11.5 knots, but with a favorable wind and all sails set she could average 12.5 knots over the course of a day. She typically burned 18 tons of coal per day. Her coal bunkers held at least 10 days of fuel even with 2,000 tons of freight aboard. In 1866, when she was purchased by the California Steam Navigation Company , she had over 60 first class cabins each with two berths. Several of these were converted to three-berth "family" staterooms. There were accommodations for several hundred steerage passengers as well. A salon 145 feet (44 m) long enclosed on

595-527: A competitor to the company in 1858. By February 1859 this venture had failed and the company owned the ship. She was acquired by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871 and broken up in 1875. Governor Dana: She was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California , and gives its name to

714-545: A deep red color to these ponds from the pigment within the algae protoplasm. The salt marsh harvest mouse is an endangered species endemic to the wetlands of the San Francisco Bay with a high salt tolerance. It needs native pickleweed , which is often displaced by invasive cordgrass, for its habitat. The seasonal range of water temperature in the bay is from January's 53 °F (12 °C) to September's 60 °F (16 °C) when measured at Fort Point , which

833-1022: A hotspot for polybrominated diphenyl ether ( PBDE ) flame retardants used to make upholstered furniture and infant care items less flammable. PBDEs have been largely phased out and replaced with alternative phosphate flame retardants. A 2019 San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) study assayed a wide range of these newer flame retardant chemicals in Bay waters, bivalve California mussels ( Mytilus californianus ), and harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina ) which haul out in Corkscrew Slough on Bair Island in San Mateo County , with phosphate flame retardant contaminants such as tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)phosphate (TDCPP) and triphenyl phosphate (TPhP) found at levels comparable to thresholds for aquatic toxicity. Thousands of man-made chemicals are found in Bay water, sediment, and organisms. For many of these, there

952-533: A larger ship, Queen City , but at the low prices they had to charge to compete, it lost money on every load. Citizen's Steam Navigation could not find sufficient financing to continue operations under these circumstances. On October 1, 1855 it signed a contract giving the California Steam Navigation Company control over its ships, effectively reinstating the company's monopoly on transportation to Marysville. The general public and

1071-667: A major seaport . The Port of Oakland is one of the largest cargo ports in the United States, while the Port of Richmond and the Port of San Francisco provide smaller services. An additional crossing south of the Bay Bridge has long been proposed. San Francisco Bay is popular for sailors (boats, as well as windsurfing and kitesurfing ), due to consistent strong westerly/northwesterly thermally-generated winds – Beaufort force 6 (15–25 knots; 17–29 mph; 8–13 m/s)

1190-552: A new steamboat to be used in China. Express: She was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. The ship was owned by the company at least until 1856. In June 1870, the ship was owned by an independent operator that competed with the company on the San Francisco - Oakland route. This venture failed, and the ship was sold at auction for $ 1,200 on January 12, 1872 Flora (sternwheel steamer): The ship

1309-472: A report stating that if current infill trends continued, the bay would be as big as a shipping channel by 2020. This news created the Save the Bay movement in 1960, which mobilized to stop the infill of wetlands and the bay in general, which had shrunk to two-thirds of its size in the century before 1961. The San Francisco Bay continues to support some of the densest industrial production and urban settlement in

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1428-420: A safe eating advisory for fish caught in the San Francisco Bay based on levels of mercury or PCBs found in local species. The San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail is a planned system of designated trailheads designed to improve non-motorized small boat access to the bay. The California Coastal Conservancy approved funding in March 2011 to begin implementation of the water trail. Ajax (1864 ship) Ajax

1547-481: A second time. She cleared San Francisco with 1,786 sacks of flour, 87 sacks of barley, 57 sacks of oats, 498 sacks of potatoes, paint, guns, kegs of nails, a piano, 6 dozen shovels, and other merchandise valued at $ 28,192.75. She arrived back in San Francisco on April 15, 1866 with 617 tons of freight, a record for the time for a single ship from Hawaii. The ship's two trips were unprofitable, losing between $ 7,000 and $ 8,000. Shortly after her return to San Francisco,

1666-485: A single cylinder 54 inches (1.4 m) in diameter with a piston stroke of 52 inches (1.3 m). It produced a nominal 400 horsepower . The engine was built by the DeLamater Iron Works of New York City. The propeller was 13' 6" in diameter. An indication that her designers considered her possible service in war, all her machinery was placed below her waterline, and thus less likely to be damaged by

1785-636: A steamer that would take them to Australia or New Zealand. She was reassigned to her Portland route again for the winter of 1871 and remained on this route for the remainder of her career. Sometime in early 1872, Ben Holladay placed the steamers Ajax, J. L. Stephens , and Oriflamme in a new corporation, the Oregon Steamship Company . This new company served only the San Francisco to Portland route and thus buttressed Holladay's riverboat and railroad business in Oregon. He subsequently sold

1904-454: A waterway and harbor , many thousands of acres of marshy wetlands at the edges of the bay were, for many years, considered wasted space. As a result, soil excavated for building projects or dredged from channels was often dumped onto the wetlands and other parts of the bay as landfill. From the mid-19th century through the late 20th century, more than a third of the original bay was filled and often built on. The deep, damp soil in these areas

2023-560: A widespread distribution in the bay, with uptake in the bay's phytoplankton and contamination of its sportfish. In January 1971, two Standard Oil tankers collided in the bay, creating an 800,000-U.S.-gallon (3,000,000-liter) oil spill disaster , which spurred environmental protection of the bay. In November 2007, a ship named COSCO Busan collided with the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and spilled over 58,000 U.S. gallons (220,000 liters) of bunker fuel , creating

2142-563: Is common on summer afternoons – and protection from large open ocean swells. Yachting and yacht racing are popular pastimes and the San Francisco Bay Area is home to many of the world's top sailors. A shoreline bicycle and pedestrian trail known as the San Francisco Bay Trail encircles the edge of the bay. The San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail , a growing network of launching and landing sites around

2261-462: Is likely N. de Morena who was left at New Albion at Drakes Bay in Marin County, California , by Sir Francis Drake in 1579 and then walked to Mexico. The first recorded European discovery of San Francisco Bay was on November 4, 1769, when Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolá , unable to find the Port of Monterey , continued north close to what is now Pacifica and reached the summit of

2380-433: Is little or no data on their impacts on the environment or human health, and they are not regulated by state or federal law. These are often referred to as "contaminants of emerging concern." The San Francisco Estuary Institute has studied these chemicals in the Bay since 2001. Scientists have identified the following most likely to have a negative impact on Bay wildlife: San Francisco Bay's profile changed dramatically in

2499-484: Is near the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge and at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. For the first time in 65 years, Pacific Harbor Porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena ) returned to the bay in 2009. Golden Gate Cetacean Research, a non-profit organization focused on research on cetaceans , has developed a photo-identification database enabling the scientists to identify specific porpoise individuals and

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2618-555: Is not clear if Ajax was built for government service, or if the ship was intended as a commercial venture. Cornelius and Richard Poillon operated a shipyard in Brooklyn , New York at the foot of Bridge Street on the East River . They built a variety of yachts, commercial vessels, and warships for the United States and other nations. Their ships USS Grand Gulf , USS Winona , and USS New Berne were all purchased by

2737-562: Is subject to soil liquefaction during earthquakes, and most of the major damage close to the bay in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 occurred to structures on these areas. The Marina District of San Francisco, hard hit by the 1989 earthquake, was built on fill that had been placed there for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition , although liquefaction did not occur on a large scale. In

2856-647: Is trying to ascertain whether a healthier bay has brought their return. Pacific harbor porpoise range from Point Conception , California, to Alaska and across to the Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan. Recent genetic studies show that there is a local stock from San Francisco to the Russian River and that eastern Pacific coastal populations rarely migrate far, unlike western Atlantic Harbor porpoise. The common bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) has been extending its current range northwards from

2975-510: The Ben Holladay's California, Oregon & Mexico Steamship Company and the newly launched Anchor Line, the route had too many ships on it and a full scale fare war broke out. Fares dropped from $ 45 for a cabin and $ 25 for steerage to $ 10 and $ 3 respectively between 1866 and 1867. Unable to make money on its ocean-going shipping business, the California Steam Navigation Company sold its entire fleet of seagoing vessels, including Ajax , to

3094-726: The Carquinez Bridge in May 1927, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in 1936, the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937, the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge in 1956, and the San Mateo–Hayward Bridge in 1967. During the 20th century, the bay was subject to the 1940s Reber Plan , which would have filled in parts of the bay in order to increase industrial activity along the waterfront. In 1959, the United States Army Corps of Engineers released

3213-598: The Carquinez Strait , carving out sediment and forming canyons in what is now the northern part of the San Francisco Bay and Golden Gate strait . San Francisco Bay has been filled and emptied of sea water many times during the Pleistocene in accordance with sea level changes caused by glacial advances and retreats. During the Wisconsin Glaciation , between 15,000 and about 10,000 years ago,

3332-547: The Central Pacific Railroad acquired the California Pacific Railroad Company, creating an even more powerful transportation monopoly. In a confusing epilog to the corporation's history, a new and unrelated steamboat company was created after the disincorporation which was also called the California Steam Navigation Company. It too, ran steamboats on the Sacramento River, but in this new world it

3451-751: The Fayetteville , North Carolina arsenal, who had relocated from Harpers Ferry , Virginia when the Confederate States moved the equipment they had captured. That night the ship was driven ashore on the mud banks opposite Alexandria in a gale. On April 6, 1865 she arrived at Fortress Monroe from Moorehead City carrying a "large number" of Confederate prisoners and refugees from General Sherman's campaign. On April 11, 1865 she arrived at Fortress Monroe from Wilmington. She sailed on to New York on April 12. With General Lee's surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, Ajax's Civil War service

3570-630: The Pacific Ocean via the Golden Gate strait. However, this entire group of interconnected bays is often called the San Francisco Bay . The bay was designated a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance on February 2, 2013, and the Port of Oakland on the bay is one of the busiest cargo ports on the west coast. The bay covers somewhere between 400 and 1,600 square miles (1,000–4,000 km ), depending on which sub-bays (such as San Pablo Bay), estuaries, wetlands , and so on are included in

3689-670: The San Francisco Bay Area . It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco , San Jose , and Oakland . San Francisco Bay drains water from approximately 40 percent of California. Water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and from the Sierra Nevada mountains, flow into Suisun Bay , which then travels through the Carquinez Strait to meet with the Napa River at the entrance to San Pablo Bay , which connects at its south end to San Francisco Bay. It then connects to

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3808-642: The Southern California Bight . The first coastal bottlenose dolphin in the Bay Area in recent times was spotted in 1983 off the San Mateo County coast in 1983. In 2001, bottlenose dolphins were first spotted east of the Golden Gate Bridge and confirmed by photographic evidence in 2007. Zooarcheological remains of bottlenose dolphins indicated that bottlenose dolphins inhabited San Francisco Bay in prehistoric times until at least 700 years before present, and dolphin skulls dredged from

3927-767: The U.S. Navy for service in the Civil War. Given the shipyard's relationship with the US government, the Poillon's may have had a charter contract in hand before beginning construction on Ajax. In any case, shortly after her launch on October 6, 1864 she was chartered for use by the Quartermaster Corps of the Union Army to provide logistical support along the Atlantic coast for Civil War operations. Ajax

4046-699: The United States Coast Survey in 1852. The United States Government sold the ship for $ 30,000 in June 1862. After a variety of private charters, the company acquired her no later than April 1866. The ship was, in turn, acquired from the company by the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company in 1867. She hit a rock and was wrecked south of Cape Mendocino in 1870. Ajax (propeller steamer): Built in Brooklyn, New York in 1864, she

4165-790: The first transcontinental railroad was connected to its western terminus at Alameda on September 6, 1869. The terminus was switched to the Oakland Long Wharf two months later on November 8, 1869. In 1910, the Southern Pacific railroad company built the Dumbarton Rail Bridge , the first bridge crossing San Francisco Bay. The first automobile crossing was the Dumbarton Bridge , completed in January 1927. More crossings were later constructed –

4284-458: The 1,200-foot-high (370 m) Sweeney Ridge , now marked as the place where he first sighted San Francisco Bay. Portolá and his party did not realize what they had discovered, thinking they had arrived at a large arm of what is now called Drakes Bay . At the time, Drakes Bay went by the name Bahia de San Francisco and thus both bodies of water became associated with the name. Eventually, the larger, more important body of water fully appropriated

4403-411: The 1850s, when hydraulic mining released massive amounts of sediment from the rivers that settled in those parts of the bay that had little or no current. Later, wetlands and inlets were deliberately filled in, reducing the bay's size since the mid-19th century by as much as one third. Recently, large areas of wetlands have been restored, further confusing the issue of the bay's size. Despite its value as

4522-405: The 1990s, San Francisco International Airport proposed filling in hundreds more acres to extend its overcrowded international runways in exchange for purchasing other parts of the bay and converting them back to wetlands. The idea was, and remains, controversial. ( For further details, see the " Bay fill and depth profile " section. ) There are five large islands in San Francisco Bay. Alameda ,

4641-413: The Bay Area in 1851 by sailing around Cape Horn. In California she sailed for the "Independent Line" and was one of the vessels consolidated into the California Steam Navigation Company when it was formed in 1854. The vessel was acquired from the company by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. Banner (sternwheel steamer): She was a light draft vessel which began competing with the company on

4760-423: The Bay Area to British Columbia beginning in 1857. The "forty-niners" who rushed to the California goldfields now rushed to mine the new Canadian workings. Similarly, California's growing economy created new demand for transportation to the south as well. The California Steam Navigation Company used a few of its largest steamers for these new routes and acquired other ocean-going ships to meet this demand. Pacific

4879-524: The California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. Dover (sternwheel steamer): The ship was built for the company in San Francisco and launched in 1869. She was purchased by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. Eclipse: She was launched in December 1854 as a competitor to the company. By mid-1855, the company controlled the ship. She was converted into a barge of the same name. Eliza: Built in 1824 and sailed around Cape Horn in 1850, she

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4998-578: The California Steam Navigation Company withdrew he from her Hawaii route, ending scheduled steamship service to the islands. With the break in her scheduled sailings, she underwent a brief visit to the shipyard for repairs. After several months of idleness, the ship was reassigned to the San Francisco - Portland route and made her first trip on February 12, 1867, arriving in Portland on February 16. She made several additional roundtrips between San Francisco and Portland in 1867, but with competition from

5117-533: The California Steam Navigation Company. In 1862, an infected passenger onboard the Brother Jonathan introduced smallpox to Victoria, setting off the 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic . Holladay added more ships, but the two companies appeared to have an understanding that prevented a rate war. This changed in 1865 when Jarvis Patton established the Anchor Line, and put his ship Montana on

5236-511: The California, Oregon & Mexico Steamship company in mid-1867. Ajax continued her trips to Portland in 1868,1869, and early 1870 with occasional trips to Victoria and Mazatlan . In March 1869 the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company was reincorporated under the laws of California as the North Pacific Transportation Company. On May 10, 1870 Ajax sailed again for Honolulu, this time to meet

5355-777: The Historic Landmarks committee, Native Sons of the Golden West , 1921." The bay became the center of American settlement and commerce in the Far West through most of the remainder of the 19th century. During the California Gold Rush (1848–1855), San Francisco Bay suddenly became one of the world's great seaports, dominating shipping in the American West until the last years of the 19th century. The bay's regional importance increased further when

5474-476: The Port of Oakland. Some six million cubic yards (160 million cubic feet; 4.6 million cubic meters) of mud from the dredging was deposited at the western edge of Middle Harbor Shoreline Park to become a 188-acre (0.294 sq mi; 0.76 km ) shallow-water wetlands habitat for marine and shore life. Further dredging followed in 2011, to maintain the navigation channel. This dredging enabled

5593-470: The Sacramento River and San Joaquin River. The Sacramento River was navigable for 250 miles and in periods of high water even further upstream. The Feather River , a tributary of the Sacramento, was navigable beyond Marysville during portions of the year. The San Joaquin was navigable year-round as far as Stockton and in periods of high water, steamers could reach into Fresno County , about 200 miles from

5712-522: The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. This allowed the company to raise rates and profitability returned for the company's owners. This profitability lured new competitors, just as it did in 1850. Individual boats such as Surprise and Martin White began service in 1855. Rates from San Francisco to Sacramento fell as low as $ 0.25 per passenger as the California Steam Navigation Company sought to eliminate

5831-711: The San Francisco - Portland route combined with the Ajax's advancing age brought a cascade of mechanical problems. She grounded in the Willamette River in October 1871, and on the Columbia River bar in March 1875. She lost her rudder and had to have her rudder shoe repaired in a shipyard. The rod on her massive piston broke in April, 1874. She had difficulty with her propeller shaft in January 1876 and lost

5950-442: The San Francisco - Victoria line. He cut prices to gain customers, but with only one ship on the route, the pricing equilibrium between the two main competitors more or less remained. In 1866, however, Patton built Idaho , and a full-scale rate war broke out. Profitability went out of the northern route. In 1867, the fare war on the northern route forced consolidation. The California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company bought

6069-485: The United States on December 3, 1849, and was accepted as the 31st State of the Union on September 9, 1850. In 1921, a tablet was dedicated by a group of men in downtown San Francisco, marking the site of the original shoreline. The tablet reads: "This tablet marks the shore line of San Francisco Bay at the time of the discovery of gold in California, January 24, 1848. Map reproduced above delineates old shore line. Placed by

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6188-487: The United States. The San Francisco Bay Area is the American West's second-largest urban area, with approximately seven million residents. Despite its urban and industrial character, San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta remain perhaps California's most important ecological habitats . California's Dungeness crab , California halibut , and Pacific salmon fisheries rely on

6307-431: The arrival of Europeans. Indigenous peoples used canoes to fish and clam along the shoreline. Sailing ships enabled transportation between the bay and other parts of the world—and served as ferries and freighters within the bay and between the bay and inland ports, such as Sacramento and Stockton. These were gradually replaced by steam-powered vessels starting in the late 19th century. Several shipyards were established around

6426-628: The arrival of the largest container ship ever to enter the San Francisco Bay, the MSC Fabiola . Bay pilots trained for the visit on a simulator at the California Maritime Academy for over a year. The ship arrived drawing less than its full draft of 50 feet 10 inches (15.5 m) because it held only three-quarters of a load after its stop in Long Beach. San Francisco Bay was traversed by watercraft before

6545-401: The average depth of the bay is only as deep as a swimming pool—approximately 12 to 15 ft (4–5 m). Between Hayward and San Mateo to San Jose it is 12 to 36 in (30–90 cm). The deepest part of the bay is under and out of the Golden Gate Bridge, at 372 ft (113 m). In the late 1990s, a 12-year harbor-deepening project for the Port of Oakland began; it

6664-645: The basin which is now filled by the San Francisco Bay was a large river valley with small hills, channeling the Sacramento River through the Golden Gate Strait into the ocean. When the great ice sheets began to melt, around 11,000 years ago, the sea level started to rise rapidly, by about 1 inch per year. Melting glaciers in the Sierra Nevada washed huge amounts of sediment down the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, which accumulated on

6783-588: The bay as a nursery. The few remaining salt marshes now represent most of California's remaining salt marsh, supporting a number of endangered species and providing key ecosystem services such as filtering pollutants and sediments from the rivers. San Francisco Bay is recognized for protection by the California Bays and Estuaries Policy , with oversight provided by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership . Most famously,

6902-533: The bay for non-motorized small boat users (such as kayakers) is being developed. Parks and protected areas around the bay include Eden Landing Ecological Reserve , Hayward Regional Shoreline , Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge , Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center , Crown Memorial State Beach , Eastshore State Park , Point Isabel Regional Shoreline , Brooks Island Regional Preserve , and César Chávez Park . The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has developed

7021-598: The bay is a key link in the Pacific Flyway . Millions of waterfowl annually use the bay shallows as a refuge. Two endangered species of birds are found here: the California least tern and the Ridgway's Rail . Exposed bay muds provide important feeding areas for shorebirds , but underlying layers of bay mud pose geological hazards for structures near many parts of the bay perimeter. San Francisco Bay provided

7140-417: The bay suggest occasional visitors in historic times. San Francisco Bay faces many of the same water quality issues as other urban waterways in industrialized countries, or downstream of intensive agriculture. According to state water quality regulators, San Francisco Bay waters do not meet water quality standards for the following pollutants: Industrial, mining, and other uses of mercury have resulted in

7259-415: The bay, augmented during wartime (e.g., the Kaiser Shipyards , Richmond Shipyards ) near Richmond in 1940 for World War II for construction of mass-produced, assembly line Liberty and Victory cargo ships . San Francisco Bay is spanned by nine bridges, eight of which carry cars . The Transbay Tube , an underwater rail tunnel, carries BART services between Oakland and San Francisco. Prior to

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7378-412: The bay, with the Leslie Salt Company the largest private land owner in the Bay Area in the 1940s. Low-salinity salt ponds mirror the ecosystem of the bay, with fish and fish-eating birds in abundance. Mid-salinity ponds support dense populations of brine shrimp , which provide a rich food source for millions of shorebirds. Only salt-tolerant micro-algae survive in the high salinity ponds, and impart

7497-431: The bay. Thousands of sea otter skins were taken to Sitka, then Guangzhou (Canton), China, where they commanded a high price. The United States seized the region from Mexico during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). On February 2, 1848, the Mexican province of Alta California was annexed to the United States with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo . A year and a half later, California requested to join

7616-421: The bridges and, later, the Transbay Tube, transbay transportation was dominated by fleets of ferryboats operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Key System transit company. However, in recent decades, ferries have returned, primarily serving commuters from Marin County, relieving the traffic bottleneck of the Golden Gate Bridge (see Ferries of San Francisco Bay ). The bay also continues to serve as

7735-427: The center of the bay, following the ancient drowned river valley. In the 1860s and continuing into the early 20th century, miners dumped staggering quantities of mud and gravel from hydraulic mining operations into the upper Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. GK Gilbert's estimates of debris total more than eight times the amount of rock and dirt moved during construction of the Panama Canal. This material flowed down

7854-403: The company into contact with new competitors. In the north, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company sold its business to the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company in 1861. Ben Holladay , a tough steamboat pioneer, ran this dominant company. At the time of the acquisition It had five steamboats on the San Francisco - Victoria route to the two ( Pacific and Brother Jonathan ) deployed by

7973-400: The company would not sell for fear of them falling into the hands of potential competitors. The company established a base for its unemployed ships in Oakland . Below is a partial list of the company's ships and barges with a focus on how they came to be part of and then left the fleet. Active (sidewheel steamer): She was built for the Sacramento River route in 1849. She was purchased by

8092-400: The decades surrounding 1900, at the behest of local political officials and following Congressional orders, the U.S. Army Corps began dredging the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and the deep channels of San Francisco Bay. This work has continued without interruption ever since. Some of the dredge spoils were initially dumped in the bay shallows (including helping to create Treasure Island on

8211-541: The entire ocean-going fleet of the California Steam Navigation Company. It bought Active , Ajax , California, Orizba , Pacific , and Senator . This forced the California Steam Navigation Company back to its Bay Area core, which itself was suffering from competition from new railroads. On March 31, 1871, the California Pacific Railroad Company acquired all property of the California Steam Navigation Company. This included thirty-two sidewheel and sternwheel steamships , twenty-one barges, twenty wharves and depots, and

8330-447: The first map of the area. A number of place names survive (anglicized) from that first map, including Point Reyes , Angel Island , Farallon Islands , and Alcatraz Island . Alaskan Native sea otter hunters using Aleutian kayaks and working for the Russian–American Company entered San Francisco Bay in 1807 and again over 1810–1811. Led by the Russian Timofei Nikitich Tarakanov , these hunting raids probably wiped out sea otters in

8449-478: The former shoals to the north of Yerba Buena Island ) and used to raise islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The net effect of dredging has been to maintain a narrow deep channel—deeper perhaps than the original bay channel—through a much shallower bay. At the same time, most of the marsh areas have been filled or blocked off from the bay by dikes . Large ships transiting the bay must follow deep underwater channels that are maintained by frequent dredging as

8568-487: The franchises that allowed the ships to sail. Cash from the asset sale was distributed to shareholders and the company was disincorporated in September 1871. The railroad continued the operation of the steamboats, integrating them with its own routes and pricing scheme. The steamboat-railroad merger was driven by the same desire to reduce competition that had driven the previous steamboat company mergers. Five months later,

8687-482: The largest oil spill in the region since 1996. The bay also has some of the highest levels of dissolved inorganic nitrogen known from any coastal water body, mostly originating from treated wastewater from Publicly owned treatment works . In other bays, such nutrient levels would likely lead to eutrophication , but historically, the bay has had less harmful algal blooms than other water bodies with similar nutrient concentrations. Potential explanations have included

8806-438: The largest island, was created when a shipping lane was cut to form the Port of Oakland in 1901. It is now a suburban community. Angel Island was known as " Ellis Island West" because it served as the entry point for immigrants from East Asia. It is now a state park accessible by ferry. Mountainous Yerba Buena Island is pierced by a tunnel linking the east and west spans of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge . Attached to

8925-561: The late 19th century and again with the initiation of dredging by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the 20th century. Before about 1860, most bay shores (with the exception of rocky shores, such as those in Carquinez Strait; along Marin shoreline; Point Richmond; Golden Gate area) contained extensive wetlands that graded nearly invisibly from freshwater wetlands to salt marsh and then tidal mudflat. A deep channel ran through

9044-419: The local business community loathed the California Steam Navigation Company for its monopoly rates and the harsh tactics it used to suppress competition. One newspaper went so far as to editorialize that all candidates for the state legislature should pledge, "eternal opposition to the California Steam Navigation Company" The Fraser Canyon gold rush created an immediate and large demand for transportation from

9163-580: The loss of perhaps 225 lives in 1865. C. M. Weber: The ship entered service on the Stockton run in April 1851 and was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. California : She was acquired with Ajax for $ 250,000 from the New York shipping firm of Wakeman, Gookin & Dickinson in 1865. She was acquired from the company by the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company in 1867. Capital (sidewheel steamer): The ship

9282-455: The main deck forward provided space for passenger meals, walking, and entertainments. There were two smoking rooms. Shared bathrooms provided hot and cold running water. The galley was on the open top deck of the ship so that cooking odors would not enter the main cabin. Cooking for steerage passengers was apparently less elegant but quite efficient; food was cooked with steam from the ship's boilers. Separate dining facilities were provided for

9401-660: The measurement. The main part of the bay measures three to twelve miles (5–19 km) wide east-to-west and somewhere between 48 miles (77 km) and 60 miles (97 km) north-to-south. San Francisco Bay is the second-largest estuary on the Pacific coast of the Americas, following the Salish Sea in Washington State and British Columbia, Canada. The bay was navigable as far south as San Jose until

9520-548: The name San Francisco Bay . The first European to enter the bay is believed to have been the Spanish explorer Juan de Ayala , who passed through the Golden Gate on August 5, 1775, in his ship the San Carlos and moored in a bay of Angel Island now known as Ayala Cove. Ayala continued to explore the San Francisco Bay Area and the expedition's cartographer, José de Cañizares, gathered the information necessary to produce

9639-823: The nation's first wildlife refuge, Oakland's artificial Lake Merritt , constructed in the 1860s, and America's first urban National Wildlife Refuge, the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (SFBNWR) in 1972. The bay is also plagued by non-native species. Salt produced from San Francisco Bay is produced in salt evaporation ponds and is shipped throughout the Western United States to bakeries, canneries, fisheries, cheese makers and other food industries and used to de-ice winter highways, clean kidney dialysis machines, for animal nutrition, and in many industries. Many companies have produced salt in

9758-449: The new ships fought for customers. To make matters worse for the shipping companies, they ordered additional steamers during the boom times and they began to arrive. With loans to pay, the ship owners had no choice but to put them into service, despite the already ruinous level of competition. By 1853 there were 25 steamers running the Sacramento River alone. The steamboat owners ended their unprofitable competition by combining almost all

9877-524: The north is the artificial and flat Treasure Island , site of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition . From the Second World War until the 1990s, both islands served as military bases and are now being redeveloped. Isolated in the center of the bay is Alcatraz , the site of the famous federal penitentiary. The federal prison on Alcatraz Island no longer functions, but the complex is a popular tourist site. Despite its name, Mare Island in

9996-594: The northern part of the bay is a peninsula rather than an island. San Francisco Bay is thought to represent a down-warping of the Earth's crust between the San Andreas Fault to the west and the Hayward Fault to the east, though the precise nature of this remains under study. About 560,000 years ago, a tectonic shift caused the large inland Lake Corcoran to spill out the central valley and through

10115-543: The peak demand of the summer harvest time, when ships and barges would bring crops from the interior to San Francisco. Some were operated only when high water allowed passage to ports further inland on the rivers. Some ships were held in reserve, to replace vessels that were due for maintenance or were damaged. Some ships were used as storeships, floating warehouses and offices. Some vessels were anchored or moored and never used. These were typically ships bought from competitors to keep them from competing, or obsolete ships that

10234-416: The presence of intensive "top-down control" from grazing clams like Potamocorbula , high sediment supply limiting light availability for the algae, and intensive tidal mixing. The occurrence of an unprecedented harmful algal bloom of Heterosigma akashiwo in 2022, resulting in mass fish deaths and anoxia, suggests that the mechanisms of control on algal growth may be eroding. The bay was once considered

10353-568: The rest of the North Pacific Transportation Company fleet to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company . January 1872 found Ajax fulfilling her original role in supporting Army logistics. She transported three companies of infantry from Portland south on their way to support fighting with Native Americans in Arizona. She returned three companies of the 21st US Infantry to Portland in September, 1872. The difficulties of

10472-416: The river's mouth. In 1848 there were but two steamers on the Sacramento River. You could travel from San Francisco to Sacramento for $ 30 with a cabin, or for $ 20 on deck. As the California gold rush began, the number of ships sailing on the Sacramento River shot to sixteen in just eighteen months, all of them built in eastern shipyards and sailed around Cape Horn . By 1851 fares had dropped to $ 1 as all

10591-463: The rivers, progressively eroding into finer and finer sediment, until it reached the bay system. Here some of it settled, eventually filling in Suisun Bay, San Pablo Bay, and San Francisco Bay, in decreasing order of severity. By the end of the 19th century, these " slickens " had filled in much of the shallow bay flats, raising the entire bay profile. New marshes were created in some areas. In

10710-703: The ship's crew. There were four lifeboats and two other ship's boats. Ajax began her Civil War service with a trip from New York, leaving on January 15, 1865, carrying 80 bags of mail and papers, arriving in Savannah , Georgia on January 25. She was one of the first vessels to reach the city after the Savannah River was cleared of obstacles left by the retreating Confederates . She left Hilton Head , South Carolina on March 7, 1865 and encountered heavy weather off Cape Hatteras . She arrived back in New York on March 10. Reports of her arrival noted she

10829-457: The shores of the bay, forming huge mudflats and marshes that supported local wildlife. By 5000 BC the sea level rose 300 feet (90 m), filling the valley with water from the Pacific. The Farallon Islands are what used to be hills along the old coastline, and Potato Patch Shoal is an area of sand dunes now covered by the ocean. The indigenous inhabitants of the San Francisco Bay are Ohlone . The first European to see San Francisco Bay

10948-503: The steamer City of Melbourne sailing from Australia and New Zealand . Passengers booked through tickets going in both directions. She sailed with $ 36,202 of freight. This was the first of four roundtrips to Hawaii in 1870. The company suspended this transpacific service during the stormy winter months, reassigning the ship to the San Francisco - Portland route. She resumed her trips to Honolulu on March 18, 1871, carrying 33 passengers, more than half of whom were transferring there to

11067-503: The thinly-capitalized newcomers. In their outrage at freight rates that were raised to $ 40/ton after the consolidation, Marysville merchants formed the Citizens' Steam Navigation Company to compete with the company in 1854. It's competitive steamer, Enterprise , carried the freight for $ 12/ton. Not content to have any competition, the California Steam Navigation Company lowered its rate to $ 1/ton. Citizens' Steam Navigation Company built

11186-445: The trial was a success. Later that month, the California Steam Navigation Company agreed to buy Ajax and California , another Wakeman, Gookin & Dickinson ship, for $ 250,000. Ajax was moved to Crowell's Wharf to begin a short refitting, for her new owners intended to use her to establish the first scheduled steamship service between San Francisco and Honolulu. The fare for the inaugural trip from San Francisco to Honolulu trip

11305-496: The trip to Hawaii was rough, and claimed that he saw 22 of the 68 passengers vomiting over the bulwarks from seasickness at one point. Ajax arrived at Honolulu on January 27. She sailed back to San Francisco on February 10, 1866 arriving on February 23. She carried 34 passengers on this return voyage and a wide variety of agricultural imports including 2,579 kegs of sugar, 807 packages of molasses, 242 sacks of coffee, and 3,621 coconuts. On March 7, 1866, Ajax sailed for Honolulu

11424-425: The upper reaches of the Sacramento River in May 1862. By December 1863 she had been acquired by the company. The ship was burned and nearly destroyed by an arsonist in December 1864. She was repaired and returned to the river in May 1866 to compete with the company again. She was back in the company's fleet no later than 1868. She was acquired by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. By 1872 her machinery

11543-594: The vessels that served the inland trade. On February 22, 1854 the California Steam Navigation Company was incorporated under the laws of California. The company's initial shareholders included Richard Chenery, Captain James Whitney, jr., Marshall Hubbard, John Bensley, and Major Samuel J. Hensley. All five men served as president of the company at various times. The new California Steam Navigation Company moved quickly to retire excess capacity: 23 ships were idled. The combination effectively eliminated competition on

11662-537: Was "in ballast" indicating that there was no substantial cargo aboard. She embarked 1,000 troops and sailed for Beaufort , South Carolina on March 14, 1865. She sailed from Moorehead City , North Carolina and arrived at Fortress Monroe on March 20, 1865. On March 23, 1865 Ajax sailed up the Potomac River and anchored off Alexandria , Virginia . She had come from Wilmington , North Carolina with 60 passengers aboard. These were mostly armorers from

11781-627: Was $ 75 for a cabin or $ 40 for steerage. She left San Francisco on January 13, 1866 with 68 passengers, including Samuel Clemens , who reported on the trip using his pen name, Mark Twain. Clemens was aboard Ajax as a special correspondent for the Sacramento Daily Union newspaper. He filed 25 letters with the paper that were collected in Letters From Hawaii , first published in book form in 1947. The first three letters dealt with his trip on Ajax . He reported that

11900-541: Was a wooden, propeller -driven steamship built in 1864. She provided logistical support to the Union Army on the Atlantic coast during the American Civil War . After the war she was sent to San Francisco where she provided freight and passenger services between that city and other ports on the Pacific coast. She provided the first scheduled steamship service between the United States and Hawaii . It

12019-457: Was built for the company and launched on November 5, 1865. She was acquired from the company by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. Captain Sutter (sternwheel steamer): The ship was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. She sank at her berth in October 1855 and was not repaired due to her poor condition. Chrysopolis (sidewheel steamer): The ship

12138-409: Was built for the company at the cost of $ 200,000 in San Francisco and launched in June 1860. She was acquired from the company by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871 Camanche: She was built in the Bay Area and launched in 1851. The ship sank after a collision with J. Bragdon in January 1853. Ten lives were lost. She was repaired and returned to service, becoming one of the ships that

12257-421: Was built for the company's trade with Marysville , and thus had an exceptionally shallow draft of 11 inches. She was launched in 1865. She was acquired by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. Gaudeloupe : She was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. Gazelle: She was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. Gem (sternwheel steamer): She

12376-484: Was consolidated into the company in 1854. It is likely that she was converted into a barge of the same name by 1858. Clara: She was one of the original ships consolidated into the company and was used briefly as a ferry to Alameda . The ship was sold in July 1854 for $ 9,000 and disappears from Bay Area press accounts. Cleopatra: She was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. Her machinery

12495-551: Was laid up permanently in October 1880. In November 1880 she was purchased by Charles Goodall , a partner in the Pacific Coast Steamship Company , one of the significant shipping firms based in San Francisco. His plan was to remove her machinery and convert her into a sailing ship for the transport of coal. There is no evidence that this ever occurred. Ajax drops out of newspaper accounts and US Government ship records after 1880, suggesting that she

12614-646: Was largely completed by September 2009. Previously, the bay waters and harbor facilities only allowed for ships with a draft of 46 ft (14 m), but dredging activities undertaken by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in partnership with the Port of Oakland succeeded in providing access for vessels with a 50-foot (15 m) draft. Four dredging companies were employed in the US$ 432 ;million project, with $ 244 million paid for with federal funds and $ 188 million supplied by

12733-629: Was later joined by Brother Jonathan , and Active . California sailed this route as well, beginning in 1866. In January 1866 the California Steam Navigation established another ocean route, offering the first regular steamship service between San Francisco and the Hawaiian Islands using its steamer Ajax . After only two round trips, however, the company put her on the San Francisco - Portland route to counter new competitive pressure. These new ocean routes brought

12852-412: Was launched in 1863 originally as a San Francisco Bay ferry, running between Alviso and San Francisco. In 1868, Amelia was one of the first steamers in the Bay Area to convert from coal to oil for fuel. She was acquired from the company by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. American Eagle: She was one of the original ships consolidated into the company in 1854, The ship was damaged in

12971-399: Was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. She was acquired from the company by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. She was condemned as unseaworthy in 1872. Daniel Moore: She was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. Defiance (sidewheel steamer): She began competing with the company in July 1860. She was acquired by

13090-444: Was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. She was broken-up in 1868. Enterprise : She was built for the competitive Citizen's Steam Navigation Company for the Marysville to San Francisco run. Her first trip with passengers aboard was made on July 27, 1854. She was taken over by the company when it drove its competitor out of business in 1855. In 1863 her boilers and machinery were removed and installed in

13209-617: Was over. With her government charter at an end, her owners sent her to California to seek a return on their investment. She sailed from New York for the last time on May 12, 1865. She stopped in Rio de Janeiro on June 22 and reached San Francisco on August 31, 1865. She was commanded by Captain Cornelius Godfrey in her late war service, her repositioning to the Pacific, and in her early commercial voyages from San Francisco. At some point prior to her arrival in San Francisco, Ajax

13328-399: Was purchased by the company with California in 1865 for $ 250,000. The ship was acquired from the company by the California, Oregon, and Mexico Steamship Company in 1867. Amador (sidewheel steamer) : She was built for the company and entered service in October 1869. She was acquired from the company by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871 . Amelia (sidewheel steamer): She

13447-590: Was purchased in 1859. Brother Jonathan was purchased and refit in 1861. Ajax and Orizaba were purchased in 1865. California was built for the company in 1866. In 1856 Senator began "South Coast" service between San Francisco and San Diego with stops in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and San Pedro. Orizaba began sailing to the "South Coast" in 1865. In 1859 Pacific began service to Victoria with stops in Crescent City and Portland and

13566-429: Was removed and she was broken up in 1862, with her pilot house transferred to Goodman Castle . Confidence: She was acquired in New York by John Bensley and sent to San Francisco in 1849. The ship was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. Cora (sidewheel steamer): She was acquired from the company by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. Cornelia (sidewheel steamer) : She

13685-437: Was removed and she was slated to be broken up. Belle: She was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. On February 5, 1856 her boilers exploded killing about two dozen people. The ship appears to have been repaired, but renamed Swan (see below), so as to disassociate her with the disaster. Brother Jonathan (sidewheel steamer): She was purchased by the company and refit in 1861. She sank with

13804-417: Was sailing for the company in 1854, but after the original consolidation. She was acquired from the company by the California Pacific Railroad Company in 1871. Globe: She was one of the original vessels consolidated into the company in 1854. The ship was used as the company's office for a time and as a storeship. Goodman Castle (sternwheel steamer): The ship was built in the Bay Area and began sailing as

13923-489: Was sold to the firm of Wakeman, Gookin & Dickinson, a New York City-based steamship company. She was advertised for sale on September 18, 1865, not three weeks since her arrival in San Francisco. On November 2, 1865, her owners held a sea trial for other steamship companies to examine her capabilities. Most vessels on the California coast at the time were paddlewheel steamers. There were few propeller driven ships and some skepticism about this new technology. Evidently

14042-431: Was the largest ship ever built by the C. & R. Poillon shipyard. She was 235 ft 5 in (71.76 m) long, with a beam of 35 ft (11 m), and a draft of 15 ft (4.6 m). Ajax had a wooden hull built from white oak, hackmatack , and locust. She was rigged as a brigantine , and could sail, but her primary propulsion was provided by a steam engine driving a single propeller. The engine had

14161-650: Was the upstart competitor under-cutting the monopoly rates of the entrenched incumbent. This second California Steam Navigation Company passed out of existence in June 1889 when it merged with the San Joaquin Improvement Company to become the California Steam and Improvement Company. The California Steam Navigation Company owned and chartered dozens of ships, barges, tugs, and boats. Relatively few were in full-time service on specific routes. Some were operated only seasonally to meet

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