Within a block of the
Crocker, Stanford and Hopkins palaces this railroad magnate of the
west erected a mansion of granite and marble that caused all the
others to be thrown in the shade. Its exterior was severe in its
simplicity, but to those who were fortunate to gain entrance to the
interior the sight was one never to be forgotten. The palaces of
Europe could not excel it and for several years Huntington and his
wife were its only occupants aside from the army of servants required
to keep the house and grounds in order.

Not to be outdone by the railroad magnates of the city the next to
acquire property on the crest of the hill was James Flood, the
"bonanza king" and partner with William O'Brien, the names of both
being closely interwoven with the early history of California and the
Comstock lode. After having paid a visit to the east the millionaire
mine owner became impressed with the brown stone fronts of New York
and outdone his neighbors by erecting the only brown stone structure
in San Francisco.

It was in this historic hilltop also that James G. Fair laid the
foundation of a residence that was intended to surpass anything in the
sacred precincts, but before the foundations had been completed
domestic troubles resulted in putting a stop to building operations
and it is on this site that Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs, daughter of the
late millionaire mine owner, erected the palatial Fairmont hotel,
which was one of the most imposing edifices in San Francisco.

The old San Francisco is dead. The gayest, lightest hearted, most
pleasure loving city of this continent, and in many ways the most
interesting and romantic, is a horde of huddled refugees living among
ruins. But those who have known that peculiar city by the Golden Gate
and have caught its flavor of the Arabian Nights feel that it can
never be the same. It is as though a pretty, frivolous woman had
passed through a great tragedy. She survives, but she is sobered and
different. When it rises out of the ashes it will be a modern city,
much like other cities and without its old flavor.

The city lay on a series of hills and the lowlands between. These
hills are really the end of the Coast Range of mountains which lie
between the interior valleys and the ocean to the south. To its rear
was the ocean; but the greater part of the town fronted on two sides
on San Francisco Bay, a body of water always tinged with gold from the
great washings of the mountains, usua